The Bleeding Purple Podcast:

Leif Hansen has invited you to join Biznik

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:37:00 +0000

Hi there,

How's it going? Have you heard about Biznik yet? It's an very cool and hepful online community of independent business people with social and educational events hosted by members. It's a great way to promote your business, and to build your most important business asset: relationships.

What I like best is that their focus in on the face-to-face stuff, the technology (which is a great system in itself) serves that end...
Check em out and sign up soon, its hot.

--Leif

Check it out: http://biznik.com/join/3694881f40

How to find Leif Hansen

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:06:00 +0000

I just noticed that this page is at the very top of a Google search of "Leif Hansen", even though Bleeding Purple transmogrified into Wonderosity in 2006. So, I thought it might be a good idea to point you in the right direction(s)!

Wonderosity --is the name and site of my new podcast and upcoming social experiment. (You might also want to go to wonderosityshow.com
Spark Northwest -is the name and site of my new teambuilding/coaching business.
GeekingOutLoud -is the name and site of my Geek blog
SparkGuy -is where you'll find out information about me and my online doings.

There. That should do it --that last one will (as of today) redirect you to an ajax based start page which has all my blog and podcast feeds, stuff about me, flickr photos, etc.

Warning! This feed will self destruct in two weeks, please switch to the new wonderosity feed

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:28:00 +0000

Hi Bleeding Purple People,
I notice that around 75 of you have still not switched over to the new wonderosity feed.
While I will be keeping this site up, I will be deleting the feeds associated with it (ie feeds.feedburner.com/bleedingpurple, and the enteuxis.org one).
So please just click RIGHT HERE and itunes will add the new wonderosity feed, or just copy and paste this feed -http://feeds.feedburner.com/wonderosity -into your favorite podcatcher/player.

And don't forget to get your butt over to the new wonderosity show site and the new wonderosity social site! Of course, if all of this is too complicated for you, you can keep it simple and go on over to the wonderosity.com site and all my feeds and other projects are there as well!

Thanks and I hope you've had an awesome new year!
In truth,
Leif

1st Wonderosity Show! Interview with Jim Palmer, Author Of Divine Nobodies, Part 1

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 01:06:00 +0000

(This is actually the first show for Wonderosity, but I've been asked by a number of you to be notified when the first Wonderosity show comes out --so make sure you go over to http://www.wonderosityshow.com and subscribe to the new feed!)

For our first show, after a brief introduction to Wonderosity, I interview Jim Palmer, author of "Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God, and the unlikely people who help you." Jim is a man with a huge heart and some powerful, simple ideas for those who are wanting to deepen spiritually. In this first of a three part interview, we explore questions like:

What 'Divine Nobodies' is basically about, and how Jim came to write it.

Why are bare-ass honest books like this, books admitting personal faith-struggles as well as churchianity's shortcomings, just now starting to come out and be devoured by the public?

Where the heck is God? Is God "out there" or "in here" or what?

Why do I (and I'm sure others) seem to be in a place where I seem to be resistant to growing spiritually, slowing down, etc?

I hope you enjoy this first episode and I'd love any feedback you have to give. Please email wonderosity@gmail.com with any comments or questions!

-Leif

Transitions -personal and podcastical

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 22:02:00 +0000

In this last Bleeding Purple show, I share some changes happening in my personal life as well as with Bleeding Purple (soon to be transmogrified into "Wonderosity".)

I'll let this episode explain why I am transforming BP into a new show, but since this is the last 'official' Bleeding Purple show, I want to offer a BIG THANK YOU to each of you who have given your ear to my personal musings, interviews and audio experimentations. I've been honored by all of the emails of encouragement and praise, the stories of your connecting with content in the show, and the new friendships I've made with a quite a diverse group of purple people.

I've found that connecting with 'my audience' has been one of the biggest blessings and biggest curses of podcasting. The blessings are obvious, the curses for me have been: feeling anxious and guilty when shows are delayed; becoming too obsessed with 'stats' and numbers; flirting with 'monetizing' the show; worrying too much if people will like the show, like me, etc. So my hope is that I can keep my new show in the spirit I started BP --the fun, the passion, the following my curiosity, and the sheer geekiness of it all. So if you ever sense I'm not having fun with it --please feel free to verbally kick my arse.

For those of you subscribed to the Bleeding Purple Podcast, after I research the pros/cons of it, I will either redirect this feed automatically to the new show, or just do a quick announcement on the BP feed --so stay subscribed for at least another few weeks and/or check back here again soon. The most current info about me should always be found at www.wonderosity.com

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!
-Leif

Christ's self-sacrifical love isn't enough. Thoughts on what the cross is about and how churchianity largely doesn't get it

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 05:14:00 +0000

Okay, I'm sick of complaining about my lack of time or worrying about what to write or podcast. So, if I stick to my "sick of it" --expect to start seeing some stuff here finally.

