How should our Christian faith and spirituality influence our economic practices? Unfortunately, most of the time when church leaders speak about money it is in the form of a request. Consequently, Christians are left to their own devices to discern how we navigate the capitalist system we were born into. In today's conversation, we do the thing your parents told you never to do with company, talk about money and politics!

Throughout the biblical text, we find stories demonstrating the important connection between our faith and our relationship with money. As people who live in America, we benefit from what economists call "the free market," and during the first portion of our conversation, we discuss whether or not it is possible (or worth it) to follow Jesus' teaching that we can't serve God and wealth. We end our conversation by exploring how Christians can engage in our economic system in ways that are consistent with our goal to love and to build a society built on the principle of human dignity.

Throughout our current sermon series, Live Generously, we will be in conversation with Dr. William Cavanaugh's book Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire. www.TheLoftLA.org

How should our Christian faith and spirituality influence our economic practices? Throughout the biblical text, we find stories that demonstrate the important connection between our faith and our relationship with money. The teachings and practices of Jesus and his followers suggest that Christians are to live generously. We find joy, connection, and liberation from the lure of greed and selfishness in both the giving and receiving of gifts from others. This year our stewardship campaign will explore what it means for theologically progressive Christians to live generously. Over the next four weeks we will be exploring "free" markets, consumerism, globalization, and scarcity – issues relevant to our current economic realities. . As people who live in America, we benefit from what economists call "the free market." On the one hand, government interference with the cost and consumption of goods is restrained; on the other, there is a sense of resignation to "market forces" when prices skyrocket during a global pandemic. Given this, as people of faith who find freedom in salvation through Christ Jesus, we must ask ourselves when is a market free and what makes a market free? How might we foster economic practices in alignment with God's love, practices that encourage us to live generously? Join us on Sunday as Jeff Arnold joins Rev. Dr. Carter in the center to discuss the complexities of the free market and Christian practice. www.TheLoftLA.org

Conversation is at the center of our gatherings in The Loft; it's the way we do worship. In today's conversation we discuss why conversations about theology, spirituality, and religion are key to the spiritual formation process at the Loft. One reason why conversation is central to our identity is that we see this method modeled throughout the biblical text. Stories such as the woman at the well (John 4) illustrate the importance of conversation in Jesus' ministry and the importance of having a conversation about the passage to deepen what we might learn from this story. www.TheLoftLAo.org

Conversation is at the center of our gatherings in The Loft; it's the way we do worship. On this final Sunday of our Loft 101 series, we turn to a well-known story from John's gospel, where Jesus shares conversation with a Samaritan woman, near Jacob's well. There, deeply embedded in scripture, Jesus gives us a model for how conversation can be at the center of things. We will, of course, have to do some excavating to get through layers of assumptions, to make sure we're working toward conversation that also embodies our other values: compassion, decolonization, and belonging. There is, at the center of it all, an invitation to liberation. www.TheLoftLA.org

All of us have a core group of people whom we feel a particular kinship with. Jesus was no exception. Whether it was the twelve disciples, Mary, Martha, or others, Jesus had a community that he belonged to, a community where he could just be himself. In a world that prioritizes individualism, as followers of the religion of Jesus we are called to seek out and cultivate communities to which we can belong. Whether it is the pandemic, racial terrorism, or the fight for bodily autonomy, we must work towards the creation of beloved communities for our survival. At Westwood UMC, we have sought to do this in multiple ways, including developing separate worship services with the goal of expanding the community that we all belong to. Join us this Sunday in The Loft for a joint worship service with the Sanctuary as Pastor Molly and Rev. Dr. Carter explore what it means for Westwood UMC to create a culture of belonging. www.TheLoftLA.org

There is a lot of conversation happening on social media about theological deconstruction these days. People making arguments for it, and others pushing back against it. At its core, theological deconstruction is a movement to question some of the traditional teachings and theological arguments made by conservative and moderate Christianity. And while deconstruction is good, does it go far enough? For this podcast we were joined by Rev. Dr. Yuki Schwartz, Assistant Professor at Claremont School of Theology, to discuss the differences between deconstruction and decolonial thinking, and how decolonizing Christianity can help us build institutions of love and justice.

Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Carter mention several books during this episode, but the ones they wanted to be sure to highlight were: • The Wretched of the Earth by Franz Fanon • Black Skin White Masks by Franz Fanon • Borderlands / La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa

Jesus was a Jew who was born and died in subjugation to Roman Empire. His body was and remains marked by gender, culture, and religion. Given this, we need to ask ourselves how might have Jesus' cultural context as a colonial subject shaped his religious and social practices. What we see in his ministry is that he sought to resist the lure of both colonial and religious power. In today's parlance, we can say that in some ways Jesus utilized the tools of decolonization in his ministry. Given the legacy of European colonization, American imperialism, and Christianity's role in supporting both, decolonial thinking is a key value that informs the kind of community we seek to create at The Loft. This Sunday, we will be joined by Rev. Dr. Yuki Schwartz, assistant professor of constructive and political theologies at Claremont School of Theology, to explore the role and import of decolonial thinking at The Loft and the future of the Church. www.TheLoftLA.org

Let's be honest, sometimes it isn't easy to be compassionate. At our best, we are constantly striving to follow the spiritual path of radical compassion that is the religion of Jesus. But in today's polarized society, it is difficult to be at our best when it feels like our very humanity is at stake. In today's conversation, we discuss some of the challenges of being compassionate towards "difficult others." We also discuss how within the bible, works of compassion can be seen as transactional, suggesting that we should do good works to receive the Divine's blessing. How should we read these passages today given the realities of capitalist exploitation and individualism? www.TheLoftLA.org

One morning as he and his disciples were walking, Jesus asked his closest friends a piercing question – "who do you say that I am?" As followers of the religion of Jesus, our answer to this question is foundational to how we practice Christianity. At the Loft, there are four fundamental values that we draw from the teachings of Jesus that inform how we practice Christianity: Compassion, Decolonization, Belonging, and Conversation. These four values help us articulate who Jesus is and how we find salvation in following his teachings. We will be discussing these values over the next four weeks during our sermon series, The Loft 101, and we will explore how these values inform who we are and who we aim to be as a faith community. This Sunday, we will be exploring how compassion informs our being and doing. In his book, Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus, Frank Rogers describes the religious practices of Jesus as a "spiritual path of radical compassion." Compassion was fundamental to Jesus' ministry and his understanding of the human person. Drawing our inspiration from Jesus' ministry, compassion is the foundation upon which we build The Loft community. Join us this Sunday as we discover why compassion is fundamental to our spiritual practices and essential for the survival of our species. www.TheLoftLA.org