It seems to me that we’ve made baptism into a very “Gnostic” experience. Given the LACK of concern, consciousness about what is happening to the “ELEMENTS: of the earth, in which baptism SHOULD be a direct, experiential witness and reminder, the sacrament has become just another way for us to “spiritualize” and just conveniently “forget” and “ignore” how our collective Continue Reading
I’ve spent the last 15 months noticing how SO VERY FEW people are willing to even comment on the Climate Crisis. Of course, the reasons are “legion”. From outright ideological denial (as a part of a “package” of right wing paranoia about the government and the media) , to an unconscious refusal to take the time and open the self Continue Reading
Again, as I have said earlier after asking the UMC in particular to consider the theological and evangelical responsibilities to ACT and REFORM around Climate Change and Eco-Theological responsibility as a representative of God’s people and ALL people, this is more importantly a universal call to ALL of God’s people and that of ALL religious traditions (many of which have Continue Reading
I love how responsive the UMC is to disaster. It is an obvious REQUIREMENT to do so; to help people hit by disaster. What I am going to say next is in NO WAY to minimize this at all. We must continue to do so. But ANOTHER way to help is to help PREVENT, or if not PREVENT, to MINIMIZE Continue Reading
EVANGELISM , a theological staple, must become MUCH MORE about the “GOOD News” about the BAD News that is growing year by year: which is that Humankind, drunk on it’s “miracles” of production , driven by fossil fuels, has alternatives. And it is going to take the kind of local, national, and global collaboration that we already need to battle Continue Reading
Saw a couple of these today as I went out. My first thought was, and what of the Lack of markers of the turning of seasons? The coming of winter? And the invoking of Jesus as “the reason”, as if that invoking is sufficient to represent some universally accepted theology (which it is FAR from doing, most least of all Continue Reading
I heard an old Christmas hymn anew last night, as my wife and daughter were on stage singing with a church choir from First UMC, Lavergne. Angels from the realms of glory, Wing your flight o’er all the earth; Ye who sang creation’s story, Now proclaim Messiah’s birth: Come and worship, Come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! “Ye who Continue Reading
So here (also shown below), on UMNS’s Facebook page, they posted an article “News Poll:Top 2015 stories” , polling UM Communications workers, and Climate didn’t make the top 5. And I commented that this is symptomatic of the problem of neglect (and dare I say, “repression”; pushing such realities out of view and only bringing them up when it is Continue Reading
The Paris climate talks present a lowest common denominator of global politics, not the aspirations of the global community. It’s the people on the streets who provide the real hope for addressing the climate crisis. – David Turnbull Source: Oil Change International responds to Paris climate agreement – Oil Change InternationalOil Change International
I have been “stalling” under the guise of “determining my brand/style” for EcoEcclesia and the dream/goal of launching a Webcast network using my now 3 and a half month-old Tricaster Mini. Dennis Benson, my friend and Communications seminary professor from my days at United Theological Seminary (1990-91) was expressing to me yesterday his sense of urgency that such missions as this Continue Reading
I cannot help now, but think — when I see or have cause to think about a depiction in the Superman stories — of the people of Krypton’s reaction to Jor-El’s warnings about the fate of their planet. Sure, this is a modern mythology story, but the archetype here is valid: That “a way of life” has a strong Continue Reading
Just posted this on the Facebook page of The United Methodist News Service (here) : The United Methodist Church, along with all the other denominations and Christian Communities, need to take their cue from Pope Francis and focus on the reformation that is REQUIRED in Christian theology around the globe. The level of threat to which we have brought the Continue Reading
NaomiAKlein : “Social movements move the bar, so that the next time we come to the table, what is politically possible is aligned with what is physically necessary” on @DemocracyNow (on YouTube)
That so many, especially in the church, have succumbed to a position of ignoring the truths about how our way of living has brought humanity to a place of dire emergency. When I talk about this, the silence and changing of the subject is striking. Even amongst people who say they believe that the climate is changing and that we Continue Reading
This from Climate Progress: Obama Is ‘Delusional’ For Saying Climate Change Is A Major National Security Threat, Fiorina Says The delusion is what she has apparently accepted; the delusion that Climate Science is some sort of political conspiracy by liberals to redistribute the wealth and destroy that most wonderful of discoveries: that fossil fuels will save us a lot of Continue Reading