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Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go …

“Mysticism invites us beyond the normal boundaries of human thought, logic, rationality, and knowing. It takes us beyond the limits of philosophy, theology, psychology, and science. This may sound like a flight of fancy, a kind of spiritual make believe; but mysticism points to something that countless witnesses, in cultures all across the world and in every age from the dawn of recorded history, insist is utterly real - maybe even more real than the universe and consciousness we inhabit without a second thought.”

- , The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

No paywalls here; but if you have the means to support, it helps pay the grocery bill and keep the lights on - thank you for your encouragement and support!

Subscribe now

There may be spelling / grammar mistakes in my articles that make it through my editing, and that’s on purpose. I’m a recovering perfectionist (who was once VERY hard on himself) and one of the ways I’m learning to be compassionate on myself is by allowing mistakes to just … be.

Friends.

A while back I had Julia O’Brien on the podcast to talk to me about her book, “Prophets Beyond Activism” where she argues that the “progressive orthodoxy” that the prophets of the Bible were primarily concerned with issues of social justice causes those writings to carry a weight that they are, perhaps, not all that equipped to bear.

Why?

Because our assumption that the prophets were primarily (first and foremost, more so than anything else) concerned with issues of social justice suggests that we (as modern readers) can know exactly who they were and what they did.

And that?

That’s rather impossible, really, for these books are complex with language and ideas that speak to (and from) a variety of cultures and circumstances that are far, far removed from our own.

You can listen more to the episode HERE, but this past week I went back into her book because as I was reflecting on our conversation (along with my recent read of Richard Beck’s upcoming book, “The Book of Love”)and I got to thinking how I have spent the majority of my 40-ish years with the Bible trying desperately to jam it into the boxes of my personal worldviews, insisting that it …

Is always on my side.

Always sees things as I see them.

Always supports my beliefs.

Always supports my values.

Always supports my voting choices.

Etc.

… so much so that when I was on both the RIGHT and the LEFT I had my collection of go-to verses that I would toss into conversations to support my ideas, defend my beliefs, and argue others into the ground.

And the prophets? They were a major resource for me - always, yes, but all the more as a progressive-minded person … as someone who (still, today) advocates for and believes in rights for everyone, especially people who are typically pushed to the margins of our society.

Verses like …

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” - Amos 5:24

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” - Micah 6:8

"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.” - Isaiah 1:17

"Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice. …" - Isaiah 10:1-2

… and more were common on my Facebook page as I would post day after day and share my belief that “just like the prophets of old, we need to be a voice for those who are trampled by society”.

Anyways.

So, I went back to Julia’s book this past week because I wanted to be reminded that the books of the Bible (the prophets, for sure, but all of the writings, honestly) aren’t as black and white and as simple to understand and/or apply to modern circumstances as we might wish them to be.

AND.

When we make them out to be black and white, insisting they they fit into the boxes of our modern day worldviews, addressing our modern day values (whether they be conservative, progressive, etc.).

Well.

I think we do them a great, great disservice.

And Julia’s book? It magnfies this point beautifully as it challenges us to expand our understanding and think deeper about the texts of the Bible - no matter how familar with them we may be.

For example.

In the book one of the things she talks about is a field of study called “redaction criticism”. I’m no Bible scholar, but to sum it up as simply as I can - redaction criticism deals with how the Biblical writings changed over time and includes studying the “modification and addition of content by editors”.

(Read more about redaction criticism HERE.)

What does that mean?

Many things, but for one - it means that what the prophetic writings might have originally said isn’t necessarily what you and I have in our Bibles today because later editors modified and recontexualized and merged materials together for their specific audiences who were going through a specific set of circumstances.

And this?

This is really interesting (to me, anyways) because at one time, Julia says, it was common for scholars to try and undo the edits in an effort to get back to what the prophets originally said before any changes were made.

This is the idea of the “Historical Jesus”, right? The question of, “who was Jesus REALLY?” And “what did Jesus REALLY do and REALLY say?”

These scholars would try to trace back through various copies of a text, pinpoint what edits were made, and aim to peel back all the layers so as to discover what the orginal text likely said or what was historically true or accurate about the person the text is speaking of.

Now, though?

A more recent interest is to “read the books within the context of their redactors, trying to understand what the book may have meant to those who put it into the books we have today [in our Bibles].”

That might sound strange, but it’s really not something most of us are unfamilar with. Think of the 4 Gospels, right? It’s widely accepted (by conservative and progressive scholars, alike) that Mark’s Gospel is the earliest and that Matthew and Luke had Mark as a “source” of sorts.

BUT.

Matthew and Luke are much different from one another AND are much, much different from Mark - they tell lots of the same stories, yes, but very, very differently. If you look at this through the lens of “redaction criticism”, Matthew and Luke were redactors of Mark - they modified and recontextualized his material for their audiences.

And?

If we didn’t have Mark’s Gospel, we’d never be exactly sure of what he said.

AND.

To take it further.

Can we ever be really sure what Mark said anyways? Especially since an ending that was not original to Mark was added to the text centuries later AND appears in most of our Bible’s today? I mean, if that’s the case - what else was changed or edited or added or substracted?

Hm.

Back to the prophets.

Most of the redactions in the prophetic books took place during the “postexilic period”, which is around 550-350 BCE when the decendants of Judea who had been exiled by the Babylonian Empire returned to their land under the protection of the Persian Empire.

What does this mean?

It means that when we read these productions that were created DURING this Perian period, we have to realize that although the texts might read like they are being written as transcripts or play by play biographies of what happened in and leading up to Babylonian captivity, they are actually “theological documents in which the prophets are discerning the Divine perspective on the truth of the past and the future”.

In other words:

They are writing REFLECTIVELY about the past - reflecting on what happened and wondering about why it happened.

AND.

They are writing DISCERNINGLY about their present and future - reflecting on where they are and dreaming of where they could go from there, having learned from their past mistakes.

ALL of which, I think, is a gift to their generation and genrations to come. Among other things, redaction criticism helps us see that the prophetic books aren’t simply made up of actions and speeches of heroes who fought on behalf of the downtrodden (although sometimes they MAY BE that), but are more so “literary productions of communities who were seeking to understand the workings of YHWH and thereby find a way forward from disaster.”

Phew.

So why I am sharing this with you?

First of all, because I think that all “sides” have “orthodoxies”.

Right?

In other words, there are certain things on both the conservative AND the progressive side that you are taught NOT to question in regards to theology, the Bible, etc.

On the conservative side, for example, you don’t question whether or not the Bible teaches that you must “believe in Jesus” in order to be saved from God’s wrath or saved from hell or whatever.

“Of course it does!”

AND.

On the progressive side, for example, you don’t question whether or not the Bible (the prophets, in particular) puts forth a consistent message of “social justice”, arguing that God is always for the poor, women, LGBTQ people … and anyone who is marginalized.

“Of course it does!”

Yes.

Both sides have their set of values or beliefs and boxes that they squeeze the Bible into that people on that side are not supposed to question.

And secondly, more importantly for myself, because these are all ideas that are swirling around in my head as I have recently picked my Bible back up to explore it amidst yet another season of my spiritual journey.

A season where I’m not …

Seeking to use it to win arguments.

Seeking to force it into supporting my political opinions.

Seeking to point out all the ways God agrees with me.

… but where I’m seeking to let the Bible be what it is.

Rather than come to it with an agenda of all the ways it backs up my beliefs or supports my politics or values what I value, I’m trying to read it while keeping at the forefront of my mind that …

It’s not as black and white as I might like it to be.

It contains documents and writings that span the course of thousands of years and were written in languages and by people who were far removed from my modern day worldviews.

The writers were writing to make sense of their times and their days and their problems.

They were trying to figure out what it looked like to make their way through all of those very visible things while maintaining faith in a very invisible God who (they believed) was much different and grander and bigger than any other God anyone could ever imagine.

And.

Maybe?

To go back to “redaction criticism” - maybe just as those prophetic writers and Gospel writers “redacted” or edited or expanded on earlier writings to make sense of their times, maybe that’s the ultimate invitation that the Bible extends to you and me:

Much love.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

No paywalls here; but if you have the means to support, it helps pay the grocery bill and keep the lights on - thank you for your encouragement and support!

