Be Still And Go

“What our hearts yearn for, what our souls ache for is a God who walks with through the broken shards of our messy lives.”How do you know that God is with you, especially in times like this?//Exodus 17:1-7From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front o

"Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again."How would you describe your relationship with silence and solitude?//Hello darkness, my old friendI've come to talk with you againBecause a vision softly creepingLeft its seeds while I was sleepingAnd the vision that was planted in my brainStill remainsWithin the sound of silenceIn restless dreams I walked aloneNarrow streets of cobblestone'Neath the halo of a street lampI turned my collar to the cold and dampWhen my eyes were stabbed By the flash of a neon lightThat split the nightAnd touched the sound of silenceAnd in the naked light I sawTen thousand people, maybe morePeople talking without speakingPeople hearing without listeningPeople writing songs that voices never shareAnd no one daredDisturb the sound of silence"Fools," said I, "You do not knowSilence, like a cancer, growsHear my words that I might teach youTake my arms that I might reach you"But my words, like silent raindrops fellAnd echoed in the wells, of silenceAnd the people bowed

“How long, O Lord?” -Psalm 13How can you find and share joy in the midst of this long, stressful season?//Psalm 13:1How long, O Lord?Psalm 95:1O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise.//This episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear and 40 by U2, and The Great Burn by Dave Depper.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and Go.Visit www.trcnyc.org/Donate to support this podcast and other digital resources from The Riverside Church that integrate spirituality and social justice.Rev. Jim Keat is the Digital Minister at The Riverside Church. Visit www.jimkeat.com to find out more about the online content he creates.This season of Be Still and Go is supported in part by Convergence as they help share each episode with their community. (You should do the same!) Convergence a network that supports the reshaping of organizations, congregations and leaders engaged i

“If only I had the faith of the Samaritan woman maybe I would"What difference does faith make in your life?//John 4:5-42So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said

“These are hard times and your feelings of frustration, fear, sadness, disappointment, and confusion are valid. We need to feel our feelings."What are you feeling right now?//Romans 5:2-5We boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.//This episode was written and recorded by Amanda Meisenheimer. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear and Threnody by Goldmund.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and Go.Visit www.trcnyc.org/Donate to support this podcast and other digital resources from The Riverside Church that integrate spirituality and social justice.This season of Be Still and Go is supported in part

"Receiving God’s provision of food in due season redefines each fruit and vegetable from commodity to sacrament."How does eating seasonally impact your spirituality?//Psalm 145:15The eyes of all look to you,and you give them their food in due season.//This episode was written and recorded by Farley Lord. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear and Live for the Dead by Corinna Repp.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and Go.Visit www.trcnyc.org/Donate to support this podcast and other digital resources from The Riverside Church that integrate spirituality and social justice.This season of Be Still and Go is supported in part by Convergence as they help share each episode with their community. (You should do the same!) Convergence a network that supports the reshaping of organizations, congregations and leaders engaged in an age of movement from “organized religion” to “organizing religion” driven b

“It’s not enough for me to sit on the sidelines and throw rocks but I need to be part of helping to do something, whatever I can."What is God calling you to be a part of?//This conversation features Dr. Ronald Lonesome. Dr. Lonesome has been a part of The Riverside Church since the 1981. This episode was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms and Backwater by Podington Bear.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and Go.Visit www.trcnyc.org/Donate to support this podcast and other digital resources from The Riverside Church that integrate spirituality and social justice.This season of Be Still and Go is supported in part by Convergence as they help share each episode with their community. (You should do the same!) Convergence a network that supports the reshaping of organizations, congregations and leaders engaged in an age of movement from “organized religion” to “organizing religion” driven by the values of an inclusive, p

"When we actually get that peace and quiet it can be louder than the world we thought we left behind."What does peace and quiet sound like to you?//Hello darkness, my old friendI've come to talk with you againBecause a vision softly creepingLeft its seeds while I was sleepingAnd the vision that was planted in my brainStill remainsWithin the sound of silenceIn restless dreams I walked aloneNarrow streets of cobblestone'Neath the halo of a street lampI turned my collar to the cold and dampWhen my eyes were stabbed By the flash of a neon lightThat split the nightAnd touched the sound of silenceAnd in the naked light I sawTen thousand people, maybe morePeople talking without speakingPeople hearing without listeningPeople writing songs that voices never shareAnd no one daredDisturb the sound of silence"Fools," said I, "You do not knowSilence, like a cancer, growsHear my words that I might teach youTake my arms that I might reach you"But my words, like silent raindrops fellAnd echoed in the wells, of silenceAnd the

We need to hover over the chaos, the formless and void in our world and our lives, and give birth to miracles.What miracle are you hoping to give birth to today?//Romans 4:17God…calls into existence the things that do not exist.//This episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms, Lullaby, and Calla Lilly by Podington Bear.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and Go.Visit www.trcnyc.org/Donate to support this podcast and other digital resources from The Riverside Church that integrate spirituality and social justice.Rev. Jim Keat is the Digital Minister at The Riverside Church. Visit www.jimkeat.com to find out more.This season of Be Still and Go is supported in part by Convergence as they help share each episode with their community. (You should do the same!) Convergence a network that supports the reshaping of organizations, congregations and leaders engaged in an age of movement from “organi

