Episode 177: Going Off-Brand

“There is room to honor and hold space for the precious and the meaningful even as we evolve in our beliefs, our homes, and our lives. It’s okay to bring some things with you.” These wise words from writer Sarah Bessey help shape the conversation of this Season 8 opener. Everyone who’s moved knows it can be hard to decide what to toss and what to keep. Latter-day Saint women may find it challenging to honor the evolution of our personal faith within the church brand we’ve known and loved. It’s okay to need more space! How can we incorporate good fruit gleaned from new sources—those off-brand beliefs or practices we’ve found outside our previous boundaries that feel expansive, nourishing, or even essential to our growth?

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Notes & Quotes:

Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith, by Sarah Bessey
Everything is Spiritual: Finding Your Way in a Turbulent World, by Rob Bell
Religion is a Language: Reza Aslan at BYU, by Jon Ogden, 9/21/2023
Why the Church Is As True As the Gospel, by Eugene England

“An evolving faith doesn’t mean we burn down everything that was once precious to us. There is something between everything and nothing. We aren’t required to toss everything we were taught or given as “worthless” or “useless” or even “toxic” as we grow and change, becoming more fully ourselves. There is room to honor and hold space for the precious and the meaningful even as we evolve in our beliefs, our homes, and our lives. It’s okay to bring some things with you.” —Sarah Bessey

“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river.We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” —Desmond Tutu

“Begin with Against, and keep going until you find your For. It’s an act of defiant faith. It will give you something to lean into. It will give you a path to follow.” —Sarah Bessey, Field Notes, p. 73

“Some gods have to die. They help for a while, they give structure and meaning and some order, until they don’t.” —Rob Bell

“You don’t need permission to go off-brand, but in case you’re looking for it, here it is: you have permission to go off-brand. You have permission to change. You have permission, as Parker Palmer said, to ‘let your life speak’ and adjust accordingly.” —Sarah Bessey

“I have been thinking lately how the search for God and the search for our deepest selves ends up being the same search.” —Richard Rohr

“Religion is a language. It’s a way of communicating about something transcendent that can never fully be put into words. So we human beings use religion — again, a language — to try to communicate about or experience the transcendent……Just as we don’t say that English is the world’s “true” language, we also don’t say that English is a “false” language. Languages aren’t 100% right or wrong. They’re organic (and often clunky) attempts to communicate subtle thoughts and feelings.” —Jon Ogden

“In response to other, exasperating Saints lies salvation.” —Eugene England

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