Subscribe now

Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go …

“The instant we believe that our personal and hard-won certainties are the truth for anyone other than ourselves, we have fallen prey to this temptation [he’s speaking of the 3rd temptation of Jesus, here] and have, in effect, begun to ‘worship’ the Devil. Why? Because we have allied ourselves with the Devil of division, who thrives when we diminish the experience and inner wisdom of others.”

- Alexander John Shaia, Heart and Mind: The Four-Gospel Journey for Radical Transformation

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends.

I’ve started to read my Bible again.

“Again?”

Yes. I recently stopped reading it for a long while just as I had stopped reading it for a long while about 9 years ago, shortly after Jordan was born.

9 years ago I began to realize how much I was struggling to read the Bible apart from the conservative narrative that I had grown up with. You know THAT narrative, don’t you?

It’s some variation of …

God created everything.

Adam and Eve sinned.

The “Fall” happened.

Everyone was born with a “sin nature”.

God hates sin.

God was mad.

Someone needed to pay for the sin.

God sent Jesus.

Jesus took my punishment.

Believe that, go to heaven when I do.

Don’t believe, go to hell when I die.

The End.

Even though I had begun to “deconstruct” and “rethink” what I believed regarding all of those things, I struggled SO. MUCH. to read the Bible through a different lens. No matter how many books, for example, I read regarding John 3:16 or how many books I read about alternate understandings of Revelation … I couldn’t read the Bible ANY other way than the ways in which I had been taught - God was ticked and unless I shape up and believe the right things, I’m headed for hell.

Sigh.

And so I closed my Bible and put it on my shelf where it sat for 6, 7, 8 months until one day I had the urge to pick it up and read it. And when I did? It was like the time away from it helped my mind and heart reset so that I could read it differently, through a different lens than I ever had before.

John 3:16.

Revelation.

The story of creation.

The birth and death of Jesus.

… it ALL looked so much different than it ever had before and I fell back in love with it again.

But.

Then?

As time went on … I don’t know; but a new shift began to take place inside of me where I realized that although I was no longer reading the Bible as a “conservative” I was now reading the Bible as a “progressive” - a shift that brought a lot of good, of course, but also a lot of the “same old, same old” in terms of …

“I’m reading the Bible better than THEY are.”

“My reading of the Bible is the RIGHT reading.”

“This is the RIGHT way to read the Bible.”

… and I started to realize that although my values had shifted from conservative to progressive, the energy with which I read the Bible remained exactly the same.

Just as I thought I was reading the Bible RIGHT as a conservative, I now thought I was reading it RIGHT as a progressive.

Instead of me and my conservative friends having the right reading, now me and my progressive friends had the right reading.

Instead of reading it through the beforementioned narrative, I was now reading it through a lens of social justice where I tried to make (if I’m being honest) every story and every passage address that topic.

Again:

WE were right.

EVERYONE else was wrong.

(Especially “those conservatives” or “those Christian nationalists”, etc.)

And so I tried to begin reading it differently. I read a book by Julia O’Brien called “Prophets Beyond Activism” (highly recommended, by the way, if you really wanna be challenged) where she sort of critiques the progressive tendency to read the stories of the prophets heavily through a lens of social justice when (in reality) they were addressing things relevant to their time and place that are (often times) far removed from modern day activism and social justice.

Phew.

I brought her on the podcast and remember ending the call feeling very “convicted” that I was commandeering Scripture as a progressive in the same ways I used to as a conservative - I was just using a new set of verses to back up a new set of values and principles, forcing them into the shiny new boxes that my side and my team and our gate keepers insisted were most important.

And.

So?

I put my Bible away again. That conversation took place back in October 2025 and I really haven’t picked up my Bible much since then.

Not because I don’t like the Bible.

Not because I don’t want to read it.

Not because I don’t find value in it.

BUT.

Because I struggled to read it any differently than I was taught to read it as a progressive thinker who has a heart for things like social justice that, I think, are really important … but maybe (perhaps) not as “all over the pages of the Bible” as I assumed they were.

The other day, though, I finished reading a book by Richard Beck called “The Book of Love: A Better Way to Read the Bible” where he shares how we all bring a hermeneutic to our reading of the Bible (like me bringing my hermeneutic of social justice) and that perhaps it’s possible to read it through a different hermeneutic or lens or prism, through a prism of love whereby we acknowledge that no matter how great of a love we can imagine - God’s love is infinitely greater, an acknowledgment that allows the Bible to breathe and expand in ways that it can’t really do when we stuff it into our pre-packaged understandings and assumptions (as good or thoughtful or righteous as those assumptions may be).

Yeah.

And so that got me to pick my Bible up again and I’m excited to say that I’m seeing things I never saw before, reading the Bible again as if I’m reading it for the first time.

Where will that lead?

Who knows!

More thoughts to come over the upcoming months and years, I’m sure, as this next leg of the journey is just beginning.

I highly recommend the book. You can pre-order it HERE, and my conversation with him will drop in June - don’t miss it.

Much love.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends,

Today I talked to about his upcoming book, “The Book of Love: A Better Way to Read the Bible”.

And.

Can I tell you something? This is one of the most helpful books about the Bible that I have ever read as Richard walks us through how to read the Bible through a prism of love.

Have you read “How the Bible Actually Works” by Pete Enns?

How about “What Is the Bible?” by Rob Bell?

“Reading the Bible Again for the First Time” by Marcus Borg?

“Heart and Mind” by Alexander John Shaia?

Those are all books that have RADICALLY shaped how I think about the Bible; and this book by Richard is on that list, for sure.

In the episode we talk about how we all read the Bible with a particular hermeneutic and how reading it as a “book of love” pushes up against the comfort zones of conservatives and progressives, alike.

If you have a complicated relationship with the Bible due to how you were taught to think about it and read it in the past, this book will be balm for your soul that will bring healing all the while it challenges you to put your assumptions about the Bible aside to let it breathe and be what it is.

You can pre-order it HERE on Amazon - you won’t be sorry! The episode will drop on June 1.

Oh.

And dropping on May 4 is my chat with where we talked about her book, “Better Than Normal”.

Until then …

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go …

When you extend beyond your own comfort to tend the wounds of the world, the sense of quiet gratification that warms you like a cup of tea on a snowy day is meant for you. It is a gift delivered by the hands of the holy. Open it.

- Mirabai Starr, Ordinary Mysticism

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Want more books? Here’s what’s next on my list …

Make Your Home in This Luminous Dark by James K.A. Smith

The Tears of Things by Richard Rohr

Friends.

Jordan is 9 and over the last few years she’s been asking more and more questions about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.

Usually her questions revolve around the topics of “how”, you know?

Like …

How does Santa make it around the world in one night?

How do reindeer fly?

How does the Easter Bunny get in the house?

How big is the Tooth Fairy?

… things like that. And our answer? Usually we turn it back on her and say something like, “that’s a super good question - what do YOU think?” Then she’ll share what she thinks, we’ll expand on her ideas, and the conversation will eventualy turn to something else.

(*NOTE - we use that response with A LOT of her questions, especially her more spiritual questions as we believe that even at a young age the answers to our deepest questions about life can be found within - something I’ll come back to towards the end of this post.)

Recently, though, her questions about Santa have been getting a little bit too direct for us to turn the question back to her.

Do you know what I mean?

Like the other day, for instance, we were finishing up dinner and she said …

“Is Santa real? Because Jimmy in class says the parents put the presents under the tree. And what about the Tooth Fairy? He says parents put the money under the pillow. Do you?”

Phew.

She had tears in her eyes as if she already knew the answer and Dana and I looked at each other and knew it was time to tell her the truth because although we played along over the years and helped engage her imagination with the story of Santa, we never want to lie to her when she asks a direct question like that.

She sat on Dana’s lap and looked at me with her bottom lip quivering, and I said, “listen my dude. So, I am going to tell you the truth, OK? Are you ready?”

She nodded her head.

I took a deep breath.

“So, mommy and daddy DO put your presents under the tree. We buy them, wrap them, and put them under the tree when you go to sleep on Christmas Eve. I usually eat the cookies and drink the milk, mommy writes your letter from Santa. We also buy the stuff for your Easter basket and hide it. And we put money under your pillow when you lose a tooth and I keep your teeth in a little box along with all the notes you’ve written to Santa. So, yes. Jimmy is right - the parents do it.”

By this time she was crying pretty hard and rather than tell her not to cry or try to make the pain go away, we told her to take as long as she needed to feel what she was feeling; and when she was ready to hear some more, I had more to tell her.

