Progressive Theology

20/08/2023

❤️

18/08/2023

12/08/2023

aka Bibby Stockholm Syndrome - It's hard to believe that anyone would risk their life getting into the water, unless they think it is safer than staying on land. In this blog we explore the small boat crisis, UK Christian attitudes to immigration and seeing the face of Jesus on everyone who makes it to UK shores.

AKA tackling Bibby Stockholm Syndrome. Considering the governments performative cruelty towards the desperate people reaching our shores, we ask what the Christian response should be to the small boat crisis.

11/08/2023

Bound by a love that knows no bounds...

In a church where love once split apart,
By rigid views and hardened heart,
Now blooms a faith, both wide and deep,
Where all souls are embraced, none left to weep.

Gone are the days of divisive cries,
Where judgment cast and love denies,
For now the faithful rise anew,
Affirming love in every hue.

Read more:

A poem generated by ChatGPT in response to a prompt on inclusive Christian love for the LGBT+ community.

11/08/2023

I am thinking a lot about friends and colleagues in ministry who are on the move—who are leaving the communities they have known and entering into new forms of ministry as they begin new appointments, retire, or go on leave. A while back, I wrote a blessing for one of those friends and wanted to share it with you. If you are in a threshold-y time, or know someone who is, this is for you.

THIS DAY WE SAY GRATEFUL
A Sending Blessing

It is a strange thing
to be so bound
and so released
all in the same moment,
to feel the heart
open wide
and wider still
even as it turns
to take its leave.

On this day,
let us say
this is simply the way
love moves
in its ceaseless spiraling,
turning us toward
one another,
then sending us
into what waits for us
with arms open wide to us
in welcome
and in hope.

On this day,
in this place
where you have
poured yourself out,
where you have been
emptied
and filled
and emptied again,
may you be aware
more than ever
of what your heart
has opened to
here,
what it has tended
and welcomed
here,
where it has broken
in love and in grief,
where it has given
and received blessing
in the unfathomable mystery
that moves us,
undoes us,
and remakes us
finally
for joy.

This day
may you know
this joy
in full measure.

This day
may you know
this blessing
that gathers you in
and sends you forth
but will not
forget you.

O hear us
as this day
we say
grace;
this day
we say
grateful;
this day
we say
blessing;
this day
we release you
in God’s keeping
and hold you
in gladness
and love.

—Jan Richardson

Image: "When Friends Rejoice Both Far and Near"
© janrichardsonimages.com

10/08/2023

For times of change…

I am thinking a lot about friends and colleagues in ministry who are on the move—who are leaving the communities they have known and entering into new forms of ministry as they begin new appointments, retire, or go on leave. A while back, I wrote a blessing for one of those friends and wanted to share it with you. If you are in a threshold-y time, or know someone who is, this is for you.

THIS DAY WE SAY GRATEFUL
A Sending Blessing

It is a strange thing
to be so bound
and so released
all in the same moment,
to feel the heart
open wide
and wider still
even as it turns
to take its leave.

On this day,
let us say
this is simply the way
love moves
in its ceaseless spiraling,
turning us toward
one another,
then sending us
into what waits for us
with arms open wide to us
in welcome
and in hope.

On this day,
in this place
where you have
poured yourself out,
where you have been
emptied
and filled
and emptied again,
may you be aware
more than ever
of what your heart
has opened to
here,
what it has tended
and welcomed
here,
where it has broken
in love and in grief,
where it has given
and received blessing
in the unfathomable mystery
that moves us,
undoes us,
and remakes us
finally
for joy.

This day
may you know
this joy
in full measure.

This day
may you know
this blessing
that gathers you in
and sends you forth
but will not
forget you.

O hear us
as this day
we say
grace;
this day
we say
grateful;
this day
we say
blessing;
this day
we release you
in God’s keeping
and hold you
in gladness
and love.

—Jan Richardson

Image: "When Friends Rejoice Both Far and Near"
© janrichardsonimages.com

08/08/2023

To all the people who have been called lost because they followed after Jesus.

An except from the book “A Rhythm of Prayer” edited by Sarah Bessey.

08/08/2023

What if we told the truth about what a Christian actually is?

What if we dared to see ourselves in a way that was common with the way others see us? What if were just honest about what we can and can’t know? Our new blog post available at the link below...

What if we dared to see ourselves in a way that was common with the way others see us? What if were just honest about what we can and can’t know?