On the Way

by Marjory Bankson We are once again standing at a turning point in the life of The Church of the Saviour. The Potter’s House Church has set down its call, and the Eighth Day Faith Community, through the Banyan Tree Mission Group, has picked it up. For some, this time feels like death. For others, it is an exciting time of new birth. When Peter and I arrived at The Church of the Saviour in 1976, we had read all of Elizabeth O’Connor’s … Read More

by Muriel Lipp When I first came to The Church of the Saviour, one of the things that attracted me most was the holding of disciplines. If we claimed to be disciples, I thought, we should live in a disciplined fashion, and here was a church that took this seriously. We would attend worship regularly (not only when we felt like it), pray daily, go on silent retreat at least once a year, contribute proportionally, participate … Read More

by Andrea Burgard When it comes to church and the spiritual life, we tend to think it has to be more complicated than Jesus said. For 2,000 years people have thought up complications and followed them religiously, but too often they miss out on the abundant life, the peace that passes understanding, and the joy that knows no bounds. The reality is, life in Christ is simple, so simple that a child—or a destitute person … Read More

by N. Gordon Cosby There is absolutely nothing new about a new form of church. The church, the Body of Christ, is always changing. We take our form in the local and global environment of our particular period of history. We bring our society, the total global community, to God’s vision of newness, and we ask what Jesus would want his community to look like now, against this global backdrop. During Jesus’ time he asked what … Read More

by David Hilfiker I’m proud to call myself both a follower of Jesus and a political leftist. I believe that many of my political beliefs—care for the poor, non-violence, social/political activism, etc.—spring directly from the Gospel. But I get tired of the jeremiads against Christian beliefs from my secular left-wing brothers and sisters. Analyzing right-wing, reactionary politics, too many of the articles and columns in the progressive and radical magazines I read will at some … Read More

by N. Gordon Cosby When we hear the invitation to claim our membership in God’s family, it’s like we’ve stumbled onto a Grace Party. We can hardly believe our good fortune. The sights and sounds of it are pure delight. Abundance characterizes the whole shindig. The most delectable manna is falling everywhere, and wine flows as though from an Artesian well. Everyone is eating and drinking endlessly yet not being harmed because this food and … Read More

by Jim Hall We are living in a time when all around us old stories are dying and new stories are struggling to be born. It is by story that we understand who we are, how we came to be and what we are about. We all live by story, and we are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. New story emerges in many ways—as we let go of … Read More

by Ray McGovern The ‘institutional church’ is the last thing Jesus had in mind. WE are the church. And there is not a scintilla of evidence that he thought his presence in history would prevent us from worshiping with his Jewish brothers and sisters. So when we say we are the church, we ought to include all. All who trace their origins to the way God revealed God’s self to Abraham…and not exclusively to Abraham. So, okay. … Read More