She cried and said she was disappointed …

“I want the North Pole to be real!”

“I thought the Easter Bunny flew around in a pink car!”

“I thought the Tooth Fairy collected my teeth!”

“I want it to be real!”

… She thanked us for not lying to her, but said now “everything felt different” as she felt all of these magical things in her mind crashing down; and after about 5 minutes of letting her feelings out she said she was ready to hear some more.

“OK, so this is also the truth. A long time ago there lived a man who became known as St. Nicholas. He was real - just as real as you and me. I have a book about him downstairs and although I don’t know everything about him, I know that his parents died when he was younger and left him a TON of money - so much money, in fact, that he didn’t know what to do with it!

Now.

Nicholas lived in a time and place where most people didn’t have a lot of money and so what he decided to do was to secretly give his money away - he wanted to help those who had less than him.

One of the things he did (and this is my favorite story abouth him) is … back then before people went to bed, they would sometimes leave their shoes by the window or hang their socks by the window to dry over night; and so he would sneak around while everyone was sleeping and leave coins in people’s shoes and socks so that they would wake up the next day to find money to pay their bills.

That’s just one story, but the point is that Nicholas was a very generous man … so generous that stories started to spread around about him; and over time more and more stories developed, legends formed, and the story of Santa Claus (or “Jolly Old St. Nick”, as the song calls him) with his North Pole, Sleigh, Reindeer, Elves, etc. came to be.

Those stories and his generous spirit, I believe, stir up the generosity of parents all year long, but a little extra during the Christmas Season to make the dreams of their children come true.

And so even though Santa Claus and the North Pole might not be “real”, the stories about him are “true” in that they inspire us to be kind and generous and compassionate - they speak to something that is buried deep inside of us all.

For example, Mommy and Daddy saved up money for a long time to buy you your Switch 2 for Christmas this year and the Barbie Dream House a few years ago and all the other big presents you were hoping for at Christmas time over the years. We could have spent that money on other things, but we wanted to use it to bring YOU joy.

We would plan and save and wrap the presents and hide them and we had so much fun - we loved using the money we worked hard for to make your hopes and dreams come true; and the Spirit of St. Nick inspired us to do just that.

Does that make sense?”

She nodded her head, “yes”, and then I said, “can I tell you one more thing? For me, I believe in Santa Claus in the same way that I believe in Jesus.”

We talk about Jesus a lot and so her eyes got really big and she said, “yeah, but Jesus is real!” And I said, “yes - I believe he is! But so is Santa Claus, so is St. Nick. Just like Jesus inspired people with his kindness and generosity and stories developed about him, the same is true of Santa - St. Nick inspired people with his kindness and generosity and stories developed about him too. Just because I don’t believe that Jesus really walked on the water, I do believe in Jesus; and his generosity and kindness and love inspire me. And just because St. Nick doesn’t really have a North Pole with elves, I do believe in St. Nick; and his generosity and kidness and love inspire me - especially at Christmas time.”

At this point her brain started to make the connections and I said something I wasn’t really planning to say, but it came to be like a lightning bolt of a thought.

I said …

“Just because you know how the magic of Christmas works, that doesn’t mean that the magic has to end. You see, what’s really cool is that for the last bunch of years, you thought the magic of Christmas existed OUTSIDE of you, in some far away place - in Santa, in the North Pole, in the Elves, etc. The reality, though, is that the magic of Christmas existed INSIDE of me and mommy and grandma and all the people who try to make your Christmases magical. And THAT means that the magic of Christmas also exists inside of YOU.

You see.

For me, that’s the true magic of Christmas - realizing that the magic of the North Pole and all the joy it brings to kids around the world doesn’t exist in some far away place that’s impossible to find, but exists inside of all of us.

And that magic?

Once we find it.

Once we tap into it.

Once we believe it.

… It has the power to change the world and make life better for people not just at Christmastime, but all year long.”

I’m not sure how much of that stuck with her; and I might have even went a little too deep into it. BUT. My hope was that I would say some things about Christmas that have parallels to life so that as the days turn into weeks, into months, into years we can return back to that conversation as I remind her that as she grows the world will tell her that the answers to life’s biggests questions exist outside of herself, in …

People who know better.

Pastors.

Teachers.

Books.

Gurus.

Conferences.

Pocasts.

Etc.

… and although those things might be helpful, the reality is that the answers to life’s biggest questions exists inside of her - in the still, small, magical voice of her God-given intuition; and that voice can always be trusted, it will never (ever) steer her wrong.

And maybe that might encourage you too?

I hope so.

Oh - and we’ll still be doing Santa at Christmastime (the Easter Bunny for Easter, Tooth Fairy for lost teeth, etc.). Why? “Just because we know how the magic works, that doesn’t mean the magic has to end!” I told Jordan that even in high school and college and when me and Mommy were married - grandma and grandpa would put our Christmas presents out at night or when we weren’t around … and it’s always felt magical to walk into the room and see the gifts they poured their hearts into getting for us. The magic doesn’t need to end and this year when Christmas rolls around (in 8 months!) she’ll get to help make some magic too.

Much love,

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

PS - here are some interesting books about St. Nicholas and the legends of Santa Claus.

The True Saint Nicholas by William J. Bennett

When Santa Was a Shaman by Tony van Renterghem

Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go …

Daring to read the Bible as a book of love can only happen if you have what psychologists call a secure attachment of God. A secure attachment to God is grounded in the conviction that, in the words of the Apostle Paul, ‘nothing can separate us from the love of God’ … Sadly many of us don’t have a secure attachment to God. Rather, we’re anxiously attached. And if we’re anxiously attached, we’ll never be able to read the Bible well.

- , The Book of Love

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends.

Today we are talking to Liza Rankow about some things that just might hold the power to change the world.

, PhD, MHS, is an interfaith minister, educator, activist, and author. Her lifework centers the deep healing that is essential to personal and social transformation.

I’ve been on a journey where I’ve been wondering what it might look like for me to hold my “values” differently than I have in the past. I grew up on “the Right” where we demonized “the Left” and then in my 30’s I moved to “the Left” where we demonized “the Right”.

But, now?

I’m tired of demonizing and although my values are very much “progressive” in nature, I’m wondering what it looks like to hold those values with a different kind of energy that is curious of those who think differently than I do and sees them (and everyone) with eyes of love and compassion.

This conversation with Liza and her beautiful book (“Soul Medicine for a Fractured World”) are necessary tools for this journey.

I hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did.

Much love,

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends.

I want to leave our “Drop the Stones” series of posts with a short and simple idea for this Easter Sunday.

Now.

I used to be a preacher way back in the day (as if I’m so old, HA!); and so I would stand up in front of a crowd every Sunday to give a talk I spent 20-30 hours preparing the week before.

And, yes - I would spend 20-30 hours.

I had a professor in seminary who said every minute of a sermon requires 1 hour of study and so I took that quite literally and loved every minute of it, really. I would sit in Starbucks or Barnes and Noble with my books or sit in the seminary library digging through commentaries.

As hard as my pastoring days were (read more about in my new book!), I absolutely loved diving into the Bible, coming across some nugget of wisdom to share, and crafting a message that would (hopefully) challenge, inspire, and help make the world a better place.

Now.

Sometimes today I will look back on some of the things I preached about and cringe.

After all.

Back then?

Yeah. I still believed in hell, was kinda on the fence about “the Rapture”, thought being LGBTQ was a sin, etc.

But.

Sometimes? Sometimes today I’ll read a passage from the Bible and my brain will immediately go into “sermon mode” where I’ll start to put a sermon together in my mind and think about what to say and how to say it in a way that will inspire, challenge, and help make the world a better place.

That happened to me last week when I re-read the story of Jesus’ Resurrection.

As the story goes, Jesus was crucified on Friday and dead in the tomb on Saturday only to roll away the stone on Sunday to re-enter the world anew.

That phrase, though.

That idea?

Of … “rolling away the stone” to “re-enter the world anew”.

It struck me because over the last few weeks we’ve been talking about different “stones” we tend to throw at people who are different than us or think, believe, vote, etc. differently than we do …

The Stone of Certainty.

The Stone of Othering.

The Stone of Canceling.

The Stone of Assumptions.

The Stone of Expectations.

