Sarah, you have been one of the key-droppers to me. I am 82 years old — on March 24, 2024. When I was 39 I was sponsored to a Lutheran Cursillo. After a life time of attending different denominations, I finally found a way to learn how to learn how to be a Christian. Over the next 15 years, I was a part of Walk to Emmaus while attending mostly Methodist and Presbyterian churches. In 2011 I realized that the churches were not meeting my faith needs. At the time, my husband’s health had deteriorated to the point that we had to move from our retirement home. I didn’t attend any church at all over the next 10 years. A couple of months before my husband’s death in 2021, I found a Progressive Congregational UCC church here in Beaverton, Oregon. I was amazed. People weren’t just attending church; they were reading and practicing and LIVING a faith that, like you said, was a feast to a very hungry — should I say starving person. The pastor was preaching using Diana Butler Bass’s book Freeing Jesus From the Church. I realized that there had been a whole movement toward a living faith that I had missed. I am attending a VERY small Methodist church now. I know I belong here. No, the congregation is not part of the Progressive church movement, but I’ve found out that they are hungry for a different way to read the Bible and understand themselves as God-created and God-loved human beings. I am not shy about sharing my experiences and thoughts and find I am well received. I am at present taking a class from Fr. Richard Rohr on the Immortal Diamond. I some ways I feel I am working above my grade level, but it’s so fun to realize that it’s all right if I don’t understand it completely. God will help me relate what I’m reading to my experiences so that I can grow.
These are a lot of words to let you know how you have been a very real part of my faith journey. Thank you for all you have shared.
Sarah, don’t sell yourself short. I think you have been handed the ‘sage’ reins by those who have gone before. I love Richard Rohr, Diana Butler Bass, Brian MacLaren, Rachel Held Evans, etc. I think you are carrying on Tony’s legacy in your work. Keep asking questions…we all have the same ones.
Sarah, I just picked up one of those keys you scattered like confetti. Thank you for your courage, your honesty, your questions, your authenticity. I have been in the spiritual wilderness for a long while. You are such a gift to my heart that has broken more times than I can count over being a woman, a questioner and an hsp. It's continues to be a journey yet as I read your words, hope was sparked again. Truly appreciate you and the light and beauty you bring to this world 🙏
Wow what a priceless moment in time! 💕 I love how you related this to the metaphor of dropping keys to rowdy prisoners. I love that image. I can relate a lot. Last summer, I reconnected with one of the therapists that changed my life the most when I was in my early 20’s. I’m now in my 40’s, and hadn’t seen her for over a decade. I struggled to find words to express my deepest gratitude. She came into my life at such a key and critical moment! And now I am a trauma therapist, paying it forward. When I saw her it felt like we picked up right where we left off. 💗 I’m thrilled that you got to have this beautiful time with the Campolos. And now you’re throwing keys for me too. THANK YOU. 💗💗💗
You, Shannan Martin, Rachel Held Evans and Micha Boyett have been those key throwers for me. I didn’t know I could be a woman of faith without checking big old chunks of myself at the door until I found you women and it is a gift I will always be grateful for.
You have been a sage for me with your books, especially, Out of Sorts and Jesus Feminist. OMG I couldn't believe I had found another human being who thought like me. My sister and I kept saying, "I guess we can be Christians after all!" Now I am crying my way through your book Field Notes For the Wilderness. (And yes Sarah, I have a whole file folder of articles and book notes on the Atonement. )
Oh Sarah this post has just joined so many dots. I’ve not felt the need to deconstruct as so many of you guys have. But, so much of what you say resonates with me. Sharing this today, helped be realise that those keys you fought to find were handed to me early in my faith. The church where I found faith founded the book of common prayer. I was bought up in a household where social action and loving diversity was the norm. My “kind of Granny” was a church leader who had a teenage pregnancy and broken marriage in her past and walked along side me as she became a monk (in an awesome order who's members could be any gender and live in the “world”). Our youth group was small and full of messy individuals who were encouraged to find our own faith. My dad went to theological college a year or so after I became a Christian and there they had their faith taken apart and put back together. I studied the bible and prayed with friends with a theological college lecturer (my friends dad) to call on when we got stuck or something made no sense. Our neighbours were missionaries on one side and an amazing Egyptian guy who had escaped with his life for being a Christian on the other. Until
now I had not realised the privilege all this heritage has given me. Your key drop today has opened a door here. Thank you so much. I’m currently struggling with the best way to lead a small band of teen girls and you’ve just given me a mic drop moment. Keep dropping those keys Sarah. (Sorry for long post, you have a way of getting in my heart and busting it open) thank you
I was deep in my “burn it down” phase when I attended Evolving Faith in the midst of the pandemic…..I really didn’t want to watch but, pandemic, so I took a break from Netflix….
And there was you, and Jeff, and when a tatted up Lutheran pastor (NBW) dropped an f-bomb I began to think, maybe there are others like me who miss messy debate and wrestling with uncertainty and would rather stay in that discomfort and figure it out than spackle it over with a thin veneer that gives way as soon as it’s tested.
