The Laurel Hells is a space for those drawn to the edges--where faith is wild, wonder is sacred, & the work of repair begins with slowing down enough to really see.
Here, we reclaim the sacred rhythms of resistance, redemption, & an embodied faith.
“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’m forged in the shadows of coal & steel.
I’m Anglican leaning Anabaptist (or maybe it’s the other way around).
I’m a new monastic brother in an The Appalachian Order.
I’m husband, father, and friend.
I’m sinner striving to be saint.
I write and speak about theology & faith plucked from clean, manicured gardens and planted in the soil of everyday life. I write about the need to cultivate a faith more wild than it is domesticated because sometimes real things don’t fit in neatly defined containers. I write about a community of creation and kingdom of God opposed to the spirit of empire and ambition. I write about my successes. I write about my failures. I write about how our faith should impact our culture. I write about how our culture should impact our faith. I write my heart in the soil of shared experience.
But this is what I believe …
We must make sacred what empire deems worthless and not worth the trouble—the laurel hells of empire—be it place or person.
Those are the brambles where I’ve found rest, relief, redemption, and people willing to resist.
If you’re one of those people,
you’re my people.
If your first world problems keep getting in the way of your third world sensibilities,
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 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 meant for.
We’ve been told we do best in a pot, but we were meant to be grown in the wild.
Come. Rewild with me.
-NDB
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