Poema Podcast

Today my beloved friend Maria French joins me for a discussion on the post-pandemic world and it it will impact culture, our day to day lives and the church.  We dive deep into the concept of the 'new normal', and discuss the myth that our lives will ever 'go back to normal' and how people and even institutions may try, unsuccessfully, to act like the pandemic never happened. We also talk about how people may try to find a new form of certainty, to try and avoid dealing with the collective trauma we've experienced. Finally, we discuss  what the post-pandemic world will look like for the church, and how it will need to adapt and change, to stay both accessible and relevant as the world moves forward.

Today I'm joined on the podcast by J Elizabeth Hanson. She shares with us the story of losing her son to suicide several years ago and how this impacted both her and her family. J Elizabeth talks about how her experience of processing and carrying grief, and how this led her to do work alongside others grieving. She talks about the work she does in giving people processing loss practices and rituals which allow them to process grief in a healthier way, alongside the vital work of professional therapy, and how often creativity can play a part in the healing process.   

Today, podcaster and author Lisa Delay joins me to talk about navigating 'The Wild Land Within' - doing the internal work of healing and spiritual transformation.  She shares with us the power of spiritual & liturgical practice to navigate our inner world, and, alongside therapy, to help us explore and process what we're carrying inside. Lisa gives examples of healthy spiritual practices which, alongside support from mental health professionals, can allow us to confront, manage or process our grief and pain, which can lead us to deeper encounters with the divine and aid our spiritual formation.  Lisa also reminds us of the importance of naming and confronting our internal terrain, our grief and trauma, and doing the work of healing and transformation.  ***** Lisa's book 'The Wild Land Within', where she explores these issues more, is available now at all online booksellers. 

Today, author Sarah Robinson joins me to talk about depression, mental illness and faith, as she discusses in her new book "I Love Jesus and I Want To Die". Sarah tells her own powerful story of growing up with depression in the context of traditional evangelical Christianity, and the challenges she faced in naming and getting support as she faced these challenges.  Sarah talks about bad experiences with 'Christian counselling', and the importance of finding a good therapist and building a healthy support network. She also discusses practices those of us struggling with any kind of mental illness can use to help us as we live with our condition.  And finally, Sarah and I explore how we can have healthy expressions of faith whilst also living with mental illness, and how and why the church needs to become a safe space for mental illness. 

Today Abby Norman returns to the podcast to talk about the importance and transformative, healing power of lament - as she discusses in her new book "You Can Talk to God Like That".  We talk about the importance of naming our pain, feeling our pain, and giving voice to the grief and trauma we carry. We explore how naming our pain and lamenting it, actually robs it of its power, and opens up the pathway to healing.  We also talk about how lament and naming our pain, allows us to find deeper connection to ourselves, to each other, and to the divine.  *** 'You Can Talk To God Like That' releases May 18th in all formats in the US & on Kindle / Audiobook in the UK, and in paperback in the UK on July 20th.

In the second in our short 'Taylor Swift' themed podcast series, my friend Jenna DeWitt joins me to discuss Taylor Swift's story and music in the context of identity and the Enneagram.  We go through Taylor's career and see how her music reflected her own personal journey into discovering and owning her own power and voice, and what we notice about her personality type - Enneagram 3 w 4 - through this journey.  Jenna shares her own personal experience growing up with Taylor's music, being a similar age and personality type, and how it connected to her own growth and empowerment. I also share how Taylor's music has connected with me on my journey, as a 4w5.  This episode again touches on how music can connect with us so personally at different stages of our journeys, and how we find our own stories through the art and stories given to us by master storytellers like Taylor. 

This week we're doing a short series of Taylor Swift-linked podcasts. In today's episode, we examine Taylor's journey as a storyteller, as told through her music.  Heather and I explore the art of storytelling, and how Taylor has perfected and practiced this through her musical career. We also discuss the power of sharing our stories in our art and why good stories are so compelling, and where our own stories have connected with Taylor's work.  This episode is a great insight into the power of story, what makes great art, and how we can find ourselves through sharing and hearing stories. 

Today my guest is the inspiring author and speaker Jay Bakker. In this episode, recorded in July 2020, he shares his own powerful story of personal and spiritual transformation. He shares more about the trauma, grief, and losses he's experienced and how they impacted his life, theology and faith, as well as the mental health challenges he's faced.  We explore how the things Jay experienced changed his perspective on spirituality, Christianity and the church. We also discuss the potential impact of the pandemic, as we experience a collective grief and trauma. It's a powerful and inspiring story, and well worth a listen.

In this episode I'm honoured to be joined by Amanda Held Opelt, to share her stories of grief.  Amanda shares her experiences of grief, from losing a beloved grandmother, miscarriage, and the death of her sister Rachel Held Evans. She tenderly and honestly shares the impact grief has had on her life and faith, the questions it raised, how it's shaped her own journey - and we talk about how we as a culture, and individuals, need to develop healthier rituals to name and process our grief.  (This episode was shared with Amanda's consent). 

Today a new on-off series 'Our Grief Stories' begins with author J. A. Browne telling the story of the loss of her mother in 2015, and then her dad in 2019, how she experienced grief, her reaction, and the lessons she learned.  She tells us how she learned how we experience life differently through the lens of loss, and how the loss of a parent is a very particular, and very painful type of grief. She tells us the physical, emotional and bodily trauma responses. In talking about this I resonated and shared a bit of my own journey, as we found shared experiences and reactions to the loss of a parent, how life changes, how it influences our life choices, and how we have both discovered healthy ways to process and manage our grief.  

