Persecution and Suffering
Christianity is not supposed to be easy, but it filled with grace. We are supposed to be outside of the norm, pushing the accepted, speaking truth to power, but we are to do it with charity.
Read MoreBottom of the Barrel
What do we find at the bottom of the barrel? Not Mike Denton. He is at least one up from the very bottom of the barrel (and then some). Mike and Jonathan get angry, talk scripture, and consider field guides for finding Sasquatch.
Read MoreWatcha' Reading?
Reading is fun. Celebrating what you have read, making goals for what you hope to read can be fun. Or it can be a neurotic way to tell yourself that all that time you spend alone in the corner by yourself is not wasted.
Read MorePositive Immigration Rhetoric
A conversation about weddings and immigration as well as the comic culture and great keys for the bassoon. Jerrod Hugenot joins Jonathan for this first part of their time together.
Read MoreThey Said What?
Realizing that there is no perfect translation should bring us to a place of humility when approaching the Bible. We need to be cautious when quoting scripture in such a way that tries to claim power or authority because we may not be getting the intent or meaning of the text exactly right. We are imposing our own cultural ideals, expectations, and baggage upon the text when we read it, translate it, and that can skew the meaning(s).
Read MoreDown With Biblical Languages!
The riliage, scripture, and "into" with Pastor Michael Strickland. Narratives, Biblical Languages, Nehemiah, Kansas geography, and photography are all covered in episode. What more could you ask for?
Read MoreCrazy Radical People
Jonathan talks with Michael Mercier about radical people, end-times scripture, and great progressive theology. What more could you ask for?
Read MoreAdvent Survival Guide
In Advent, we should be thinking about what the incarnation means in our lives and what it means for the world. It is no small thing to say that God is born and becomes one of us in the fullest. In Advent, we should look to live in such a way that sets us apart from the ways in which the rest of our culture engages in the “Christmas Spirit.”
Read MoreMozart Morality
For this deep conversation, Jonathan and Doug geek out on Mozart’s great opera Don Giovanni. Yes, it gets a little music nerdy at times, but they also look at the theological themes that can be found in this classic Don Juan story.
Read MoreLow Brass and Woodwinds
Put a bassoonist with a tuba player and you will get a whole lot of awesome!
Read MoreBreathing Out God
It is one thing to commit to a belief without any question, to blindly accept the tenets of a religious community. Some may say that such a level of belief takes a certain amount of courage. But to let go, to breath out God and to live as if there is no God or divine presence at all takes a different kind of courage. It is living in an isolation that might be liberating for some and terrifying for others.
Read MorePackaged Vacation Spirituality
We get ahead, we succeed in life because of a number of different factors - race, social class, wealth, etc. It is important for us to be aware of the ways in which those factors may help or inhibit one's ability to live and to live well.
Read MoreIdols Being Idols
The words of scripture are speaking to a deeper and greater truth, but many have a tendency to focus on the words, to let the words become an idol and miss the greater truth that those words are speaking towards.
Read MoreGrateful Proust
For this episode we hear conversations about being decent and respectful, about clay jars and scripture, and some radical, uninformed ideas about Proust and the Grateful Dead. You can’t ask for much more.
Read MoreSmall Party Hats
There continue to be many wounds and hurts inflicted by Christians towards the LGBTQ community that individuals live with, and that is not ok. We should celebrate the SCOTUS ruling about Gay marriage, but not for long because there still is much work to do.
Read MoreWeddings and Minotaurs
Jesus notices things - the little things that other tend to miss and that can become a big deal. This can be helpful and lift us up or it can call us out because of whatever it is that we are doing. It is good for God to be involved in our lives, even when we do not want it.
Read MoreLiberation in Verse
Poetry can be prophetic; it can speak to the struggles as well as the hopes that many struggle with.
Read MoreThe Live Show (Part 2)
Churches face many different challenges individually and denominationally and have the potential to overcome them or be overcome by them. But by the grace of God do we all try to do the work that we feel we have been called to do.
Read MoreThe Live Show! (Part 1)
On June 27, in the Sheraton Hospitality Suite Jonathan hosted 11 other American Baptists for an amazing, powerful, not to be missed live show during the American Baptist Churches national gathering. It was epic.
Read MoreDown with Norms
Paul is pushing the cultural norms that many people accept without thinking about them and the shocker is that we need to continue to push the cultural norms that we continue to accept without thinking about them. Questions are important!
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