This week, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Ally Henny. She is the author of the new book "I Won't Shut Up: Finding Your Voice When the World Tries to Silence You," as well as vice president of The Witness. Listen in as they discuss the prophetic voice and presence of Black Women in the world as well as Ally's journey of finding her voice amidst the pressures of erasure and racism, inside and outside of the Church.

Find our QUICK TAKE with Ally on Juneteenth here.

This week on 20 Minute Takes, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Dr. Christina Edmondson. She's co-host of the podcast Truth's Table, as well as co-author of the book Faithful Antiracism: Moving Past Talk to Systemic Change. Listen in as they discuss the book, the sort of work and healing required of those who do the work of racial justice, and how the Church is called to pursue racial justice as a prophetic act of repentance.

This week, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Jeff Liou and Robert Chao Romero about their recently released book, Christianity & Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation. Robert Chao Romero is associate professor at UCLA in the departments of Chicana/o, Central American, and Asian American Studies. Jeff Liou is national director of theological formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA.

In this insightful conversation, they talk about what critical race theory is and isn't, its usefulness for reading the world today, and its resonances and dissonances with various Christian commitments. Listen in to this incredibly helpful conversation, and pass it along to someone who could benefit from it.

This week, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Prashan De Visser. He is the president and founder of Global Unites, an organization that equips youth around the world to form movements of peace building and conflict transformation.  He is also the author of the book Phoenix Generation. Listen in as they discuss movement building among youth in Sri Lanka, and how he understands peace making as central to the good news that Christians proclaim.

Season 4 of 20 Minute Takes returns with a deeply insightful conversation with Dr. Carolyn Chen.  Dr. Chen is a sociologist and professor of ethnic studies at UC Berkeley and specializes in the study of religion.  Her most recent book "Work, Pray, Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley" looks into how tech corporations are bringing religiosity and spirituality into the work place. Nikki Toyama-Szeto and Dr. Chen talk about the consequences of this blurring of religion and work, how it affects faith communities, ethics, and society as a whole. They also talk about what it means to cultivate an atmosphere of hospitality amidst a religiously diverse community.

Listen in! And don't forget to rate, review, and share this podcast with your friends/

This is our final episode of season three, as well as our final Lenten reflection. This week, Andre Henry  shares his reflections on doubt, disappointment, and longing in this piece entitled "Why I'm A Holy Saturday Christian."

Andre Henry a musician, author of All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep, and  the Program Manager of the Racial Justice Institute at Christians for Social Action.

20 Minute Takes will return for its fourth season after a short break. 

This week, Christine Aroney-Sine continues our Lenten series with a reflection on the story of Holy Week. From garden to garden, Christine contemplates the journey humanity, the story of Jesus' passion, and the longing for new creation.

Christine Aroney-Sine is a contemplative activist, passionate gardener, and author. She loves inspiring Jesus followers to dig in the dirt, laugh, and have fun creating spiritual practices that intertwine the sacred through all of life. She’s the founder and facilitator for the popular contemplative blog godspacelight.com, and her most recent book is The Gift of Wonder: Creative Practices for Delighting in God.

Find Christine online here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristineSine
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/christine.sine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christine.sine/

You can find the written version of this podcast here.

Our Lenten series continues with Rev. Dr. Letiah Fraser.  She reflects on Lent, and what it looks like for us to confess and repent of our ableism in this season. Rev. Dr. Fraser is an ordained pastor, an activist/organizer connected with the KS Poor People’s Campaign and A National Call for Moral Revival; she is a disability rights advocate, a hospital chaplain and focuses on spiritual formation and disability theolo­gy.

This reflection first appeared in Disabling Lent: An Anti-Ableist Lenten Devotional, produced by Unbound, an interactive journal on Christian social justice & ministry of the Presbyterian Church USA.

You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

This week, 20 Minute Takes producer David de Leon shares his Lenten reflection: Lent, Longing, and Transformation. Listen in as he reflects on how the process of transformation is a journey of partnership with the Divine.

You can find the written version of this podcast here.

This week, as we continue our Lenten mini-series, 20 Minute Takes host Nikki Toyama-Szeto reflects on embodiment, pilgrimage, and her own journey to Bethany beyond the Jordan. This piece is also on the CSA website under the title: Why Pilgrimage Has Become My Lenten Practice.