Today Rev Dr Kate Hanch PhD, comes on the show to talk about her study on prophetic humility through the lens of women, and marginalised women.  Fully acknowledging her own inbuilt bias and white privilege, she talks about how we need to centre women in conversations around theology, and historical women theologians whose voices have been silenced due to patriarchy.  Dr Kate then moves on to talk about how and where she is finding hope in these difficult times we're living in and how her faith helps her face challenges.  And then she talks about finding joy in the midst of pain, and lessons we can learn from periods of struggle.    

Today I welcome writer and speaker Bob Doto to the show. In this episode we explore how we can have a form of relationship with the spirits of those who have passed. Bob explains how he discovered and experienced how we can encounter spirits and do spirit work through the lens of biblical hermeneutics, magical and mindfulness practices, shadow work, and self-inquiry.  Bob shows having a relationship with the spirits of those who have passed is not only possible within the all Christian traditions, but is inherent to the faith as a whole - and we discuss exactly how this fits in with the practices and experiences of lament and grief.

Today author and coach Caroline McGraw joins me to talk about her new book and why "You Don't Owe Anyone".   Caroline explains to us how often we feel obligated to the world around us, feel we "owe" people and put impossible expectations on ourselves, and the unhelpful roles we can sometimes assign ourselves. We explore the dangers of perfectionism and how to free ourselves of it. We also discuss why it's so important to name what we're carrying - fear, trauma, mistakes - and face up to it in order to be transformed and grow. And why continually pursuing growth is so important. Finally, Caroline gives us some practical steps we can take to begin this journey in our own lives.  **** Pre-Order Carolines book here (& get some amazing pre-order bonuses):  https://awishcomeclear.com/james-prescott

Today I'm joined by author & speaker Sarah Bessey, and speaker, author, podcast host and activist Lisa Sharon Harper, to talk about the new collaborative book they've worked on and contributed to, along with many others, 'A Rhythm of Prayer'. We talk about the background to the creation of the book in the context of the events of the last 12 months - global pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, the US Presidential election and the weight this book carries and the message it wants to send us in these times of grief & uncertainty.  We talk about the inspiration for Lisa's own contribution, Sarah's reasons for creating this book and the importance of new liturgies for a new time - and the significance of all of these voices being women.  "A Rhythm of Prayer" is available now at all online booksellers. 

In this special episode, I sit with Becky Castle Miller and tell my own story. A story of childhood trauma, multiple grief experiences, and a journey through the unhealth of certainty and spiritual abuse, into deconstructing not just my faith, but my life and my identity. It's a story of transcendent spiritual experiences, betrayal, suicidal ideation and nearly losing it all. A journey of healing, transformation and embodiment.  My story. 

Today my friend Kelly Wolfe joins me, to talk about sex, desire, lust, masturbation and healthy ways we can connect these with Christian faith.  We talk about the damage purity culture and shame has done to so many people, and how we need to unlearn this and begin to talk about these subjects openly and honestly, and be honest about our desires and how our bodies work, and need to express themselves sexually.  Kelly talks openly about how masturbation in the right context can be a healthy expression of our sexuality - and how and why this fits with the way of Jesus and honours how we were created. Finally, Kelly also discusses the difference between lust and desire, and why we should have no shame in discussing and ethically exploring our sexuality - and why this is a beautiful, divine gift.    

I'm delighted to be joined today by Dr Hillary McBride PhD, therapist, researcher, author and former co-host of The Liturgists podcast (this episode was recorded before she announced her departure). We just started talking and let the conversation flow - it began by Hillary sharing her own journey and about the experience of being a therapist during a pandemic.  Hillary and I also talked about where following our curiosity can take us in our lives, conversations, art and our own personal journeys. She also talks about growth, and how we can often find growth & meaning even in the midst of hardship. Hillary then shares how we need to become familiar with the language of our own pain, and how this can be helpful in our journeys of growth and healing.  We end by exploring grief in more depth, and how historically we have dealt with grief as a culture and how we can use the energy of grief on a broader scale to bring about cultural change.  This was hands down one of my all time favourite conversations f

Today I'm joined by Yogi and author Anita Grace Brown to hear her story and talk about her work exploring the connections between Christ, Yoga and how this intertwines with our journey of growth. Anita shares with us how we can use yoga and the story of Jesus to help us enter healthy state of centeredness. She tells us how the human soul might just be God's muscle which we need to work on strengthening - and if we do, we could be transformed.  Anita believes we are more resilient than we think, and more conscious than we think - and today we explore this. ***** Anita's book Kamikaze Yogi is available now!

Today I'm joined by Dr Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, Ph.D, Transqueer Activist Latinx Scholar, Public Theologian, and host of the Activist Theology podcast. Dr Robyn tells their story about their lived experience of living with autism, how they became aware of their diagnosis, and not just freedom it brought but also the grief of realising how this may have impacted others pre-diagnosis.  They then talk about what this time of lockdown and a global pandemic can teach, and how we can use this time to connect with ourselves each other. We also talk about the pandemic has amplified the flawed, unequal system of capitalism we all live in. Dr Robyn shares how our relationships have been impacted by this mindset, by a transactional model over one of connection and compassion. Dr Robyn then explores his work, and what action he's been taking & we can take to subvert the system and bring about a more compassionate, connected world. ______ Find more of Dr Robyn's work at www.irobyn.com 

I'm honoured to be joined by Dr Khaleah Bradshaw, who shares her own story, and also talks about her experiences and research on patriarchy and singleness within the black community.  We talk about the challenges all single people face, and why it's better to wait and find a partner who's a good match, than rush in. We also discuss how the challenges of breaking down patriarchal systems which can shame people for singleness.  This was a fun and insightful conversation, which will challenge and inspire.