Grace is something we talk about all the time and is central to the Christian message. But it is all too often not our lived reality. This episode is a wrestling with that tension and a call to better understand the love of God in the face of our legalism and perfectionism.

A look at the notion of metaphor, informed by the work of Lakoff and Johnson, and what it adds to the how we understand systems of belief.

An examination of how disenfranchised grief and ambiguous loss can complicate the experience of undesired singleness.

This guest lecture examines what we may learn from looking at the theme of desert in the Bible. To do this, Dr. Marques Rollison presents a look at a newly published essay by the late french theologian Jacques Ellul. (Q&A at end of talk).

This is a cross post from another one of our branches (the L'Abri near Boston). It is about the issue of whether God is a projection and how we often make God in our own image. After the lecture on imagination in our last episode I think it is interesting to have this lecture point us to some of the ways that our imaginations can go astray. In doing this we can create a phony god for ourselves. This god is often in contrast with who God is as he is revealed in Scripture and in the person of Christ.

Also checkout their podcast as well at https://southboroughlabri.org/resources/listen/.

Our imaginations are things that we talk about a lot, but sometimes its hard to take them seriously. We will look at how they are important to our lives and their role in our ability to see hope or despair in situations. Also, there a discussion about Hume, Kant, and some assorted poets if that's interesting to you.

We live in a society that many of us feel leaves much to be improved. As we are trying to imagine a better world, we can get trapped and discouraged. We can become cynical and even hateful. This is all the more frustrating when hatred is one of the things that we are trying to fight against. There are no easy answers to this, but the ideas in this lecture can be helpful reminders when thinking of these things.

What is the meaning of joy in our lives, and how does it differ from happiness and pleasure? Could it be more? Amelia Lind explores this question and works towards creating a description of joy, something which so often escapes words.

  This episode is the personal reflection of former worker Prisca Sandri  on her depression and how she advises others who also struggle.

In this episode we have an interview discussing the topic of suffering. This includes reviews of a couple of books on the topic and also a discussion of things that can (or not) help when times are tough.