Sandbox Cooperative Podcast

As we continue our series on immigration, we’ll share our conversation with Marian Bock. We had the opportunity to connect with Marian through David and Joe, who shared about their community, St. Michael’s, in our last episode. Marian is a member of the Albuquerque Friends Meeting House, a quaker community in Albuquerque providing sanctuary for a woman named Emma. We had a great conversation, and learned so much about our immigration system, the joys and struggles of sanctuary, and the place that each of us can have in alleviating this crisis that so many face.

The conversation on immigration is incredibly heated in our culture. But we believe the conversation can change when we begin with the dignity and value of all people - and our guests today showed us just that. As we continue our series on immigration, we’ll introduce you to the community at St. Michael Episcopal Church in Albuquerque. We felt an instant connection with them, and they had so much to share and teach us - not only about immigration - but about openness.

We are about to enter into yet another election cycle, and once again immigration issues are at the forefront of it all. We are no experts on the matter, but we wondered - what does the conversation look like if we start with the worth, value, and dignity of all people? In future weeks these episodes will include conversations we had in New Mexico last summer, but we want to begin this topic by replaying a conversation we had in Episode 12. A few years ago the Syrian refugee crisis was all over the news. Pictures were showing up everywhere of people fleeing the violence in their home country. And of course, fear and a heated conversation on immigration were at the center of our political discourse. In the middle of all that, we had a conversation with Scott Hicks, a lawyer in Ohio whose practice centers in immigration law, to dispel some of the fears and misconceptions around this process. (You can read the Scott’s post that prompted this conversation here).

About a month ago we asked the question, “What do you wonder about?” We invited listeners to message us and let us know. In today’s episode we heard from a listener named Kelly. She was wondering what it means to live as a person of belief in a pluralistic society. What does it mean to maintain and strengthen relationships while still remembering that you are good just as you are? We’d love to know what you wonder about too, so let us know! It’s easy - send us a message via social media, email us at podcast@sandboxcooperative.com OR call us and leave a voice message at (507) 722-1086.

While we were on a road trip we met leaders from Generation Justice in Albuquerque, New Mexico who taught us that love, listening and honoring people’s stories can change the world. Generation Justice is a multi-racial project that centers race equity to train youth to harness the power of community through leadership, media, narrative, and critical consciousness. Their mission is to inspire youth to become multidimensional leaders who are committed to social transformation. In New Mexico, Generation Justice has been recognized as the premier youth media and leadership group, and locally and nationally, has been the recipient of numerous awards. Learn more at GenerationJustice.org.

In this episode we talk with writer and organizer Carla Godwin and musician Ben Grace about a new song they co-wrote called “Preacher’s Daughter.” The song sparked conversation on a wide range of topics from creativity, to faith, and to discovering, claiming, and using your voice. About Ben Grace Australian singer-songwriter Ben Grace’s impeccably crafted songs hover in the space between lightness and the depths, wrestling their way through humor and melody to peel back the layers and reveal the naked truth of us. Through the specificity of his own deconstruction, Ben writes into our universal search for belonging, spiritual homecoming, and desire to live seen and unashamed. Find Ben’s music on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, or on Bandcamp. Follow Ben on all social media @BenGraceMusic. About Carla Godwin Carla is a Minneapolis-based writer and speaker and co-creator of the national conversation for women in leadership, She Is Called. In addition to hosting Holy Writ Podcast, she is a regular panelist on t

Have you ever experienced a change in your life, your relationships, your work… and just plowed ahead like everything is fine and nothing is different? How do we acknowledge when a season has changed and lean into a new reality? In this episode we will explore these ideas and consider some ways to get unstuck, to look up, and live into the “new thing.” Check out the video from May 2, 2013 : Mowing Snow Special thanks to Julie Stevens and Charles Ortloff for their thoughts in this episode.

With Christmas and New Year’s coming, we are taking time to pull some new stories and podcasts together for 2019… and there is a whole lot of exciting stuff to look forward to: St. Michael's Church in Albuquerque, Generation Justice, and more conversations from our time in Houston last summer. But between now and then, we want to hear from you… What do you wonder about? What inspires your curiosity? What do you want to know more about or wish you had an answer to? Would you share your answer with us? Here’s how: Send us a message via social media, email us podcast@sandboxcooperative.com OR call us and leave a voice message at (507) 722-1086.

A lot of our holiday traditions revolve around food… but maybe none more than Thanksgiving with its iconic turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes and gravy. As we enter this season current estimates are that more than 800 million people - or 11% of the world’s population - are hungry. Thankfully, there are organizations working to change this every day. In this episode we share our conversation with Mikka McCracken. Mikka works with ELCA World Hunger, an organization that offers health clinics, microloans, water wells, animal husbandry, community meals, advocacy, and more to develop sustainable solutions that get at the root causes of hunger and poverty. Learn more at ELCA.org/hunger.

