Hayley and Vince dig further into the shoulds and coulds that define life in the 21st century, with a look at how to balance the best practical offers to help out there: therapy, community, and spirituality. (Image from Sandie Clarke on Unsplash)
Read MoreWith help from sociologist Byung-Chul Han and the Bible’s letter to the Romans, Vince unpacks some of the defining challenges of life in the 21st century, and what to do (and not do) about them. (Image: book cover for “The Burnout Society” by Byung-Chul Han)
Read MoreWhatever your feelings (or lack of feelings at all) around the Christian ritual of baptism, Vince has probably been in the same boat as you at some point over the last decade. What does it matter? What makes it beautiful and important? What makes it uncomfortable and problematic? Vince shares his journey of re-thinking, taking some space, and re-thinking again. (Photo by Luca Romano on Unsplash)
Read MoreIn the face of hopelessness, is there only strength and weakness? Are values and virtue not worth standing for? Vince closes our effort to give up “giving up” (for Lent) with some encouragements beyond our modern pulls toward nihilism. (Art by Morgan Sorensen @see_machine)
Read MoreHayley and Vince re-load a Bible study on the oft-misused references to spirit and flesh in the New Testament, as they continue modeling the use of two strategies for cultivating life-giving faith in the face of modern confusion, injustice, and burnout.
Read MoreHayley and Vince talk more about the two "untangling" strategies people in BLC tend to find helpful for cultivating life-giving faith in the face of modern confusion, injustice, and burnout. This week's Bible study to see our strategies in action: New Testament passages about Jesus dying for our sins.
Read MoreFor the Sunday before American election week, Vince offers some final odds and ends, with the hope to meet some of the various needs people in our community may feel: encouragement, comfort, hope, a fire lit under us, a fire put out in us before it consumes us, or maybe just some learning. (Image by Element5 Digital on Unsplash)
Read MoreWe tie up various loose ends and respond to some outstanding questions after leaning into the discomfort of talking about suffering for the last month. (Art: "Sorrowing Old Man At Eternity's Gate" by Van Gogh)
Read MoreIs God always angry? For Palm Sunday -- which begins Holy Week's march toward Good Friday -- we continue our differentiation from the American Christian legacy that we are "sinners in the hands of an angry God", with a focus on alternative ways to believe in the power of Jesus' crucifixion.
Read MoreThe cultural pictures we have inherited for imagining a powerful God are mostly “white, bearded, muscular, dispassionate God up in the sky, who can do anything” images. But, for the long-suffering, the image of a God who "can do anything but refuses to" is no comfort at all. Is there a better way to imagine a powerful God?
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