Here is a copy of an email I just sent to a pastor friend who is speaking on Colossians 1:24-2:5 and who is asking a group of friends for thoughts on various passages.

I wrote it in 15 minutes and got into preacher mode, but I think it has some good fruit-juice in it (from the life-giving kind of tree) that some of you might enjoy tasting.
--------------------

Hi Scott,

I wanted to focus on the first verse, as it plays into something I have put a lot of thought about...so bear with me as I try and ramble it out with v. little free time on my hands.

Col 1:25

Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church"

Many evangelicals would be shocked to hear that this verse actually comes from the bible..."What, something was lacking in Christ's salvific suffering!?!"

Well, it depends on what you think happened on the cross.

There have been a number of models used within Christian History to desribe what happened on the cross...too complex a topic to go into here (though I'll try and find a journal entry from a couple of years ago that I think might be helpful to you on this matter...found it...and I am pasting it at the end of this email)

Here's the point: If one thinks that a divine legal transaction (penal substitution) is primarily what happened...that that is how we are 'saved'...the idea that something is lacking in Christ's 'perfect sacrifice' can be a serious challenge to one's soteriology.

However, if you see Christ's "salvific" power to save as the power of self-sacrificial love (perhaps most powerfully and clearly demonstrated (rom 5:8) in Christ's life, death and resurrection) then it makes sense that that same power from God, through his creation and throughout history (pre and post the passion) continues to be what saves us.

When people put themselves first for us each day (laying down their lives) or saints literally lay down their lives, this is the same 'saving power'. When people act in his name (in that culture a name meant their 'way'), when people 'love' ("Whoever loves is a child of God"), then they are BEING the church. Church is not something we go to, it is something we 'be' --and we are 'being' it when we make ourselves vulnerable to each other (even our enemies, or friends who hurt us --thus the suffering).

(That kind of loving intimacy is unfortunately the very thing that churches mega-program right out the door. Too big & too bureaucratic for the Spirit of love...sad.)

This has massively wide reaching implications: For example, if we can grasp this idea --that Christ and his self-sacrificial saving power continues in all who act in his name, in his love --we can see that God is at work in all places, all times, all cultures, and yes, all "religions", saving humananity through the same power that was in Christ. God creates humans in his image, humans create cultures in their image, cultures create religions in their image, and that light and the human cracks it shines through reflect on down. It is not our religions that save, not even "Christianity" as a religion, it the power of love seen so perfectly in Christ. When we really get and live this, then "God will be all in all." (1 cor 15:28)

When we see how DEEP (evangelicals believe this) and how WIDE (they are slow or afraid to admit this) God's saving love is, we can be freed from the law, from our self-righteousness, from our Christian clubs of ins and outs, from our judgmentalism, from eating from the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil" and from the fear of rejection/hell behind it all, and instead, in humilty, eat from the merciful tree of life -the fruit of the cross of Christ and the cross that we all bear when dying to our egos.

I typed this up in 15 minutes, so I hope it makes sense

Here are a few links that might be helpful, as well as the attachment I mentioned before:

Good summaries of the historical theorios of 'the atonement' (wikipedia)

Theo of Religions exam I wrote --ramblingly explores the above idea of Christian inclusivism (between pluralism and exclusivism, etc)

The Final Forum: a four person perspective/dialogue paper I wrote about judgment/the cross/hell/etc

Post from old journal on the meaning(s) of the cross:

I write this entry with my laptop partly eclipsed...the full glow of screens seems to stun my eyes and stunt my ability to reflect, remember write creatively.

A small group of friends met tonight to learn from each other what the world and the church has almost entirely eclipsed -the meaning of Christ's dying on the cross and rising from the dead. Interestingly, we met during a full eclipse of the moon -and it was just coming out from the earth's shadow when we finished our meeting. Kinda neat.

After reiterating the various historical theories of the meaning of the cross (the historically earliest ransom theory -in which God trick's Satan, so to speak, by the ransom payment of Christ for the sins of men, only for evil to find out that Christ's love was stronger than death; Anselem's theory of substitutionary atonement -in which the infinite debt humanity owe's God because of its sin (against an infinite God) is paid by the infinite/perfect offer of Christ/God on the cross; and the exemplary theory -in which God demonstrates his love for humanity in how Christ lives and dies for his message of love), we tried to articulate what the cross means to us.

