Sinopsis
One pastor's attempt at late-night-level honesty about the Bible, church history, theological scholarship, spiritual practice and...God. (AKA how one nearly-de-churched thinker discovered that love is the name of the game.)
Episodios
-
Loving God 401, Part 3: Thinky World-Affirmers (i.e., Kataphatic-Speculatives)
13/09/2016 Duración: 40minWe begin our study at the four basic attrait combinations (think “spiritual personality types”) with an in-depth look at the kataphatic-speculative quadrant. In short, these are people who relate to God primarily by means of connection to the created world (kataphatic) and for whom things need to “make sense” (speculative). If you are listening to this podcast, odds are […]
-
Loving God 401, Part 2: Attrait – Finding Your Spiritual Personality Type
09/09/2016 Duración: 39minChurch traditions, regardless of whether than have a clear denominational affiliation (e.g., the Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists…) not, tend to have a set of “disciplines” they believe are most critical to making progress towards maturity and are often unaware that there are other schools of thought. Turn up at one congregation and there will be emphasis galore on Bible […]
-
Loving God 401, Part 1: “Proficiency” and “Rule”
07/09/2016 Duración: 34minIn this final set of sermons on the classical tradition of spiritual formation, we turn to our attention to creating an individualized set of practices that can guide us to maturity in Christ (known as “Rule” or a “rule of life”). This is what we will develop over the next 10 sermons. We begin with […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 14: The Lord’s Prayer
01/09/2016 Duración: 33minGiven the centrality of the psalms in Hebrew worship, it is strange that Jesus’s disciples would ask for instruction in prayer; and yet they do. What follows is famously known as “The Lord’s Prayer,” and while it’s familiarity makes it seem quite formal and placid, the contents would have been highly provocative to Jesus’s audience. […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 13: God’s Response – Psalm 91
09/06/2016 Duración: 29minDoes God respond to our prayers? For most of us the answer feels to be “no.” Or at least we feel no sense direct communication. We may see a change in circumstances that we attribute to God. Or we may have a sense of subtle direction. But a clear, direct response? That seems like it never comes. In […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 12: Pleading for Help – Psalm 86
09/06/2016 Duración: 38minWhat do we do when all seems lost? What action remains when our energy has been exhausted, our resources drained and the danger comes from elements far beyond our control? What remains is to pray. To come before the source of all power and goodness and ask for help. Indeed the first demonstration of goodness is […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 11: Unfiltered Emotion – Psalm 137
11/04/2016 Duración: 40minLust, greed, rage, fear, jealousy, scorn… What do we do when such passions surge (as they inevitably will)? For many people of faith striving to grow in love and compassion, the immediate temptation is suppression: force the thought from our mind and tighten the inner security to make sure they never come back. It’s an […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 10: Finding Trust Amidst Doubt – Psalm 117
26/03/2016 Duración: 18minWhy do we stay on this crazy path of faith? At least some part of me is always asking. And while my theology is of some help (it’s broken world, God is making all things new, faith will be vindicated at the end of the age…yadda, yadda), I sometimes need a more immediate and personal answer. […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 9: Acknowledging Temptation – Psalm 73
22/03/2016 Duración: 32minWhy do bad things happen to good people? And why do good things happen to bad people? And when such things occur, are they signs that I’ve been a fool to follow the virtuous path??? Temptation in the life of faith has to do with far more than just the momentary impulses to break the rules. […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 8: A Cry for Vengeance – Psalm 69
01/03/2016 Duración: 33minAnger is a core human emotion – a healthy response to injustice. But like all primal responses, anger can turn on us in an instant, and what begins as a proper defensive impulse transforms into the desire for retribution, even revenge. And when it does, we transition from victim to perpetrator-in-the-making – a position we cannot […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 7: Expressing Awe and Wonder – Psalm 104
26/02/2016 Duración: 37minWhat do we say when the beauty and goodness of life takes our breath away? We’ve all had the experience of such awe and wonder that we are reduced to stunned silence. We reach for our cameras to capture it our phones to record it. We may later turn to painting or sculpture or music […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 6: Begging Forgiveness – Psalm 51
22/02/2016 Duración: 27minThere is nothing harder for me to bring to God than guilt – real guilt. Not the shame of a minor offense or trivial wrong-doing. But the guilt of one who has transgressed very badly, who has clearly overstepped the bound of righteousness love. In those times when I know that I am guilty and possess no defense, […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 5: Expressing Disorientation and Abandonment – Psalm 88
18/02/2016 Duración: 25minOften our most desperate hours are marked by a fundamental sense of disorientation. Beyond the direct emotions of fear, sorrow, even anger…is the larger feeling that world as we once knew it has been overturned. We no longer know which way is up or where to find a port in the storm. It is in these moments – perhaps more […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 4: Expressing Doubt – Psalm 13
08/02/2016 Duración: 35minDoubt is a part of every intimate relationship. No matter how confident we are in the love of another, there are times when we wonder if that love endures (if it was every really there at all). It happens in friendships, families, marriages…and in our relationship with God. We ought not be surprised by this or […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 3: Expressing Fear – Psalm 140
05/02/2016 Duración: 29minWe’ve all heard of the “foxhole prayer” – pleading with God in our most desperate hour. It’s an experience we’ve all had, and one that often comes with a tinge of guilt: Will God be angry that we turn to prayer only when we are overcome with fear? Take heart, then, to know that the […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 2: Expressing Praise – Psalm 150
04/02/2016 Duración: 16minThe great gift of the psalms is that they give us the words to pray from the depth of our soul, to give words to our experience. We pray them not because they are the “approved” prayers of the church, but because they help us articulate (and thus feel) what is most true about ourselves […]
-
Loving God 301, Part 1: Verbal Prayer and the Psalms
01/02/2016 Duración: 34minPrayer is not a duty. It is not the means of gaining favor with God or demonstrating devotion. Rather, prayer is the means of making genuine contact with the Father who loves us. And the ultimate fruit of prayer is…happiness. (Note that the opening word of the Psalms is “Happy!”) In this continuing look at […]
-
Loving God 201, Part 6: An Easy Way to Pray -The Daily Office
30/01/2016 Duración: 40minWhat if I told you, you could build a life of meaningful connection to God in a matter of minutes a day? Really! I know it sounds like a cheap hook for a diet pill, but it happens in this case to be true. You can build a habit of prayer in minutes a day by using […]
-
Loving God 201, Part 5: Fifth Rule of the Spiritual Life
19/12/2015 Duración: 41minJesus said the way to be first is to be last; the way to life abundantly is to die to self; and the way to maturity is to become like a little child. In this episode we examine the Fifth Rule of the Spiritual Life: Let God be Your Father. One of the greatest challenges […]
-
Loving God 201, Part 4: Fourth Rule of the Spiritual Life
16/12/2015 Duración: 27minEver since Plato, it has been tempting to equate “spiritual” with “ideal” – to imagine that spiritual growth is a way out of the pains and sufferings and frustrations of life. And many a well-intentioned person has taken up the life of prayer in the hope of transcendence (escape?). But perfection does not belong to […]