Episode 046 – A More Beautiful Deconstruction (With Dr. Bradley Jersak) Deconstruction is everywhere. People are doing it. Some leaders are fighting it. Some people are excited by it. Some people are terrified of it. Is it just a trendy new word for leaving the church? No. It’s a process that’s necessary for spiritual maturity–and […]
Let’s Normalize Being Wrong (TAW045)
Episode 045 – Let’s Normalize Being Wrong (With Matt Tebbe) I grew up in a faith tradition where being right was essential. It’s what kept us in community. It’s what we thought honored God. For many other reasons–temperament, trauma, and even privilege–being right became an identity issue for me. Then I heard Matt Tebbe suggest […]
Your Suffering is Sacred (TAW044)
Episode 044 – Your Suffering is Sacred (With K.J. Ramsey) Are you allergic to happy clappy Christianity? There’s a good reason for thats. Churches that ignore suffering are ignoring Jesus. Many churches are not good at holding suffering. People who find themselves in extended suffering — maybe living with depression or anxiety, other mental health […]
Are you doing your faith?
Last weekend I hosted the Writers Advance. I want to talk about it briefly, but before you click away thinking this doesn’t apply to you, give me about four minutes. This retreat reminded me of something crucial to healthy spiritual growth.
Your Purity & Piety Will Get You Nowhere (TAW043)
Episode 043 – Your Purity & Piety Will Get You Nowhere You want to grow as a person. You want a sense of intimate connection with the Divine. You believe or suspect that the way of Jesus has something to say about this. That’s why you’re here. That’s why I write. But in order to […]
Can You Imagine Jesus Demanding Sex? – Interview with Sheila Wray Gregoire (TAW042)
Episode 042 – Can You Imagine Jesus Demanding Sex? – Interview with Sheila Wray Gregoire. Christian teachers notoriously have lots of opinions about sex. Sometimes they even claim those opinions are God’s will. But what if some of those teachings are hurting people and wrecking marriages? In this interview with Sheila Wray Gregoire we talk […]
Trust Your Instinct About the Church – Interview with Fr. Kenneth Tanner (TAW041)
Episode 041 – Trust Your Instinct About the Church – Interview with Fr. Kenneth Tanner. After everything that’s happened in the past year, are you wondering about whether there’s a place for you in the church? Are you asking questions like “Where do I fit? What I’m seeing around me doesn’t look like Jesus. What […]
No, Love Does Not Require Unity.
In this challenging time, what we need is unity. We need to come together. We need to “reach across the aisle.” We need to focus on where we agree. Unity is how we’ll move forward. These and other phrases like them are impossible to avoid these days. You’ve heard them, right? I know that unity […]
This IS Us. We Need To Own It. (TAW040)
Episode 040 – This IS Us. We Need To Own It. “This isn’t us. This isn’t America. We are better than this.” Have you heard—or said—those words recently? Well, you may not want to hear this, but the only way forward is to let those words go.
We are being gathered. (Unexpected encouragement amidst the hate mail.)
Well, this past week has been a crazy emotional ride! Last week I sent out an email update. As always, the email included a link to my latest blog and podcast. It also started with an open letter to folks who follow my writing online. I thought I’d get hate mail. (Or, maybe more accurately, […]
You Need an Architecture of Grief (TAW039)
Episode 039 – You Need an Architecture of Grief (Interview with James Prescott) Twenty Twenty seems to be the car wreck that just keeps going, and the result is that many of us are experiencing more and more pain and grief. How are we to deal with this? Writer James Prescott and I discuss the […]
Would Jesus call you (or your church) Satan? (TAW038)
Episode 038 – Would Jesus call you (or your church) Satan? “Get behind me, Satan!” Those are the words Jesus said to Peter. Yikes! But as I survey the current landscape of Christianity, I wonder if Jesus is saying this to us, or to our churches. In this episode, I reflect on what Jesus meant […]
Looking for God in all the wrong places – Interview with Paul J. Pastor (TAW037)
Episode 037 – Looking for God in All the Wrong Places – Interview with Paul J. Pastor Do you sometimes feel like your spiritual life is supposed to be in color, but you can only see it in black & white? Do you worry that we might be numb to God’s presence? Are you looking […]
Don’t Avoid Starting Over (TAW036)
Episode 036 – Don’t Avoid Starting Over I like knowing stuff. I like being seen as a good person. I love being an expert. Weird that I became a pastor, right? But here’s the thing. As much as I like this stuff, I’ve discovered it’s not very good for me. Turns out that being an […]
Do we have the courage to stop racial injustice?
Sitting in my home just outside of Portland, Oregon, I am only nine miles from the small square of blocks outside the Justice Center that has seen 90 nights straight of protesting that began in response to the police killing George Floyd. I’m also about 46 miles and 176 years away from where the Oregon […]