We realized that Christ's suffering, death and resurrection can mean many different things to us, at many times. And that each of these meanings is a precious glimpse at a deeper mystery. Sometimes the passion reminds us that there is horrendous, seemingly meaningless or unjust suffering in this life -that life can be really hard and scary. Sometimes it reminds us that while things may seem meaningless, unfair, dark, and despairing -life can and will come out of it, and have the final word: Defeat and death are defeated by the resurrection. Sometimes it reminds us to not get revenge, fight back, take vengeance -but to love our enemies and to show it by enduring/bearing their evil -even when one is totally innocent. Sometimes it shows us that this is how our God of love responds to our own meanness, evil and sin -not by angry vengeance (an eye for an eye) but with compassion and mercy(forgive them for they know not what they do). Sometimes it shows us that this self-sacrificial love is the fruit from the tree of life, it is the Eucharistic food that most deeply sustains us. Lastly, it reminds us that God (and those who image God's love) write their message in blood, marking all of humanity as "my chosen ones".

We also noted with concern that this picture of dramatic love is not meant to show all angles of love. For example, sometimes evil behavior is not meant to be silently endured. Verbal and nonviolent physical confrontation (like Christ's overturning of the tables) is also how we love ourselves, others and God. Otherwise, for example, slaves and women would continue to be quietly abused.

And we also noted with sadness and anger that the primary angle on the cross that the majority of evangelical Christians (arguable the loudest branch of the faith) speak of (usually with many cliches and little understanding) is an angle, an image, a model that we have a hunch is mostly dysfunctional and dangerous. It disrupts and breaks our trust and salvation from a God whose love is infinite and unconditional. This 'substitutionary atonement' theory, often touted as the theory that most adequately demonstrates God's justice, actually points to an injust and cruel God:

A God who demands sacrifice and appeasement at threat of horrific punishment (eternal suffering in hell)

A God whose love is conditional, available only to those whose denominational requirements (right doctrine, enough faith, enough works, right spiritual experiences, etc) are met.

A Father who had to kill his son. (Ignoring or determining the human parties and systems of injustice that killed him)

A God who is limited to only accepting perfection.

A God who is bound by laws higher than himself, who is 'stuck' in a system.

A God who punishes infinitely for our mortal finite sins.

This, apparently bloodthirsty God, never quite sat right in our hearts and minds -and we are coming to understand why. While there may be some angle of truth we have yet to see, and while we may come to understand its origins in a human misunderstanding about God's nature possibly advocated in the bible, we in large reject it.

Bob Ekblad and The People's Seminary

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:29:00 +0000

For those of you who have not heard of Bob Ekblad, his ecumenical ministry Tierra Nueva, his book "Reading the Bible with the Damned" (free chapter), or his revolutionary People's seminary --I highly suggest you check out one of those links.

He was a teacher of mine at Regent College, and is one of the most purple people I know. Unlike me, he is actually living it out -I'm still a chicken shit. I've sent him an email seeing if we can do an interview sometime soon...so pray it can happen.

Here is a link to a real-audio formatted interview played on KUOW

Here is a purple taste from his People's Seminary website:

"At Tierra Nueva, two once-divided worlds are coming together -the Holy Spirit's empowering for ministry and advocacy to the most marginalized. God is doing something very creative and new in our ministry, bringing the evangelical, social prophetic, academic, contemplative and the charismatic together in a dynamic mix.
I believe that God has positioned Tierra Nueva as a bridge between the lower margins and upper margins, the social prophetic, liberal mainline church people and the new wave charismatic missionaries and evangelists. I am convinced that the whole body of Christ is needed in order for us to see the Kingdom of God advance in the dark places of our world. We are entering a time a fruitfulness that will lead to successes we could never have imagined.
--Bob Ekblad, Executive Director "

Listener Feedback, Joan of Arcadia, Personal Musings

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:01:00 +0000

Back from Hawaii!
Hello, and no I have not podfaded! So sorry for the delay --a long vacation, life craziness, and podcast paralysis are the main problems.

On today's show I read and play back a few listener emails, talk a little about a recent obsession (Joan of Arcadia DVD series),and ramble about a few personal thoughts. Mainly, I want to say "Hello, I'm still alive and kicking, and thank you for all the kind, encouraging emails!" Stay tuned for some excellent upcoming interviews and more!

Intro/Outro Music: Susan Welch, Sparrow

Exploring the heart of worship: Music and interview with Jon and steve

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:33:00 +0000

This was a somewhat spontaneous interview with two worship leaders from a recent youth retreat from my place of work (YMCA Camp Seymour). I think you'll enjoy their music as well as our dialogue about what authentic, 'purple' worship (vs. cheesy, uni-emotional, or canned worship) might look like. Remember to leave comments now at the new Bleeding Purple Forum.

New Bleeding Purple Forum Started (& MySpace Page)

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sat, 27 May 2006 05:42:00 +0000

Note: PHPBB is currently experiencing network errors --check back soon please.

I've decided to start a forum for the Bleeding Purple Podcast. Why?

