Don't Ask If You Don't Want to Know
Anger around the polarization of politics and the lack of empathy around illnesses. Try to understand each other, try to have compassion.
Read MoreAnger around the polarization of politics and the lack of empathy around illnesses. Try to understand each other, try to have compassion.
Read MoreA conversation with author Tony Bartlett about his book Seven Stories: How to Study and Teach the Nonviolent Bible. The Bible is an important book that does not have to be only about violence as many may say that it is. The Bible is about God’s redemption, love, and non-violent way to live. Tony offer to guide you in this liberating way of reading the Bible.
Read MoreRiliage and Scripture with this episode. Phineas Marr and Adam Erickson join Jonathan for deep conversation around God, people getting angry, and the Bible. And... finally Adam and Jonathan get to discuss Ascension Sunday again.
Read MoreThere are risks involved in following such a passion, risks that are important and valuable but not easy. We all have a pull towards what is life-affirming and what a blessing it is when we can respond in a positive way. A difficult but profound blessing.
Read MoreThe church has a sad legacy of pushing out the outsiders and not making space for them. How angry do we need to get and how much scripture do we need to read to realize that whenever we push someone out we are wrong!
Read MoreOne cannot be a Christian without a spiritual connection with God via liturgy (specifically the service of the Lord’s Supper), and that one cannot be a Christian without doing work for the sake of the least in the world. Do both and let one inform the other.
Read MoreWonder Woman, Storytelling, and what it means to be a hero/savior
Read MoreWho are our heroes? Do we lift up individuals more than we should? Do we look at Jesus with a sense that he struggles in his leadership? Get angry and read the Bible - all in this episode.
Read MoreWhat it comes down to is that we need relationships. We need people who will support us, help us, and challenge us. And, we can’t do mission on our own. We need to be connected and denominations, at their best, make those connections. So be active and involved with your denomination.
Read MoreGet angry about mean people and teachers with guns, spend time with Jesus getting angry clearing the temple, and read the graphic novel Demon - an action-packed episode!
Read MoreThere is something about the wilderness that brings one to a thin place – a place where God is experienced differently than in the normalcy of the world. The challenges, the separation, the pace, all tend to add to the ways in which God can be engaged.
Read MoreGetting angry about people who are selfish, self-promoting, navel-gazing narcissists is not an easy thing to do, but some still will try.
Read MoreWhat does it mean when your pastor calls and asks to make a visit? What does it mean when someone complains that the pastor did not visit or does not visit enough? There are a whole bevy of expectations and demands and assumptions that come along with the idea of visitation for better or worse.
Read MoreHere is a fallacy of today: Is it best to think about ourselves, about what works best for us, or to think of others? Whatever is best for me is then the best and other people can struggle. The truth that best meets my needs is the truth that I will embrace. There is so much wrong with this morality of selfishness.
Read MoreThe idea of church being a community is something that may feel counter-cultural for society as well as for many churches. It is something that is not primarily based on a notion of getting out there and changing the world, but more on getting connected with each other and with God and in that way changing the world.
Read MoreDavid VanBrakle and Jonathan discuss the church shootings in Texas and how the 80s should not yet be a standard for Halloween costumes, They look at Amos 5:18-24, and discuss one good book and one god photrapher.
Read MoreWe all need to have time to rest and reconnect with God. We all need time to be able to reminded ourselves why it is that we are Christians and what our walk of faith looks like. If you can give your pastor a sabbatical then you should – she or he deserves it! If you can take some time for yourself then you should – you deserve it!
Read MoreIt is frustrating when people look past their history and fall into a narrative that they believe regardless of the past. It is frustrating is when people do not look into the idea of changing and reforming. Lots of frustration.
Read MoreWhat do we do with those things that frustrate and anger us - big or small? How do the frustrations impact our relationship with God and what is the role of the Holy Spirit when we are caught in the anger?
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