The most natural response to burnout in our culture, according to scholars of the Modern World, is a good response in many ways, but, alas, it can't save us from busyness. Vince explains, and point us to Jesus' alternative vision of a good life that isn't busyness.
Read MoreBurnout is not a problem with fringe individuals; burnout is a societal problem. How did we get here? And how can we, together in community, address societal burnout, rather than demand individual heroic effort to overcome it? What does Jesus have to offer us in this? And how might BLC help us stay open to that?
Read MoreIs there any wisdom that is more across-the-board applicable than forgiveness? — to both interpersonal and societal struggles? — to both small slights and major abuse? There might not be! For our part 2 on "conflict resolution", Vince explores Jesus' teaching on forgiveness, as explained by Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mbpo Tutu in "The Book of Forgiving".
Read MoreVince & Keziah tell on themselves to surface various nuggets and insights on conflict resolution that have helped them over their 15 years of marriage, and highlight what a difference-maker it is to actually living those things out when you feel seen by a God of Love. (Image by jean wimmerlin on Unsplash)
Read MoreWe Modern people like to maintain the image of our minds being a locked-down, private space, but, when we let our guards down, we often feel a call away from closed self-sufficiency. Maybe our minds are more mysterious than we assume, and we'd welcome a flashlight and some outside input. This week, Vince teaches us about Listening Prayer. (Photo by Tawseem Hakak on Unsplash)
Read MoreFor our shortened end-of-August service, Vince reminds us that a full life stops to mark transitions (like the turning of the academic calendar) rather than speeds through them. He leads us in a blessing over the back to school transition from author Kate Bowler.
Read MoreModern life is like being under a waterfall: so many experiences and demands and thoughts and feelings tumbling down on us, leaving us in constant reactivity mode. "Getting behind the waterfall" is a contemplative prayer practice meant to get us out of reactivity mode.
Read MoreBeginning with the famous "Invisible Gorilla" study by Daniel Simons, Vince suggests a prayer practice for experiencing transcendence in the midst of our exhausting, pressure-heavy lives, which can feel simultaneously instinctual AND extremely hard (or strange) against the backdrop of Modern Life.
Read MoreIn Illinois, over 9,000 people are unhoused, and over 389,000 more are considered at risk of being unhoused. This Sunday is our annual project for packing relief kits for our unhoused and underhoused neighbors, and for demonstrating that the real moral question for our country is how we treat the poor.
Read MoreEveryone can perceive God, but different people will perceive more naturally in different ways. Vince brings to us a resource that can relieve pressure about how prayer has to look, and inject some creativity and new ideas into our personal prayer lives.
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