A number of you have requeseted it
I'd really love to publicize some of the excellent emails sent to me
Blog comments just don't cut it for getting deeper into spiritual topics
I don't have time to respond to all the emails as well as I'd like to -now you can help!
To help get more of us purple-people connected, supported and motivated!

So, please go on over and be one of the first few to post there...it will be lonely there till you do! (: Last one there is a rotten egg! (Though I know most listeners won't know until I announce it on a podcast, as not as many visit this site).
Bleeding Purple Community Forum

And despite my feelings about myspace (as primarily a teen digital meat-market), I realize that many many people use it and it would be good to have a purple presence there. So, if you too have a myspace page --please add bleedingpurple to your friends. Perhaps some others can then get in on the fun (:

Woohoo!
-Leif

Pagan & Christian Intercast Dialogue with Jeff Harris Part II

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Fri, 19 May 2006 01:40:00 +0000

This is Part II of the intercast dialogue between myself and Jeff Harris from the ATC Pagan Information Network. We dwell primarily on the issue of God/divinity and the nature of ultimate reality. Afterwards I share my thoughts on the dialogue --specifically dwelling on that final question of the nature of God.

For those who like to read, and since it gets kind of deep, here are my notes (I pretty much read word for word) from my closing comments:

Let me know what you think!
-Leif

---------Post intercast thoughts -------------

I think what is standing out most of all to me about our conversation is the topic we came to towards the end –questions about the ontology of God, divinity and ultimate reality. Let me try and explain what I mean and then I'll pop back to its relevance to this conversation.
In my early Christian years it seems I developed a habit of interrogating people with a series of binary questions that were designed to lead them to the truth –that is, the beliefs I held at that time. Everything was an 'either/or". At the top of the question-tree was the question “Does this person believe in a spiritual/transcendent realm, or are they an atheist?” “If they did believe in a transcendent realm, then did they believe in a personal God or an impersonal force” "Did they believe in one God or many, and what was that God's nature" and then I’d keep moving down the tree to find out if they believed that God was actually a person, Jesus Christ, and then down to various denominational differences like being baptized in the spirit, etc.

About 5 years ago, as I was exploring some of the foundations of my beliefs through graduate theological work, some of those binary/black and white distinctions started to become grey. For example, was God separate from us or inside us, is God personal or impersonal?

Ironically I think it was the bible itself that started the liberalizing process on these issues: Man and woman was made in God’s image, so that meant God must be beyond our gender-biased language (most Christians almost exclusively use He as you probably know) .And weren’t their many times where the Spirit of God was referred to using impersonal language –“it hovered over the earth” “it blows where it wills” etc. One day I was thinking how I was made in the image of God and how sometimes I referred to myself as "I" and sometimes I referred to my body as an 'it', as in "My hand – it is healing.” I noticed that there are dimensions to myself, perhaps a majority of myself, that are totally outside of my control --operating and being influenced by various laws of nature. Do I will my heart to beat? Do I command the trillions of cells within my body to regenerate and carry out their functions? Hardly. “IT or they operated by themselves".
Anyway, you get the point --this made me realize that old distinctions of male/female and personal/impersonal were simply human constructs --they were both true to a degree, and they were neither true if said alone. God’s nature is an unfolding. I even came up with a theory, one that I am still exploring to this day: perhaps you could say that the 'western/theist" religions learned about and emphasize the personal/transcendent (separate/outside) side of God/ultimate reality while the eastern religions learned about and emphasized the impersonal/immanent/force (connected/inside)-like side of God/ultimate reality. I'm curious if others have made this kind of analogy. (As a relevant side note --even the idea of eastern/western religions breaks down when you realize that all religions had their origins in their east. Viewed this way, we both have much to reveal to each other and correct in each other. I think there are even correlations to how those cultures with their religions end up viewing human relationships and society --one emphasizing independence and the other dependence. But that’s a much bigger topic.)

Around the same time, other questions relating to the nature of God kept cropping up. (These weren't all abstract and theoretical by the way, they would come up again and again in conversations with others and as I wrestled to relate and communicate with a God who I was told was personal and loving and communicative).

For too many reasons to go into here and now, I also wrestled with the concept of the trinity. It just seemed too human and systematic of a concept. Besides, I used to say, its not even in the bible. Sure there are scriptures that talk about God as a father, Jesus as God's son, and that talk about the holy Spirit --but if it was meant to be systemized in that way, why wasn't there a 'holy binity' in the OT before Jesus came (I teased my Christian friends?) Elohim, a Hebrew word for God, is plural and we have language like "Let US make humans in OUR image" –there are various theories about this.Besides, what if God incarnated on other planets, and on and on....