… and as I thought back on these stones and thought back on the story of Jesus’ Resurrection, I got this image in my head of Jesus or God or the Divine or the Universe or whatever picking up all these stones that you and I have been trying to drop over the course of Lent and “rolling them away” so that you and I can “re-enter the world anew”.

And so my challenge for myself today (and you, if you’ve been traveling this road with me) - my challenge is for us to not pick up stones that Jesus has rolled away.

Let’s quit being so certain about absolutely everything.

Let’s quit seeing ourselves as separate and different from those who think differently than we do.

Let’s stop being so quick to cancel people who say something, believe something, or do something that doesn’t align with our values.

Let’s stop assuming the absolute worst of “those people” who think or believe or vote so much differently than we do.

Let’s stop expecting everyone to think, believe, vote, and live like we do.

We spent 5 weeks dropping these stones and now as we enter into the months of Spring and Summer, let’s imagine Jesus reaching down to roll the stones away and inviting us to live our lives anew, as people who …

Are curious of ideas that are different than our own.

Are connected to everyone and everything.

Don’t feel the need to be swept away by cancel culture.

Aim to see the best in people.

Embrace diversity - not just diversity of skin color or sexuality, but diversity of thought, religion, belief, voting choices, etc.

… and maybe (just maybe?)? Maybe this will help make our small part of the world a little bit of a better, more gentle place to be.

Thanks for joining me over these last 5 weeks.

Much love to you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

PS - here are some books I’m finding helpful for these moments:

Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Nhat Hanh

The Tears of Things by Richard Rohr

The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism by Bernard McGinn

Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go …

We all carry emotional imprints from childhood. And unless we learn how to work with them, we’ll keep reacting to the present through the lens of the past, mistaking old pain for current danger. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Once we see that our present-day struggles are rooted in painful early experiences, we can start to respond differently.

- , Reparenting the Inner Child

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

PS - I have some extra copies of Dr. Nicole’s book. If you’d like one, DM me your address and I’ll send it your way next week. This one truly will change your life.

Friends.

New art has arrived. 2026 has been a whirlwind for the Siepert’s so far - in January we had a nasty ice storm followed by a snow storm that dropped 12 inches of snow the following week.

And then?

After that?

Pneumonia made it’s way into the house followed by (I swear I’m not joking!) the flu a week later!

Phew.

And so although I’ve been doing some artsy things here and there, I haven’t had as much space as I normally do.

This one? I’ve been working on it over the last month - Dobby, from Harry Potter. He has such iconic features …

His nose.

His ears.

Those marble eyes.

… and it took me a while to get him looking the way I wanted, but I love the way he came out.

Dobby is a loyal elf - a creature who never knew what it was to have a friend until he met Harry Potter. He came to Harry’s aid a number of times throughout the series and promised to “always be there for Harry Potter”.

We all need a Dobby, don’t we? And so I wonder who “Dobby” might be for you? And I wonder who YOU might be a “Dobby” for?

Want this one? Price is $250 in the Art Studio, but as is true with all of my work - just name a price that works for you (even $0) and I’ll drop it in the mail.

Much love,

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends.

I had today’s post all written and ready to go and then I deleted it and went back to the drawing board with a blank, white screen and a blinking curser.

It’s not that the post wasn’t any good.

Or.

That it wasn’t flowing.

Or.

That I didn’t like what I had written.

Quite the contrary, actually. The post was great (I am biased, but I think it was pretty good). It was about how I’m learning to drop the stones of “negative energy” and how I’m learning to do that thanks to a guy who lives down the street from us who pushes me into a rage everytime I drive by his house because a few years ago he spoke to and treated Jordan in a way that hurt her.

And how …

Even after (nicely) confronting him.

Calmly sharing how his actions hurt my (then) 6 year old.

This guy? This grown man?

He refuses to apologize.

Anyways.

So the post was about how everytime I would drive by his house, I’d wish him a bad day, flip off his house, and have an imaginary argument with him (where I always “won”, by the way). Over time, though, I came to realize that perhaps the negative energy I was bombing his house with was impacting me way more than it was impact him and that maybe …

Just maybe.

… it would be better if I tried tossing some positive energy his way.

It was a great post and maybe it’ll make an appearance one day, but I deleted it because a few days ago I had a conversation with Liza Rankow on the podcast (the episode will drop on April 6) that blew me away and really made me stop and think and ponder my life.

Liza wrote a book called “Soul Medicine for a Fractured World” and one of the things we talked about in our conversation reminded me of another stone that I tend to throw at people, maybe even more so than any kind of “negative energy”.

And the stone is this:

The Stone of Expecting People to Be Like Me.

Back when I identified as a Conservative Evangelical, I expected everyone to think and believe like me.

Right?

I mean, that’s kinda the whole idea in that part of the Christian Universe, that if people don’t “believe the right things” like I do (because, well - obviously WE believe the right things, right?!) then they are …

Dangerous.

Not to be associated with.

Prone to lead me astray in my faith.

AND.

Above all: destined for hell.

The whole idea of Evangelism (for the most part) was trying to share our understanding of God, Jesus, salvation, etc. with people so that they might believe the same things we do and, therefore, avoid going to hell when they die. And anyone who was resistant to our sharing was seen as lost, on the road to destruction, unenlightened, etc.

Then when I switched allegiance to the Progressive side and became a Progressive-Minded Christian, my values and things changed …

I was now supportive of LGBTQ people.

I was now supportive of women’s rights.

I no longer believed in hell.

I no longer believed that the Bible was inerrant.

Etc.

Etc.

Etc.

… my values changed; but I soon realized that my tendency to expect everyone to think like me remained exactly the same as I carried the same “you should think like me and if you don’t, you’re lost” energy from the Right to the Left.

“What do you mean you don’t support LGBTQ people?!”

“What do you mean you support Donald Trump?! Are you KIDDING ME?!”

“What do you mean you don’t support Black Lives Matter?!”

“What do you mean you won’t wear a mask during COVID?!”

As was the case when I identified as a Conservative Evangelical, I still (as a Progressive-Minded Christian) expected people to think and believe like me and felt (deep, deep down inside) that if they identified with “those MAGA people” or “those Christian Nationalist people” or they had too many flag stickers on their car or seemed too Patriotic or were too outspoken about their disapproval of Pride or Pro-Choice or whatever.

Well.

Then they were dangerous, lost, on the road to destruction, and (clearly) not as enlightened as me. And these (and other) labels? I admit that they are all “stones” I so easily toss at people (something I still struggle with today) if they don’t align with my “expectations” of thinking like I do about spiritual, social, political etc. issues.

Sigh.

I’m in this place now, though, where. I don’t know. But I’m caring less and less and less about whether or not people think like I do while caring very much so about WHY people think like they do.

Like.

Do people think like they do because … their parents thought that way?

Do people think like they do because … everyone on “their side” thinks that way?

Do people think like they do because … the media says they should?

Do people think like they do because … a teacher or professor thinks that way?

Do people think like they do because … they worry they’ll be excluded if they don’t?

OR.

Do people think like they do because deep down inside that’s what the still, small voice is leading them to believe and leading them to think; and how it’s leading them to act and live and make their way through the world?

Hm.

The key to changing the world, I think, isn’t so much about building a world where everyone thinks the same way, but building a world where everyone is in touch with their intuituon - the still, small voice inside that leads with love, grace, compassion, kindness, etc.

This voice?

It’s not typically* found in the comment sections of Facebook.

It’s not typically* found in 140 character posts on Twitter/X.

It’s not typically* found in us vs. them thinking.

It’s not typically* found in judging and shaming “the other”.

It’s not typically* found in the insistence that we’re right, everyone else is wrong.

Instead.

For me?

And for a lot of the mystics I’ve been reading about?

It’s found in stillness.

It’s found in meditation, in being mindful of the moments we’re in, the words we speak, the energy that flows through us.

It’s found in a curiosity of “the other”.

It’s found in the realization of how connected we all are, which leads to the dissolution of separation.

It’s found in self-compassion, which leads us to be more compassionate on others.

And so I wonder.

What if those of us on the Right AND those of us on the Left were able to be more still in these days that seem to light fires under us to move?

What if we became more mindful of the words we speak? Of the energy that flows through us and out of us, onto others?

What if we became more curious and less judgmental of those we or our side labels as “the other”?

What if we became more compassionate on ourselves - recognizing and having grace on our own shortcomings, our own mistakes, our own tendencies to judge and shame and other and cast out?

