Heartbroken and Disappointed
Welcome to reality, friends.
I woke up this morning heartbroken and disappointed, like tens of millions of people. Today, I’m trying to face what reality is telling us.
Reality is telling us that people are sometimes wise and responsible, but sometimes people in large numbers make tragic mistakes with far-reaching consequences.
Reality is telling us that liars, con artists, and criminals can fool a majority of the people a lot of the time by giving them someone to blame and playing to their resentment and fear.
Reality is telling us that we humans all have biases and resentments that authoritarians can exploit for their advantage.
Reality is telling us that older generations, especially of white male Christians, don’t want to let go of power.
Reality is telling us that while some of us have been waking up to our nation’s racism, sexism, and environmental irresponsibility, others are digging deeper into denial.
Reality is telling us that our religious communities have, for generations, failed to teach basic critical thinking and ethical discernment skills to their members.
Reality is telling us that our political parties — all of them — aren’t very comfortable with reality.
But there are other realities that are speaking too.
The oceans are warming. The ice caps are melting.
The poor and oppressed eventually will need solutions … not just someone to blame or scapegoat.
It's important to remember: Reality isn’t only what is. Reality includes potential for what could be.
4 billion years ago, the Earth was a hot molten lifeless planet. Nobody could have imagined it would some day contain coral reefs, Bach, Bob Dylan, and Beyonce ... and you.
In this chaos and disappointment is potential.
We must become chaos artists, my friends, working with a mess to make something beautiful.
Welcome to reality with all its glory and squalor, all it’s heartbreak and potential.
Your breaking heart can hold both ...
My friend and colleague Richard Rohr often says that contemplation is meeting all the reality we can bear.
When you can, it might be helpful to get alone, whether it's in your home, on a walk in a forest or city park, or in your car in a parking lot. If you need to cry, cry. If it would help to scream, scream.
Let your feelings flow. It might help to write them down in a rant or rap or prayer or poem. You could begin by writing, "What is reality trying to teach me?" and then write what comes to you.
And when you feel ready, you can allow yourself to sink into silence and feel not only your feelings, but the comfort and love that is at the core of who you are.
The same love that inspires you to care for others is there to care for you too.
You can welcome all the reality you can bear ... and know you are not alone.
Later today, you might intentionally do something kind for some person or living creature. Bake cookies. Write a thank you note. Water a house plant. Play with your dog. Fill your birdfeeder.
You might feel better in the short term by blaming someone, even yourself, but blame turns out, for me at least, to lead to a dead end of bitterness and disempowerment.
So in the long term, I'd recommend taking a different path ... toward kindness, courage, and wisdom.
This is real, friends. There is a lot at stake. Just because some dangerous people won the election doesn't mean they have to determine how we choose to live going forward.
That choice is ours.
Welcome to reality.
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If you feel that explanations would help you ... that you need to try to understand why what has happened has happened ... you might find these resources helpful:
Why Don't They Get It and The Second Pandemic.
Learning How to See (podcast)
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I want you all to know …
I want you all to know that I will be voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for President. (Not much of a surprise for many of you, I know.)
Hare my top four reasons for supporting Harris/Walz and for voting straight Democrat in 2024.
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Harris/Walz and the Democrats respect democratic institutions and norms. They have never launched or supported a violent coup attempt. That's a big deal at this moment in history.
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They understand that climate change is real and is an existential threat that requires urgent, wise, concerted action.
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Harris/Walz and the Democrats will lead us toward an America where everyone is treated with dignity and equality, no exceptions. (We have a long way to go.)
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They are positive people, and their presence in the spotlight will not degrade our national character or public discourse. They don’t bombard us with lies and hateful rhetoric. They have a hopeful vision for our future.
Any single one of these four reasons for supporting Democrats in 2024 would, for me, be compelling enough. All four reasons together are, for me, deeply convincing.
Neither Harris/Walz nor the Democratic Party as a whole are perfect, of course. Nothing human is. I have some significant disagreements with them which I will explain in the coming weeks. But in comparison with the alternative, I believe Democratic candidates at all levels deserve our vote in 2024.
In the coming weeks, I'm going to be sharing several personal election-related reflections through some short videos. You'll find them here:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brianmclarenonyoutube/videos
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brianmclaren
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brian_mclaren/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mclaren.brian/
I hope my reflections will be helpful to you. You may even want to share them with others if they convey something you think should be heard by people in your sphere of influence.
