With help from BLC’s Maria Santillan, we consider how, in the same way microaggressions reinforce systemic racism in America, spiritual microaggressions in church settings reinforce systemic marginalizing of people whose family or culture don’t pre-dispose them to understand or be able to navigate American churches. Our church considers this a fight for equity — for the important perspective of church outsiders, like Maria, to be valued in spiritual conversations.
Read MoreTouching on a theology of liberation, joy, and suffering that connects Jesus' cross to the lynching of Black Americans, BLC's Leicester Mitchell helps us see Jesus and the Gospel through the lived experience of a Black man in America today.
Read MoreVince and Kyle talk about why liberation theologies are what our country needs right now, why liberation theologies shine a clearer light on what is happening in Jesus on the Cross, and yet end with a surprisingly charitable view toward sin theologies.
Read MoreAs we try to centralize the perspectives of oppressed voices on God and faith, part of what we must do is de-centralize the voices that have been dominant. Kyle, one of our pastors, shares some turning points in his life learning about God and faith, which each saw him leave behind a "God of the Powerful" and move closer to a "God of the Oppressed".
Read MoreContinuing our “God of the Oppressed” discussions, we learn from BLC's Linda Kim about seeing God from the perspective of a second-generation immigrant, formed by the overlap of family and environment.
Read MoreIf you want to be able to fight injustice and experience hope, resilience, and joy in spite of it, you need a faith and a God that are acquainted with suffering and oppression. Continuing our series “God of the Oppressed”, we learned this week from BLC’s Barbara Cunningham about oppression and the God who responds to it from a Chilean perspective -- a story of dictatorship, political suppression, and being told what and how to think.
Read MoreIn honor of the weekend many would have been participating in Chicago’s Pride Parade if not for COVID-19, Rebecca Janvrin joins Vince & Kyle to discuss queer insights on God and faith. This kicks off our new series of discussion: God of the Oppressed. We’ll be immersing ourselves, one at a time, in various different marginalized perspectives on Jesus and faith and the Bible. Really, we can’t come to a proper theology and understanding of Jesus at all if we’re not trying to do that from marginalized perspectives, because Jesus was a marginalized person.
Read MoreIf we use oral health & hygiene as an analogy, becoming anti-racist isn’t taking your tonsils out, it’s brushing your teeth — we have to commit to ongoing, everyday work.
Read MoreHayley, Kyle, and Vince discuss “shoulds” and false “right” pictures of community, American metaphors vs New Testament metaphors for community, practical ways to do community right now in the midst of shelter-in-place, and obscure references from the show Friends.
Read MoreKyle and Vince get excited when they discover that certain Biblical references may not be about what they’re popularly thought to be about in American culture. Because, despite all of the damage that is done when the Bible is misappropriated, it is (properly treated) a treasure trove!
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