We live in a society that values speed, productivity and efficiency; and our technology drives this in a way that can often be unhealthy. These are good things to a point, but maybe we’ve gone a bit too far. In this episode, we talk about some practices that might help us get back on track and allow us to own our devices, rather than letting our devices own us.

What is it about our ancestors? Why do we care? When it comes to celebrations honoring those who have died, we often think of things like The Day of the Dead from Mexico, or maybe All Saint’s Day. These global observances and celebrations come from all different faith backgrounds: Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, as well as tribal traditions and religions. No matter where you are from, there is just something about celebrating and remembering those who came before us, and make us who we are today. Special thanks to Nancy Goede for sharing her experience about researching her family history. Be sure to check out her book, Uncovering Lives: Discovering One Immigrant Generation’s Secrets and Lives of Forgiveness, Grace, and Healing.

This past summer, we caught up with some friends from Mosaic. Mosaic is a faith-based organization serving people with intellectual disabilities. We learned about their unique approach to building community and connection through their life changing work. Learn more about Mosaic and how you can get involved at MosaicInfo.org.

On September 23, 2018 Sandbox Cooperative welcomed Dr. Jacqueline Bussie to the Sandbox stage to talk about her new book, Love Without Limits. We discussed how we can learn to love as God does—without limits or exceptions. This podcast contains the Q&A portion of the evening event. In Love Without Limits, Bussie imparts practical solutions for people who yearn to love across difference. Through poignant memoir, engaging theological reflection, inspiring stories of friendship, creative readings of scripture, and shout-outs to some of love’s unsung heroes, Bussie challenges readers to answer God’s call to practice a love so vast that it excludes no one. More about Jacqueline at JacquelineBussie.com, @JacquelinBussie, and on Facebook.

On September 23, 2018 Sandbox Cooperative welcomed Dr. Jacqueline Bussie to the Sandbox stage to talk about her new book, Love Without Limits. We discussed how we can learn to love as God does—without limits or exceptions. In Love Without Limits, Bussie imparts practical solutions for people who yearn to love across difference. Through poignant memoir, engaging theological reflection, inspiring stories of friendship, creative readings of scripture, and shout-outs to some of love’s unsung heroes, Bussie challenges readers to answer God’s call to practice a love so vast that it excludes no one. More about Jacqueline at JacquelineBussie.com, @JacquelinBussie, and on Facebook.

In Episode 72 we share our conversation with author, speaker and social entrepreneur, Linda Kay Klein. Linda just released her book, Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free. Linda is also the founder of Break Free Together - an organization that helps people to release shame and claim their whole selves. She has spent over a decade working at the intersection of faith, gender, sexuality and social change. She earned an interdisciplinary master’s degree from New York University focusing on American evangelical Christian gender and sexuality messaging for girls. Linda Kay Klein has been featured in the New York Post, the Huffington Post, National Public Radio, and now, Sandbox Cooperative!

Growing up means something different to just about everyone. But if you could go back in time, what would you tell the 15-year-old version of yourself? In this episode, we talk about growing up, what to do with the advice we receive, and how we mark the ways that we grow and change over time. We also hear from a variety of people sharing what they would tell their 15-year-old selves.

In our contentious society, it seems like we really have no idea how to share our thoughts, ideas, fears, hopes and dreams. How can we do this better? We’ve had several fascinating conversations with professional communicators and in part three of this series we share our conversation with Duane Sauke, a former educator and realtor who is currently serving as a representative in the Minnesota State Legislature.

In our contentious society, it seems like we really have no idea how to share our thoughts, ideas, fears, hopes and dreams. How can we do this better? We’ve had several fascinating conversations with professional communicators and over the next few months we’ll be sharing these conversations. In part two of this series we share our conversation with Emily Carson, author of Holy Everything and the director of communications for the Southeastern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA.

In this episode, we continue our conversation Chris Tripolino of the Reimagined Songs Project. Chris and others are writing a whole new library of songs that can support communities growing together as they sing and seek and discover what is coming into existence as "church." Interested in joining the project? Consider joining the Facebook group, or visit ReimaginedSongs.com.

In this episode, we talk with Chris Tripolino of the Reimagined Songs Project (Part 1 of 2). Chris and others are writing a whole new library of songs that can support communities growing together as they sing and seek and discover what is coming into existence as "church." Interested in joining the project? Consider joining the Facebook group, or visit ReimaginedSongs.com.