Is believing enough? Acting in faith requires risk By Mark Roth Once again, verses from the daily reading of the Revised Common Lectionary fell into my lap at just the time I needed it. The writer of James asks: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do… Read more »
November 21, 2016
Unglued church
Is believing enough? Acting in faith requires risk By Mark Roth Once again, verses from the daily reading of the Revised Common Lectionary fell into my lap at just the time I needed it. The writer of James asks: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do… Read more »
Patience and the Praying Mantis An invitation to pray for humility in the President-Elect and the church By Anita Coleman “Dear God, let me run toward, rather than away from, correction. Reduce my pride, increase my humility, and help me be malleable to good advice. Amen.” That’s a prayer from the book The President’s Devotional… 
Spinning out of control Is it life or is it me? By N. Graham Standish Our increasing access to excess spins us off of our axis, which makes it extremely difficult to have success in spiritual interests. Years ago I was struck by something the Quaker spiritual writer Thomas Kelly said in response to his… 
Can we do more? Confronting racism early By Abby King-Kaiser I am a campus minister at a predominantly white, Midwestern, Jesuit Catholic university. In the last month we have been rocked by two very public racial incidents that make our black students feel threatened, unsafe, tokenized and ridiculed (their words, from a Black Student Association… 
Indulgent practices Have we inadvertently resurrected an old tradition? By Mark Roth As I began to write this entry, we had just celebrated Reformation Sunday, which commemorates Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 theses in Wittenberg, Germany, in October 1517. So, confession time. I grew up Lutheran, but had never read through the theses, despite all… 
Cuba: Reality, Hope and the Gospel By Antonio (Tony) Aja This time we had running water everyday for the morning shower. When I first visited Cuba back in 2004 for the first time since I left in 1967, I wrote an article for the denomination where I used the unpredictability of having water in the… 
The Homeless Church: What does it mean to be a Christian during the 2016 presidential elections? By Anita Coleman “Jeremiah, the prophet” my pastor Mark Davis said, during a recent sermon “in his letter to a people in exile, living among enemies, is using the language of the promised land. Despite captivity and exile, he… 
At the end of the rope Caring for God’s legacy By Susan Rothenberg As an adviser for the Unglued Church, a program in Pittsburgh Presbytery for help with church change, I encounter a lot of churches at the end of their rope. It’s a time in a church’s life when it’s important to emphasize the importance of… 
One Marriage License or Two Fishing Licenses? How legal marriage has skewed the Christian view of marriage By Jeffrey A. Schooley In early June 2007, I drove to the Summit County (OH) court house with my friend Than to get my marriage license. My wife-to-be, Brianne, was planning to meet us there. She ran late….