Love this. I learned so much from Vicky Beeching, who was the one leader I knew asking those first deconstructing questions in the late 00s. The mainline didn't know they needed to be asked and the evangelicals squashed them early and often, but I needed her voice, blogging and then tweeting, asking what if and is there a better way. After a few years, I found you and Rachel and so many others who broadened those paths and introduced me to do many who have gone before us. It's so vital to have that light.
Goodness, having a good cry here reading your post. Tony Campolo was also deeply integral in my own faith formation - a real key thrower for me. Shane Claiborne, RHE, Brian Maclaren, Rob Bell and you, Sarah. So grateful for all you and the keys you’ve thrown our way.
Oh, Sarah. How wonderful! Former youth worker here and I loved those conferences too. Those YS guys kicked off my own deconstruction lo these many years ago. What a treasure to get to spend time with the Campolos!
I could list so many of the people who have been mentioned, including you, Sarah. But life started changing for me the final day of the first virtual Evolving Faith conference. Jeff Chu looked out at the EF Community and us that we were loved by God. Loved by God! WoW! I'm now in the process of figuring out what that means and how it manifests itself.
You threw one of the first keys to help me see a way through deconstruction. Rachel Held Evans and Pete Enns soon followed, saving the Bible for me. Brian Zahnd saved the Cross for me. As I picked up and looked at each aspect of my evangelical faith, someone pointed me to someone else who could help me see all the ways to look at that gem of faith so that I could save it, turning it this way and that so that all the light could shine through it to make it beautiful.
Dearest Sarah, My eyes were full of tears as I read this post about dear Tony and Peggy, heroes both. Their faithfulness to the truth and unconditional love for all, that legacy, has been placed on your shoulders and you carry it like a mantle. You are in my children's generation, and this mama bear has loved and respected you for years. We pass it on to the generation to follow, and you are doing a darn good job. Thank you love!
I now have an image of my life that includes a key ring like that of a custodian for a large university, so many keys have I been given. If I limit it to the book keys, then I must point to (like many here!) you, Jen Hatmaker, Rachel Held Evans, Nish Weiseth (current spiritual director - y’all should look her up!), Walter Brueggemann, Austin Channing Brown, Miguel De La Torres, Wil Gafney, so many authors quietly changing the world for good…. But I also have so many humans in real life who have been keys for me. Gosh, I’m grateful.💜
Sarah, you have been one of the key-droppers to me. I am 82 years old — on March 24, 2024. When I was 39 I was sponsored to a Lutheran Cursillo. After a life time of attending different denominations, I finally found a way to learn how to learn how to be a Christian. Over the next 15 years, I was a part of Walk to Emmaus while attending mostly Methodist and Presbyterian churches. In 2011 I realized that the churches were not meeting my faith needs. At the time, my husband’s health had deteriorated to the point that we had to move from our retirement home. I didn’t attend any church at all over the next 10 years. A couple of months before my husband’s death in 2021, I found a Progressive Congregational UCC church here in Beaverton, Oregon. I was amazed. People weren’t just attending church; they were reading and practicing and LIVING a faith that, like you said, was a feast to a very hungry — should I say starving person. The pastor was preaching using Diana Butler Bass’s book Freeing Jesus From the Church. I realized that there had been a whole movement toward a living faith that I had missed. I am attending a VERY small Methodist church now. I know I belong here. No, the congregation is not part of the Progressive church movement, but I’ve found out that they are hungry for a different way to read the Bible and understand themselves as God-created and God-loved human beings. I am not shy about sharing my experiences and thoughts and find I am well received. I am at present taking a class from Fr. Richard Rohr on the Immortal Diamond. I some ways I feel I am working above my grade level, but it’s so fun to realize that it’s all right if I don’t understand it completely. God will help me relate what I’m reading to my experiences so that I can grow.
These are a lot of words to let you know how you have been a very real part of my faith journey. Thank you for all you have shared.
Sarah, don’t sell yourself short. I think you have been handed the ‘sage’ reins by those who have gone before. I love Richard Rohr, Diana Butler Bass, Brian MacLaren, Rachel Held Evans, etc. I think you are carrying on Tony’s legacy in your work. Keep asking questions…we all have the same ones.
Sarah, I just picked up one of those keys you scattered like confetti. Thank you for your courage, your honesty, your questions, your authenticity. I have been in the spiritual wilderness for a long while. You are such a gift to my heart that has broken more times than I can count over being a woman, a questioner and an hsp. It's continues to be a journey yet as I read your words, hope was sparked again. Truly appreciate you and the light and beauty you bring to this world 🙏
Wow what a priceless moment in time! 💕 I love how you related this to the metaphor of dropping keys to rowdy prisoners. I love that image. I can relate a lot. Last summer, I reconnected with one of the therapists that changed my life the most when I was in my early 20’s. I’m now in my 40’s, and hadn’t seen her for over a decade. I struggled to find words to express my deepest gratitude. She came into my life at such a key and critical moment! And now I am a trauma therapist, paying it forward. When I saw her it felt like we picked up right where we left off. 💗 I’m thrilled that you got to have this beautiful time with the Campolos. And now you’re throwing keys for me too. THANK YOU. 💗💗💗
You, Shannan Martin, Rachel Held Evans and Micha Boyett have been those key throwers for me. I didn’t know I could be a woman of faith without checking big old chunks of myself at the door until I found you women and it is a gift I will always be grateful for.
