Mary Lee Talbot

If the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson had to write a school essay on what he learned this summer, it might begin this way: Robinson “‘I learned that a 147-year-old institution, that worships its past,

One of fall’s pleasures is to go to a corn maze and walk through. It can be confusing as you wander through with the corn high over your head.  “The place I go in Lancaster,

Pastor Ben Cachiaras said that when author Bob Goff visited Mountain Christian Church and he finished his speech — which he gave standing on a chair — Goff said, “Love everybody always, and start with

One day, Pastor Ben Cachiaras’ daughter came home from high school excited because she had seen her first fight in school. Two girls started pulling hair, slamming each other into lockers, and a large crowd

Perhaps you know this person? They walk into a room and say, “I am so perfect, I only have four flaws. One, I lack humility; B, I am inconsistent; and I can’t count.”  Pastor Ben

Pastor Ben Cachiaras had conversations with two friends recently. One friend told him he had given up listening to the news, because it just made him so angry and he did not like the dark

“We are in a difficult time — angry, ‘angsty’ and anxious. We are ‘politicked off,’” Pastor Ben Cachiaras told the congregation. “The church is seen as part of the problem, and sometimes we are.”  Cachiaras

The separation of church and hate might seem an odd theme for a week of sermons at Chautauqua. For Pastor Ben Cachiaras, lead pastor of Mountain Christian Church, headquartered in Joppa, Maryland, it is a

“We are accustomed to leaders who proclaim themselves to be the greatest leader who ever lived,” the Rev. Brian D. McLaren told the virtual congregation at the 9:15 a.m. EDT morning devotional service Friday, Aug.

“If I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” This quote is sometimes attributed to the reformer Martin Luther, The Confessing Church in resistance to the

The Rev. Brian D. McLaren lives in Florida. “We have warnings about hurricanes. These warnings are not about how to make the hurricane go away, but how to endure it. As the Boy Scouts said,

“These are strange times we live in, aren’t they?” the Rev. Brian D. McLaren said to the virtual congregation, then quoted Ephesians 5:15. “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as

Do you agree that “we need a new Declaration of Interdependence?” the Rev. Brian D. McLaren asked the virtual congregation at the 9:15 a.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 17, morning devotional service on the CHQ Assembly

McLaren In this election season, what if a presidential candidate proclaimed that Black Lives Matter and exploded the myth of American exceptionalism and talked about American history in full, the bad and ugly as well

A priest, a rabbi and a public theologian walk into a bar ... McLaren Never heard of a public theologian? The Rev. Brian D. McLaren is called to be one.  “A public theologian brings the

All shall be well. “I make that claim today. It is going to be alright. Do you believe it?” asked the Rev. Robert Baggott. “Julian of Norwich believed. She said, ‘All shall be well. All