In relationships, it’s experiences above all that build trust. The same is true for relationship with God, so we want to consider together: what personal experiences have shown you God might be all-loving? If you grew up religious, you may have been taught that you can’t trust your experience, because you’ll just make God in your own image, and that’s why you need a strict set of beliefs. We hope to show you otherwise!
Read MoreFor 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?
Read MoreBeing with yourself is not always easy. But being with yourself and being with God are linked. This week, Hayley guides us through two common spiritual practices that many of us may use already in our hopes to more comfortably "be with ourselves", and equips us with a fresh prompt for the weeks ahead.
Read MoreLast Sunday we hosted a communal online experience meant to offer each of us some spiritual help in our individual journeys of leaving behind what constricts us and embracing promise for the future. Our sense is, as we turn the page on 2020, this past year has been full of chances for constricting lies, traumas, thoughts, beliefs, or vows to make their way into us and start to take up residence.
Read MoreFor many of the problems we are personally navigating, there are no simple solutions. Because many problems don't come down to isolated issues, they come down to the systems of our society or religion or government (or family unit even) themselves. Special guest Cara Carothers, an advocate for educational equity, joins us to talk about how we can hope and fight even so.
Read MoreFor 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?
Read MoreBuilding authentic relationships with people requires getting in touch with what's really going on inside us. Kyle walks us through a prayer practice that can help.
Read MoreImagine concentric circles. The circle in the center is the person or people closest to a crisis or trauma. Each of the circles working outward are the people next closest. Vince shares the one simple rule in this model to help us care well and avoid making things worse.
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 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.
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