Easter is about listening to women preach resurrection. Easter is about switching the sword for the cross. Easter is about rejecting the ways of empire and rising up for the oppressed. Easter is about paradise for the humble and power for the lowly. Easter is hope for...
Jesus laying down his life out of love for the world rather than using all cosmic and political power to force the world to obey him is the eternal critique of any form of Christianity that seeks to secure power in order to ensure that others conform to its will.
Forgiveness is not pretending evil never happened, and it is not calling evil good. Forgiveness is setting yourself free by not giving others the power to hurt you again every time you think about them. from Gray Matters
As we move through this beautiful and troubled world, may we vow to be a beacon of peace, a fearless carrier of respect and lovingkindness for all life, a teller of truth, a voice for justice, a protector of those who are vulnerable or targeted. May the power of...
Most Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships, and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.
When we Christians become convinced that we are the only authority on truth, that anyone who opposes us is evil, and that things will only get better if we are in charge of all positions of power, that is when we know that we are no longer worshiping God. We are...
Religion without the Spirit, without authentic spirituality, basically becomes a way to give divine sanction/endorsement/legitimization to our biases and prejudices and it becomes a way to maintain the status quo. It also becomes a means of exerting control over...
Who will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism... beside the manger.
Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.
Empathy is a strange and powerful thing. There is no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It's simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting and communicating that incredibly healing message of, "You're not alone."