Progressive Lent: 1st Principle of Progressive Christianity

Lenten Online Series
by Pastor Durrell Watkins
February 17, 2010

This Lent, Sunshine Cathedral is offering this free online study series, to invite us all into a deeper experience of the Progressive, Positive, and Practical spirituality that we teach.

The Sunshine Cathedral is affiliated with The Center for Progressive Christianity, whose mission is:
To reach out to those for whom organized religion has proved ineffectual, irrelevant, or repressive, as well as to those who have given up on or are unacquainted with it.
To uphold evangelism as an agent of justice and peace.
To give a strong voice both in the churches and the public arena to the advocates of progressive Christianity.
To support those who embrace the search, not certainty.


First Principle of Progressive Christianity
We Are Followers of Jesus.
We have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.

The Church has so successfully made Jesus into a sacred symbol, it has often failed to adequately challenge its membership to follow Jesus' example. Instead of being legalistic in Jesus' name, we ought to recall how Jesus challenged religious legalism and affirmed those who legalism had excluded. Instead of taking the easy road of merely praising Jesus, we ought to follow his example of touching the untouchables, loving the unlovable, seeing the light of God in all people. We honor Jesus best not by what we say about him, but by following his example of working for justice, showing compassion, and being the love of God in action in our world. As progressive Christians we have found the life and teachings of Jesus to be the way of giving body to the presence of divine Love in our world.

Prayer Treatment: I am embracing and expressing the goodness of God as I follow Jesus' message and example. Amen.