What if we spent time meditating on how connected we are to one another, as opposed to how disconnected we are?

Yes.

What if?

And what if rather than lead us all to a place of thinking and believing the same things, what if this led us to be more loving, more kind, and more compassionate?

And what if even if our voting choices didn’t change, what if what changed was how we treat one another? How we speak to one another? How we think about one another?

And I wonder if (maybe?) even if these changes don’t lead us to switch from Right to Left or Left to Right so that we all think, believe ,and vote the same way … I wonder if maybe this would help us all tune into the still, small, (I believe) Divine voice inside that will lead us on the path of love, grace, kindness, and compassion wherever we find ourselves in the world?

Because.

Honestly?

There are people on the LEFT who are super kind and compassionate and people on the LEFT who are super unkind and hateful.

AND.

There are people on the RIGHT who are super kind and compassionate and people on the RIGHT who are super unkind and hateful.

As I’ve said in other places, I think we are in a place where the problem isn’t a Right or a Left problem as much as it’s a problem of waking and up and remembering who we are (people made in the image of love) and learning to live from that place of love so that we begin to identify less at a Progressive or a Conservative or as a Trump supporter or a Democrat or whatever and more as a Divinely-infused human being who is set on making sure that everyone, everywhere is welcomed, included, heard, and loved.

Phew.

Perhaps my ideas are too lofty, I don’t know. But this is what I’m imaging these days - not a world where everyone thinks like me, but a world where everyone has tapped into the voice of love and compassion that dwells within us all and is living from that place … in whatever sector of society or part of the world they find themselves in.

Much love.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

PS - here are some books that are helping me with the “Stone of Expectations” …

And: The Restorative Power of Love by Felicia Murrell

Ordinary Mysticism by Mirabia Starr

See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur

Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go …

I realized that the times in my own life when I’ve been most successful on social media - in terms of followers and retweets (likes, etc.) - are the times when I have been least useful as a human being: when I’ve been attention-deprived, simplistic, scathing.

- Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends.

Back in 2010 I got a job at Apple after I left my job as a pastor and for the first time ever I found myself working alongside people who were very different from me.

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian bubble where everyone (for the most part) thought like me, believed like me, and even looked like me. And although I heard about people who were …

Atheists.

Gay.

Witches.

Hippies.

Muslim.

Etc.

… I never spent any considerable time with someone who fell into one of those categories because we were taught to stay away from “those kinds of people”.

“Them”, right? “Those people, the others”.

We were taught that atheists were on a mission to turn the whole world away from God, gay people will try to turn our kids gay, witches worship Satan, hippies have lots of sex, take drugs, and have no regard for their bodies, Muslims are violent … on and on the list could go.

And.

So.

I assumed that all of these people (and anyone who was different than me, especially in terms of theology and spirituality) was a “problem” that I (as a good Chrisitan!) was chosen by God to help “fix”.

When I got to Apple, though, I found myself working alongside of “those people” where I shared a locker with a lesbian, was trained by a gay man, reported to a hippie who openly talked about all sorts of things, and was mentored by a guy who wore a turban.

And.

As a result?

Well. Early on I was hyperfocused on how I could “minister” to “these lost people” and help them “meet Jesus” …

I pondered how I could strike up a conversation about church with the lesbian who shared a locker with me.

I wondered if the gay guy who was training me would be interested in coming to church.

I thought about whether I could silently pray against the girl who practiced witchcraft and if some of her “powers” might weaken.

I tried to connect with the hippie over New Age spiritulity and bring Jesus into the converation.

I read some books and websites about what Muslims believe about God and tried to think of ways I could tell my Muslim co-worker about the “true God”.

But.

Then?

As time went on?

I got to know “those people” and began to realize that a lot of the assumptions I had about “them” were wrong.

Very.

Very.

Wrong.

And that makes me wonder, what other assumptions might I be wrong about?

Right?

Because back then I was dead set on believing that my assumptions were right - no one could convince me otherwise. In fact, many people tried to convince me with various arguments that …

Gay people wouldn’t try to make my kids gay.

Atheists wouldn’t try to lead me away from God.

Muslims weren’t violent.

… but no argument on earth could change my mind.

Instead.

My mind was changed only when I had experiences with the kinds of people I held assumptions about and came to the realization (on my own) that (although we migth disagree about God or spirituality or politics) they weren’t terrible people at all.

Now, I’d like to say that I’m 100% free of assumptions these days.

But.

If I’m being honest.

Today I find myself having just as strong (if not stronger) assumptions about …

People who wear red MAGA hats.

People who (still) have their Trump signs up on their laws (a year+ after the election!).

People who (like the family that lives behind us) have a “Christian Flag” hanging on the same pole as their “American Flag”.

People who hand out Gospel tracts.

People who quote Bible verses at me.

People who have a Jesus Fish and an American Flag on the back of their car (or a Jesus Fish with stars and stripes!).

People who vote Republican down the line.

Etc.

“Those people”, I often think to myself, “probably a Trump-loving, gay-hating, America-obsessed, war-supporting, self-absorbed, ignorant fool.” And just as I did back when I walked into the Apple Store for the first time, today I feel just as justified (if not more justified) in my thoughts …

Because of what the media tells me about “those people”.

Because of the extreme examples the social media algorithms place in my feed.

Because of what I’ve been told “those people” think, believe, etc.

Because of what I’ve heard Donald Trump say on the news or on social media.

Because of what other people on “my side” think and say about “those people”.

Because of how some of “those people” use the Bible as a weapon.

Because of what I know the Bible REALLY says about the things “those people” believe and support.

Etc.

But.

Here’s the thing I’m learning.

And this?

It’s not really easy to swallow … so prepare yourself.

What I’m learning is this:

Just as most of (maybe even all of) my assumptions about gay people, Atheists, etc. were wrong, so most of (I may even dare say, all of) my assumptions about people I’m quick to demonize for wearing a MAGA hat or keeping a Trump sign on their lawn or voting Republican down the line are also inaccurate.

Yes: working at Apple for 11 years taught me that the things I assume about people who are different from me are most likely a bit far from reality.

I started to come to this realization last Summer when I talked to Dr. Kurt Gray on the podcast about his book, “Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground” where one of the things he explores is how studies have shown that what Republicans assume about Democrats and what Democrats assume about Republicans are wildly inaccurate.

AND.

That these 2 groups of people that appear to be so divided on the outside actually have way more in common than either side thinks.

Hm.

This idea was magnified a few weeks back when I talked to Dr. Scott Gelfand on the podcast about his book, “Thinking Ethically: A Handbook for Making Moral Choices” as he shared with me how further studies have shown that when it comes to Republicans and Democrats, the majority of people on one side hold the very same morals and the very same ethical beliefs as the majority of the people on the other side.

The differences?

The differences aren’t so much in what each side thinks is right and wrong, but in how the people on each side believe those morals and ethics ought to play out in policies, politics, etc. in an effort to make the world a better, safe place.

And.

What THIS means?

Well, it can mean a lot of things for a lot of different people, I suppose. And so I’m not here to tell you what it should or shouldn’t mean for you; I’m just sharing what it has come to mean for me as I take stock of the stones I’m quick to throw at people who see things or understand things differently than me.

And so.

For me, this means that …

I don’t know as much about the guy down the street from me with the Trump sign on his lawn as I think I do or that my side thinks it does or that my Progressive friends think they do.

I don’t know as much about the guy in front of me at the grocery store who is sporting a MAGA hat, MAGA shirt, and MAGA socks as I think I do or that my side thinks it does or that my Progressive friends think they do.

I don’t know as much about the lady down the street from me who is quite vocal about how she votes Republican right down the line regardless of their values, beliefs, etc. as I think I do or that my side thinks it does or that my Progressive friends think they do.

… and the list could continue for all the people I’m quick to make assumptions about - I don’t know as much about them as I think I do because the reality is that what they say along with how they vote, what political sign they put in their yard, what campaign shirt they wear to the grocery store, etc. - these things are just a small, small glimpse into the much larger picture of who they are.

And I know this because the same is true for me, right? And, I would assume, for you.

For example, I am much more than my political thoughts. Judging the whole of my person by how I vote would cause someone to miss (perhaps) the very best of who I am.

The same for judging me by my religious thoughts.

My theology.

My thoughts on abortion.

My thoughts on LGBTQ people.

Yes.

