Connection Quad Cities

Brandon explains the 2019 podcast hiatus, Connection's 2019 theme, and a few thoughts on Easter.

We have been discussing the validity of not attending church and how that can be spiritually healthy. Sarah Stevens from the Beautifull Project shares here story about how she left the church--and why it has been so life-giving.

An alternative reading of the prodigal son shows us that (maybe, just maybe) we need to be the younger son sometimes. [By Brandon Carleton]

The problem may actually be the solution to the problem. We must listen to and learn from the problem instead of automatically getting rid of it. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Just because something looks good on the outside doesn't mean it's good on the inside. Sometimes seemingly significant things are fear-based and done to manipulate, while seemingly insignificant things are freedom-based and done for love. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Who is in? Who is out? Who is worthy of our time, love, compassion? Might we never fully understand the story of Jesus? [By Brandon Carleton]

We often miss what God is doing and what God is saying because we don't think God should look like that. We don't think God should look like God. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

We often use ideologies to cover over the painful inconsistencies in life. What if the inconsistencies didn't need to be covered over? What if there was beauty and meaning found in them? [By Jason Holtgrewe]

What does godliness look like? Sometimes it looks "unclean" or it looks like sin. Sometimes it looks small and weak. Sometimes it looks like failure. [By Brandon Carleton]

Pastors often say, "Go and tell people about Jesus." But what Jesus do they mean? [By Brandon Carleton]

We often only interact with the idea of people, who we expect them to be, instead of interacting with who they truly are. [Brandon Carleton]

When anxiety, fear, or other painful and difficult situations arise, we tend to revert to our thinking marked by the "first half" of life instead of staying in the "second half" of life. [By Brandon Carleton]

Anyone can teach us anything. Atheists can teach us a lot about how to navigate the world in a healthier way. What can we learn from atheists about sprituality? [By Brandon Carleton]

The Bible has done a lot of harm to Christianity and the world as a whole, especially Paul's writings. When a sacred text gets used to cause harm, what do we do with that? [By Brandon Carleton]

We so desperately want to make life "work," that we give ourselves only to the rule, the order, or a formula. But life is often lived in the exceptions. God embraces the exception. So should we. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Loyalty has it's place. But we're meant to evolve from loyalty to love. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Brandon talks about how most of our conversations are about what we disagree about, not what we agree about. [By Brandon Carleton]

Sarah Stevens, Executive Director of Lead(h)er, talks about her amazing work mentoring women through Lead(h)er. Listen to learn about her essential work in the Quad Cities. Listen to be inspired and challenged about the importance of women mentoring women. [Interview from the Ode to the Underdog podcast]

Rules, laws, obligatory practices, limit situations, etc., have their time and place. And we need to live them. But they're not an end to themselves. We're always meant to move beyond the "letter of the law" to what's actually life-giving. We're to follow the rules--so we no longer need to. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

The resurrection isn't as much about believing what happend then but living what's happening now. How might we live it? We often idealize or romanticize what new life looks like. The reality is that Jesus' new life included and needed the scars and the wounds. So does ours. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

We tend to celebrate celebrities instead of classic heros and heroines. "The Hero's Journey" is a classic story of how someone "wakes up" to who they are and what their actual life is about. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

The Apostle Paul's story is a great lesson on the journey from the first-half of life to the second-half of life. The same is true of Kendrick Lamar. [By Aubrey Barnes]

One of the movements that characterizes the first-half of life to the second-half of life is the congruence between who we are and what we do. We have to grieve our false identities in order to live our true identity. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Richard Rohr says: "Wisdom seeing has always sought to change the seer first, and then knows that what is seen will largely take care of itself." In this episode, we talk about three ways or movements that are about changing ourselves--so we can see better. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Seeing life as the "turning of the seasons" helps us trust that it all belongs. Whether life is like the summer season or the winter, we're to live it. Each season has it's light and dark, it's opportunities and challeng. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

We often can't transition to the second-half of life until we live the first-half of life well. So live the first-half of life--but don't stay there! Jesus doesn't address the necessity of the first-half of life because he's about helping us "wake up" to the necessity of the second-half of life. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Richard Rohr says the lowest levels of consciousness are security and status. The thing is, having security and status is important, especially in our early and formative years. But we're always meant to move beyond them to higher levels of living. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Our 2018 theme is The Journey Within the Journey. We'll introduce the theme, talk about what'll change in the coming year, and what won't. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Jesus spoke in parables in order to be unclear and to shake up his listeners. Why? Because he wanted his movement to grow and he wanted those interested in following him to count the cost. The Parable of the Sower is a great example of a parable and how we can grow if we live it's message. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

