And, increasingly, people experience the “more, faster, bigger, better” solutions of modern life to be too flat, too empty, too unjust to provide that help. Could healthy spirituality and community meet our needs?
Brown Line Church (named for Chicago’s Northside “L” train) is a community both in Chicago and online (reaching many beyond Chicago). Through Sunday gatherings for prayer & meditation, small group community building, and empowering individuals to contribute to justice and healing in the world, we try to help people connect with a God of love and find deeper, fuller, less self-centered lives — especially people who feel more at home culturally in progressive settings, rather than religious settings.
We embrace diversity in perspectives and religious/cultural backgrounds, we are committed to economic justice and anti-racism work, and we are LGBTQ-inclusive. Our guide in all this is Jesus. Many present “faith in Jesus” as an exclusive thing, over and against other religious or non-religious approaches to life, but our experience has been entirely different…
With help from sociologist Byung-Chul Han and the Bible’s letter to the Romans, Vince unpacks some of the defining challenges of life in the 21st century, and what to do (and not do) about them. (Image: book cover for “The Burnout Society” by Byung-Chul Han)
In solidarity with working people on Labor Day weekend, a cohort of BLC folks report back to the church about their experience going through the “Solidarity Circles” course run by Vanderbilt University’s program in Religion & Justice. (Image from bioneers.org)
Discord is an online platform for community. Join Brown Line Church’s Discord server to discuss our Sunday messages, connect with volunteer opportunities, ask for prayer, swap stuff, or just laugh at gifs people share.
Hayley and Vince dig further into the shoulds and coulds that define life in the 21st century, with a look at how to balance the best practical offers to help out there: therapy, community, and spirituality. (Image from Sandie Clarke on Unsplash)