Weekly Messages
Rethinking the Afterlife (1)
The Christian narrative most traditional church folks learned growing up is pretty heavily weighted toward the afterlife. We look today, at Jesus' central focus, the Kingdom of God. What we learn is that the afterlife was at best a footnote to the central Christian...
Rethinking Salvation in the Quantum Era (5)
Have a listen, Doug
Rethinking Salvation in the Quantum Era (4)
After some time looking at the unintended and negative consequences of telling the Christian salvation story in only one way, and ignoring the other historical ways, we turn now to imagining how we might tell the salvation story if we restored those ancient and other...
Rethinking Salvation in the Quantum Era (3)
The way most Western Christians have the story of salvation since the Enlightenment (the 11th century, really), has some unintended and negative consequences. As we saw at the beginning of this lesson, when we take our Christian doctrine of ineffability seriously, we...
Rethinking Salvation in the Quantum Era (2)
Again, we shape our stories, and then our stories shape us, and our religious stories most of all. And also again, when our stories gets unhealthy, our souls get unhealthy. In this lesson, we tell the Christian salvation story in the way most Enlightenment Christians...
Rethinking Salvation in the Quantum Era (1)
We shape our stories, and then our stories shape us. Of all the stories that shape our lives, our religious stories the most power. And for Christians, of all our religious stories, the one most shaping of them, is our salvation story. So, if that story gets...
A Christian Church for the Quantum Era (3)
I was all set to move on to the next in a cluster of lessons around the theme: "Quantum Christianity." However, some really great questions came up on our "How's Your Soul?" Facebook page. "Doug, how can you say what you said last week, Doug, and still be Christian?...
A Christian Church for the Quantum Era (2)
At our community meeting earlier this year, we reviewed what we do and why we do it. Being "A Christian Church for the Quantum Era," we said, is our most basic purpose. Today we pick up where we left off two weeks ago (before Tripp Fuller our guest speaker). We began...
02/09 – Tripp Fuller
In this current series of lessons, we've been observing how the Christian Church is in a time of upheaval and reformation we haven't seen for 500 years. If you're part of NRCC, you see how that is happening here, but today, I invited Tripp Fuller from Homebrewed...
A Christian Church for the Quantum Era (1)
At last week's community meeting we reviewed what we do and why we do it. Being "A Christian Church for the Quantum Era," we said, is our most basic purpose. Today we begin a series of lessons talking together about what that means. First up, why "Christian?" That...
Church-Family Meeting
Not a normal Sunday. We're talking about what we do as a community, and why we do it. Not a normal Sunday, but if you're part of the community you need to hear. If you're not, you'll learn a lot about us this way. Have a listen, Doug
Working the Circle: Embracing the Four Practices
We speak often of the four categories of spiritual practice. Today, we set them before ourselves as we begin the new year. Let us integrate these practices into our lives together. Have a listen, Doug ps... download the worksheet you hear about in the lesson HERE...
NeighborServe: Haiti and HelpOneNow
One of the four essential spiritual practices is serving the well-being of the earth. One of the ways we are helping one another embrace the practices of service is to develop a relationship with the Ferrier Village in Haiti. Today, Nick Errato from HelpOneNow is...
Self-Awareness and Self-Disclosure: The "On-Label" Use
We talk a lot about self-awareness and self-disclosure when we speak about our community's practice of conflict resolution. But as always, we speak of it as an "off-label" use of an ancient spiritual discipline. Today we talk about the "on-label" use. Have a listen,...
Preparing for the New Year: Our Relationship to Change
Each new year, I think about growth points and change in my life. I bet many of you do as well. But forget the individual changes set before us or a moment, and let's consider how we approach change. In this lesson we think together about the relationship we develop...
Advent 2013 (3)
We conclude this year's Advent message--on Advent. We've been looking at the ancient wisdom around celebration, and today finish off with an informed understanding of why the holidays so often exhaust, instead of energize us. Have a listen, Doug
Advent 2013 (2)
We continue looking at why we do Advent, expanding our discussion into some of the "how's." Advent is a two-step dance, both feasting and the preparation that makes the feasting meaningful. Have a listen, Doug
Advent 2013 (1)
It's been a while since we've spoken about why we do Advent. A few folks in the community asked me that recently, so for the next few Sundays, we'll look at the history and practice of Advent. Turns out, if anxiety is a big deal for you, you ought to have a listen,...
Gratitude: Good for the Soul
We just went through Thanksgiving week. One would think that the week to talk about gratitude is before the holiday. However, as you'll hear in this lesson, gratitude doesn't stop with words we say. Our ancient tradition teaches us the importance of gratitude being...
Charity 5: "There’s Just No Time!"
Anyone alive in our society today recognizes that time has become a precious commodity. We hear all the spiritual injunctions to care for others, and we would like to--really we would! But when?! In this lesson we talk about some of the pressure that drives us like...
Charity 4: The Cult of Individualism
If we would experience experience this crown jewel of all the virtues... If we would take up the mandate before our generation; restitching the torn fabric of community... ...then it will be necessary for us to see--and step back from--the deleterious effects of the...
Sermon Nov 10, 2013 – Robin Camu and Scott Shackleton
By Robin Camu and Scott Shackleton Scott and other participants share their experiences on the recent Haiti trip.
Charity 3: Restitching the Torn Fabric of Community
The last two weeks we spoke of the comprehensive nature of the virtue of charity. Today we turn to a pressing need in our society. Factors have been at work for some time now that tear community apart. We see it in corporations and congress, but it begins in homes,...
Charity 2: More On the Word’s Lost Meaning
This is the second week in a lesson on the ancient virtue of charity. Today, before we start to apply the virtue to our lives and community, we continue broadening our understanding of the texture of this "crown jewel of the virtue curriculum". Have a listen, Doug...