Join us as we attempt to capture and give expression to the many feelings and thoughts and complicated prayers we all might have bouncing around inside us 20 years after 9/11.
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Vince, Kyle, and Hayley share experiences, reflections, and suggestions on the intersection of spiritual health and therapy. They discuss how therapy can be amazing for anyone, and how to overcome common obstacles to a good therapy experience.
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Looking for some deeper content recommendations of what to read or watch or pray next? Our pastors -- Hayley, Kyle, and Vince -- each share something they're watching, something they're reading, and something from scripture that is helping them find meaning lately.
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Vince 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.
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For some of us, who grew up being taught "the Bible is without error", the violence attributed to God in the Bible presents major cognitive dissonance. For others of us, it doesn't feel quite so major, but it still doesn't make sense! If the Bible is a resource to the modern spiritual life and the pursuit of love and justice in the world (and we believe it is!), what on earth do we do with its violence?
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How we long for change and justice to come about in one fell swoop! But Revolution never seems to happen that way. Does that mean it’s not worth hoping for? When we hold together the traditional Palm Sunday story (of Jesus entering Jerusalem as a triumphant King) with the traditional Holy Week stories (of Jesus exiting Jerusalem en route to his execution), we get a picture of Revolution that isn’t “one fell swoop”, but it is participatory and resilient — and that IS worth hoping in.
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When we're younger, our dreams for the future are often born from a place of imagination and wonder. As we mature, we learn that, unexpectedly, loss and challenge can also be a birthplace for dreams for our future (maybe the best birthplace). Kyle and Hayley discuss...
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Belief changes are normal and healthy (especially when going through upheaval, like, I don’t know, say... a global pandemic). Religious settings don’t often communicate safety to reconsider and re-examine beliefs about God, but the season of Lent encourages us to consider how “death and resurrection” is the shape of life and growth. What if that’s how we looked at the inevitable changes in belief we all undergo?
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No 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)
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(We experienced technical difficulties this week, please forgive the poor audio quality!)
The yearly rhythm of observing Lent (which began this week) gets us considering how "death and resurrection" or "loss and renewal" are the shape of life. After nearly a year of pandemic life, none of us have to be reminded that death and loss are a part of life. Kyle wonders if that means observing Lent might be particularly good for our souls this year.
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