I’m honored to be part of this new documentary …
BEATING GUNS -
You'll find a trailer and information here:
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Two articles (+) on Church Futures …
Both ask important questions that not everyone is comfortable asking ...
https://faithx.net/as-pastors-get-older-churches-start-to-die/?utm_term=0_292215115e-a21475b274-101098897
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/ncr-today/will-your-church-be-alive-ten-years
Here's a link to an article I wrote recently on church futures:
http://shermjournal.org/home/archives/vol-1-no-1/2019-vol1-no1-05/
Taken together, these articles challenge me to contribute, not just to "making church great again" by returning to some idealized past, but rather, to working for a rebirth of the Christian movement as an inclusive expression of "organizing religion" - Christians working for the common good of all, focused on restoring the planet, creating the conditions for lasting peace among races, nations, and religions, and reducing/eliminating poverty by addressing the continuing transfer of wealth to the super-rich.
That was the focus of my 2016 release, The Great Spiritual Migration, and it is at the heart of my upcoming books, including The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey which will release this October.
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What I Shared In Memphis – After the Prodigal Son?
I was honored to be part of the Lenten Preaching Series at Calvary Episcopal in Memphis last week ... I preached about two fascinating linked parables in Luke 16. I personally think they flow directly from three linked parables in Luke 15 (lost sheep, lost coin, lost son), and show a deeper line of argument and insight Jesus is pursuing through both chapters. You can listen to both here -
http://calvarymemphis.org/sermon_data_new/page/2/?cat_name=lps-sermons
There are lots of other great messages in the series you can enjoy at the same site. Thanks to Calvary Episcopal for this beautiful service to the community and beyond!
By the way - these two sermons relate to the Accumulation Narrative described in a beautiful all-ages picture book I helped right, and the companion e-book for adults (soon to be released in print). You can learn more here:
https://www.theseventhstory.com/
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Earth Day is coming (the day after Easter)
The message of Easter, rightly understood, teaches us to care for the earth. Need inspiration? Here's a 3 minute summary of actions you can take:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X_JpE8-Iv9Q" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
And here's a historic gathering of faith leaders on the subject:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7xBfJZ1xjgs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Two books you may be interested in on the spirituality of caring for our beautiful, precious earth:
Jim Antal's amazing Climate Church, Climate World ...
My upcoming book, The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey
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Q & R: What were you thinking?
Mr. McLaren—I am a member of a small Episcopal Bible Study group that meets once-a-week and, since our yearly start-up in September of 2018, we have been making our way, one chapter at a time, through your marvelous book We Make the Road by Walking. It’s been enlightening and a delightful read at one and the same time, but we ran into our first roadblock with the verses selected for reading for your chapter titled ‘Significant and Wonderful.’ We generally don’t consider ourselves to be obtuse, but we simply could not understand why 2 Samuel 11:26-12:15 was one of these suggested readings given the discussion that followed. If you could give us an insight into your rationale here that would be very helpful. Thank you ahead of time for even taking a moment to read this email; I’ve never reached out to anyone regarding their literary work before, but was asked by the other members of my group to pursue this to see if we might get some clarification.
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