Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

The Hopes and Fears of All the Years: The First Sunday after Christmas

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

A heart-rending image appears in the lectionary for Sunday, January 1, 2017:
A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be consoled, because they are no more.
–Jeremiah 31 and Matthew 2

On the First Sunday after Christmas, mere days after the newborn Jesus has snuggled into the hay of the manger, our star-struck hearts and carol-drenched ears are startled to hear in the Gospel lectionary text Matthew’s horrifying story: “Herod sent and killed all the children who were two years old and under.”

What are we to do with this savage story? Read it in church even though the lights on the Christmas tree are still flickering in our sanctuaries just inches away from the pulpit?

Yes.

Though we may be tempted to avoid the images painted in Matthew 2, to seek safer seas or more beautiful shores from which to launch our boats as we begin 2017, we cannot. The silenced cries of innocents slaughtered in cities across the globe call to us. And through their pain—through Rachel’s weeping—God calls to us too as in this week after Christmas we pack up our nativity scenes to store them away for another year.

God became flesh—Jesus was born into the grittiest, most painful realities of human life. And that means that Christmas—Christianity—is far more than a temporary or sentimental escape pod from the world as it really is. God made Godself vulnerable to a world as… [Read more…] about The Hopes and Fears of All the Years: The First Sunday after Christmas

10 News Stories That Prove 2016 Wasn't All Bad

by in Current Events

There’s no denying that a lot of bad stuff happened in 2016, but it’s also worth remembering that some really great things happened this past year. Here are ten of them:

February 12: Pope Francis met with Patriarch Kirill in the first meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.

July 4: After a five year journey, NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter.

July 26: Solar Impulse 2 became the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.

September 30: Two stolen Vincent Van Gogh paintings, missing since 2002 and valued at over $100 million, are recovered.

October 15: More than 150 nations agreed to begin phasing out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

November 2: The Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years.

November 30: India opened the largest solar plant in the world.

December 4: The Department of the Army announced that it would not allow the North Dakota Access Pipeline to be drilled under a dammed section of the Missouri River, giving the Standing Rock protesters a major victory.

December 10: Bob Dylan became the first songwriter ever to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and Patti Smith performed his song “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” at the awards ceremony.

December 22: A new vaccine against the Ebola virus was shown to be 100% effective.

 

Photo via Pixabay.

Dan Wilkinson
Dan is the Executive… [Read more…] about 10 News Stories That Prove 2016 Wasn't All Bad

We Don't Win If They Lose

by Matthew Distefano in Christian Issues

Once a week, I meet up with my friend Michael to talk about some of the bigger ideas that seem to consume the great majority of my thoughts. Our bonfire chats generally last until 9 or 10 PM, just in time for me to catch some of the George Noory show on my way home. How can you not love a talk radio show devoted to aliens and conspiracies?

The other night, however, 1290 AM wasn’t coming in too great, so I scanned the dial and stumbled upon a voice that could only be that of a Christian preacher. I could tell because he was droning on in that breathy way pastors are wont to do—yes Jesus, yes Jesus, we praise your name, Hallelujah, yes Lord. Can you imagine talking to your spouse like that? Yes dear, yes honey, you are so lovely, oh how great you are, yes my beloved.

Gag me now.

I was just about to hit the scan button again—in hopes that I could spare myself the piety spewing forth from this fluent-in-Christianese preacher man—when he said something that stopped me dead in my tracks. He began by suggesting that Christianity contained the only truth in the world, while the secularists, the humanists, the Muslims, the LGBTQ community, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the agnostics, the atheists, the liberals, the anarchists, the communists, the socialists, the Marxists, and all the others -ists were dead wrong. Of course, what he meant to say is that premillenial-dispensationalist-conservative-Evangelicalism is correct, and everyone else is going to hell to burn… [Read more…] about We Don't Win If They Lose

Christmas Day: And the Word Became Flesh

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

In the beginning … a Word …
          Danced
          Unfurled
          Unleashed

In the beginning … a Word …
          Sparked
          Ignited
          Illumined

Hope.
Peace.
Joy.
Love.
Life.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us.

But oh, how wordy we have become. Speeches and spin doctors. Tweets and tabloids. Debates and diatribes. Talk that says nothing but harms hundreds. So many empty utterances harass our eyes and ears, distracting us from the cries of our world’s most vulnerable ones.

