THE BLOG

Jesus’ preferred teaching style is the parable.  Although the format of the parable is not rigidly structured, it is Jesus’ preferred teaching genre whenever his topic is the Dream of God (or Reign of...

The Feast of Pentecost is one of the oldest feast days observed by the church.  In fact, it is the celebration of the birth of the church.  Unfortunately, our celebration has become little more than a...

Palm Sunday, we must admit, is a very strange worship service.  The service begins outside the church where we acknowledge, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”  But almost immediat...

The gospel lesson appointed for the first Sunday in Lent sets the stage for the season by recounting Jesus’ baptism and his experience in the wilderness.  Typically, when people recall Jesus’ baptism,...

Our religious understanding of Lent has become truncated — reduced to little more than a manufactured attempt to merit God’s grace.  The focus the church has espoused is one of penance which most ofte...

Ash Wednesday is the liturgical service that kicks off the season of Lent.  And, like so many of our liturgical expressions, its meaning and purpose has become obfuscated by an institutional perspecti...

Advent, in many ways, is the most confused season of the Church year.  Liturgically the first Sunday in Advent marks the beginning of the Church year.  Yet the season’s meaning and relevance is poorly...

The previous blog post where I addressed the essence of ritual inspired me to continue in that vein of thought and address the fundamental component of ritual within the church — the sacraments.  The ...

We live in one of the most spiritual times in human history.  Today people are once again intuiting the wholeness (and holiness) that is life.  In fact, the observations of modern consciousness resear...