Eventually I came to the opinion that I hold now: The trinity is an excellent metaphor for the truth that God is both a unity (the 'oneness') and a plurality --together they demonstrate comm-unity. But taken literally, it is too tidy and closed and the systemitizers become too self-righteous in their 'figuring God out'. If you only emphasize the oneness, reality turns into a grey goo without differentiating, and there is no room for love --because love takes more than one lover. If you emphasize only the plurality --there is no unifying center that originated all things, that holds all things together and that can restore all the conflict that has arisen out of our plurality/diversity.

But then comes the question of humanity's relationship to God and ultimate reality. In the past it was easy --God was the biggest piece of the picture, the external king, the life-giving father, the creator of all things and the one who held it all together. But then the bible had to go and mess that all up to --consider the following scriptures and ideas:
God's omnipresence -what does it mean that God is literally everywhere. (Wouldn't this seem to support the pantheist who believe that God is also everyTHING?)
"In him we live and move and have our being"
"May they be one as we are one"
"We are his body" "I am the vine, you are the branches"
"when you feed the poor, you are feeding me"
"God's breath originating us"
"the kingdom of God is within you"

-all these images, at the least, point to a kind of dependence or interdependence of all creation on God that should at least make us comfortable with saying something like "I am part of God." Yet the majority of Christians, if they heard this, would shudder like the Pharisees shuddered when Jesus described his relationship to God as son, or according to John, when he made illusions to the divine name of Yahweh saying "Behold, before Abraham was "I AM"

I am now getting beyond myself, as this is bringing up the very questions that I am wrestling with these days. Questions like, who was Jesus, how was he different than us, how am I separate and connected to God and what is the nature of this God I speak of as separate than myself?

Bringing it back to the interview with Jeff Harris from ATC...hopefully you, like me, see that there is perhaps much more common ground between open-minded Christians and open-minded pagans --they tend to emphasize the impersonal and plural aspects of 'divinity' revealed through nature, allowing IT to wear a personal mask only as it helps them in various ways, while Christians emphasize the personal dimension of God, revealed divinely through various modes of communication and experience.

I'm thinking now of various things that are hinting to me how some of these questions and issues might be resolved:
-star-trek type images of talking cosmic clouds, or
-quantum level physics where paradoxes breathe, or
-an internet friend who talked with me about the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person relationship with God
-Another internet friend and listener who is emphasizing God's presence within us, and the need to move beyond our heart and down to a feeling/sensing/following the spirit level. His total trust and confidence in God and in me that all shall be well and that big changes are coming soon.

The truth that I am totally convinced of is that these truths will become much more clear, more known, more experienced and understood as I starting LIVING out simple truths about love - like caring for those in need, standing up for justice, and more.
The recurring lesson in my life about the importance of accepting reality as it is, about being present in the moment, about letting go of my fears and agenda and impatience...
These things and more give me hope, though I am often full of doubt and impatient despair, that I will soon be experiencing more of God's loving magic, and that it/she/he is here now just as much as God will be there then.

My Spiritual Situation Part II (plus a link to old papers)

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Tue, 16 May 2006 05:52:00 +0000

A number of you have written asking where to find papers I have written (usually my paper examing four different views of the afterlife or my paper exploring the relationship between magic and technology using Tolkien's trilogy) --they can both be found on an old webpage here. Thanks for your interest, and let me know what you think!

------------------also------------------

Some recent thoughts on my current spiritual (from my journal):
I had a fairly sobering realization this morning that has left me puzzling what exactly to do about it: While I believe that love is the way, it is clearly not my priority way –what I want more than love is adventure, excitement, stimulation, knowledge, fame, consumption, and so many other things.

Now, I realize that I’m not the only one who has this struggle, that this internal battle is one that everybody has and is one of the most talked about things in my Christ-following tradition –however, I think I’m confessing something different. I’m not saying “I really want to follow the way of love, but these other things keep tempting me and I walk off the path oh so often.” No, I’m saying “I spend the majority of my time thinking about and pursuing these other things and only by luck, grace, and perhaps a little bit of character/virtue (primarily because of commitments I’ve made to love my family) do I choose the way of love over various forms of self-gratification.” And for some reason I don’t really feel that bad about –you know, guilty or ashamed or like I want to change this fact. I can see/feel/sense two motives in me that want to want love more: 1)Because I have a hunch that I will actually be happier, more fulfilled and experience more ‘adventure’ or ‘real life’ if I truly start walking in love. 2)Because somewhere in me I just think it is good and right, and I would like to make God, Anna, Zinnia and others happier. Even as I right those two motives, they become a little more alive in me and I think to myself, “Yes, I do want to walk in love” –but then as soon as I start imagining actual actions, those desires start to whither (Perhaps its like the parable of the seed on shallow soil?)