Today, O God, we encounter again your Word in a manger. Not what we expected. Your Word in swaddling clothes. Your Word in an infant’s searching eyes. Your Word in a newborn’s reaching hands. Your Word in Aleppo’s rubble. Your Word in human flesh of every hue.

Give us wisdom, Earth-dwelling God, to talk less and birth your Word each day in our flesh and skin, in embodied tidings of hope, joy, peace and love.

Amen.

 

About Jill Crainshaw
Jill Crainshaw is a PCUSA minister and Blackburn Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She is the author of… [Read more…] about Christmas Day: And the Word Became Flesh

A Visit from St. Alban, or A Refugee Christmas

by Andrew Apsley in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Andrew Apsley.

Embed from Getty Images

A Visit from St. Alban

’Twas the night before Christmas, and all Christendom
Sat hoping and waiting for Santa to come.
The cocoa and cookies lay spread on the table
While music rang out and told old Christmas fables.
Our daughter lay down in snug new pajamas,
The heiress of strong economics (thanks, Obama).
And Ma on her iPhone, and I on my Droid,
Were browsing our Facebooks and online tabloids—‌

When on our front door there came a soft knock;
I looked at my wife and then questioned the clock.
It seemed a bit late, but I went just the same.
I opened the door to witness who came.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow
Shown dimly between the four figures below.
Their breath fogged the air as they huddled together;
Their dark skin wrapped loosely with clothes all in tatters.
With a little old father, his eyes weak and tired,
A mother and two kids, who were almost expired.
As weak as could be, he raised a bare hand
And whispered a plea though he barely could stand.

“We come from Aleppo—my family and I.
We come bearing nothing but the rags that you spy.
Through the top of our roof; o’er the top of our walls,
The bombs they have dashed away—dashed away all.”

’Twas then I beheld, at the base of his feet,
A pool of fresh blood gath’ring on the concrete.
My daughter, who peered through my legs to behold,
Ran off to find blankets to keep out their cold.
I turned and I called to… [Read more…] about A Visit from St. Alban, or A Refugee Christmas

Advent Four:  Lighting the Tiny Lights

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

“We are lighting the tiny lights.”

This is what a Franciscan friar said about living Advent in Aleppo.

Seeing all the violence in Aleppo and other places, I fear that Advent may bleed over into Christmas this year, and I do mean bleed. As we arrive at this Fourth Sunday of Advent, the Sunday when we light the candle of love, I am haunted…

A candle flame of love. Seems so small, a flickering candle. Not enough to combat the fiery explosions that bombard the neighborhoods of Aleppo where children once played soccer in the streets. The other three candles on the wreath shrink each week—hope, peace, and joy melting as time passes. And doesn’t it seem that they have diminished in our world—hope, peace, and joy—suffocated by the rubble as a Syrian city crumbles, doused out by blood running through the streets? Or is it that evil winds have chased their flames away, banished them to obscurity before Mary and Joseph even arrive at the stable? How can hope and love find the spark of humanity in this starless midnight where the most visible message flashing across the sky is a seven-year old’s tweet about her impending death?

When I was seven, I loved watching the Advent candles burn down lower each week until Christmas Eve when we would light the big Christ candle. As those other candles got shorter, I knew Christmas Day was coming closer. The Advent wreath does mean just that. The candles drip and melt, but they do so as we… [Read more…] about Advent Four:  Lighting the Tiny Lights

An Advent Poem

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality, Poetry

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

of the setting-free kind

truth
the setting-free kind if you know it
you should speak it
sing it like Mary did in the Bible: “God casts the mighty

from their thrones and fills the hungry with good things.”
but sounds of children’s growling bellies never score
in department store magnificat melodies.
doesn’t anybody get that “gentle Mary meek and mild” was

rasping out a revolution song? her belly swelling with
truth no one would want to hear: “God has scattered
the proud in their conceit. God has cast down the mighty from
their thrones and lifted up the lowly.” but how could we know? she was

“just a woman.” a teenager pregnant before her time and worse
pregnant before the wedding. what could a woman’s body
know? so somebody positioned her in a tableau and
left her there until Christmas day. then with

Mary attic-stored until the next cyber Monday
we sing instead Jesus loves me songs while our ears ring with
clatter from posturing pundits and politicians who can’t hear
the difference between the fickle-false fire of their own voices and

truth of the setting-free kind.

