A natural response to suffering in church settings is: “I’ll pray for you.” Which is great! But it can also lead to disappointment, or even (dare we say it) embarrassment. How can prayer to alleviate suffering be an important and deep part of our lives and communities? Are there popular beliefs about prayer we need to unlearn?
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 MoreReveling in the creativity and power of storytelling can unlock some of the most life-giving applications of the Bible to our modern world. At the same time, divorcing BiblIcal narratives from their roots in storytelling can trap people in some of the most terrorizing applications of the Bible. (Image from Evan Turk's The Storyteller)
Read MoreThe Bible is everywhere in Western culture, in all of its beauty, and in all of its problematic imagery. Vince suggests some options for feeding life-giving applications of the Bible, and starving terrorizing applications of the Bible.
Read More60% of American adults believe in the idea of soulmates, according to a recent YouGov poll. But romance can be a fickle, crappy, unforgiving thing to put one’s trust in. Unfortunately, much of American religion reinforces the belief that to be single is to be incomplete. How can a community like BLC counter such beliefs?
Read MoreIs it possible to experience the Bible as a source of life and approach it critically at the same time? (Spoiler: we believe the answer is yes.) Or would that mean you're betraying the Bible or God? (Spoiler: we believe the answer is no.)
Read MoreSpecial guest and old friend of BLC Kristen Daly-Mosier unpacks three movements the Jesus tradition encourages us to make as a capitalistic, materialistic, colonizing culture: (1) From "stewardship" to "solidarity", (2) From "uses" to "gifts", (3) From "classification" to "revelation".
Read MoreMaybe you’re already doing a lot of the practices and behaviors and reflections you need to in order to experience deep connection with God, but you’re just not calling those things “connecting with God”. What if the opportunity to feel spiritual enjoyment, health, purpose, aliveness, and hope (even in the midst of despair or injustice) is closer than you think? Kyle kicks off our new series...
Read MoreIn 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 MoreBelief changes are normal and healthy (especially when going through upheaval, like, I don’t know, say... a global pandemic). Religious settings don’t often communicate safety to reconsider and re-examine beliefs about God, but the season of Lent encourages us to consider how “death and resurrection” is the shape of life and growth. What if that’s how we looked at the inevitable changes in belief we all undergo?
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