We often choose tradition instead of the way, the form instead of the substance--in part because the consumer culture conditions us to do it that way. Jesus was the way, and he confronted those who gave themselves to the traditions, rules, laws, and obligations that kept people from particpating in his life-giving way. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Jason's talk he gave at October 2017's Diffrint--a quarterly event where Quad Cities’ artists and storytellers explore various topics. The goal is to create a sense of community around issues that tend to isolate us. The theme was systemic racism. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Sometimes we're most commited to God and God's ways by being uncommitted. The spiritual life is often about the dance between freedom and faithfulness. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Privitization tends to create exclusivity. While there's healthy exclusivity, it's often unhealthy and destructive. While healthy exclusivity is about love and trust, unhealthy exclusity is about fear and competition. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

It's one thing to be fair, it's another thing to be loving. Privitization, the fourth pillar of the consumer culture, is contrasted with the neighborly culture's common good. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Is who I am about what I have, what I do, or what others say or think about me? Or is who I am about something better? [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Sometimes we need to leave...so we can return. A look at Peter and Judas. A rejection of perfection and an embrace of fallibility. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Does the Bible offer healthy relationship advice? [By Brandon Carleton]

There's a proper place for growth, improvement, and "perfection." But it's just that: a proper, healthy place. It's good to work on perfecting our life as long as our worh isn't on the line, and as long as what we're prefecting is about health and life. Finally, there are limits to how much we can grow, progress, and perfect. And we need to embrace that. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

When religion eliminates mystery, people leave for the mystery of spirituality. But spirituality, apart from community, can eliminate mystery, too. Genuine community, even in a religious context, can be one of the most spiritual, life-giving, mysterious practices we can do. In Jesus, God became clearer but also "enlivened" God's mystery. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

A vow is a committment in the absence of specificity. We don't know what's going to happen, but we chose to commit anyway because it's about love. The consumer culture isn't about the vow because it's about eliminating as much uncertainty as possible. The consumer culture is thus not about love. But the way of Christ--what we've been calling the neighborly culture--is about love. Therefore, it's about leaning into uncertainty. It's about this mysterious dance between being committed and being entirely free. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

The consumer culture worships certainty, but God is often found in the mysteries and surprises of life. If there's one thing Jesus did, it was challenge the certain, predictable, and controlling ways and systems of his world. How might we respond better to surprise? How might we find God in the uncertainties and mysteries of life? [By Jason Holtgrewe]

From our annual "Blessing of the Bicycles." Something is spiritual because of the spirit it's about, because of the life it gives. What's spiritual may be from a conventionally religious context or not. What matters is the fruit it's producing. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Is there enough to go around? Our response depends on if we trust scarcity or abundance. Scarcity is about controlling others so we'll be okay. Abundance is about showing compassion to others because we already trust we'll be okay. [Jason Holtgrewe]

King David was loved and forgiven by God. Yet he still needed to face the consequences of his decisions, he still needed to do the hard work of transformation. It's time we, like David, look ourselves in the mirror--and make the change(s) we need to make. [Aubrey Barnes]

Jesus talks about giving pearls to pigs. Huh? He also talks about trusting God instead of worrying. These two ideas (pearls and pigs, trust and worry) are connected. We judge others as a way to control them. We try to control others becuase of the lack of control we feel in ourselves. It comes down to trust: when we trust ourselves to God, we're able to trust others to God, and when we trust others to God, we don't try and control them. We judge as a distraction of the insecurity in our own selves. [Jason Holtgrewe]

Luke writes in his Jesus story that women paid Jesus' bills. Why did he say that? What does it mean--for those in Jesus' day but also for us in our day? Are we about being "blessed in the world" or "a blessing to the world"? [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Brandon reflects on what he is learning in Richard Rohr's book, "Falling Upward." The "old wine in new wineskins" verse that never made any sense to him, now makes slightly more sense, but is still pretty confusing. [By Brandon Carleton]

Conventional wisdom is the ways and traditions we’ve received. Alterative wisdom a new way to see that's grounded in the sacred and that critiques and/or transcends what’s conventional. Jesus taught and lived an alternative wisdom. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

It's time to pay attention and listen to those discriminated against because of race, gender, income-level, and all the other ways people are oppressed. If you're White, "White privilege" isn't easy to learn about. But we must. If you're male, "Male privilege" isn't easy to learn about. But we must. The good news that is the gospel is about breaking down the walls that divide us. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Sometimes what used to give us life doesn't anymore. It's time is up and that's okay. Let's change and evolve to the new thing. [By Jason Holtgrewe]

Consumerism isn't just an economic reality and order, it's also a social one. Those who have the most net worth also have the most self and social worth. Those with the lowest social worth are often shamed. Jesus inaugurates and envisions a new social order, where the shamed aren't shamed anymore. [By Jason Holtgrewe]