So then I ask myself, what do I do about this somewhat unsettling realization? When I thought about it while lying on my couch this morning, I did pray something like “God, some part of me really does want these priorities to shift –what do I do? Please help me out here.” But then I wondered, is it just something that I have to decide I really want and then will to change? Is it something that grows and changes with a spiritual community, of which I am currently lacking? Is it due to the fact that I’ve got some sort of exaggerated/twisted picture of what love looks like –overly self-sacrificial and self-abnegating and therefore some part of me that also wants to be loved and experience life is rightly rejecting that exaggerated picture? Do I need to have some major tragedy happen in my life, something that breaks my ego or that reminds me of the priority of love and the transitory nature of much of what I desire? Do I need some kind of divine revelation or experience that shakes me to my roots or creates a longing in me for the real? I don’t know what needs to happen next. I guess I just need to trust that Love will find a way to reform my priorities, my heart, my will, or something.

I’m noticing that my spiritual dilemmas lately are more about how to actually live rather than the more abstract spiritual questions. Those questions and struggles are still there –but they don’t have as much weight…I think I’m starting to let go of the belief that I will ever have the kind of certain knowledge about some of those more abstract questions. Perhaps they are just becoming a little less important to me as well. I think it also has to do with realizing that these ultimate questions (i.e. what is the ontological nature of ultimate reality) will always be more complex, wonderful, rich, and mind-boggling that the answers I can come up with. I don’t know.

Speaking of abstract questions –I recently talked with a friend of mine about “what does it really mean to follow Jesus, how do you follow a guy you can’t see it” The conclusion for me was that I’ve not been relating to that kind of language lately –something doesn’t feel true about it. Partly, it doesn’t ring true because, as I’ve just confessed about, I don’t think I am following that same path of love that Jesus followed. The other part is that –because I can’t see him or talk to him, language like “Following the spirit, following God, maybe even following the spirit of Christ” rings more true to me. I could say I am wrestling with and trying to following his teachings and learn from his life and stories –but following ‘him’, just doesn’t ring true to me. I imagine if I had some more dramatic encounter with Jesus –and I mean specifically Jesus –like I had a vision of him, or he appeared to me bodily (I’ve talked with a fairly well known author who has had this happen), or like I heard a voice that I really associated with Jesus –I would probably feel more close to him, more commited to him, like he was a bigger part of my relationship with God (or that he even was God) and that I was thus ‘following him’ –but I don’t think I have. And yet I’m sorry Jesus if that is not true, and that I am forgetting (typical of me) some wonderful gift that you’ve given in the past. I’m not saying that I haven’t had spiritual experiences, some fairly dramatic ones, but I don’t remember any that were particularly tired to Jesus the person. Does this make sense? So, until something changes in this realm –I’m thinking I might start changing my language in more honest ways.

Pagan & Christian Intercast Dialogue with ATC Pagan Info Network Part I

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Fri, 12 May 2006 20:49:00 +0000

This is Part I of an 'intercast' (dialogue/interview of two podcasters) between Jeff Harris (a 3rd order pagan priest) from the Aquarian Tabernacle Church Information Network Podcast and myself (a confused and still somewhat bleeding purple follower of Jesus' way.)

I apologize for the abrupt ending, but I decided last minute to cut the show in half so it wasn't such a huge file...the next part will be up later tonight or in the next 1-2 days.

A sketch of some of the order of topics:

Intro and why we're doing it
Beware: Witch-burning Christians & Human-Sacrificing Pagans ahead
Pagan's meaning in modern context (nature based religion)
Wicca as primary pagan, described and demystified
Diversity within paganism and wiccanism
Wiccan history
Clarifying wiccanism from amongst neowiccan, etc
'Christian' clarified by me
Pagan 'first impressions' by me
Jeff's recent pagan gathering
Christian/Pagan Bashing
Sharing your faith in public, specifically in the NW
Jeff's Christian friends
Why evangelicals consider pagans dangerous, a threat (the hell/salvation issue)
Leif goes off about the toxicity of hell and the reality of God's unconditional love
The ontology of God/The Divine/Energies

Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think!

Updates and Taste of new Podcast -The QuestCast Beta1

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 04:31:00 +0000

This show has some basic updates and, for those of you who asked to be notified when The QuestCast went live, slips in the first episode of my new podcast -The QUestCast.

Stay tuned for some exciting upcoming interviews --a pagan/christian dialogue, a facinating new author, and more!

For all who have wondered what podcasting truly is...ask the ninja

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:22:00 +0000

Exciting Announcements: Wonderosity.org and The QuestCast(beta) have launched

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 02:33:00 +0000

Well, I've hinted that some exciting news was coming soon --and now 2/5 are ready to announce (; I've finally had a big chunk of free time the past few days, which means I got to dive into some of the projects I've been wanting to do. First of all, I'd like to introduce you to wonderosity.org -the launchpad for all my other projects, podcasts and other ventures.

