What Would Happen If We Believed Women?
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
Release Date: 01/28/2025
Jesus & Resisting The Domination System
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
The Bible is both personal and political, and thus, the way of Jesus is both personal and political. The Way is a path towards personal transformation and political resistance to religious and secular domination systems. The spiritual path of Jesus is an invitation to advocate for the kingdom of God and criticize those complicit in upholding the domination systems that harm the most vulnerable. www.TheLoftLA.org
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Following the Way of Jesus
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
Like other wisdom teachers, Jesus spoke of two ways. There is a common way, the one followed by most people, and an alternative way, a path of transformation leading from how we ordinarily live our lives to a different way of being in the world. By following the narrow way, Jesus suggests that we move closer to discovering our true and authentic selves in God. www.TheLoftLA.org
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Jesus, Mysticism, and Social Action
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
The majority of Christians would probably not use the term “mystic” to describe Jesus. Many Christians, especially those of us in the West, think of mysticism as a spirituality that is disconnected from the everyday experiences of life. However, what we see in the life of Jesus is that his spiritual practices created a sense of Oneness with God and other human beings that deeply informed his beliefs on our responsibilities towards one another. www.TheLoftLA.org
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Jesus & His Experience of God
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
Jesus’s baptism and subsequent time alone in the desert mark the beginning of his ministry. Both events describe profound spiritual experiences of the Divine, whom Jesus names his Father. While these experiences follow patterns similar to previous prophets, his response to the tempter while in the wilderness offers helpful insight into how our experience of the Divine can sustain us if we listen for the still, small voice. www.TheLoftLA.org
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Jesus & The Imperial World
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
The context surrounding Jesus’ life was complicated by an imperial domination system. The central features of Roman colonial power were that it was politically oppressive and poverty-inducing. How was it possible for Jesus to develop a spiritual path of radical compassion out of this social world of political and economic marginalization? www.TheLoftLA.org
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Who Do You Say That I Am?
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
After having spent time in his community preaching and teaching, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” For those of us who grew up Christian, how we answered that question was extremely important. However, as we mature in our faith, an equally important question begins to emerge: how will we tell the story of Jesus? There are many ways to tell the story of Jesus, but how we choose to tell it significantly informs how we practice the religion he taught his disciples. www.TheLoftLA.org
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Blessed Are the Women
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
We know that there were women whose resources and labor enabled Jesus to travel and heal and preach. We even know some of their names: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna. On this final Sunday of our “Blessed Are the Women” series, we honor their stories, and imagine what they offer to us today. On this final Sunday of our series, we center the stories of these women at the margins (in diverse ways!), who claimed and shared power for the sake of the Gospel. This series has been inspired by the book “Blessed Are the Women” by Claire McKeever-Burgett. www.TheLoftLA.org
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Daughter Your Faith Has Healed You
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
This Sunday we will continue our sermon series that focuses on women in the Christian tradition and highlight the work of M. Shawn Copeland, a Black Roman Catholic theologian whose work explores the nature of being human as we recognize Black History Month. What does it mean to be human and yet treated as an outsider, less than human? The story of the bleeding woman forces us to wrestle with this question and explore the gender dynamics at play. www.TheLoftLA.org
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Hagar’s Story & Black Women’s Experience
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
For the next two Sundays, we will be highlighting the work of two pioneering black women theologians as a way of both honoring Black History Month and our current sermon series that focuses on women in the Christian tradition. This Sunday, we will be celebrating the work of Rev. Dr. Delores Williams. When most Christians read the story of Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael, Hagar is seen as having a small role in a story that ultimately is not about her. However, using womanist biblical interpretation, Williams shows us that Hagar’s story of survival, hope, and redemption mirrors the...
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What Would a World Look Like if You Felt You Were Believed?
The Loft LA - Progressive Christianity in Podcast Form
Throughout the gospels, we see both men and women sharing stories about Jesus’ ministry and his miracles. Yet, it was only when women were sharing his message that we encountered disbelief and, at times, outright resistance. Why? What is at stake? Building upon last week’s conversation, this Sunday we explore Jesus’ encounter with a woman at a well and imagine what may have happened if her community believed her. www.TheLoftLA.org
info_outlineThroughout the gospels, we see both men and women sharing stories about Jesus’ ministry and his miracles. Yet, it was only when women were sharing his message that we encountered disbelief and, at times, outright resistance. Why? What is at stake? How might believing women change the way we see ourselves and the world we live in?
www.TheLoftLA.org