Progressive Christians Need a Little More Heaven with Andy Root

Andy Root is back. The last time he was on, he told progressive Christians they might need a little more heaven, and some of you are still emailing me about it. So we picked the fight back up, which works out nicely, because Advent opens with Isaiah begging God to tear the heavens open. This is a preview of the Advent class Andy and I are teaching. We think through the season with Charles Taylor, Hartmut Rosa, Byung-Chul Han, and Bonhoeffer, then take on the lectionary texts each week. It's also a pitch for going back to Berlin together next June.

Andy makes his case for heaven by way of Augustine's sermons on money. He thinks we can't even have a healthy relationship with our 401(k) without some vision of the eternal. And heaven isn't an escape hatch. It's transcendence showing up as nearness. From there we get into Rosa's snow, and the wonder of something arriving that you can't control, right in the middle of the most accelerated month of the year. Then aufhören, stop and listen up, and Han on why scent forces you to linger and interpret. We also ask how you preach a Christmas Eve sermon to indifferent strangers without losing your job. Plus my most-cherished Christmas Eve memory, involving a $50 cigar, a $200 bottle of wine, Sam and Frodo, and some crying alone in the backyard. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube.

Join our Advent class

Tear Open the Heavens: Advent for Indifferent Strangers is a four-week online class Andy and I are teaching from Advent 1 (November 29) through Advent 4 (December 20).

Lectures: four pre-recorded lectures, two from each of us, each released the week before its Sunday. The first drops Monday, November 16.

Live conversations: five 70-minute livestreams at 10am PT / 1pm ET on November 24, December 1, 8, and 15, plus a Christmas Eve session on December 17. We unpack the thinkers and wrestle with that week's lectionary text.

Readings and replays: a 30–40 page reading packet each week, a community space, and replays on the class resource page for at least a year.

Price: donation-based, including 0.

It's timed so you can use it for your small group, Sunday school, or sermon that same week. Sign up at homebrewedclasses.com

⁠Come to Berlin with us in 2027⁠ for a Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience

Andy and I are leading two back-to-back sessions of the Rise of Bonhoeffer travel-learning experience in Berlin. Each one is capped at 22 people. Do one or bot