You have been a sage for me with your books, especially, Out of Sorts and Jesus Feminist. OMG I couldn't believe I had found another human being who thought like me. My sister and I kept saying, "I guess we can be Christians after all!" Now I am crying my way through your book Field Notes For the Wilderness. (And yes Sarah, I have a whole file folder of articles and book notes on the Atonement. )
Oh Sarah this post has just joined so many dots. I’ve not felt the need to deconstruct as so many of you guys have. But, so much of what you say resonates with me. Sharing this today, helped be realise that those keys you fought to find were handed to me early in my faith. The church where I found faith founded the book of common prayer. I was bought up in a household where social action and loving diversity was the norm. My “kind of Granny” was a church leader who had a teenage pregnancy and broken marriage in her past and walked along side me as she became a monk (in an awesome order who's members could be any gender and live in the “world”). Our youth group was small and full of messy individuals who were encouraged to find our own faith. My dad went to theological college a year or so after I became a Christian and there they had their faith taken apart and put back together. I studied the bible and prayed with friends with a theological college lecturer (my friends dad) to call on when we got stuck or something made no sense. Our neighbours were missionaries on one side and an amazing Egyptian guy who had escaped with his life for being a Christian on the other. Until
now I had not realised the privilege all this heritage has given me. Your key drop today has opened a door here. Thank you so much. I’m currently struggling with the best way to lead a small band of teen girls and you’ve just given me a mic drop moment. Keep dropping those keys Sarah. (Sorry for long post, you have a way of getting in my heart and busting it open) thank you
I was deep in my “burn it down” phase when I attended Evolving Faith in the midst of the pandemic…..I really didn’t want to watch but, pandemic, so I took a break from Netflix….
And there was you, and Jeff, and when a tatted up Lutheran pastor (NBW) dropped an f-bomb I began to think, maybe there are others like me who miss messy debate and wrestling with uncertainty and would rather stay in that discomfort and figure it out than spackle it over with a thin veneer that gives way as soon as it’s tested.
Love this. I learned so much from Vicky Beeching, who was the one leader I knew asking those first deconstructing questions in the late 00s. The mainline didn't know they needed to be asked and the evangelicals squashed them early and often, but I needed her voice, blogging and then tweeting, asking what if and is there a better way. After a few years, I found you and Rachel and so many others who broadened those paths and introduced me to do many who have gone before us. It's so vital to have that light.
Goodness, having a good cry here reading your post. Tony Campolo was also deeply integral in my own faith formation - a real key thrower for me. Shane Claiborne, RHE, Brian Maclaren, Rob Bell and you, Sarah. So grateful for all you and the keys you’ve thrown our way.
Oh, Sarah. How wonderful! Former youth worker here and I loved those conferences too. Those YS guys kicked off my own deconstruction lo these many years ago. What a treasure to get to spend time with the Campolos!
I could list so many of the people who have been mentioned, including you, Sarah. But life started changing for me the final day of the first virtual Evolving Faith conference. Jeff Chu looked out at the EF Community and us that we were loved by God. Loved by God! WoW! I'm now in the process of figuring out what that means and how it manifests itself.
You threw one of the first keys to help me see a way through deconstruction. Rachel Held Evans and Pete Enns soon followed, saving the Bible for me. Brian Zahnd saved the Cross for me. As I picked up and looked at each aspect of my evangelical faith, someone pointed me to someone else who could help me see all the ways to look at that gem of faith so that I could save it, turning it this way and that so that all the light could shine through it to make it beautiful.
Dearest Sarah, My eyes were full of tears as I read this post about dear Tony and Peggy, heroes both. Their faithfulness to the truth and unconditional love for all, that legacy, has been placed on your shoulders and you carry it like a mantle. You are in my children's generation, and this mama bear has loved and respected you for years. We pass it on to the generation to follow, and you are doing a darn good job. Thank you love!
I now have an image of my life that includes a key ring like that of a custodian for a large university, so many keys have I been given. If I limit it to the book keys, then I must point to (like many here!) you, Jen Hatmaker, Rachel Held Evans, Nish Weiseth (current spiritual director - y’all should look her up!), Walter Brueggemann, Austin Channing Brown, Miguel De La Torres, Wil Gafney, so many authors quietly changing the world for good…. But I also have so many humans in real life who have been keys for me. Gosh, I’m grateful.💜
Jen Hatmaker who led me to you, RHE, Jeff, Pete Enns. Life changers for me.