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Voices & Vessels
Voices & Vessels is a space where spiritual formation meets cultural reflection, offering grounded insight for people navigating faith, identity, and resilience in today’s world.
Each post invites readers to think deeply, live intentionally, and embody the gospel with clarity and compassion.
People Over Parties: When the Government Shutdown Becomes a Political Show Where Working Americans Lose
Each party claims moral high ground, but neither has learned how to stop turning compassion into currency.
Jeremy Bratcher
Oct 298 min read
Diagnosis, Discovery, or Deception: Wrestling with the Reality of Mental Illness and Well-Being
Mental health isn’t only the absence of illness. It’s the presence of well-being. It’s the ability to experience life with curiosity, connection, and hope.
Science helps us understand the how of the brain. Compassion helps us live with the why of being human.
Jeremy Bratcher
Oct 257 min read
Tribal Justice: Why Selective Outrage Is the Death of Compassion
One of my favorite movies is the story of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday as told in Tombstone. Perhaps one of the most iconic lines (outside...
Jeremy Bratcher
Oct 73 min read
You Can’t Handle the Truth (But You Need To)
Facing the reality we’ve spent decades trying to redefine. Jack Nicholson’s growl in A Few Good Men —“You can’t handle the truth”—still...
Jeremy Bratcher
Oct 64 min read
The First Amendment: Freedom, Responsibility, and the Power of Influence
The First Amendment was designed to be inconvenient. It protects everyone, not just the people we like. Offensive, disturbing, and even harmful speech enjoys the same protection as uplifting, truthful speech. That tension is the price of freedom.
Jeremy Bratcher
Oct 33 min read
"If One Member Suffers": Lamenting the Slaughter of Nigerian Christians
I stepped back from the noise for a few weeks. I came back to headlines I wish weren’t real—and none of them have to do with Charlie...
Jeremy Bratcher
Sep 305 min read
When The House Is On Fire
I can’t shake a picture from my mind lately. It feels like standing on the sidewalk, looking at my neighbor’s house. The windows glow...
Jeremy Bratcher
Sep 303 min read
Compassion Doesn't Need a Disclaimer
The news of Charlie Kirk’s murder is jarring. For many, it’s hard to even know what to say. But the responses that have filled timelines...
Jeremy Bratcher
Sep 122 min read
Be Careful What You Think You Know
We live in a world where information is everywhere—and truth feels harder to find than ever. You’ve probably heard it: “This shooter was...
Jeremy Bratcher
Sep 35 min read
What the Experts Aren’t Saying: The Suicidal Link No One Talks About
Every time a mass shooting rocks our nation, the debate starts instantly. Politicians and pundits line up their arguments: guns, gender,...
Jeremy Bratcher
Aug 297 min read
When Blame Isn’t Enough: Finding Hope in a World of Violence
Every time public violence erupts, the headlines quickly follow with blame: God let this happen. Gun control is the answer. Republicans...
Jeremy Bratcher
Aug 285 min read
Beyond Toxic: Why Men Retreat, Why Women Resign, and How We Move Forward
There’s a new set of words making the rounds in conversations about dating and relationships: heteropessimism and heterofatalism. They...
Jeremy Bratcher
Aug 206 min read
"If You Work, You Eat" — A Reflection on Welfare and the Future of Care
John Smith, the leader of Jamestown, famously told the colonists, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” He was echoing 2 Thessalonians...
Jeremy Bratcher
Aug 137 min read
After the Sky Fell: What Have We Learned from the Ashes of Japan
After the sky fell, the morning light over Hiroshima turned into fire. The fire became wind, the wind became ruin, and the city was...
Jeremy Bratcher
Aug 93 min read
AI May Outsmart Us by 2037…But It’ll Never Out-Human Us
Mo Gawdat’s updated AI doomsday prediction is making the rounds again—this time, warning we’ll be hiding from machines by 2037. But what if the real threat isn’t the rise of machines… but the shrinking of our souls?
Jeremy Bratcher
Jul 225 min read
Overloaded and Undone: How Social Media and News Cycles Hijack Our Mental State
You wake up and reach for your phone. Before your feet even hit the floor, you’ve scrolled past war footage, a viral meltdown, a...
Jeremy Bratcher
Jul 174 min read
So, the IRS said it's okay...
Churches can now endorse political candidates without risking their tax-exempt status. Some pastors are celebrating. Some public figures...
Jeremy Bratcher
Jul 104 min read
When Kingdom Ethics Collide with Big Bills
A Gospel-Centered Response to the “Beautiful Bill” Everyone’s Fighting About Have You Heard the News About the “Big, Beautiful Bill”? If...
Jeremy Bratcher
Jul 46 min read
Love Your Enemies: A 4th of July Reminder
This week, America celebrates its independence. Barbecues, fireworks, parades, flags. And rightly so—there is much to be grateful for in...
Jeremy Bratcher
Jun 303 min read
“The Dispensational Heresy?”: Understanding the Debate Behind Candace Owens’ Critique
Recently, political commentator Candace Owens sparked a theological firestorm by calling dispensationalism a “heresy.” Her claim, which...
Jeremy Bratcher
Jun 226 min read
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