If you disagree, rather than attacking me, I invite you to constructively express who you are voting for and why, using your own media platforms. Let's respect one another's right to free speech, and exercise our right to not remain silent ... speaking truth to the best of our ability, always in love.
Thanks, as always, for your interest. We're all in this together!
0 Comments3 Minutes
En Español: Four Stages of Faith Development
Sincere thanks to Jonathan Peralta Gutierrez for translating this chart into Spanish and offering it for your use. Versions of the chart originally appeared in Faith After Doubt and Do I Stay Christian?
Please credit as follows: By Brian McLaren (brianmclaren.net), translated by Jonathan Peralta Gutierrez.
Download here:
Docx: [Maclaren_Brian] Apéndice 1_las cuatro etapas de la fe
PDF: [Maclaren_Brian] Apéndice 1_las cuatro etapas de la fe
0 Comments1 Minute
Q & R: What Order to Read my Books?
Here's the Q:
My cousin who is a pastor recommended your book, Do I Stay Christian, for me to read as like others, I question my path. Reviewing your books, I also purchased The Secret Message of Jesus and Faith After Doubt. Books of similar messages can serve as stepping stones. Of the books you have written, is there a recommendation of read first, second, third, etc. And thank you in advance. My gut tells me your writing will point me in the direction I need to find.
Here's the R:
That's a really interesting question, and it's taken me a while to answer to because ... I don't know how to answer it!
Let me recommend a few starting points and pathways forward based on where you would locate yourself -- where your starting point is:
_____ Of the three you've purchased already, I'd recommend this order:
Faith After Doubt, Do I Stay Christian, and Secret Message of Jesus
For others seeking where to start ...
_____ If you want to read my newest books that best reflect my current thinking, concerns, and creativity (as of 2024):
Life After Doom, Do I Stay Christian, Faith After Doubt, and my ebooks on bias and authoritarianism (available here).
_____If you are a conservative or traditional Christian (Evangelical, Catholic, etc.) who is just beginning to ask questions and seeking some more space to grow:
I'd recommend you begin with Faith After Doubt, and follow that up with A New Kind of Christian, and then A Generous Orthodoxy.
_____If you are deeply frustrated with your Christian faith and identity:
I'd recommend you begin with Do I Stay Christian, follow that up with The Great Spiritual Migration, and then Life After Doom. You may also benefit from Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?
_____If you have "deconstructed" or "lost your faith" and are trying to rebuild your theology:
I'd recommend A New Kind of Christianity, followed by The Secret Message of Jesus, then We Make the Road by Walking, and then, The Story We Find Ourselves In.
_____If you are seeking to move beyond Christian supremacy, exclusivism, traditional doctrine of hell, etc.:
I think you'd benefit first from Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?, and then The Last Word and the Word After That.
_____If you are struggling with elements of traditional Christian theology:
Biblical Literalism: Do I Stay Christian?
Hell and Christian Exclusiism: The Last Word and the Word After That
Traditional atonement theories: A New Kind of Christian, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road
Evolution/Science/Faith: The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey
Church: The Great Spiritual Migration
Bible: We Make the Road by Walking
Global Crises: Life After Doom, Everything Must Change
_____If you are more interested in spirituality than in theology
I'd recommend Naked Spirituality, Finding Our Way Again, The Great Spiritual Migration
_____If you're a parent seeking to read something to your kids:
I'd recommend Cory and the Seventh Story, an illustrated book for young readers coauthored with Gareth Higgins.
_____ If you're interested in faith and science, spirituality and nature, etcl:
The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey, Life After Doom, Do I Stay Christian?
_____ If you like fiction:
I wrote a trilogy of "instructive fiction/creative nonfiction" called A New Kind of Christian, the Story We Find Ourselves In, and The Last Word and the Word After That.
I have a new science fiction trilogy coming out, starting in July 2025. The first volume is called The Last Voyage.
0 Comments5 Minutes
Friends in England – More Connection Opportunities
I'll be with the good people of Oasis Waterloo on Monday August 19 at 6 pm. 
Then on Tuesday 20 August, I'll be at Westminster Theological College with Progressive Christian Network. Details here:
https://www.pcnbritain.org.uk/events/detail/brian-mclaren
I'll be in Totnes, in Devon, on Wednesday 21 August, 1 - 4 pm. We'll be engaging with my new book, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart.
Learn more here: https://ttm.churchsuite.com/events/ls6a3cra
Then I'll be at Greenbelt August 22-25.
Hope to see you at one or more events!
0 Comments1 Minute