I am much more than all of these things because the conclusions I’ve come to about these things are preceded by 44 years of experiences - some good, some bad, some joyful, some painful, some successes, some failures, some good choices, some really poor choices - that have helped shape me, mold me, and grow me into who I am today (and who I will continue to become tomorrow and all the days to follow).

Because.

In addition to my political thoughts or religious thoughts or voting choices, I’m first and foremost …

A daddy to a beautiful 8 year old girl.

A husband of almost 16 years to the most amazing woman in the world.

The son of the most thoughtful and caring mom in the world.

The son of a dad who was taken from this world far too soon.

An artist.

A writer.

A creator.

A dreamer.

A fan of baseball.

A friend.

A gamer.

An avid reader.

The owner of 3 degrees - bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate.

A guy who likes to mow the lawn and fix things around the house.

A guy who (more than anything else) wants to see the world be a better place for his loved ones.

… and the list could go on.

And so.

Even though I might disagree about politics with the guy down the street who has a Trump sign on his lawn, I’ve recently learned that he’s a father and that he recently moved here for work and that he misses his kids and grandkids who live a good distance away. I learned that he enjoys working in his yard, likes to rollerblade, and enjoys a good baseball game now and then.

Hm.

Maybe the best way for me to change the world, then, isn’t by forcing him into a conversation about the Trump sign on his lawn or trying to get him to understand why I think the War in Iran is a waste of time, resources, human life, etc.

But.

Maybe the best way for me to change the world is to ask him how his new job is going or when he’ll next get to see his grandkids or to compliment the garden that he’s been working so hard on or to ask him how he learned to do such cool tricks on his rollerblades or to remember that he’s a dad, grandfather, husband, baseball fan, rollerblader, etc. who (likely) wants to see (more than anything else) a better world for his loved ones.

And then.

Maybe one day one of those conversations will lead to politics and (again) rather than feeling the need to “set him straight” (as if all of my ideas and beliefs are superior to his!) maybe I can remember that this guy is more than the sign on his lawn and I can curiously ask him why he voted for Trump or why the MAGA values are important to him or why he views the War in Iran or some of Trump’s policies as good for the world.

And then.

Maybe?

If the conversation turns to me, I can say, “wow, I see that very differently - do you mind if I share what I think?” And then after I share some of my story maybe we can both realize that even though we have a different opinion about the sign on his lawn, we are both 2 dad’s who want to see the world be a better place for our loved ones even if we disagree about how that should play out in the world of politics.

I’ll admit, when the guy down the street first moved in and immediately put (no joke) 6 Trump signs on his lawn and hung a giant Trump flag off the front post of his house … I had all sorts of feelings and all sorts of things to say about it and a WHOLE HOST OF ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HIM. I think I told everyone who would listen to me what a jerk this guy must be. I even took a picture of his lawn and sent it to people.

But, then?

One day when Jordan was in front of his house on her skateboard and he came out to offer us some lemonade and got down on his knee to speak to Jordan and listen to her tell him about her favorite colors and favorite animals and favorite teachers in school (she had A LOT to say that day) … I began to realize that this guy was more than the signs on his lawn - he’s a dad just like me, a living, breathing human being with a story just like mine, a person who houses the breath of the Divine, a creation who is worthy of love, compassion, and kindness.

He introduced me to his wife.

We talked about New York (we both moved here from up North).

He asked me what I do for work.

We talked about the community we live in, where to find the best pizza and bagels.

He asked me what I do for work, what hobbies I have, where I went to school.

I asked him the same.

We cheered for Jordan as she showed us her skateboarding skills.

And.

I admit.

My assumptions about him were wrong.

And so today I drop my stones of assumptions and choose to stop throwing them at “those people” who I think are so different from me.

I choose to stop assuming the worst of people who vote differently than I do.

I choose to stop assuming that people who value conservative theologies and/or politics are the problem with the world.

I choose to stop assuming that my views are superior or more educated or better for the world.

I choose to stop assuming that our differences are more in number than our similarities.

I choose to stop hurling my assumptions about others into the fires that have been stoked into a rage by the media and those the System have placed in power who benefit most from the division among us.

I choose to stop assuming that my declarations of belief are the only way to create lasting change in the world.

I choose to stop assuming that loving and listening to and being curious about those my side has “othered” is a sign of weakness.

In fact.

If I’m going to assume anything at all, I’m going to try to “assume positive intent” - assume that those who I think are so different from me are (like me) doing the best they can with what they’ve been given and we all (me, you, them, etc.), together, are on an eternal journey to become the best version of ourselves.

Much love.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

PS - In addition to the books I mentioned above, here are some more that I’m finding helpful regarding my stones of assumptions:

Calling In: How to Start Making Change With Those You’d Rather Cancel by Loretta Ross

All In This Together by Jack Kornfield

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh

Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go …

In the West surrender implies giving up power. But surrounding to a guru or the Divine doesn’t mean giving power to another human being - it’s letting go of the stuff that keeps you separate. Each time you surrender, it leads you further in - deeper into yourself. You surrender to that place in yourself that takes you beyond form.

- Be Love Now: The Path of the Heart, Ram Dass

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends.

Do you remember when Rob Bell was canceled by the (mostly) Evangelical Church that once upheld him as a prominent teacher and thinker?

He wrote a book called “Love Wins” (which, today, is one of my favorite books) where he asked some questions regarding “traditional” understandings of hell, the afterlife, etc. and was met with some harsh criticism headed by John Piper’s famous tweet:

After the book was released I remember going to the Christian Bookstore in town (which happened to be on the campus of my High School, which was on the campus of one of the largest churches in the area) to pick up a copy of the book.

Now.

I had been in that bookstore approximately 32,000 times and so I knew exactly where Rob Bell’s books were …

Velvet Elvis.

Jesus Wants to Save the Christians.

Nooma.

Etc.

I walked though the door, headed over to the “Christian Living” section, looked for authors whose last names began with “B”, and searched for “Bell”.

And.

There was.

Nothing.

“Hm”, I thought. “I guess people not only bought his new book, but all his old ones too!”

And so I went over to the counter to place an order or reserve a copy coming in the next shipment. I told the guy behind the counter what I was looking for and I’ll never forget it. He smirked at me and said, “oh, we won’t be carrying that book or any of Bell’s books any more.”

“Why?”, I asked.

“Well”, he said, “haven’t you heard about this book? He says there is no hell! We can’t carry books by a false teacher like that. He is leading people astray.”

“Really?”, I said. “So, you’ve read the book?”, I asked.

“No”, he said, “but I’ve heard a lot about it and the books have all been taken off the shelf.”

Yes - Rob Bell had been canceled by my local Christian Book store, high school, and church; and spearheading the whole operation was the guy at the counter (who was a manager) who hadn’t even read the book.

The release of “Love Wins” created such a stir that Rob ended up leaving the mega church he planted (Mars Hill in Michigan) and all but fell off the radar for a while before re-emerging with his podcast (The Robcast), some new books, art, and more.

But.

In a very real way.

The canceling of Rob Bell took his well-respected name and dragged it through the fires of Evangelical …

Anger.

Wrath.

Condemnation.

Shame.

Judgment.

… as churches (much like the Christian Book Store that was part of the Church at my Evangelical Christian High School) felt pressure from the gatekeepers of their faith System to disassociate with the teachings of Rob Bell and anything good he had ever done.

Every teaching.

Every book.

Every video.

Every sermon.

In fact, I can remember being in seminary shortly after this whole ordeal and being “spoken to” by the dean who said to me (in front of my entire class), “it’s OK to read Rob’s stuff, Glenn; but if you keep posting about it online people are going to think bad things about you. You might want to back off it a bit.”

Both “sides” do this, right? I mean, each side blames the other for canceling, but if we want to be honest - the Left does it just as much as the Right and the Right just as much as the Left.

The Right cancels people like Rob Bell, Richard Rohr, bakeries who make LGBTQ cakes, and movies like Noah while the Left cancels people like JK Rowling, Sticker Mule (a sticker printing company whose owner is very outspoken of his support for Trump), bakeries who refuse to make LGBTQ cakes, and movies like David and The Passion of the Christ.

And the one thing that never happens?

Or rarely happens?

It’s super rare that anyone approaches the one they are set on canceling with even the smallest amount of curiosity OR positive intent, thinking that maybe (just maybe!) the person in question might be MORE on the inside than the views they are expressing on the outside - a human being that is worthy of grace, compassion, and kindness.

