All Saints LA Church

Beginning with this talk, and for this season of Lent, All Saints LA is talking about our invitation into the work of reparations as the people of God.

As the people of God, we are called to disrupt thinking that marginalizes and excludes others. We are people called to dismantle systems that harm and perpetuate racism, sexism, ableism, and more. This includes calling out harmful ideas of binary thinking around light and dark. In this talk we discuss the harmful Christian tradition of lightness over darkness. 

This thinking is a result of white-centered-Christianity. 

The Bible teaches us that darkness should bring us into places of wonder and awe. Night is a time to find rest and be comforted. But often, scriptures like John 1:5 (“The light shall shine in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it”), have been manipulated. Instead of understanding literal light and dark, qualities of “good” and “bad” have been applied to them. Within the construct of race, this has been detrimental to the fourishing of back and brown folks among us.

We need to call out our own embedded, learned, couscous or subcoucious racist spiritual language. And deconstruct our understanding of darkness. Pointing us to a refreshed and beautiful picture of God’s holy darkness.

Today we talk about the spiritual practice and tool called A Rule of Life. A Rule of Life is a way of intentionally organize our lives to be attentive toward loving God, loving our neighbors and loving ourselves. It is essentially an individualized plan for our spiritual growth aligned to the Holy Spirit’s work in us. 

This tradition began early on in the church’s life though the teachings of St. Benedict. It is meant to describe our lives as they are and also prescribe goals or “rules” to encourage our spiritual growth that is personal to each of us.

We talk about this alongside the example of Anna the Prophet, (Luke 2:22-40), the only named prophet in the nativity story. She is an example of dedication to humanity and a sensitivity to the love God has for the world. She was a woman who dedicated her life to spiritual attentiveness, growth and perseverance. And she knew what God was doing with her life, and with Jesus, long before most even paid attention.

To truly Sabbath is hard, but it is an act of resistance against the ways of the world that distract us from God’s love.

In this talk we look at Sabbath as an act of resistance against white supremacy, capitalism and powers that seek to dehumanize. 

We discuss what it is and what it isn’t and recognize our invitation to participate.

Atonement theories often raise a series of important philosophical concerns for thoughtful Christians. These concerns sometimes lead us to question why Jesus had to die on the cross to begin with.

For as long as Christianity has been a religion, the why and what of Jesus’ death has been wrestled with, debated and challenged. And many ideas, originating with theologians, and not the Bible, have shaped our ideas of Jesus as a sacrifice for our sinful state. This has also forced many to believe they are too broken to go to God.

This of course, is not true. As Richard Rohr says:

“Jesus did not come to change God's mind about humanity.

In this talk, Jason unpacks the various movements and ideas in Christianity around theories of atonement and invites us to develop a thoughtful approach to this  concept for ourselves.

We talk about Joy, what it is and isn't, and what to make of joy amid experiences of depression & mental illness.

We look at Joy through the lens of Mary the Prophet.

Mary has somehow been mis-represented as a meek and obedient mother. The Bible reveals a very different truth about her identity and her role in the story of God and God’s people.

We will be looking at her words for us that are just as relevant today as they were when she spoke them.

This Sunday we look at the 5 annunciation stories in the Bible, and celebrate the hope these stories reveal, specifically for marginalized people.

Womanist theologian Wilda Gafney's research reminds us how God is most concerned with those at the bottom of the world's hierarchies: women, the enslaved, foreigners... Hagar being the one who fits them all.

Jesus has shown us how God identifies and opts into our struggle in the world, as a human.  

It is here that the Advent story gets its power and meaning.

This is a reason for hope in a fractured world. 

God has chosen to come into the world, in the most un-glorious, un-sanitary and un-expected way. And bring us peace.

On the last Sunday of the calendar year, we are looking at what the "church calendar" is and how it can help us be better equipped to be people of love & justice.