Be Still And Go

"Jesus knew that every human being has the capacity to decide where they're going to put their trust."Where do you put your trust?//Luke 23:46Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last.//This episode was written and recorded by Rev. Dr. James Forbes. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear and Cold Feet by Will Bangs.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 “organizi

"He will bring the good news to this atrophied, sun-starved people who had experienced such loss."What does “good news” look like in our world right now?//John 13:1Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.//This episode was written and recorded by Amanda Meisenheimer. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks are by Podington Bear and Gillicuddy.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.Amanda Meisenheimer is the Minister of Children & Families at The Riverside Church. Visit https://www.trcnyc.org/tag/amanda-meisenheimer/ to listen to every episode she’s recorded for all six seasons of Be Still and Go.This season of Be Still and Go is sup

"Christ is risen. Alleluia. Cowabunga."What word or phrase would you use to describe the seasons of Lent and Easter?//This episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear and In the Dark Your’re More Colorful and Live for the Dead by Corrina 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.Rev. Jim Keat is the Digital Minister at The Riverside Church. And he still loves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.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

"We must be cracked open to the pain of the world in order to begin to allow God’s kingdom to enter in, to redeem us, to redeem the world. It begins with that undoing."How have you seen God’s reign enter in the midst of the pain of the world?//This episode was written and recorded by Kate Bowler. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms and Delican’t 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.Dr. Kate Bowler is an associate professor of the history of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School. She wrote the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and other lies I’ve loved) (Random House, 2018) after being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35—a book Bill Gates lauds as “belonging on the shelf

Jesus sees my traumaHolds my broken piecesAnd draws me to his kindnessHallelujahWhat does it mean to you for God to be present with your pain and trauma?//This episode was written and recorded by Common Hymnal. Background tracks used during the intro and outro feature Button Mushrooms 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.Common Hymnal is an online library for the spiritual underground, a connecting point for an as-yet-uncoalesced movement around the exchange of songs, stories and ideas. Brittney Spencer is a songwriter-singer with a free spirit and a love for molding life, truth and wild imagination into songs.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 t

“When you are praying to Jesus you are praying to someone who understands you because he is human and has experienced all things."What difference does it make to know that Jesus understands your suffering?//Matthew 21:1-11When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,“Tell the daughter of Zion,Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches

We must meditate through the noise, call the darkness our friend, and rest in the silence.How are you handling the noise in your mind and the silence in our world?//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 silence//The reflection at the beginning of this episode was written and recorded by Amanda Meisenheimer. The cover of The Sound of Silence was recorded with Amanda Meisenheimer on vocals and Rev. Jim Keat on guitar. Rev. Keat produced the episode. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms 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.Amanda Meisenheimer is the Minister of Children & Families at The Riverside Church.Thi

"This is a brave new world that none of us have ever experienced. This is the end of the world as we know it."What are you doing to stay safe and sane during this ongoing health crisis?//Team by team, reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, croppedLook at that low plane, fine, thenUh oh, overflow, population, common groupBut it'll do, save yourself, serve yourselfWorld serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleedTell me with the Rapture and the reverent in the right, rightYou vitriolic, patriotic, slam fight, bright lightFeeling pretty psyched//This episode was written, recorded, produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms, Galoshes, and B Roll by Podington Bear and Ink by Dexter Britain.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

“I can be changed by what happens to me but I refuse to be reduced by it.” -Maya AngelouWhere do you see the Spirit of God in your life and in our world during these times?//Romans 8:6-11To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.//This episode was written and recorded by Rev. Bruce Lamb. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include But

"God’s Spirit has been breathed into us, connecting us one to another and raising us up to new life where we can walk together through fear and death and destruction.”"We are created with connectedness and spirit and hope breathed into us."How are you experiencing connectedness and spirit and hope right now?//Ezekiel 37:1-14The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”So I p

"Faithful waiting means paying attention, listening with compassion, acting with intention, and trusting that it doesn’t all rely on you or me."What can you learn from polar bears?//Psalm 130Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice!Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.//This episode was written and recorded by Rev. Lynn Casteel Harper. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms, Leaf Shower, and Arctic by Podington Bear.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo

“When we mourn someone else we affirm their personhood, we proclaim that their pain deserves our care, concern, and solidarity."What is moving you to tears right now?//John 11:1-35Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again i

“To know where you’re going you have to know where you’ve been.” -Lawrence TureaudAs you learn from the past, where do you see God leading you into the future? //This conversation features Carol Fouke-Mpoyo. Carol has been a part of The Riverside Church since the 1978. This episode was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms and Woods by Corrina 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 by the values of an inclusive, progressive theological vi

"Find God in this moment, in this breath."What can you do to create a little more stillness in your life today?//And the people bowed and prayedTo the neon god they madeAnd the sign flashed out its warningIn the words that it was formingAnd the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway wallsAnd tenement halls"And whispered in the sounds of silence//The reflection in this episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rev. Jim Keat. The cover of The Sound of Silence was performed and recorded by Matteo Niscosi. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear and Secret Place 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 th

“If there is a God then the human word is not the last word. God is.”What word do you think God wants to say to our world today?//Psalm 31:9-16Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;my eye wastes away from grief,my soul and body also.For my life is spent with sorrow,and my years with sighing;my strength fails because of my misery,and my bones waste away.I am the scorn of all my adversaries,a horror to my neighbors,an object of dread to my acquaintances;those who see me in the street flee from me.I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;I have become like a broken vessel.For I hear the whispering of many—terror all around!—as they scheme together against me,as they plot to take my life.But I trust in you, O Lord;I say, “You are my God.”My times are in your hand;deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.Let your face shine upon your servant;save me in your steadfast love.//This episode was written and recorded by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Backg

"God leads me to still waters and green pastures. God returns me to my breath."Where is God leading you right now?//Psalm 23The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. She makes me lie down in green pastures;she leads me beside still waters; she restores my soul.She leads me in right paths for her name’s sake.Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.//This episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms, Slotcar, and Smooth Actor by Podington Bear, I'll Miss You, The First Person Awake, Looking for that Moment when Time Stands Still, and When it gets Dark at 4pm by Will Bangs, and The 23rd Psalm by Bobby McFerrin,

“I used to cling to bits of darkness in order to survive but I don’t have to live like that anymore. I am a child of the light and I can begin to live like one."What are the parts of our world need the light of God to shine on them? What about the parts of your life?//Ephesians 5:8-14For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”//This episode was written and recorded by Kevin Makins. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear, Lovely Lonely by YEYEY, Looking for that Moment W

“This season of Lent, remind yourself that God is right there waiting, ready to anoint you and to bless you."What is your spiritual origin story?//1 Samual 16:1-13The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifi

“'Doubts and loves dig up the world like a mole, a plow,’ allowing the whispers of God’s spirit to bring forth new life."Where do you see whispers of God’s Spirit bringing forth new life around you?//The Place Where We Are Right by Yehuda AmichaiFrom the place where we are rightFlowers will never growIn the spring.The place where we are rightIs hard and trampledLike a yard.But doubts and lovesDig up the worldLike a mole, a plow.And a whisper will be heard in the placeWhere the ruinedHouse once stood.John 9As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the

“How can we call ourselves followers of Jesus and not be active in the struggle?"What does it mean for you to call yourself a follower of Jesus?//This episode features a conversation with Hylda Clarke. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms and Sandcastle 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.Hylda Clarke has been a part of The Riverside Church since 1962. She has been involved in many of Riverside’s social justice ministries and continues to share values of love, justice, and equality on future generations.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 leade