Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray Dr. Roger Ray

Most progressive church goers have been exposed to academic criticism of the New Testament, especially as concerns the nature of the historical Jesus. After all, the Jesus Seminar has been around for 40 years, giving us those wonderful books by Marcus Borg, John Shelby Spong, Karen Armstrong, and Jon Dominic Crossan. Still, I have marveled at how church members can leave a brilliant lecture about the historical Jesus and in minutes, default to a kind of 4th century creedal set of beliefs about Jesus. This message attempts to challenge us to critically interrogate the image of Jesus we carry around in our heads.

When we watch a movie like Star Wars, we immediately know that it is fiction. No one tries to hitch a ride on the Millennium Falcon or tries to order a working light saber from Amazon. Sadly, however, many modern religious people read biblical myths as if talking with a snake in the Garden of Eden or following Moses through a divided Red Sea is something that actually happened. This sermon attempts to help us all to interrogate the myths that help us to define morality in the modern world.

Similar to the WWII generation, we are living in a time facing dramatic changes that may end up being good but which also have the potential of being catastrophically bad. As Eric Holder recently warned, there is no cavalry coming to save us. Storied institutions like the Supreme Court and the Congress have demonstrated their willingness to side with a fascist trend led by Donald Trump. We, persons of conscience and compassion, must be the cavalry the world is waiting for.

The claim that the coming election is "the most important election of our lifetime," has been sadly over used and possibly worn out to the point that people easily ignore those of us who are urgently crying "wolf" about the November 2024 election. This message attempts to state the stark reality of the risk to democracy and individual freedoms at stake in this election. Please, listen to it and share with every voter you know.

Two great periods of revivals saved the Christian religion from extinction in the United States. The Great Awakening, near the birth of our nation, and The Second Great Awakening that came along with the western expansion, the Civil War, and the end of slavery. Much of what modern American Christians think is a biblical faith is actually the echos of revivalist preaching based on a very poor reading of the writings of John Calvin.

Easter, as it has been taught to us through traditional modern sermons, is, as Bishop John Shelby Spong described it, simply "unbelievable." Stepping back from the "yippee, we're all gonna live forever" myth, this lecture tries to treat the first Easter in a historical context with a critical discussion of early Christian writing.