How can judgment be good news? (2 Responses)

For black and brown Americans, the judgments of authorities too often lead to harm and mistrust (even death, as in the shootings of Daunte Wright & Adam Toledo). On the surface, the God of the Bible can seem just as cruelly authoritative, but what if God is actually the opposite? In our culture obsessed with determining guilt vs. innocence, judgment becomes a weapon people use against each other. On the surface, the God of the Bible can seem just as judgmental, but what if God is actually the opposite?

Psalms, Revelation, MatthewVincent BrackettApril 20, 2021GraceComment

Let’s relieve the pressure about needing romance to complete us

On 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!

Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, Ruth, 1 CorinthiansVincent BrackettFebruary 16, 2021Comment

Using memories to kickstart prayer (Spiritual Practices for Winter Survival wk 3) - Vince Brackett

Felt connection with God (not just going through the motions of religion) can be fleeting and hard to find one's way into -- even when we're not in the midst of a pandemic and winter -- and even for people who have had a prayer life for many years -- and even for people who have experienced it in the past but don't currently. Vince shares about an approach to prayer that can help many and that utilizes a tool we all have: our memory.

Isaiah, MatthewVincent BrackettJanuary 26, 2021Spiritual Practices for Winter SurvivalComment

Christmas Eve Carols Service

Full recording of our virtual kid-friendly take on the traditional Anglican Christmas Carols Service — carols, readings, a brief reflection, and prayer.

(Art by Janet McKenzie)

Matthew, Luke, IsaiahVincent BrackettDecember 26, 2020Advent 2020Comment

Hope when divided America is your family - Christina Culver & Kyle Hanawalt

For some of us, America's political divide hits very close to home. BLC's Christina Culver and Kyle Hanawalt discuss how faith can offer a way to feel hope about the future even if we never experience someone changing their mind. When is it right to say something, and when is it right to not? What are healthy boundaries to protect that hope?

Matthew, PsalmsVincent BrackettDecember 8, 2020Advent 2020Comment

Spiritual Hygiene - Kyle Hanawalt

We are not bad or faulty for needing to brush our teeth everyday; it's just good hygiene. Likewise, we are not bad or faulty for having to lay down the same burdens continually, for having to pray regularly for the same resolve again and again, for needing the same thing we did yesterday; that's just good spiritual hygiene.

MatthewVincent BrackettNovember 17, 2020Comment

Jesus is self-sacrificial love (Who is Jesus when most American Christians back Trump? Wk 5) - Abby Dye, Vince Brackett, Kyle Hanawalt

It’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

Matthew, Mark, Luke, JohnVincent BrackettNovember 3, 2020Who is Jesus when most American Christians back Trump?Comment

Who is Jesus when most American Christians back Trump? (Wk 3: Jesus, the Revolutionary) - Leicester & Laura Mitchell, Vince Brackett, Kyle Hanawalt

#DefundCPD's message is "the safest neighborhoods have more resources, not more police." Yet, one day of Chicago's budget for police ($4 million!) accounts for 32 months of its budget for Violence Protection Programs. BLC stakeholders Laura & Leicester Mitchell share with us about "Jesus, the revolutionary" and their work with #DefundCPD, as we continue to try to shift the American narrative about God away from Trump-backing, white, conservative evangelicalism.

Art by Alexander Smirnov.

Matthew, LukeVincent BrackettOctober 20, 2020Who is Jesus when most American Christians back Trump?Comment

Who is Jesus when most American Christians back Trump? (Wk 2: Jesus' Mission) - Joey Rodil, Vince Brackett, Kyle Hanawalt

Constant movement instead of strict adherence, defending those without power instead of those with power -- Special guest (and BLC's old friend) Joey Rodil shows us how Jesus' descriptions and modeling of his own mission can help shift our narrative about faith (and our experience of it) away from typical white American Christian notions.

Mark, MatthewVincent BrackettOctober 13, 2020Who is Jesus when most American Christians back Trump?Comment

Who is Jesus when most American Christians back Trump? (Wk 1: The God Who Became Human) - Hayley Larson, Vince Brackett, Kyle Hanawalt

It should break our brains that the biggest reason we might get four more years of Donald Trump as president is American Christians. What if our church could help shift the narrative in our country about who God is, and whose side God is on? One of BLC’s resident theologians Hayley Larson leads us through our first starting point for answering the question "who is Jesus?" — the God who became human.

Art by Edward Knippers

Matthew, Luke, John, MarkVincent BrackettOctober 6, 2020Who is Jesus when most American Christians back Trump?Comment