Family.

Peace and love and non-violent non-cooperation.

This was the idealism of the 1960s.

And surprisingly they all derive from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

But sex and drugs and rock and roll wrecked a whole generation.

And turned them away from the Church.

But what is emerging now as Progressive Christianity is compatible with 1960s idealism.

And the objectives of the Religious Left are not dissimilar to those of the Religious Right.

But we differ in regard to how we will save the world.

But family values is equivalent to valuing love.

It is the love within the family that makes it different.

"'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'"  Matthew 25:40 (NRSV)

And if God is our Father then everyone is a member of His Family.

In Ezekiel 37 God joins the two sticks - the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph - into one stick - Israel.

Could it be that God will joins the two sticks - the stick of Conservatism and the stick of Liberalism - into one stick - His Church?

And could it be that God will welcome all religions into One Family?


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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