"Look up to God, our spiritual compass, rather than out to the chaos of our world."Where do you look for peace in the midst of chaos?//Psalm 121I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.//This episode was written and recorded by Rev. Bruce Lamb. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms and All The Ways by Podington Bear, Drifters by Kelly Pratt, and My Help written by Jackie Gouche Farris.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and G

"If you can’t find your god in the grit of this life, your god is not so big."Where do you find God in the grit of life around you?//A poem by 14th century Persian Poet Hafiz (1320-1389 CE)Translated by Daniel Ladinsky Somegods say, the tiny ones,“I am not here in your vibrant, moist lipsthat need to beach themselves upon the golden shoreof a naked body.” Some gods say, “I am not the scarred yearning in the unrequited soul;I am not the blushing cheek of every star and planet— I am not the applauding Creator of those precious secretions thatcan distill the whole mind into a perfect wincing jewelif only for a moment; Nor do I reside in every pile of sweet warm dung bornof the earth’s gratuity.” Some gods say, the ones we need to hang, “Your mouth is not designed to know His, love was not conceived to consume the luminous realms.”Dear ones beware,beware of the tiny gods frightened menworship To bring an anesthetic control and reliefto their saddays.//This episode was written and recorded by Amanda Meisenheimer.

“God continues to call us to new ways of being. Where are you willing to go?"Where is God calling you to go?//Genesis 12:1-4aNow the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.//This episode was written and recorded by Rev. Kevin VanHook. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear, Discoverya Event Horizon by Jon Luc Hefferman and As Old Roads by Goldmund.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and Go.Visit www.trcnyc.org/Donate to support this podcast and other di

“You can’t put the wind of the Spirit in a doctrinal box, though it seems like we try to do that all the time."What “doctrinal boxes” have you experienced in your life?//John 3:1-17Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know wh

“We’re not just here for ourselves. We’re here for everyone around us."What does it mean to show up and be there for the people around you?//This episode was written and recorded by Susan Wersan. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear and The Tide by Alex Fitch.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and Go.Visit www.trcnyc.org/Donate to support this podcast and other digital resources from The Riverside Church that integrate spirituality and social justice.This season of Be Still and Go is supported in part by Convergence as they help share each episode with their community. (You should do the same!) Convergence a network that supports the reshaping of organizations, congregations and leaders engaged in an age of movement from “organized religion” to “organizing religion” driven by the values of an inclusive, progressive theological vision for a more just world for all. Visit www.convergenceus.org t

"And no one dared disturb the sound of silence.” -Paul SimonWhen was a time that you experienced the sound of silence?//Hello darkness, my old friendI've come to talk with you againBecause a vision softly creepingLeft its seeds while I was sleepingAnd the vision that was planted in my brainStill remainsWithin the sound of silenceIn restless dreams I walked aloneNarrow streets of cobblestone'Neath the halo of a street lampI turned my collar to the cold and dampWhen my eyes were stabbed By the flash of a neon lightThat split the nightAnd touched the sound of silenceAnd in the naked light I sawTen thousand people, maybe morePeople talking without speakingPeople hearing without listeningPeople writing songs that voices never shareAnd no one daredDisturb the sound of silence"Fools," said I, "You do not knowSilence, like a cancer, growsHear my words that I might teach youTake my arms that I might reach you"But my words, like silent raindrops fellAnd echoed in the wells, of silenceAnd the people bowed and prayedTo t

"Through the gift the world received more grace than the sum of her brokenness."When was a time you experienced grace like this?//Romans 5:12-19Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned— sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one,

“We are called to shout, to shout out loud, to shout for joy, through acts of compassion and justice."What is God calling you to shout about?//Psalm 32Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.SelahThen I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity;I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin.SelahTherefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you;at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.SelahI will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.Do

“Nothing will ever change unless we speak to the injustices in the world.”What power and privilege do you possess and how can you best use it to fight injustices?//For those of us who live at the shorelinestanding upon the constant edges of decisioncrucial and alonefor those of us who cannot indulgethe passing dreams of choicewho love in doorways coming and goingin the hours between dawnslooking inward and outwardat once before and afterseeking a now that can breedfutureslike bread in our children’s mouthsso their dreams will not reflectthe death of ours; For those of uswho were imprinted with fearlike a faint line in the center of our foreheadslearning to be afraid with our mother’s milkfor by this weaponthis illusion of some safety to be foundthe heavy-footed hoped to silence usFor all of usthis instant and this triumphWe were never meant to survive. And when the sun rises we are afraidit might not remainwhen the sun sets we are afraidit might not rise in the morningwhen our stomachs are full we are afraido

"I seek to reinhabit my space as a creature in God’s beautiful, balanced garden."What does it mean for you to reinhabit your space in this garden?//Genesis 2:15-17The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”//This episode was written and recorded by Brian McLaren. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms and Alphabet Soup by Podington Bear.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all five seasons of Be Still and Go.Visit www.trcnyc.org/Donate to support this podcast and other digital resources from The Riverside Church that integrate spirituality and social justice.Brian McLaren is author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. Visit www.BrianMcLaren.net to find out more.This season of Be Still and Go is sup

“We are growing into times of despair and climate barbarism. Unless we are able to stay in the wilderness we will not be able to survive what is coming."What are you doing to survive the desert of our days?//Matthew 4:1-11Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. I have fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'”Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”Again, the d