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. . .

“Midrash” is a Hebrew term referring to commentary or discussion on spiritual matters. Midrash at The Journey creates open spaces for giving and receiving commentary on important matters in our local and national culture. If you reduced us to one line, we provoke “commentary on culture”. We do lots of different things toward that goal, which is why we’re a bit hard to pin down. Midrash in action looks like: 1) animated and caffeinated conversations at local coffeeshops on current hot topics; 2) the now-famous Theology at the Bottleworks, which draws a diverse crowd to discuss the thorniest issues of our times on the comfortable turf of a local pub; 3) special events and forums we create on timely topics, like the expert panel we assembled to discuss The DaVinci Code movie; 4) the host of a valuable film award at the St. Louis International Film Festival; and 5) much more.

The goals of Midrash are many. Perhaps I’ll get around to discussing more of our goals in future postings, but one key goal is to contribute to our city by bringing together people of disparate views for respectful conversations about issues that matter to everyone, regardless of their political or spiritual values. We think we contribute to God’s kingdom in a tiny way by fostering respect for the image of God in and spiritual desires of every person, regardless of their political or religious affiliation, and by spotlighting the spiritual significance of events and values of our culture.

So what’s Midrash up to these days? Theology at the Bottleworks continues to draw large and lively crowds after 55 consecutive months of discussions. We meet at Schlafly Bottleworks every third Wednesday at 7pm.

That’s cool, but this is hot off the press: we’re excited to announce that we are entering the St. Louis film scene by hosting the Midrash St. Louis Film Award at the upcoming St. Louis International Film Festival. We want to support local film, support our city, teach people to see spiritual themes in film and motivate filmmakers to explore important themes (humble hopes, eh?), in part by awarding one film at SLIFF a cash award for a St. Louis-related film of honesty and artistry that portrays the need or the hope for reconciliation or redemption. So we’re involved in SLIFF, appearing at the awards dinner and planning something cool like a special showing of the award-winning film and discussion with the filmmaker; keep your eyes on this space or our website for more info on our latest greatest venture.

You can email your questions and comments on anything Midrash or culture-related to midrash@journeyon.com or visit us at midrashstl.com.