Imagine 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 MoreSpiritual fulfillment is something human beings long for, but Jesus suggested it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich (or privileged) person to find it. Vince shares some of the more humbling experiences on his journey of finding spiritual fulfillment by learning to align himself with the oppressed, rather than with his privilege.
Read MoreBLC's Hayley Larson shares with us from both her personal story and professional studies how feminist language, images, and actions help us see the God Jesus reveals more fully, and how relying exclusively on male reference points is dangerous to faith.
Art by Kelly Latimore.
Read MoreWith 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 MoreHow does our church’s ongoing equity work relate to another of our core values: emotionally healthy spirituality? Vince and Kyle discuss how defensiveness is more toxic than discomfort, how emotional health for those on the bottom of society is only made possible through equity, how an equitable society is better for the privileged too, how living in accordance with our values is awesome, and how Jesus changes the answer to the question, “what is the good life?”
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 MoreTaking inspiration from last Sunday’s discussion learning about Latin-American views on Jesus as the God of the Oppressed, Kyle & Vince consider how white guys like them might more closely follow that God, and all the good that offers them in spite of the sacrifice that requires of them.
Read More
