Most of us spend a lot of time being self-critical or self-punishing, and that sucks! Vince shares about his number one self-kindness practice over the last 5 months: contemplative prayer, how that helps him “get out from under the waterfall” of his endless thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and how the simple words “of course” can revolutionize your prayer life.
Read MoreKyle takes us to some familial conflict from the life of Jesus, and suggests some ways we can learn from and experience healing from the God who knows what it's like to come from a family.
Read MoreReflecting on Ben Stiller’s character from The Royal Tenenbaums and on his own experiences of grief or being with others in grief, Vince leads us in a discussion of ways faith in Jesus can help us when we are mourning the loss of loved ones for our annual Remembrance Service.
Read MoreWhen Jesus spoke of a narrow gate that leads to life yet few people find (and, alternatively, a wide gate that leads to destruction which many people find), he was resonating with the deeply human experience of how hard it is for any of us to live up to our higher values. Kyle suggests that Jesus meets us there, and offers lots of help if we want to more consistently live in accordance with our values.
Read MoreIn three big ways, Jesus can help Americans talk about race in a meaningful, productive way that (1) doesn’t put all the burden on people of color, and (2) both challenges and calms the nerves of white people at the same time.
Read MoreEntitlement is in us all. Gratitude is too, and that is so much more joyful and wonderful to live out of, but why does it feel like entitlement is the default for so many of us? According to Jesus in Luke 17, privilege may have something to do with it. At this church, we take that idea super seriously -- especially when it comes to religious privilege.
Read MoreBeing driven by fear or anxiety is not a joyful way to live. And, even worse, it skews our sense of priority, or in Jesus’ words, we become so focused on trying to strain out a gnat that we swallow a camel. Kyle offers some suggestions from his experience on how following Jesus can be an antidote to fear and anxiety.
Read MoreOverly-simplistic or overly-certain interpretations of why some headline tragedy or horror occurred hurt people. In Luke 13, Jesus responds to two tragic headlines of his day with humanity and with solidarity shown to those most affected by the suffering. Vince unpacks what we can learn from Jesus here both in terms of how we respond to others’ suffering, and how we respond to our own suffering.
Read MoreDoes the encouragement to “serve God” from the Jesus and Biblical tradition mean we’re meant to approach God like the servants from Downton Abbey approaching the Crawley family? It seems not, according to the picture the Gospel of Luke that paints about “serving God”. According to Jesus, God is himself a servant, so, in some way, to serve God is to let God serve us…
Read MoreDrawing from the story of Jesus activating the generosity of Zacchaues the tax collector, Vince offers some ideas from his own experience of Jesus helping him move past me-centered thinking — ranging from interpersonal resentments to engagement with public policy and politics.
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