THEOLOGY AT THE BOTTLEWORKS: Have a good conversation on important issues with people both inside and outside of Christianity. This month’s topic is “What the “Best Pictures” Say About Us”, discussing this year’s Oscar nominees and their significance in reflecting or making culture. Are we making movies or are movies making us? Join us Wed., March 17, 7pm at Schlafly Bottleworks. For more info at www.midrashstl.com

An amazingly diverse conglomeration of people arrived at February’s “Theology at the Bottleworks”: atheists, agnostics, Christians, sunworshippers, Buddhists and Muslims. About 100 in total. What could bring out this array of people? Answer: the oldest and most important question a person can ask, “God or no God?” The “new atheists” like Richard Dawins are strident in voicing their disbelief, while believers are more engaged than ever in supporting their views in public. This discussion – held in a pub, no less – had all the makings of a philosophical fight club.

What we had instead was a fascinating evening. We started by talking about “god-ness”, i.e., what do we call God, and what attributes would a deity have?

THEOLOGY AT THE BOTTLEWORKS: Discuss important issues of our day with people both inside and outside of Christianity. This month’s topic is “God or No God?. Believers and nonbelievers in deity are getting more strident on the oldest and hardest question there is. Who’s right or wrong, on what, and does it matter? What’s at stake in the God Wars? Join us Wednesday, 2/17 at 7 pm at Schlafly Bottleworks. For more info, visit www.midrashstl.com.

The topic for January’s Theology at the Bottleworks was “Rights in America.” The night was fun, full of good conversation on a complex issue. The evening didn’t conclude with a consensus, but then that’s not really the point

Have you left a movie theater impacted by what you saw, with big thoughts spinning in your head that you find hard to articulate? Did the film bother you because of how “unChristian” it was in parts, while you still thought it was a good film – and that paradox makes you uncomfortable and even question whether you should have watched it? Have you left a film thinking “Christ IS the answer” to that problem or person you saw portrayed, yet you never discuss the spiritual aspects of the movies you see with anyone outside of your faith?

In my prior post I laid out some of the vision for what Midrash is and does. Midrash looks different as we host different kinds of events, but Midrash is always creating forums for providing commentary on culture, fostering discussions that may debate ideas, but valuing the persons involved in the dialogue, and pointing out some of the spiritual aspects of this culture we’re swimming in.

Darrin’s sermon on Nov.

Welcome to the debut of the Midrash blog. Here we’ll describe the vision and efforts of this rather hard-to-grasp thing we call Midrash, and update you on the latest thing we’re doing that makes our pulse race.

Maybe you’ve heard of Midrash or been to one of our many events, and you can’t really figure out what we’re trying to do. So let’s start here: what is Midrash? Is it Theology at the Bottleworks? Is it Film Night? Is it coffeeshop discussions? Is it large forums like the public hosting of the VP debates? The answer of course is “yes”. Confused? Keep reading. . .