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New Wine Conference This Weekend! Register Today! This New Wine conference will address various challenging and potentially divisive topics in our world today, including gun […]

This latest issue of Cultural Encounters—A Journal for the Theology of Culture invites the church to reframe our thinking and imagi­nation so that we move beyond exclusion, and even inclusion, to a cruciform sense of belonging. Cruciform belonging involves dying to privileging societal notions of normalcy known as “ableism.” Rather, we must amplify and highlight the vital contributions of those we often marginalize because of “real” or “perceived” disa­bilities.

In this episode of New Wine UnCorked, Phil, Matt, and Jim continue the ongoing dialogue of faith and life by examining the truth of our created community in light of self-care. That is, if it is true that the human is created in the image of a God who is relational, what then are the implications for life, for church, for our engagement of the world? How does the Christian dialogue with the world without being tainted by the world? Dialogue is the truth of participation as dia via Latin from Greek dia-logos invokes a participatory conversation. It is interactive. From dia “through” + legein “speak.” Going through the Word so to engage through our word, Phil, Jim, and Matt seek to uncork the impossible possibility of the human and our pursuit of this Uncommon God so to realize our common good. Recorded live on Fridays at 10am (PST) New Wine UnCorked seeks to step into culture with a heart bent towards engagement, reconciliation, and relationship.

In this episode of New Wine Tastings Dr. Metzger is joined by Professor Kristyn Kidney, Pastor Cody Whittington, and Pastor Trudi Sang for a discussion on how it is so important to advocacy work that we help people find and amplify their voice.

This episode is a part of the New Wine, New Wineskins series, “Advocacy: Many Voices, One Calling,” in which Dr. Metzger dialogues with leaders from diverse backgrounds, asking them to draw on their own contexts of advocacy in order to highlight essential features and values.

This issue of Cultural Encounters embodies a desire to engage other traditions as conversation partners for the common good in a common society. You will hear from a variety of perspectives including Roman Catholic, Jewish, Latter-day Saint, Muslim, Buddhist, Humanist, Satanist, and Evangelical Christian. Each of the contributions reveals how adherents of diverse traditions draw from their distinctive legacies to foster religious liberty in the here and now.

The Church is the community of God and thus, its posture towards the world should seek to be one of a communal contributor. That is, the life and act of the church in the world should seek to represent the One truth and One reality of heaven on earth… Is this the case today? Join Tony, Phil, and Matt as they dialogue about the reality of the church today and her presence on earth. Is the church the truth of the Beloved Community, or the perpetuator of competing narratives?

The New Wine spring conference will be delivered remotely this year, February 26-27.

The discussion on mental health within the church and the community is a vital and most timely one to have in our current culture. Often conversations regarding mental health are marked by religious stigma. How should we, as the church, foster hope and connect empathetically with those struggling?

Various Christian traditions mark their calendars to reflect the biblical and ecclesial narrative and enhance public worship. Such efforts safeguard against secularization’s encroachment in the church’s life. Setting the Spiritual Clock serves as a guide and traveling companion for the liturgical year, which circles the glorious Son as he breaks through the secular eclipse.

A pertinent message for our times from guest blogger John W. Morehead.

About our special guests in this episode of New Wine Tastings:

John W. Morehead is the Director of Multifaith Matters and the Evangelical Chapter of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy. http://www.multifaithmatters.org/

Phil Wyman is former pastor of The Gathering Church in Salem, and he has many years of experience in festival communities and among Pagans. http://www.philwyman.org/

David Dashifen Kees is an initiate priest in the Firefly House, an organization for Wiccans, witches, magic workers, and other Pagans in the Washington, DC area. https://www.dashifen.com/