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!
Read MoreYou are (or could be) exercising creativity more than you think. And that is more spiritually good for you than you think. Kyle, Rebecca, Isaac, and Maria share their experience.
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 MoreFelt 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.
Read MoreFirst... a brief comment on MLK weekend. Then... most of the reading we do day-in, day-out is reactive: The news of what just happened or the latest takes and opinions on the world. And that’s not necessarily bad. But what we have to be more intentional about to work into our diet is non-reactive reading: Reading that forms us, inspires us, or challenges us, separate from our never-ending news feeds. Non-reactive reading is a key ingredient to spiritual health and growth for many, and this Sunday Kyle leads us in considering a number of options we might try.
Read MoreWe put on hold our scheduled topic for this Sunday in light of what we all witnessed happen at the Capitol. How do we respond as people trying to take their cues from Jesus? As people of faith and good will? As people trying to pursue justice and inclusion and truth?
Read MoreVince kicks off our new series by teaching us a spiritual practice called "Lectio Divina" -- reading with the intent to experience the divine (rather than reading with the intent to study or understand). We try it out with two passages from the Bible: a personal interaction with Jesus and a story of protest from the Old Testament.
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 MoreFull 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)
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.
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