The Word in Black and Red Podcast

Medicare for All would save $450B a year.

Every dollar spent on food stamps generates $1.50-$1.80 in economic activity.

Each dollar going to low-wage workers adds $1.20 to the economy overall.

It’s not about what this country can or can’t afford.

It’s about priorities.

If you're open to podcasts, we'd love to have you on our leftist Bible study podcast as we explore the book of Deuteronomy!

My favorite American city.

It's hard not to be these days. I've been doomscrolling a lot today, but took a break to listen to podcasts while I meal prepped. You and the gang made me laugh a lot today, and I'm very grateful for the bit of light you granted me. I hope in telling you I can do the same for you.

Let loving one another come before even our attempts to be holy.

#lent #progressivechristianity ⚓

TL;DR: Choose something to take up in place of what you give up. Choose something that is achievable based on where you are on your spiritual journey. Don't beat yourself up for failing, because we do get breaks. But take the practice back up to sustain yourself through this season.

Let loving one another come before even our attempts to be holy.

And lastly, remember that if you choose a difficult thing for your Lenten practice, Sundays are feast days. We are *supposed* to break our fasts to gather together in celebration of what Christ gave up for us. That's why there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday!

And if you've built the habit to do something, then you can begin to deepen it. But don't expect to go from no fasting to forty days with nothing but water and expect to be able to function your way through it.

If you don't go to church, commit to finding some spiritual community to meet with in person or online.

If you don't fast, commit to fasting from something in particular rather than from everything for forty days.

If you don't pray every day, commit to it with a timer at the same time and offer up a prayer even if you only have thirty seconds.

But more realistically: we fail, we give up, we forget the point. So instead of feeling like a failure, take on something simple you can do.

So don't take on a Lenten task that's so unbearable that you can't actually accomplish it and end up feeling bad about it and giving up. Sure, Lent is about recognizing that we are sinners in need of forgiveness. Failing can sometimes help us realize that.

But you are not a first century Jewish man who prayed for several hours every day. You are not being tasked with being Jesus. You are being asked to be faithful with a little so that later you might be faithful with a lot.

Lent really should be focused not on what you're giving up, but what you're taking on. Jesus went into the wilderness to pray and fasted because even food should not be a distraction.

Learn from our Muslim siblings and use the money you would have spent eating on providing food to people who need it.

Fasting is great. But how does that practice bring you closer in love to God and your neighbor? Consider every time you feel a hunger pang that that is your trigger to pray for your hungry neighbor and/or donate to a food charity.

Giving up chocolate is great. But how does that practice bring you closer in love to God and your neighbor? Well, every time you think about eating chocolate, learn about the slave labor that major chocolate brands rely on and talk to someone or post about it.

First, people often think that Lent is about giving something up. But the giving up isn't the point; suffering itself is not what gets you closer to God. What matters is that what you're giving up gives you the time or reminder to do something positive in its place.

Hey friends, Lent starts this week! So if you're new to Lent or have spent a lot of time worrying that your Lenten practice is 1) not good enough or b) not something you actually can commit to doing, here are some tips from someone who has very much so been in the same boat!

It's wild that we're not talking about the fact that Jim Jordan, the man made famous for covering up for a pedophile, is the man in charge of the Congressional oversight on the investigation of the pedophiles.

One of the greatest deceptions of our time is that we should be more concerned about immigrants possibly being criminals than we are about those in the highest positions of power, who wear crosses, quote scripture, while actually just using Christianity as a tool to perpetrate injustice.

If you care about thinking deeply about the spirituality of being human, social justice, or just love your neighbor, please donate to help my friend Aaron.

Find out some perspectives on these questions and more on this episode of The Word in Black and Red.

#christianityisleftist #thewordinblackandred

Why are we reading this ancient book about sacrifices in a religion at least two removed from our own? What is the difference between perfection and holiness? How can we read this text as liberatory for the very people whom it excludes? And how dense do you need to be an apostle?

The Word in Black and Red The Leftist Bible Study Podcast

Join Micah, Waffles, Aaron J Smith @aaronjsmith.net , and Avery Arden @avery-arden.bsky.social
as we explore the sacrifices outlined in Leviticus 1-3.

thewordinblackandred.com

You can listen to our first four episodes now on Patreon!

Join old hosts and new, like @vivianasimos.bsky.social, @benboswellauthor.bsky.social, Lee Catoe, Hadar Cohen, Simon Doong, @margaret.bsky.social, @mossmancometh.bsky.social, @liztheoharis.kairoscenter.org, and Ross Thorn
as we continue to read from a leftist and liberationist perspective.