If you normally go to bleedingpurplepodcast.com, you've probably already been redirected (whether you liked it or not!) to wonderosity.org, but fear not, if you want to come directly to this page you can always bookmark bleedingpurplepodcast.blogspot.com

The newest portal of wonderosity, as well as the most exciting and relevant to you podcast listeners, is the beta-launch of a new podcast: The Questcast. I won't say much more here, as you can find out more at the site, except to say that I think you will really like the idea and that it is totally unique and listener-interactive. (Note the re-Quest for beta-questers!)

Note: Wonderosity.org (and two of the portals from there) are built in protopage, which I personally think is cool, but I apologize to you Opera Browser users as you won't be able to view protopages til version 9.0

Let me know what you think of the new webpages and especially of the concept behind The QuestCast.

Thanks!
-Leif

Liberal Charismatics

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 18:35:00 +0000

Interesting how its hard to find Liberal charismatics or charismatic liberals. Liberal-minded folks tend to give so much credence to modernity that they poo-poo the supernatural realm. Charismatics tend to give so much credence to their experiences (as justified from certain 'proof texts' in the bible) that they poo-poo critical thinking and social justice, kingdom on earth, issues. I've gotta believe that these two dimensions can come together. (I know these are just words, and labels, but I think a good % of you know what I'm talking about.)I need, want, and fight to believe they can coexist. The best of blue and red, yeah? Can I hear an Amen?

"The secret message of Jesus" -a raw and rambling reflection on Brian Mclaren's latest book

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 17:20:00 +0000

"Is it possible that the message of Jesus was less like an advertising slogan --obvious and loud --and more like a poem whose meaning only comes subtly and quietly to to those who read slowly, think long and deeply, and refuse to give up? I wondered. And I still wonder." -from Chapter 4

Not what I originally planned, but an appropriate review for a podcast, this show is my raw reflection from Seattle's Pyramid Alehouse on Brian Mclaren's latest book: The Secret Message of Jesus. Overall this is an excellent book, and if readers (of all colors) focus on living out Jesus' secret message more than dissecting and debating it --we're in for some exciting and transformative changes in this world. I will be posting more of my favorite quotes from this book in my next post...so stay tuned...

"A shared reappraisal of Jesus's message could provide a unique space or common ground for urgently needed religious dialogue --and it doesn't seem an exaggeration to say that the future of our planet may depend on such dialogue" -from Chapter 1

Shownotes:
-Intro
-Congratulations to John & Kea Louviere!!!
-Book Review: The Secret Message of Jesus.
-Listener Emails (Sable Chicken, Brian Sage, Jon Hudson & David Williamson)
-Various Announcements, inlcuding:
New personal (friends & family related) podcast/blog: zinniazoo
New personal (audio experiments, musical, freedom to whatever the #@! I want) blog/podcast : leifomatic
-Shoutout to lifeonfire podcast: Thanks for playing my promo, stay open and keep seeking!

"If you are part of this kingdom, you won't slit Roman throats like the Zealots. Instead, if a Roman soldier backhands you with a blow to the right cheek, you'll turn the other in a kind of nonviolent resistance and transcendence. if a soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile, you'll carry it a second mile as an expression of your own transcendent free will; you choose a higher option, one above either passive submission or active retaliation. If you are part of this kingdom, you won't curse and damn the notorious sinners and scoundrels to hell; instead, you'll interact with them gently and kindly, refusing to judge, even inviting them to your parties and treating them as neighbors --being less afraid of their polluting influence on you than you are hopeful about your possible healing and ennobling influence on them...." -from Chapter 2

I'm finished with this whole thing

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 05:59:00 +0000

With my new promo that is (April Fools!). Couldn't resist.
I hope you enjoy this one minute promo, I think it gets at the heart of the show. And I'd really love if you would add the link to your blog or website, or play it on your podcast.

Hey, feeling really supportive today --its only 1 meg, send it as an email!

Don't forget your monthly vote at podcast alley (or in itunes, google, yahoo or whatever else you use!), if you do it NOW, new listeners will be more likely to find the show. Thanks!

Check out the new purple poll question in the sidebar (or take the whole poll.)

Thanks so much to Henry for referring me to Eric Folkerth's song "PurpleLand" (You can hear the whole song or buy his album at the above link)

"The Red and Blue map lies subtly,
When it's drawn in primary color.
Cause the truth's always shaded differently,
And it's never just one or the other.

