Nonfiction
My Burden Is Light: A Pastor’s Plea for Rationality, Honesty, and Humility addresses some tough questions about Christianity: Why have we granted so much authority to the institutional Church, its early leaders, and their scriptures? Why do we cling so tenaciously to the mistakes of the past? And most of all, what might Christianity look like if we stopped?
Nobody’s perfect, we say. Everyone makes mistakes.
Acting thoughtlessly, we err; after deep and prayerful deliberation, we may still err. People acting alone do stupid things; groups of people taking counsel together, sometimes even stupider. Kids on the playground make mistakes; scientists in the lab make mistakes. The authors of the Bible did it, and so did the authors of the Constitution of the United States. Nerds do it, dopes do it; even ex cathedra popes do it. Everyone makes mistakes.
Most of us claim to believe that nobody’s perfect, and we often use that expression to comfort ourselves, especially when we’ve screwed something up so badly that we can’t continue to pretend otherwise. At the same time, though, I think many of us have a contrary longing, an impulse to find an infallible authority. We see this in political movements, occasionally: a Dear Leader emerges, who draws power from this very human desire to find someone to follow without question. We also see this in Christianity and, I guess, in most of the world’s religions. Maybe it is most pronounced in charismatic branches of the faith; we keep hoping that this time, a silver tongue really will signal a perfect mind and heart. But however much the heart might long for infallible religious authority, there is no such thing. Everyone makes mistakes.
Heavyweight Christianity has made mistakes, and it is also burdened with the meta-mistake of asserting that it has not made mistakes, that it has been right all along. The details differ in different denominations: the source of infallibility might be a book or an institution, or it might be a person, singled out by institutional election, or by apostolic succession, or by telegenic charisma.
But nobody’s perfect. Lighten up and let it go.
The Inn of God’s Forgiveness is a collection of eight introductory essays on progressive Christianity, each one illustrated by a new hymn.
When people ask me what I mean when I call myself a progressive Christian, I tend to offer a list of things I disagree with. For example: I do not find the theory of evolution offensive or even particularly controversial. I do not believe that the Bible is infallible, inerrant, or literally true in all its parts; it is not, to me, the word of God. I do not judge people based on their sexual orientation, and I don’t think God does either. I do not think God’s judgment takes the form of punishing sinners with eternal torment. I do not think that Jesus died to pay the price for our sins. I do not try to make converts of people who are being well served by other religious traditions. And so on—and as I speak this way, I find that I am defining progressive Christianity by listing the aspects of conventional Christianity it rejects. But in the end, that isn’t enough. It isn’t enough to say what you reject; you must also say what you claim. Hymn-writing turns out to be a good discipline for this. Perhaps any theological writing that is strictly negative is inadequate—but any hymnody that is strictly negative is obviously inadequate. You have only to imagine trying to turn the previous paragraph into a song to feel the flaw in it. You might perhaps turn it into an amusing series of negative verses, but those verses would be begging to be answered by a refreshingly positive refrain.
The essays in this collection, and the hymns that go with them, express aspects of a positive progressive theology. They are not meant to give a systematic statement of that theology; there are plenty of topics unaddressed here, and there’s plenty of room for a sequel (which is in the works!). These essays and hymns are, in the old sense, occasional pieces. They were written for particular occasions in my spiritual journey. I hope they will be a blessing in yours.
Please note that the hymns in the book are free: they come with a Creative Commons license that allows unlimited copying for non-commercial use. They are printed in the book, but can also be downloaded from our Free Stuff area.
The Inn of God’s Forgiveness is available from Amazon, in paperback or for Kindle.
I also have a video package to support group study of the book.
The book is divided into eight chapters, each of which concludes with a new hymn. For a reading group, an eight-week class schedule fits the book perfectly, one week per chapter. Classes can be face-to-face or virtual; for the latter, you would stream the videos to the class, for example by “sharing” the video playback in a Zoom meeting. I suggest an hour for each class. The videos average about half an hour, so this would leave a good amount of time for discussion and class overhead.
Each video includes me playing and singing the hymn for that chapter, so you won’t need an accompanist to try out the hymns. The package includes a twenty-page guide for the study group leader, provided as a pdf file. The videos were largely filmed in the Open Prairie United Church of Christ, and all profits go to support that church. Please contact me directly if this is of interest; I’m not (yet) selling digital content on Amazon.
Fiction
A fantasy romance series—who knew? The Tales of Corwin series is my most fun project ever. The first volume in the series is called The Pastor and the Priestess.
