A hope that does not disappoint looks less like being idealistic about ourselves and more like being idealistic about God’s redeeming work in the world. … suffering produces en ...

Martin L. Smith Reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle C THE SAGA OF Elijah that we are followin ...

The cross, the empty tomb, the moment of divine inspiration are repeated every day and everywhere. They’re ongoing and participatory. Many experience those moments of inspiration each day. ...

Our search for the resurrected one, the one who has come to give us life, has everything to do with the dead. At the  Full Frame Film Festival  in Durham last week, I saw Marco ...

The resurrection story implies that bodies matter. Jesus’ resurrection is not merely a spiritual thing – the apparition of his ghost, or his ongoing spiritual influence. Immediate ...

In some way or other, I think it’s safe to say that we all have a kind of nostalgia for the innocence and purity of the Garden of Eden before what we call “the fall.” In some way ...

Good Friday is good because on that day Jesus revealed who God is at a fundamental level. God is the one who responds to our violence and destruction with the forgiveness and love that defined Jesus’ life. “Lo ...

For the sake of the world, we should all be feminists. And given what we know about the role of independent, empowered women in the community of disciples, for the sake world, we might be “Christians.” ...

In Christianity’s passage through Holy Week to Easter Day, a moment of truth will arrive. In Christianity’s passage through Holy Week to Easter Day, a moment of truth will arrive. ...

I urge you in love to take part in as many of the services of Holy Week as you are able, that your joy at Easter might be complete and that you might, once again, participate in the Lord's active, sacrifi ...

Martin L. Smith Reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle C HOW SHALL WE engage with scripture thro ...

Rose Marie Berger Baptism means we are imprinted on Christ. FROM THE RIVER to the rope. From the creek to the ...

Edwidge Danticat Haiti's once and future cathedral is a place of healing and memory. WE WERE LOOKING at ...

Betsy Sholl Blindfolded and gagged, tossed in the back / of a car -- it's how they gather up young men / ...

Bill Wylie-Kellermann Authority Over Death IN THE EARLY weeks of the Eastertide lectionary, there appears a s ...

The Memento mori ("remember you will die") of Ash Wednesday and of a Holy Lent is not a macabre, dark, or morbid reminder. It is our wake up call to live fully in the moment, to live *today* to its f ...

Martin L. Smith Reflections on the Common Lectionary, Cycle C "THIS IS THE LORD'S DOING; it is marv ...

Will O'Brien Unto Us the Sun by Aimee Wilson. Self-released. IN THE TITLE song of Aimee Wilson's ne ...

Elizabeth Palmberg Angela Glover Blackwell believes in Detroit's future, and she has a vision for how to get there. Failure is not a ...

We cannot imagine a world in which Death has no sting. We cannot imagine a world in which Death does not hold the last word and our ability to deal in Death doesn't empower us. ...

The Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 28 (The Message) After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God ...

Poetry is language made material. It presents us with objects and the world, yes, that is part of its materiality, but it also – and perhaps fundamentally – makes our very language into a thing, rather than s ...

I stood in the middle of a valley. Hot wind whipped the sand at my feet. Dry bones, bleached by the sun covered the valley floor. Son of man, God said, can these bones live? It ...

In this segment from his new CatholicTV series "Blinks," the Rev. Jim Martin considers why Christianity is often considered so joyless, and why "religious" usually means "serious." ...

Project Safe Surrender is not quite Jubilee— offenders aren’t guaranteed amnesty — but there is a taste of the Resurrection. Can’t get to court? Then go to church. Clergy in a ...

Nadia Bolz-Weber likes to have both tradition and innovation happening at the same time in House for All Sinners and Saints, a mission church she founded in Denver, Colorado, that's part of the Evan ...

There's something special about the bookends of our lifetimes. I became a first-time father seven months ago and a hospice chaplain just one month past. There's somethin ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/06/06/love-wins/" target="_self"></a>No, I am not submitting a belated entry into the heated conversation about Rob Bell's lates ...

I've often wondered what people in America think when they actually read the story of Jesus rising from the dead for the first time. I've often wondered what people in A ...

As Lent ends and the Holy Triduum begins, my mind turns to resurrection. Perhaps a bit too soon as the Good Friday death of Jesus and his descent into darkness is still impending. ...

As a Christian, Easter marks the most stunning act of grace and enemy-love in human history -- Jesus' death and resurrection. As a Christian, Easter marks the most stunning a ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/03/18/love-wins-my-interview-with-rob-bell/" target="_self"></a>Monday morning, 8 a.m PST. My phone rings. It's Rob Bell calling ...

Every Lenten season I give up something, usually chocolate. I sometimes fast for several hours during the day. Sometimes I read an extra book or two, usually on peace theory. Ever ...

Lent is late this year, thanks to an unusual alignment of the earth and heavens -- the vernal equinox, the paschal full moon -- and to the <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/tag/easter/" target="_ ...

So, just to get it out of the way, I didn't get what I wanted for Christmas. No, not an iPad or world peace. So, just to get it out of the way, I didn't get what I want ...

I've been getting into trouble lately. I've been getting into trouble lately. It all started when I asked myself the simple question, "What did the apostles preach ...

Fatu was 25 years old when her father and his two sons burned her to death. Her crime was converting to Christianity in a Muslim land. Fatu was 25 years old when her father and hi ...

In the beginning, darkness covered the face of the deep.</p> <p>Then the Breath of Heaven swept across the waters, blessing the sea with all manner of creatures.</p> ...

<p>It'd be nice if enacting a law would solve the problem, wouldn't it?</p> It'd be nice if enacting a law would solve the problem, wouldn't it? ...

[<a href="http://blog.sojo.net/tag/emergent-and-race/">Read more of this blog conversation</a> in response to the <em>Sojourners </em>magazine article "<a href=&qu ...

These are dark days for Catholics and our church. The clergy sexual abuse scandals are a source of profound pain and raw anger. These are dark days for Catholics and our church. T ...

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on my blog entitled <a href="http://aarondtaylor.blogspot.com/2010/03/will-real-gospel-please-stand-up.html">Will the Real Gospel Please Stand Up?</a> In t ...

[<a href="http://blog.sojo.net/tag/emergent-and-race/">Read more of this blog conversation</a> in response to the <em>Sojourners </em>article "<a href="http://www ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2010/04/19/on-faith-on-glenn-beck-and-a-video-psa-for-social-justice-christians/"></a>Last week, The Washington Post's <a href="http:// ...

The heart-chilling news flashed through West Virginia's Coal River valley, a darkening pall on the blue sky afternoon of April 5, 2010, one day after Easter's hope-filled celebration of resurrectio ...

I have never been as conscious of the incredible hope of the Easter message as I have been this last Easter. I have never been as conscious of the incredible hope of the Easter ...

This week is a confluence of anniversaries. April 7 was the 16^th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda where more than 800,000 died in a few days. This wee ...

As millions of Christians celebrated Easter this past weekend, their celebrations were interrupted by events in South Africa and Zimbabwe that reinforced the relevance of the message of Easter for ...

Jesus is Risen, Alleluia.</p> Jesus is Risen, Alleluia. Most of us spent yesterday praising God and singing about the resurrection. But as I sat down this morning to ...

<blockquote><p><em>"We're not desperate."</em></p> "We're not desperate." - Theologian Stanley Hauerwas, in a ...