 

About Jill Crainshaw
Jill Crainshaw is a PCUSA minister and Blackburn Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She is the author of several books on worship and ministry.… [Read more…] about An Advent Poem

Three Reasons I Am a Christian Universalist

by Chuck Queen in Christian Issues

Before I tell you why I am a universalist, I must first clarify the kind of universalist I am. I don’t believe that one who has been a hateful jerk just automatically walks into a kin-dom of love upon death. There is nothing to suggest that simply passing through death would transform a hater into a lover. How would someone with prejudice, greed, a thirst for vengeance, etc. be able to exist in a realm of self-giving love?

So, I believe that everyone will somehow, someway, someday be changed into a compassionate, loving person. I believe that the most evil, murderous tyrant will one day be transformed into a good and caring person.

How does that happen? I don’t pretend to know. How long will it take? Again, I have no idea about that either. I see life as evolutionary, developmental, and progressive. Therefore, I am not dismissive of divine judgment in the life to come, though I see that judgment as corrective, restorative, and redemptive, not punitive and retributive. Whatever divine judgment involves (and once again, I don’t pretend to know), I believe its aim is to bring about repentance and conversion.

I must also concede that while I believe that eventually all persons will repent and be transformed into loving, compassionate, caring persons, there is also the possibility that not every person can be saved/transformed/healed/made whole. It is a cooperative effort. We must participate in our healing and liberation. And as long as we are free to choose, there is always… [Read more…] about Three Reasons I Am a Christian Universalist

How to Find an Unfundamentalist Church

by in Christian Issues

The question we’re asked most frequently, both on our Facebook Page and on our blog, is “how can I find an Unfundamentalist Church?”

Since we’re not an actual church or denomination (we’re simply an informal group of like-minded people), we can’t refer you to our nearest local franchise. But we can point you in the direction of churches that are likely to share a similar set of beliefs about Christianity.

Of the major denominations, we recommend checking out Metropolitan Community Churches, The Episcopal Church, The United Church of Christ, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Unitarian Universalist churches.

Of course, specific congregations vary as to how much they align with “unfundamentalist” or “progressive” Christian beliefs. After all, a church is no more (and no less) than a reflection of the beliefs and priorities of its leadership and its members. So, some churches within those denominations are more Unfundamentalist than others, and many churches outside those denominations are also quite Unfundamentalist.

Though it might seem challenging to find out where a church stands on a wide variety of theological and social issues, there’s a handy shortcut: if a church is welcoming and affirming of LGBT people, then they are likely to also share many other beliefs in common with Unfundamentalist Christians.

Regardless of whether or not you’re LGBT, the searchable directory at GayChurch.org is a great resource for finding churches that are likely to… [Read more…] about How to Find an Unfundamentalist Church

Advent Three:  Crocus Blossoms in Desert Places

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

While searching a closet for Christmas decorations the other day, I pulled out a dusty wooden box, the shipping crate kind that has a lid. I had forgotten all about having that box, and as I coaxed it from its hiding place, I realized that I couldn’t even remember what was in it. When I lifted the lid, the ghosts of lifetimes past slipped out to hover over my shoulder as I explored the contents.

My grandma was a crochet wizard. During long winter nights, she sat in her blue recliner, her lap and feet getting cozier by the hour as her nimble fingers grew yet another “mile a minute” afghan. The box I pulled out of the closet held peculiar odds and ends of Grandma’s handiwork. A coaster half-finished. Bits and pieces of squares for a granny throw. A clear plastic bag stuffed with a rainbow of left-over yarn ends from projects long since completed.

My fingers lingered in the rows of each unfinished piece. For which niece or grandchild had she been wizarding this one? What design yet to be revealed had she been stitching?

I am the only person in our family other than Grandma who crochets. Grandma taught me when I was six years old. I guess that is why I inherited the box when she died. “If anyone will know what to do with all of these leftovers,” my mother said, “you will know.”

I’m not sure I do know what to do. Not with these forgotten but now found fragments and not with the fragments of things that seem to be slipping… [Read more…] about Advent Three:  Crocus Blossoms in Desert Places