” Love One Another vs Christian Nationalism Sermon: Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin FB.com/marksandlin Music Director: Stephanie Lindley Presbyterian Church of the Covenant athinkingchurch.org ..read more

  Christianity is straining to release its true message: God loves everyone, no matter what, for eternity. Our personal and collective destiny is to love everyone as deeply as God does. If you meditate on these truths and their implications, you will be transformed. If evil can be categorized, it may look something like this: Natural world (environmental): floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, illness, meteors, solar flares, wildfires, insect infestations, predators, drought, etc. Human behavior: war, anger, murder, assault, bullying, prejudice, etc. History tells us that some previous civiliza ..read more

  When, as an ex-Christian, I became curious about progressive Christianity several years ago, I was thrillingly surprised by what I saw in a church in my town. But I wasn’t going to join up as long as I had any doubt that patriarchy might be lurking in the corners. I wasn’t going to be a second-class member ever again. So I made a bargain with myself. I would attend as long as it took to decide if I could fit in and support this church. I would hold Christianity’s feet to the fire—I was prickly about it, yes, I was. Sunday after Sunday, a reshaped yet authentic Christian faith unfolded f ..read more

All atonement theories get it wrong by substituting beliefs about Jesus for the way (his virtues, values, and practices) of Jesus that he taught us by word and deed.  The Great Commandment and Golden Rule, which he said unequivocally were most important, were abandoned as the model of how to follow him as he told us (which was transformational), and following him became a mere cognitive assent to believing the right things about Jesus (which was transactional).  Jesus never intended to die for our sins or save us by his death.  He told us to follow him and go and do likewise, af ..read more

  Christianity is straining to release its true message: God loves everyone, no matter what, for eternity. Our personal and collective destiny is to love everyone as deeply as God does. If you meditate on these truths and their implications, you will be transformed. If evil can be categorized, it may look something like this: Natural world (environmental): floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, illness, meteors, solar flares, wildfires, insect infestations, predators, drought, etc. Human behavior: war, anger, murder, assault, bullying, prejudice, etc. History tells us that some previous civiliza ..read more

For the first time in my life, I decided it was time to find out firsthand what the mega-church experience was all about. That’s mega, not maga. I half expected that the two might have merged into one, but was pleasantly surprised that politics was not mentioned at all. The closest was a banner that included the phrase “Thank God we live in America”, and one man out of 1000 who had on a T-shirt that told us about how he “stood for the anthem and knelt for the cross”. Yes, there were perhaps 1000 people in attendance. The auditorium was divided into seats on the ground floor, augmented by the ..read more

  Holy Week, for many Christians, is one of the most sacred moments in the liturgical year. It’s an invitation to recall and remind us of the impact of Jesus’ life and teachings on and upon the earth. In most traditions, we reflect on his last moments, from offering a final meal with friends, including washing their feet, being unjustly arrested and ridiculed, to the horrendous scene of Jesus’ brutal murder on the cross as an enemy of the State. These moments climax with a Resurrection story that is one of triumph and overcoming, a modeling of success in speaking truth to power. During th ..read more

  A Doubter’s Parish reader recently wrote, “How did Christianity become so mean? How did we get from Jesus’s message of love to relentless condemnations against gays, transgendered persons, women preachers, immigrants, scientists, educators, journalists, and public-school librarians?” She said, “When I look at American Christianity in 2024, I feel like I’m watching the 2004 film Mean Girls.” She vividly concluded, “If Jesus came to America and looked at the meanness in his church, he would puke.” This woman joins a multitude of others who feel alarmed over today’s mean-spirited Christian ..read more

Science and Religion should never be in conflict, as Dr. James, a Ph.D. scientist and Christian mystic, carefully demonstrates. He employs many personal experiences in the science realm and in the Christian realm to show how the two are wonderfully complementary—as long as each remains in their respective places. Science is of the natural world, and as Jesus declared, his kingdom is not of the world—it is a kingdom defined by Holy Spirit, which he left for us in his absence. The author uses many biblical passages to show that the core message of Christianity is to live a life of love for other ..read more

Rev. Cecil’Chip’ Murray September 26,1929-April 6, 2024 When he preached, he spontaneously broke into rhyme.  Not just with his own words, but with the souls of his congregation, with the hearts of the people in the community he served.  Rev. Dr. Cecil “Chip” Murray was the quintessence of the Black preacher, rousing his listeners to joyful amens and hallelujahs.  But carried along in the cadence of his call and their response, embedded between and under and within his words, was mysticism.  Teresa of Avila came through, as did Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich and Howa ..read more