Welcome! The Mixed Bag aims to be a conduit of shalom. So, we’ll talk about hard things honestly, recognizing none of us has everything figured out. We’ll celebrate creativity, justice, and equity. We’ll try to figure out, together, how to experience more and deeper shalom.

Below are the three principles that drive The Mixed Bag:

We Are All Mixed Bags

I’ve come to believe we are all Mixed Bags. We’re all a combination of good and evil, light and dark, health and disease. None of us has the final line on truth. None of us knows everything there is to know about anything. None of us can fully understand what others have experienced or are going through. We’re great and awful, capable and severely limited. Recognizing this and living accordingly draws us into humility and a more compassionate approach to those around us (and ourselves).

Love Is Everything

I don’t intend that as hyperbole; I believe love IS everything, specifically others-focused love. This kind of love informs and changes everything. It’s what calls us into peace. If God is agape love, as someone wrote a long time ago… if God’s very essence and make-up is compassionate, others-focused love, then love must be integral to how life is designed to be lived. And love is not done in a vacuum; it is done in community, which speaks to how important relationships and human connection really are. As Mixed Bags, love is essential for us to live in real community and experience shalom.

Shalom Is the Endgame

I’ve come to believe that the purpose of life is for us to experience shalom. Shalom is the Hebrew word commonly translated as “peace”, but it entails more than a lack of conflict. It is well-being, or a positive experience of life. In my flawed, limited opinion, shalom is about three things: Vertical Peace (peace with God), Horizontal Peace (peace with others), and Inner Peace (peace with self). I’ll explore these more in posts and podcasts, as well as three avenues to shalom: healing, freedom, and justice.

Where Is This Coming From?

This mission and these principles are based on my own experience and my understanding of God, much of which is informed by my limited understanding of the Bible. It’s possible I don’t know what I’m talking about. For real. For what it’s worth though, the longer I live, the more people I do life with, the more I reflect on what I “know” of God, the more I am convinced of these things. I am also convinced art and creativity play a key role in all these things. There is something unique or “holy” about engaging in art, whether as the artist or the one “consuming” the art.

Alright, what do you say? Let’s dive in together!

Ed