Science: St. Hildegard of Bingen & Ilia Delio

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Science: St. Hildegard of Bingen & Ilia Delio
Mike Roth

During the long stretch of the Christian year from Advent to Pentecost, we are invited to ponder the mysteries of Christ: incarnation, atonement, resurrection. The remainder of the year, Ordinary Time, turns to the generations of every day saints, the Jesus-followers who keep pushing the Divine Story forward. In an age where American Christianity seems to have lost the plot, we can turn to the stories and examples of mystics and poets, women and outsiders who have kept the way of Jesus alive in times ancient and modern. This series will explore pairs of saints whose lives and writings inspire us to keep moving forward today.

This week, Mike draws on the 12th-century abbess Hildegard of Bingen and contemporary Franciscan theologian Ilia Delio to make a case that science and Christian faith aren't enemies—they never were—and that evolution, consciousness, and cosmic convergence can deepen rather than threaten the ancient mysteries of incarnation, Trinity, and atonement.

Creation: St. Francis & Wendell Berry

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Creation: St. Francis & Wendell Berry
Ben Conachan

During the long stretch of the Christian year from Advent to Pentecost, we are invited to ponder the mysteries of Christ: incarnation, atonement, resurrection. The remainder of the year, Ordinary Time, turns to the generations of every day saints, the Jesus-followers who keep pushing the Divine Story forward. In an age where American Christianity seems to have lost the plot, we can turn to the stories and examples of mystics and poets, women and outsiders who have kept the way of Jesus alive in times ancient and modern. This series will explore pairs of saints whose lives and writings inspire us to keep moving forward today.

This week, St. Francis and Wendell Berry guide us into a different kind of Christian imagination—one where creation isn't a backdrop to human salvation but belongs to it, and where learning to love the world around us turns out to be some of the most ancient and most human work there is.

Trinity Sunday: The Divine Dance

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Trinity Sunday: The Divine Dance
Megan E.M.

Today, the First Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate Trinity Sunday–a feast day that the universal Church has commemorated since 1334 A.D. In one sense, every Sunday is a festival of the Trinity because the whole Trinity is at work in every moment, brooding over chaos and calling forth life, catching creation up into the dance of renewal and transformation. Co-equal, self-giving, mutually loving, the ancient picture of the Trinity as a dancing circle–perichoresis–inviting humanity into the all-inclusive feast of belonging.

Words with Authority (Matthew 7:13-29)

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Words with Authority (Matthew 7:13-29)
Mike Roth

At the center of the sacred story we tell, week in and week out, is the mystery of Resurrection: life from death, light from darkness, creation from chaos. This story has occupied a central place in the Christian imagination because it points to a new way to live. In this series, we are exploring the way of life Jesus sets forth in his Sermon on the Mount. Resurrection speaks over every life, “You, whoever you are, whatever your circumstances, you are blessed because Divine Love is with you.” This vision of the resurrection life opens up new ways of being such as belonging, love and trust in community, and non-anxious relationship with one another and with the Divine. This series will suggest practices for living Christ’s wisdom within the texture of our ordinary lives.