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By Alvin Jackson Pariah is a noun — a person without status, a rejected member of society, an outcast. Watch the Video: My Journey as a Lesbian Pastor Rev. Barbara Lundblad reflects on her experiences as a lesbian pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. In 2009, the ELCA voted to allow the ordination…

By Matthew L. Skinner “Parents just don’t understand” might be an ever-present theme in popular music, but it’s hardly a modern phenomenon. Jesus’ Family Discord If you’re looking for snapshots of well-adjusted and happy parent-child relationships from the ancient world, the Bible probably shouldn’t be on your short list of sources. Consider even Jesus’ family,…

By Sze-kar Wan The recent escape of the well-known blind Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng from house arrest to the American embassy has attracted a lot of attention in the media. The story is rife with possibilities in an election year, and pundits and politicians are quick to spin it to their own advantage,…

By Rev. Adam J. Copeland Some people call them “thin places,” locations where the gulf between heaven and earth narrows and we fully sense God’s presence. Many people find these thin places in nature. Others discover them in the familiarity of a favorite book, a worshiping community, or a touching song. Though these thin places…

By Lisa Hickman Thomas is permanently labeled a ‘doubter’ by two millennia of history books, sermons, cartoons and theological treatises in the Christian tradition. A cartoon by Joshua Harris has Thomas crying out, “All I’m saying is we don’t call Peter ‘Denying Peter.’” Jefferson Bethke on Loving Jesus but Doubting Religion In January 2012, 22-year-old…

By Barbara K. Lundblad This story leaves us wondering and longing for more. Mark’s Easter gospel (Mark 16: 1-8) ends with silence rather than “Alleluia!” That wasn’t the word the women said at the end of their long night of waiting. That’s not what they said when the Sabbath was over as they made their…

By Mathew Skinner   The Trayvon Martin story is tragic for many reasons. We see one of them in what his death has again brought to the surface: deeply rooted convictions that the system is flawed. We have a hard time trusting the criminal-justice processes in particular cases when the system-wide injustices remain so persistent.…
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