“Why?”, you might ask - “Why would we do that? Why should we be curious? Assume positive intent? Especially when they DO something horrible or SAY something horrible or TREAT PEOPLE in horrible ways?”

It’s not easy, I admit.

I’m currently re-reading through the Harry Potter series (and watching the movies! - SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN, WATCHED, ETC.) and there’s this point in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where Harry is trying to escape a room that is on fire while also being attacked by a fellow student who has been his archenemy for the entirety of the series (Draco Malfoy, who [along with his friends] started the fire).

Malfoy? He’s the character you love to hate, you know?

The perfect villian.

The perfect bully.

A rich snob.

A daddy’s boy.

Full of himself.

… Every page of the book he’s on annoys me!

Anyways.

Just as Harry is about to escape the room while flying on his broom, Malfoy slips off a ledge and is dangling by the tips of his fingers above a roaring fire - moments away from certain death.

“HA! Finally. Malfoy is gonna get his!”

“YES! Justice for Harry and every other person he’s humiliated!”

“Karma!”

Harry, though? He sees Malfoy in danger and rather than speed away (and cancel him once and for all!), he turns his broom around (even though his friend, Ron, wants to keep going) to grab Malfoy by the arm and fly him to safety - dropping him away from the fire before flying off with his friends.

As the story goes on, the reader’s heart begins to soften a bit towards Malfoy as we see that this kid who has been a bully for the last 6 books …

This kid we wouldn’t have minded exiting the story early on.

This kid who has picked on all of our favorite characters.

This kid who has been chosen by the main villian to do the worst thing imagineable.

… is actually deeply wounded inside, full of fear and insecurity. His wounds aren’t an excuse for his actions, of course (no one’s are - mine, yours, etc.), but they also show that he is more on the inside than the terrible decisions he’s made on the outside and he (like all of us) is worthy of grace, compassion, and kindness.

And, Harry knew this.

Right?

That’s why, I think, he turned his broom around:

He knew that Malfoy had more going on INSIDE than he could see OUTSIDE.

He knew that Malfoy grew up with parents who sold themselves to the Dark Forces of the Wizarding world.

He knew that Malfoy’s father had impossibly high expectations of him.

He knew that his parents expected him to follow in their footsteps.

He knew that Malfoy was carrying a large load on his young shoulders.

He knew that deep down, Malfoy wasn’t evil.

And so he chose to turn around and help him not because what he did on the outside deserved it, but because the good person he was (the good person we ALL are!) on the inside was covered by a lifetime of hurt and wounds and baggage and poor decisions.

Look.

I’ll admit.

I’m sad to say.

That sometimes when the “enemies” of my life or the “enemies” of “my side/team” are dangling from their own ledges over fires of the anger, wrath, judgment, and shaming words of “my team” or “my side” or my “progressive/conservative friends” …

The pastor who gets caught in an affair.

Spiritual leaders (like Deepak Chopra) who have shown up in the Epstein Files.

JK Rowling (the creator of Harry Potter) who has weaponized her ability to craft words to attack trans people.

My MAGA Facebook friend who says the most awful things in defense of Trump.

Donald Trump who has all but set the world on fire.

… I’m pretty quick to consider stepping on the gas pedal of my broom to fly away and join my friends - leaving them to be consumed by the fires of our collective anger, wrath, judgment, and words of shame and condemnation.

“Good”, I think. “They deserve it. Look at what they’ve done. Look at what they’ve said. Look at the kind of person they are. Cancel them! Take her books off the shelves! Delete all the podcast episodes that pastor has been on! Unfriend and block the person on Facebook! I hope Trump suffers like he’s made so many others suffer! In the words of John Piper, ‘farewell’!”

Re-reading Harry Potter is teaching me a lot of things, though; and one thing it’s been teaching me is that people are more than the things they do, the things they say, the decisions they make, etc. because beneath all the stuff we see on the outside that bothers us so much is an unseen lifetime of stories that have been woven together to influence who they are today.

And again:

Those wounds and stories aren’t an excuse for their actions (as I said above, no one’s are - not even ours); but those wounds and stories can serve to remind us that the people we most want to cancel and write off and leave dangling above the fires of our anger and wrath are more on the inside than the terrible decisions they’ve made on the outside and they (like all of us) are worthy of grace, compassion, and kindness.

“Love your enemies”, Jesus said.

And.

“Pray for those who persecute you.”

And.

“Treat others as you want to be treated.”

And.

“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Now.

This doesn’t mean that we won’t ever need to “cancel” someone for our own physical, mental, emotional well-being.

Did you hear that?

I’ll say it again:

This doesn’t mean that we won’t ever need to “cancel” someone for our own physical, mental, emotional well-being. This doesn’t mean that we won’t ever have to part ways with someone, send their calls to voicemail, block them on Facebook, take their books off of our shelves, etc.

That’s not what I’m saying here.

I canceled my step-father because, honestly, he was an awful father who wounded me and wounded me and then wounded me some more with zero remorse. In fact, even after he died - he made sure that the obituary and accompanying video that went along with it was one last stab in the back to me and my mom.

Sigh.

At some point I made a decision for myself that exposing myself to his presence was no longer healthy for me and although …

I could forgive him.

I could wish him well.

I could bless him.

I could invite him to The Table.

… that didn’t mean I needed to be in any kind of relationship with him, that didn’t mean he needed to sit next to me at The Table - I could cancel him out of my life and still genuinely wish him well.

I also canceled someone who was once a friend of mine who treated me in some awful ways that, frankly, reminded me of my step-father.

We had words.

We went back and forth.

I unfriended him.

And then he reached out and apologized and said he was wrong and I forgave him, but I told him - “thanks so much for reaching out, I really do appreciate it; but I really can’t be in a relationship like we had anymore; I need some distance from you because what you said and how you attacked me and the assumptions you made about me have stirred up some old traumas and memories and that’s energy I choose to no longer expose myself to. I wish you well on your journey and with your work and please know - I do forgive you.”

That might seem extreme, I know. But, for me? It was something I had to do, a boundary I had to make for my own mental well-being.

And?

Honestly?

This guy understood and we parted ways without any hard feelings.

And you may need to cancel someone, too. In fact, you may need to cancel someone that I’ve chosen not to cancel.

Maybe JK Rowling and her rhetoric against trans people is too much for you to handle because you have a trans child.

I get that, 100% - it’s OK to get rid of her books. Burn them if you need to.

Or maybe you need to cancel Donald Trump and write him off because the way he speaks, the things he’s done, etc. remind you of things that were done and said to you.

I get that - it’s OK to feel what you feel, to say what you need to say. Let your words burn with rage.

Maybe you need to never speak to or make eye contact with your MAGA neighbor because of the way he repeatedly speaks to you about the rainbow flag sticker on your car.

I get that - you don’t need to expose yourself to that kind of energy.

The point I’m trying to make here isn’t that no one should ever cancel anyone ever again, but that even if we do end up canceling someone, we can (as hard as it may be) eventually come to a place where we cancel them NOT from a place of fiery anger and judgement and superiority and stone throwing, hoping that they get consumed by our fires and “get what they have coming to them”.

BUT.

With a sense of compassion - choosing to part ways with their work or their presence while wishing that life leads them to a place where they can be more healed of their wounds and traumas, moving closer to becoming the best version of themselves.

Much like Harry, we can look over our shoulder and see that the fires of the anger and judgment and rage of our side or our team are about to consume them; and instead of joining our side in hurling more fiery stones …

Talking trash about the MAGA neighbor.

Hoping the person who hurt us has a miserable life.

Ranting about Trump and Christian Nationalists non-stop on social media.

Bashing “the other side” in text threads.

Talking about how stupid or dumb or lost “they” are.

Etc.

… we can, perhaps, choose to turn our brooms around (even if our friends disagree!), grab them by the hand, and place them in a safe place …

Choosing NOT to talk trash about them.

Choosing NOT to hope they have a miserable life.

Choosing NOT to rant about them on social media.

Choosing NOT to join the text threads.

Choosing NOT to call them names behind their back (or to their face!).

… then fly away, hoping that life leads them to a place where they can find healing and growth and life change - even if they find it far away from us, at the other end of The Table, never speaking to us, and us never engaging with their work again.

And.

As always?

