Weekly Messages
Making Correct Change: Cashiers and Christians
It's our Christian mandate to change the world . . . and Lord knows it needs changing these days. But how do we do good - but do it better? How do we make change - that matters? Paul points us to some tools that help. Even in the quantum era, we Christians still rely...
A Shout Out to Sweet Baby Jesus
In this lesson we are reminded of the story of hope the Baby Jesus represents. When we are despairing, Baby Jesus reminds us the light is bigger than darkness, life is bigger than death, love wins over fear. And it is only from a position of hope that we garner the...
You Can’t Make the Journey to Oneness Alone
Our embattled world needs repair. Developing a oneness orientation will be key to unlocking our entrenchments and releasing us to deep transformation. In this lesson we continue discussing our community's intention to be a heterogeneous church. We believe the radical...
Family Recipe for Tense Times – Stir in a Pinch of Gratitude
Advent 2016 - Week 1 During this season of Advent, we focus on waiting in the darkness (and especially so, in this present time of darkness) with hope. With gratitude being the fountainhead of hope, our tradition points us to intentionally stirring gratitude to...
11-20-16 (Post Election Firestorm)
A Call to Care (Part 2) – Chris Graebe
by Chris Graebe This is the last lesson in the series that Doug started on Amos and what he had to say about social divisions and their impact.
A Call to Care – Scott Shackleton
By Scott Shackleton Today is Orphan Sunday. It is a time to reflect on those who really need our caring for them and it gives us a chance to expand our empathy. Have a listen.
A Tale of Two Brains… Or… This is your Brain. This is Your Brain on Affluence
We continue our discussion around talking across the divide. In today's lesson we look at the effects both affluence and poverty have on our brains, and the corresponding ways those effects influence our spiritual journeys. Have a listen, Doug
There’s an Elephant in the Room. You’re Riding It.
In this lesson, we continue our discussion on civil discourse across the divide. I encourage us to be suspicious of our own righteousness. It's a default response served up to us by our lower brains, which our upper brains dress up with nice justifications and...
Lefties Aren’t Right. Righties Have Work Left.
In this lesson we continue exploring how to listen across the political divide by examining the six moral foundations of humanity. Discover which three moral foundations the liberals value most highly and which four traditionally underlie conservative positions....
Amos, Partisan Politics, and Afflictive Emotions
From Hole Sexuality to Whole Sexuality (2)
Our sexual ground rules no longer serve us well. We developed them when we were agrarian and industrial societies. Now we live longer, we enter puberty earlier, and we marry later. Now, there is an average 15 year gap between sexual maturity and marriage. It is time...
From Hole Sexuality to Whole Sexuality (1)
All signs point to the fact that we are not handling our sexuality well. When we reduce sex to “the act” and miss its much broader context, we also reduce our experiences and relationships. Have a listen, Doug
Do the Right Thing! The Ancient Prophet Amos (part 2)
As we saw last week, we can sum up the message of the ancient prophets pretty simply. "Do the right thing . . . or suffer the consequences." That idea riled up some folks in our community this last week. It poked some old church hurts -- preachers threatening...
Do the Right Thing! The Ancient Prophet Amos (part 1)
We can sum up the message of the ancient prophets pretty simply. "Do the right thing . . . or suffer the consequences." To many religious folk, that sounds like a threat from God. In a recent TED talk, we realize, it's a pretty accurate description of what happens...
Recapping Our Summer of Listening
It's been our focus this summer -- the spiritual practice of listening. As the summer comes to an end, we revisit the important themes of the summer lesson, and point ourselves forward. Have a listen, Doug
Toward A Better World: Doing Our Bit
We're nearing the end of our "summer of listening." We began this summer with the premise that when people set aside time for spiritual listening, one thing they have heard through the ages is the call to repair the earth. And it is clear to anyone watching - our...
The Law of Three . . . And Hating Your Mom
Jesus said it, not me! Hate your mother! Hate your father. But maybe that's not the point. Maybe the point is being alert to the powerful pressure to conform -- best exerted on us by our people -- can keep us from discerning our ways forward. Yep. I think that's it....
The Law of Three . . . And the Jerk at Work
You have jerks in your life. Sure you do. But have you noticed that we usually have two categories of jerk around us? There are jerks that are "our" jerks, and those who are not. The one is not any jerkier than the other, but we somehow "get" them. Pull that thread a...
The Law of Three . . . And the Love of Pizza – Robin Camu
In our summer of listening, we are listening for "the Third Force," "the Reconciling Force." There's a good chance you don't know what that means. No problem. Robin Camu gave us a lesson recently (CLICK HERE) that helped frame for us, not only how we do the spiritual...
The Law of Three . . . And Disruptive Times
This summer, our community is setting aside time for the spiritual practices of listening. This summer our society is in upheaval. - Black Lives Matter, HB2, Dallas, Nice Divisions that have long simmered, are boiling over. Which makes listening critical. In this...
Creating A New Reality: The Law of Three
This is Doug. I'm writing about the lesson Robin gave this day. I'm writing because Robin would naturally be reluctant to promote her own lesson, and I think it was a very important framing lesson for the future of our community. It's important because it tells us...
Contemplative Sunday – July 10
Doug leads the congregation through a very powerful and moving contemplative session before the message. Please have a listen in a quiet moment.
A Fourth-of-July Message: Freedom!
Our Bill of Rights enshrines four essential, socio-political freedoms... - The freedom to speak and say what we think - The freedom to write and publish what we think - The freedom to assemble together and work toward changes we want - The freedom to worship in any...