This Sunday, Rev. Kevin Kim Wright returns to The Loft for conversation with Pastor Molly, as they explore how the Holy Spirit’s calling leads us to live out our faith. Currently Chief of Staff at The Point Foundation, an LGBTQ+ scholarship granting organization, he is an ordained Elder in the UMC. www.TheLoftLA.org

Despite our lack of engagement with the doctrine of the Trinity, I believe that it has continued to persist because it reveals something about the nature of God: a Divine and Dynamic relationship rooted in love. Join us this Sunday as we explore how we can take our place in God’s divine dance. www.TheLoftLA.org

Why has there been a sudden increase in anti-trans legislation across the country? In this week's episode of Loft Conversations, Julia, Westley, and Rev. Dr. Carter examine the roots of the increased anti-trans political activism and how it's tied to a broader structure of religiously conservative theology. We also discuss the facts and popular fictions of gender-affirming care. We end the conversation discussing the role theology has played in moralizing this attack on a marginalized group and how a renewed theological anthropology can help create the beloved communities that we desire. In this episode, we mention or reference the following articles: "What Decades of Providing Trans Health Care has Taught Me" by Dr. Marci Bowers "How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives" by By Adam Nagourney and Jeremy W. Peters "From millionaires to Muslims, small subgroups of the population seem much larger to many Americans" a YouGov survey

Last week, we discussed how our response to the inevitable suffering of human life can grow our faith. But what about manufactured suffering? What impact might that have on one’s faith? This week Rev. Dr. Carter will be joined by Sarah Wilson, Executive Director of Harvest Home, a nonprofit whose mission is to transform the lives of homeless pregnant women and their children by providing housing, support, and programs that equip women to become great mothers. We invite you to join us as we discuss how the women and those who work with them cultivate faith. www.TheLoftLA.org

What is the difference between belief and faith? One definition that we discussed was that belief requires a lot of "religion," but faith asks us to construct a theology. In today's Loft Converations episode, Julia, Westley, and Rev. Dr. Carter discuss the nature and meaning of faith for Christians and why some people fear asking the kind of questions or experiencing the type of life events that enable our faith in God to grow.  One book that we mentioned during the episode was "Falling Upward: Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life" by Richard Rohr.

What Christians are to believe and how those beliefs translate into actions have been the source of personal anxiety at a minimum and social conflict at its worst. The human desire for structure and clarity has led many Christians to develop theologies that fear difficult questions and demand blind assent. However, a mature theology should dare to raise questions on our quest for a deeper understanding of the Divine. www.TheLoftLA.org

If we only use the same handful of metaphors to describe God, they hide the full wonder of divine love. So, this Sunday, we will talk about old and new metaphors for God; bring your poetic, prophetic imagination to help with the project. Plus, we share Holy Communion. www.TheLoftLA.org

How might we eat in ways that align with our moral and cultural values? This question will be the starting point for our gathering this Sunday. A few weeks ago we discussed the realities of our food system and the ways it profits from the manufacturing of suffering. This Sunday, Rev. Dr. Carter will share the three theologically informed eating practices that allow us to remain true to the principles of compassion, love, justice, and solidarity with the marginalized. www.TheLoftLA.org

In today's episode of Loft Conversations we discuss the "other work" that Rev. Dr. Carter attends to when he is not doing church work - food justice. We begin by discussing his book, The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, and Food Justice, and his motivation for writing it.  Rev. Dr. Carter notes that the guiding question for the book was "how can I eat in ways that are in alignment with my moral and cultural values?" The resulting conversation covered race, immigration, politics, and religion. In part two, Dr. Carter will disciss the tangible changes we can make to our diets and consumption when we progressives begin to think theologically about our food.

Rather than an excuse to set our focus in some heavenly realm, Jesus’ resurrection helps us see God’s presence here among us, on earth. www.TheLoftLA.org

In this weeks Loft Conversations episode we speak with Dedrick Bonner. Singer, actor, musician, producer - he has done it all! Dedrick founded a gospel choir, The Singers of Soul, and we have been blessed to have them sing at The Loft for the past few years. In this conversation, we discuss Dedrick's journey from Alabama to LA and the difficulties he has faced as a large Black gay man. We also discuss the role Christianity has played in his life how singing gospel music has helped him and the choir heal from difficult and fraught church experiences.

