The Pocket Contemplative

Several weeks back, Blue Ocean Faith's Dave Schmelzer invited members of Blue Ocean's mailing list who regarded themselves as "done with church" to fill that out for him. After a hundred detailed responses within the hour, Dave started compiling. Here, he, Christina Roberts and Ryan Bauers take a first pass at passing on what they've learned and what it might mean. 

Mentioned in Today's Podcast:

Church Refugees: Sociologists Reveal Why People Are Done with Church but not Their Faith | By Josh Packard and Ashleigh Hope

The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community | By Marc J. Dunkelman

What I'm Into:

• The Long Goodbye | By Raymond Chandler

Adam Reynolds has, for years, been the Blue Ocean Faith chaplain at M.I.T., but has recently been promoted as an assistant chaplain for everyone there. Arguably more than anyone else in the BOF world, Adam has learned some ins and outs of, as a Christian, promoting spiritual health among all people. But it's required significant spiritual growth and change for him to pull that off. Dave Schmelzer and Christina Roberts have a fascinating conversation with Adam about what that's looked like and what all Christians might learn from his journey. 

Mentioned In Today's Podcast - 

• SEEK - find all of the videos here.

• Bucky on Parade

Some years back, Dave Schmelzer and Blue Ocean Faith worked with a major evangelical PR person who loved everything about BOF with the strong exception of it's use of the word "mystical" as part of its understanding of spiritual growth. And yet the idea that there really is something going on out there is a big deal to Christina Roberts, Ryan Bauers and Dave. They discuss why as well as kicking around why mysticism can seem so controversial in some religious settings.

Mentioned in Today's Episode:

• Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics -  Dan Harris

Bonus Material

A constituting idea of Blue Ocean Faith has been that everyone is us, that there is no ultimate us/them. But we developed that idea when the "them" for religious people were secular people, a group that Blue Ocean Faith flows easily with. Years later, the "us" is the other side of a sharply partisan, often vicious political divide. Christina Roberts, Ryan Bauers and Dave Schmelzer discuss whether "everyone is us" holds true in this new world. 

Mentioned in Today's Podcast:

Helpful Websites

• Carl Medearis

Podcast Episodes

• Episode 109 - Good Without God's Greg Epstein on Life as an American Atheist/Humanist

What I'm Into

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Greg Epstein, Harvard and MIT's Humanist Chaplain, joins Blue Ocean Faith's Dave Schmelzer, Christina Roberts and Ryan Bauers for a dynamic conversation about life as a nonreligious person in a largely religious country, gathering atheists/agnostics at Harvard and MIT, finding common cause with Christians and other people of faith and much more. 

• Good Without God - Greg Epstein - https://amzn.to/2tO87FI

• Greg Epstein's Webpage - The Humanist Hub

Other Podcast Episodes Mentioned

• Episode 102 - On Men's Spiritual and Emotional Development

What I'm Into

• Goliath on Amazon TV

Almost 100 episodes ago, a Christian from the South challenged Blue Ocean Faith's Dave Schmelzer and his co-hosts, Val Snekvik and Tom Wassink, that, as Northern Christians, they showed little interest in understanding their Southern compatriots. On this July 4 week, we were eager to revisit this striking conversation about the fundamental divisions that remain between the South and much of the rest of the country and what it looks like to bridge those divides. 

Mentioned in Today's Podcast:

What I'm Into

• City of Gold Documentary - https://amzn.to/2IxJe5F

What does it look like to define faith and purpose not through being right about anything or knowing stuff, but through being connected to ourselves, others, God and the world? Christina Roberts, Ryan Bauers and Dave Schmelzer explore the implications of living this way.

Mentioned in Today's Podcast:

Books

• Let Your Life Speak - Parker J. Palmer : https://amzn.to/2yuEOwq

Websites

• Blue Ocean Faith Perspectives

What I'm Into

• Tour De France

Other Episodes Mentioned

• Episode 102 - On Men's Spiritual and Emotional Development

Blue Ocean Faith is known for many things. But its take on M. Scott Peck's theory of spiritual and emotional development is right up there. Is it helpful to think about spiritual/emotional growth through the lens of stages? Is it--as is sometimes charged--elitist? Dave Schmelzer, Christina Roberts and Ryan Bauers have a lively discussion about how this continues to have leverage in their lives and those of their friends.

If you would like to continue the conversation about the stages theory, email [email protected] and we will follow up with an online format to continue chatting.

Metioned in Today's Episode:

Books

• Faith Shift - Kathy Escober : https://amzn.to/2t944m1

Websites

• Pete Enns: https://peteenns.com/

Podcasts

• Kate Spade on How I Built This with Guy Raz 

Videos

• Dave Schmelzer - M Scott Peck's Stage Theory : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHyqDGAiEpA

What I'm Into

• Breathe 4 Change Yoga: https://www.breatheforchange.com

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

• Episode 103 - WM. Paul Young on The Shack, God and a New Reformation

In this revisiting of a favorite episode from 2016, Angie Thurston--a Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and the Director of Formation at On Being Impact Lab--co-wrote 2 groundbreaking studies of how millennials are gathering together to find purpose and meaning and what that looks like in spiritual settings. She fills Dave Schmelzer, Val Snekvik, and Tom Wassink in on what the spiritual landscape looks like today.

Mentioned in Today's Episode:

Websites:

• How We Gather - https://www.howwegather.org/

What I'm Into:

• The Hero's Journey -  Joseph Campbell :https://amzn.to/2HGNpvl