When faced with a social anxiety, our first assessment is usually: will I feel comfortable? But when we stay attentive, a second assessment emerges in us: what would be most life-giving? That can feel overwhelming to have to answer on our own, but if we are perceiving a loving God with us in the process it can feel freeing.
Read MoreHayley Larson and Vince Brackett are suspicious of the way "power" is usually understood in religious settings. It can seem to evoke hierarchy, colonization, white supremacy, and a cold, removed God. But what is power if we start with the person and teaching of Jesus?
Read MoreVince Brackett, Abby Dye, and Elizabeth Bertrand discuss the various ways we are prone to assume "God might be pleased with other people, but not me," and suggest some ways to leave this spiritual imposter syndrome behind.
Read MoreWe collected awesome, honest questions from people in our community about how it’s hard to believe in an all-parts loving, no-parts punishing God. Hayley, Kyle, and Vince (our pastors) have found there ARE actually satisfying responses to these hard questions, that can free us up to feel spiritually alive and active. Even better: there are a number of them. We don’t all have to come to the exact same conclusions…
Read MoreMuch of conventional American religion paints a split personality picture of God (part loving, but part punishing). This leaves many struggling with self-punishment and perfectionism. For Easter Sunday this year, Vince paints instead a consistent picture of the God Jesus shows us (all loving, no part punishing) who helps us have more grace for ourselves, not more punishment.
Read MoreNo one goes through life unscathed. According to the Jesus tradition, not even God. (More than that, especially not God!) What a paradoxical but welcome message! God is not distant and removed from pain, God empathizes with us in our wounds. On this second Sunday of Lent, Hayley encourages us toward the healing in embracing our woundedness. (Art by Gloria Ssali)
Read MoreOn the weekend of Valentine’s Day, Kyle and a panel of folks from our church help us relieve the pressure everyone feels about romance being what will complete us. (For single people, of course, but also for partnered people!) Unfortunately, churches have reinforced this pressuring message just as much as 90s Disney movies, pop music, Hollywood, etc, and just called it “Biblical”. But it’s not!
Read MoreVince kicks off our new series by teaching us a spiritual practice called "Lectio Divina" -- reading with the intent to experience the divine (rather than reading with the intent to study or understand). We try it out with two passages from the Bible: a personal interaction with Jesus and a story of protest from the Old Testament.
Read MoreWhat is caring for our spiritual health as a community that feels a mix of relief (that Trump did not win), moved (to have our first ever woman of color vice president), AND hurt or disappointed (that the message delivered by the election results was not as resolute as hoped)?
Read MoreIt’s no surprise that white American Christianity has chosen Donald Trump as its leader when for decades its prevailing use for Jesus on the Cross has been “motivation by fear of punishment from a strongman, violent God”. What an unhealthy, worthless picture of God! BLC stakeholder Abby Dye helps us discover Jesus on the Cross as a totally different (and inspiring) picture of God that models a totally different kind of leadership: self-sacrificial love.
Art: Ethiopian painting of the Crucifixion, ca. 2000
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