Sandra is the owner of a small-town tavern, and the leader of a circle of witches. Her friends have been facing a series of escalating attacks, and now she’s on a mission: she wants to keep her tavern open, keep her friends safe, and practice her magic in peace. The last thing she wants is help from Mark, the pastor of a local church, even if he is kind of cute.
Mark is an open-minded guy, but he always figured that people who practiced magic were just fooling themselves. That was before he met Sandra, saw her magic at work, and had a strange encounter with her spirit animal. When Mark dreams of flying and then wakes up in a tree, he begins to realize that Sandra has done more than change his attitudes — she’s changed his life.
The mysterious attacks turn deadly serious when one of Sandra’s friends is shot. Mark’s church and Sandra’s circle must work together to uncover the truth and uproot an evil from the town they all love. And speaking of love: can a pastor and a priestess find a place for theirs?
The Pastor and the Priestess is available on Amazon, in paperback or for Kindle.
The second volume in the series is Storms Over Corwin.
Pastor Mark of the Corwin Congregational Church and Lady Sandra of the Rose Feather Circle, after a leap of faith, begin living together in Mark’s old house. Their romantic idyll is soon interrupted, however, by unexpected houseguests. Dr. John Quick, a former member of the Circle, arrives in a state of mental collapse. Soon after, several tool-loving squirrels decide to take up residence in the walls. As fall turns to winter, deadly storms blast Corwin, and a strange and sometimes fatal illness begins to spread through the town. Mark and Sandra and their friends must use all the means at their disposal, both the mundane and the magical, to save the town from disaster. In the end, they receive help from the most mysterious houseguest of all: a certain generous and powerful Lady who manifests in a basement chamber that Mark could have sworn was never there before. But is that mysterious someone a goddess, or a saint? And are Mark and Sandra prepared to receive all her gifts?
Storms Over Corwin is available from Amazon, in paperback or for Kindle.
The third volume in the series in Wolf at the Door.
Sandra Shelby, high priestess of the Rose Feather Circle, and Mark Collins, pastor of the Corwin Congregational Church, are engaged to be married at last. They’ve set the date. They’ve chosen two people to perform the ceremony—a Christian minister and a Wiccan crone. Their friends are happy for them. Mark’s parents are happy for them. What could go wrong?
Plenty, as it turns out. Not everyone is as happy about the forthcoming marriage as they are. First, a mysterious Pagan organization sends two scouts into the town of Corwin to discover the secrets of the Circle and to lure Sandra away. At the same time, a faction within Mark’s church takes exception to his interfaith relationship and tries to get him fired. Then, just before Easter, a wolf comes to Mark and Sandra’s door with disturbing news: Joni, the youngest member of the Circle, has disappeared. To rescue little Joni, Mark and Sandra and their friends would go to the ends of the earth.
But they’ll have to go farther than that.
Wolf at the Door is available from Amazon in paperback on for Kindle.
Music
Smackdown is my 2008 album. The album includes these songs:
- The Buddha Kicked My Butt (5:09)
- Be True, live performance (5:16)
- Gat No Heat (3:24)
- The Secret of Flight (3:21)
- Three More Days (4:55)
- Frikin’ Chickasee (4:23)
- Be True, studio mix (4:13)
- The Open and Affirming Church (1:39)
- Dies Irae (4:32)
The cover art depicts a legendary scene from the First Council of Nicaea in 325, in which the heretical presbyter Arius is is smacked by Saint Nicholas. (I guess Arius was naughty, rather than nice.)
The album and individual tracks can be streamed or downloaded through Amazon music.
As a Deer Longs is my more recent album (released Christmas, 2012). The songs in this album cover a wide range, from reverent spirituality to irreverent humor, with stops along the way for folk ballad, piano blues, and instrumental meditation.
- Longs for You (7:36)
- Me and Joe and What’s-His-Name (7:06)
- Prophet’s Lament (3:41)
- Rider’s Lament (Instrumental) (2:57)
- Clear Fountain (5:41)
- I Don’t Believe in You (4:36)
- Fear Not, Said the Angel (6:05)
- One Needful Thing (Creation Cycle, Day One) (5:13)
- Treesong (5:57)
- Love Small (6:18)
- Come to Me (Creation Cycle, Day Five) (4:15)
The album and individual tracks can be streamed or downloaded through Amazon music.
There’s also a physical album: a CD in a wallet with a 12-page lyric booklet. The wallet, CD, and lyric booklet feature photographic artwork by my dear friend, Robert E. Pierson. Rob and I dedicated the album to the students, faculty and staff of the Earlham School of Religion, which rashly graduated both of us. But you’ll have to come to a concert to buy the physical CD.