The Laurel Hells is for those drawn to the hope of another way--where faith is wild, work is liturgy, and repairing our world globally begins with slowing down enough to be present in the places we're from locally.

There are no unsacred places when real presence guides our production

Here, we reclaim the sacred rhythms of resistance, repair, and redemption.

“The first miles of my spiritual journey were a juxtaposition of a radically loving Jesus who created us all with equal worth and the stark realities of a world hell-bent on making sure some people knew their place and stayed there — the deep promises of God’s Kingdom pushing back against the broken promises of human empire.”

- Nathan Daniel Blake

I write and speak about theology and faith plucked from clean, manicured gardens and planted in the soil of everyday life and place.

But this is what I believe …

We must make sacred what human empires deem worthless, because as Wendell Berry so perfectly said:

“There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.”

If you believe there is another way and world possible,
you’re my people.

If you believe cooperating presence creates more impactful economy than competing production,
you’re my people.

If you look around and see a world crying out for something real and meaningful,
you’re my people.

If you are tired … just so tired … of chasing something you don’t even want,
you’re my people.

If the bitter water of distraction has left you even more dry-mouthed and thirsty,
you’re my people.

We’re all just looking for the right soil. We’re looking for old soil. We’re looking for deep soil. We’re looking for the soil that our roots were always meant for. Soil that enriches itself without stealing energy from another.

We’ve been told we do best in a pot, but we were meant to be grown in the wild.

Become with me.

-NDB

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  • Some giveaways a few times a year shhhhh

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  • My B’sides — bonus material and content that doesn’t make the cut elsewhere

  • Honestly, because I’m just trying to make it like everyone else, and this helps

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The Laurel Hells is for those drawn to the hope of another way--where faith is wild, work is liturgy, and repairing our world globally begins with slowing down enough to be present in the places we're from locally. There are no unsacred places.

People

Appalachian writer & post-evangelical wildling. Comforting the troubled & troubling the comfortable. New monastic. Keeper of the wild. Aspiring hiker trash.