And we all live in a Purple Land,
Every woman, child and man,
So don't get too proud. Don't misunderstand,
'Cause this great nation is just one big Purple Land."
(from Eric's lyrics)

Thanks to each of you for your friendship and support!
-Leif

Some hopeful words

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 01:26:00 +0000

Something about these words from David Williamson's comments on an interesting post at mootblog really stood out to me. Its good to remember that good news is happening in the midst of all the muck.

"When I say these are exciting times I mean it. Ecumenical phenomena such as Taize and St Egidio are bringing the church together to proclaim peace.

Initiatives such as Jubilee 2000, and groups including Speak and Sojourners are communicating a message of justice which beats to the pulse of the gospel.

At the same time, writers as eclectic as Rowan Williams, Phillip Yancey and Bono have drawn our attention to the phenomenon of grace. Its beauty and complexity shines out in such a way that it's baffling as to why the church responded by splitting into such crude divisions as Calvinism and Arminianism.

Blogging has also created a brilliant worldwide conversation and contemplation which is blessing hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Christians and helping us to share in each others joys and sorrows.

The testimony of Martin Luther King is still sending waves through the church which are strengthening with time. The experiment with party political alliances has left a bad taste in the mouth of millions, and there is a hunger for a return to the wilderness if needs be to give a prophetic voice.

The church's centre of gravity has shifted to the Global South, where a faith that is dependent on God is blazing across continents." (more)

Transcipt of Brian Mclaren Interview

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 02:03:00 +0000

Facinating. Some group called "understanding the times", in their "Emerging Church Alert" Bulletin, transcribed my interview with Brian Mclaren. A brief scan shows a few cuts, a number of typos, etc...but the meat is there. If you thought I tripped over my tongue in the interview, just wait till you see the text! (;
Thought it might be interesting to some of you to have a text version, and to see to what extent the heresy-hunters will go to 'nail things down'.
-Leif

Purple-o-meter -my theological worldview according to someone at quizfarm

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 17:59:00 +0000

To the guy who asked if my theology was primarily moving towards liberalism...

"You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this."

Emergent/Postmodern

86%

Classical Liberal

64%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

57%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

54%

Roman Catholic

50%

Neo orthodox

46%

Modern Liberal

46%

Reformed Evangelical

21%

Fundamentalist

18%

What's your theological worldview?

I would say this is fairly accurate. Though some of the questions bugged me, it was a fairly interesting and challenging quiz to take. Rarely did I choose the full on agree or disagree option...but I guess thats part of the emergent attitude --trying to stay open minded enough to hear other perspectives.

Thanks to Rob Spain for the link (an infrequent, but great blog if you haven't checked it out. I also found out about protopage through his site)

My Aurora Story (An encounter with God through the northern lights)

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 16:10:00 +0000

Today's show is an unedited story of my strange night and supernatural encounter with the Northern Lights. I also read a few listener emails and share some announcements.

Starting next week it looks like I'll have some more free time and thus finally be able to put more time into better quality production.

Hope you enjoy the show, and don't forget to pass on some of your extraordinary experiences as well.

In purple peace,
Leif

Why the silence?

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:43:00 +0000

Hello friends of Bleeding Purple,

I just wanted to apologize for the virtual silence of the past two weeks. The primary two reasons are that there are some personal issues (some very good, some very hard) that have been taking up all extra free time and that my #$%&!## windows-based laptop has been sucking BSD (blue screen of death) and it looks like I'm going to have to send it in. Thus, I am presently writing from work early on Friday morning. Honestly, in addition, I have been going through some struggles about podcasting --feeling pulled between motives (fun, fame, finance?) and philosophies (quality vs. quanity), etc. I've posted elsewhere ( in the Forums of Podcast Pickle) about these struggles if you're really interested.

Three podcasts are about 50% finished and coming soon...stay tuned and thanks for understanding and for your support and emails.

In peace,
-Leif

Three Futures: Tragedy, Technocracy, or Transformation

bleedingpurple@gmail.com (Leifh) — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 00:51:00 +0000

In this episode, I talk about what I see as the three most likely scenarious for human society in the near future. You could call it a choose your own adventure kind of podcast. You choose:

Tragedy (environmental, war, science gone bad)
Technocracy (control at the cost of human freedom)
Transformation (listen to find out!)

Though I like how this show ended up sounding overall, I didn't have time time to really prepare what I wanted to say on these topics as clearly as I would have liked. Well, I think you'll still enjoy the show and get the general idea of why I think one of these three future scenarios is so likely.

My Paper on technology and culture.

Thanks to my old friend Chris Behre for his song and vision of transformation. If you ever find this link Chris, let me know how you're doing! Thanks also to Mortal for the intro and transitions (from Lusis).

Note the new Audio Searcher Podzinger, at the bottom of the sidebar. Try it by typing a word in the text box, then playing that audio clip on the next page.