Sabbatical

Greetings
The Progressive Christian Resources Blog has been on Sabbatical for a while and will continue to be for a bit more. Check back or send me an email and we'll let you know when we are back on.
Diane

Another World is Possible - Overcoming Violence In Our World

I'm in the process of creating and facilitating an adult education class on "Another World is Possible - Overcoming Violence In Our World." We are now more than half way thru the World Council of Churches' Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010) and the United Nation's International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). I'm not confident we have made much progress. I am confident that we can make progress.

Why? Because over 100 thousand people marched for Peace in Washington D.C. on January 27, 2007. Because people are flooding Congress and the White House with emails and phone calls to end the war in IRAQ and to stay out of IRAN. Because non-violent action works!

As Jim Wallis, who runs Sojourners, was quoted in Davos by the New York Times: “Politics is failing to solve all the big issues. So when that happens, social movements rise up.” Eric Alterman and Tim Fernholz collected some great poll numbers in their artical Think Again, Still The Same which show that the American people, including the military, are really fed up.

One of the resources I am using for the class, and strongly recommend, is the Sojourners' Discussion Guide on "Christians and Nonviolence." It contains very thought provoking articles and questions in the following areas:

• Biblical Foundations of Christian Nonviolence
• Applying Nonviolence for the Common Good
• Nonviolence Close to Home
• Nonviolence, Dictators, and Intervention

Sojourners really does a great job with their Discussion Guides, well worth the small charge.

One of the articles included in this guide is "Love Your Enemies" by Clarence Jordan. This short piece was originally published in 1972 summarizing a speech he had given. It so clearly articulates what Christians are called to do and how Jesus evolved the thinking of the time in terms of who we are to care for. Jordan's comments about where the US was at the time parallel our world today. He describes 4 ways we can respond to violence:

• Unlimited Retaliation - if someone knocks out a tooth, knock out all of their's
• Eye for an eye - a tooth for a tooth
• Love your neighbor - turn the other cheek
• Love your enemies

This is a must read article.

Introduction

Greetings!
In this first post, I decided to explain why I have started this blog.

I find it very difficult to find progressive religious material on the web. This is especially true for children's stories, skits and cirricula. While this is changing, the pace is slow.

I belong to a United Church of Christ (UCC) congregation and have often created materials for worship and education which is consistent with UCC beliefs.

I try to focus my writing on justice issues in Christianity by uplifting women in Christian history, creating liturgy for multicultural awareness, providing education on difficult issues, and giving voices to the voiceless in the Bible.

This blog will provide new ideas for progressive Christian writing, new resources, reviews of books, and recommendations of other progressive resource websites.

On my website Progressive Christian Resources you will find some of the resources I have created or collaborated with others on.

Check back soon for more!
Peace