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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]