How might we eat in ways that are in alignment with our moral and cultural values? How might we think theologically about our food choices and agricultural systems? These questions have shaped the trajectory of Rev. Dr. Carter’s diet and his research the over the past 13 years. We invite you to join us this Sunday as we discuss how eating is a spiritual practice. Preparing For Sunday: Please be prepared to share a food memory with your small group. For example, perhaps your family has a particular holiday tradition where the meal feels significant to you, or maybe there is a certain food that connects you to the story of your people and your community. www.TheLoftLA.org

The question that Jesus poses to Mary at his empty tomb is the central question of Easter: who, or what, are you looking for? What kind of Jesus are you looking for? What kind of Christianity are you looking for? Where do you see hope in the resurrection of Christ? We invite you to join us this Easter Sunday as we finish our Lenten series, The Inward Journey and boldly proclaim the hope that we find in the resurrection of Jesus. www.TheLoftLA.org

Jesus quotes the psalmist when he cries out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” His final lament gives voice to all those who have been forsaken—those who suffer injustice, those who are abandoned, those who are unjustly convicted. And yet, when we read this lament in light of his prayer in the garden of Gathsemene that God would “take this cup of suffering away from me” we see that these words are the culmination of a prayer between he and God. In his quest for God, in giving up his life, Jesus shows us that we can be confident in knowing that for every sunset there is a sunrise. www.TheLoftLA.org

On Palm Sunday, our lenten journey brings us to the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem; the crowd cried “Hosanna,” which means, “Save us.” We, too, are hungry to be saved, eager to be liberated from the destructive power of violence and oppression. In conversation and at the communion table, we claim our part in a different way, a way of peace. www.TheLoftLA.org

In this week's Loft Conversations episode, we discuss the tragic mass shooting at Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville. This was not an easy conversation for any of us, but it was necessary. We were joined by Kathleen Rogers, a member of the Loft community and Nashville native. Kathleen was connected to two of the victims and offers insight into how the community is processing and grieving the loss of life.  We then shift the conversation to discussing the conservative Christian arguments for maintaining gun rights, up to and including assault weapons - and then subsequently dismantle each of those arguments as inconsistent with the Gospel of Jesus. We close this episode by imagining a way forward - could gun reform become a "single issue" similar to abortion in our political context?

When Jesus and the disciples encounter a blind man, the disciples immediately ask, “Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” In our quest for healing Jesus encourages us to ask more precise questions; questions that reveal the interconnected nature of our existence. Read For Sunday: Howard Thurman’s essay “The Subtleties of Pride” will inform our conversation on Sunday. One of the questions that we will discuss in the gathering is taken from this essay. Thurman writes that “if a person thinks more highly of themselves than they ought to think, they can never know what is perhaps the most important truth: the truth about themselves.” Do you agree with Thurman’s statement?How do you learn the truth about yourself? www.TheLoftLA.org

What happens when we center the unnamed in scripture or society? In today's Loft Conversations episode, we discuss the story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the well. While the Samaritan Woman is not named in the gospel, the influence she had on her community and the theological discourse that surrounds her proves that she is a person that deserves our attention. We end our conversation discussing the potential impact of centering the unnamed in our communities.  www.TheLoftLA.org

Risk is an inevitable part of our quest for fulfillment. However, as Jesus and the Samaritan woman demonstrate, if we are to change our present circumstance we must not be daunted by fear of taking those risks. These two essays from Howard Thurman’s Inward Journey will help inform our conversation on Sunday. Some questions that I would love for us to discuss during our gathering are: What are some of the fears that arise within you when you make the decision to act in ways that resist cultural norms? (i.e. attending a LBGTQ affirming church despite push back from family). How do you work through those fears and decide to act? www.TheLoftLA.org

In today's Loft Conversations episode, discuss the problem with the idea that life is supposed to be free of all types of suffering. Who thought of this idea and who had it benefited, who has it harmed? And then we end our conversation discussing what a realistic utopia would look like.