This doesn’t need to be your jam, OK? I’m not here to tell you what to do, how to act, how to respond to people who hurt you or annoy you or act in evil ways in the world. You do you, my friend.

Me?

This is just where I’m at. Looking back, I’ve hurled my share of canceling stones at people and these days I’m chosing to loosen my grip on the stones so I can make a little more room in my palms for curiosity about the story of the person I’m so ready to cut off.

And then?

If I do need to cancel (like with my step-dad and friend who treated me in some terrible ways)?

I can do so not from a place of judgmental stone throwing, but from a place of kindness and compassion and a true hope that life leads them to a place of healing and bettering of themselves.

Much love.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

PS - here are some books that have helped me with my own “stones of canceling”.

Welcoming the Unwelcome by Pema Chödron

There Is No Other by Ram Dass

Sage Warrior by Valarie Kaur

Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go (this one is a little longer, and very important) …

While it is important to examine the ways your acts have caused pain to others, it is even more important to examine the pain that has caused you to commit those acts. When you are free of pain you are incapable of inflicting pain. Thus, we heal suffering at its root, not its symptoms. All society healing begins with self-healing.

It is tempting to try to fix other people rather than face and heal our own fears and judgments. When you accept your own innocence, you will know precisely how to deal with difficult people. Under the cloud of judgment, you cannot see anyone clearly. As you establish yourself on higher ground, you gain the leverage to lift those who are trapped. Don’t wait for others to get their act together before you do. Your act will influence theirs.

Inner peace is your strongest platform to create global transformation. Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa never made evil their enemy. They didn’t fight people. Instead, they made a stand for kindness and equality, and subsequently advanced society in ways that angry people could never achieve. For them, peace was not simply the goal. Peace was the road to all worthy goals.

- Alan Cohen, A Course in Miracles Made Easy

Lots to chew on here.

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

Friends.

I have a sticker on my coffee mug that says, “NO ONE FOR PRESIDENT”.

Allow me to explain.

I first saw the sticker on Billie Joe Armstrong’s guitar when Green Day was around the San Francisco area playing some pop up concerts in the days leading up to their Super Bowl pre-game performance. I’m obsessed with this guitar (don’t worry, I won’t bore you with the story behind it) and how Billie Joe is constantly adding stickers to it; so, when I see a new one on it - I recognize it right away.

Like I said, I’m obsessed.

(And, yes - my coffee mug is the same color as the guitar. HA!)

I’ll get back to the sticker in a moment, but the sticker made me think about August 2024 when Dana and I went to see Green Day in concert.

Oh.

My.

God.

I was in heaven. We had seats SUPER close to the stage as we listened, sang, and jumped around to some of my very favorite songs. I’m a major introvert (I’d rather spend 3 weeks alone without saying a word than go to an event that has more than 5 people), but that night - I sang the lyrics to every song on 2 albums, jumped, screamed, danced … all the things.

And the thing this “NO ONE FOR PRESIDENT” sticker made me recall was how very early on in that hot, humid evening (maybe 1 or 2 songs in) Billie Joe made an announcement.

This guy who is VERY vocal about his …

Disgust of all things MAGA.

Stance against facism.

Views on war.

Etc.

… stood up before thousands of people and announced that everyone (regardless of their beliefs, backgrounds, etc.) was welcome at their table that night and that we were all coming together not to argue or fight or flex our muscles of who is right and who is wrong, but coming together in the midst of our differences to sing, to dance, to let everything go for a little while and enjoy being in the presence of one another in a world that does everything in it’s power to pull us apart. He encouraged us to put our phones away, direct our focus to the stage, to the people around us … and live (together) in the moment.

Wow.

Right?

The anti-MAGA, anti-ICE, anti-facism, anti-war Green Day doesn’t compromise their values; and yet they make room (intentionally) for everyone, everywhere.

Because.

Truly.

At the heart of their music - they don’t aim their resistance at PEOPLE as much as they aim it at the VALUES, IDEAS, POLICIES, etc. (that people often promote) that cause harm and division.

In other words.

They don’t equate HUMAN BEINGS with the VALUES those human beings hold; they realize that people are MORE than their values, MORE than their religious beliefs, MORE than their voting choices, etc.

And THAT?

That’s one of the most “punk rock” things ever - a radical way to live in these explosive times, especially with a platform as large as theirs. They have, truly, I believe, found another way to be and exist.

And that’s why I put that sticker on my coffee mug - not because I don’t think that one candidate might be better than another or because I’ve put my head in the sand regarding politics and the state of the world or because I’ve given up hope.

No.

But because …

Honestly?

… as long as there is a “side” that we need to align with there will forever be another “side” that we need to stand against, that we need to label, that we need to “other” as the problem, the enemy, the cause of the problems in the country and world.

AND.

As long as that continues to happen? Then regardless of who we vote for AND regardless of who wins AND regardless of who spends 4-8 years in the Oval Office.

Regardless.

Of.

Any.

Of.

That.

… this System that gives power to the powerful and riches to the rich continues to grow; because regardless of which “side wins”, the System that is above both of those sides - it keeps on winning and winning and winning.

“NO ONE FOR PRESIDENT” is my way of saying that (for me) we aren’t facing a Right or a Left problem as much as we’re facing a systemic problem - a monstrous System that calls all the people beneath it to throw stones at the side that is opposed to their side, a System that gets more powerful even as one of the sides beneath it grows weaker, a System that needs to be dismantled, overhauled, and rebuilt from the bottom up.

It’s my way of saying that rather than taking up residence on one side while othering a different side, I’m choosing to take no sides.

Woah, right?

I know.

At first I thought that was a rather insane idea, too. After all, I grew up as a staunch Conservative Republican before becoming a Fiery Progressive and so standing firm on one side while standing against another is (really) all I’ve ever known.

But then I read about a Zen Master named Thich Nhat Hanh and how during the Vietnam War he and his order of monks and nuns were persecuted for refusing to take sides.

Imagine that?

Instead of choosing the side that would have been most obvious for a group of peaceful Buddhists, they chose to minister to the communist and anti-communists alike - a move that got Thich Nhat Hanh exciled from his homeland for 40 years.

In his book, “Peace Is Every Step” he explains that “we belong to each other; we cannot cut reality into pieces. The well-being of ‘this’ is the well-being of ‘that’, so we have to do things together. Every side is ‘our side’; there is no evil side.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu (in his book, “God Has a Dream”) says something similar regarding white people who uphold racial apartheid - “they too are God’s children, even though they may be our oppressors, though they may be our enemies. Paradoxically, and more truly, they are really our sisters and our brothers … and their humanity is caught up in our humanity, as ours is cuaght up in theirs. When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves.”

None of this is easy - I admit.

And there is no “simple way” to do this - I fully realize.

I mean, yeah - I’m with you, friends; I’m royally ticked off at a lot of people and the thought of ministering to a MAGA supporter or an ICE agent or even Donald Trump in the way that Thich Nhat Hanh led his monks to minister to communists … my skin cralws just thinking about it.

But.

Maybe crawling skin and putting ourselves into positions of compassion and kindness and service, bent before those we’d most like to punch in the face … maybe, just maybe there’s some bit of magic in there that can begin to shift our consciousness and (therefore, since we’re all connected to one another) shift the consciousness of everyone, everywhere.

And so today I am challenging myself to put down my “Stone of Othering” as I refuse to take sides, refuse to give more power and strength to a System that is already far too powerful and far too strong, committing myself to the hard work of figuring out what all of that looks like in a world that expects me to choose a side while throwing stones at the other.

And …

Yes, I will make mistakes.

Yes, I will fall flat on my face at times.

Yes, I will say things I wish I didn’t.

Yes, I will speak about others in judgmental ways.

… But.

I will pick myself up and try again.

Much love,

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO

PS - here are some books that have helped me with my own “stones of othering”.

The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong by John A. Powell

Belonging Without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World by John A. Powell

Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times by Greg Boyle

Friends.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for my “Friday Offering” where I give you a quote from a book that I’m reading with no commentary from me.

Here you go …

Loving respect for oneself, for others, and for the world around us is the foundation of a wise society … all thrive on loving respect. It is central to the practice of awakening and the liberation of the heart … and while we may lose our way, we can always return to respect.

- Jack Kornfield, All In This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World

Much love, my friend. May the Spirit or God or the Universe or your own Amazing Intution use these words to stir up something radical inside of you.

• Glenn || SUPPORT / ART STUDIO