Hello, everyone ❤️

Happy 2024!

On this episode, "a new voice" gets a new host! Vica-Etta Steel joins me = we now have two hosts 🎉 If you remember my pleas for companionship and the vision for "a new voice" to be a place where many perspectives are represented, you know that I'm celebrating. 

Join us as we introduce ourselves and talk about what's ahead. 

We're so glad to be with you on this journey of uncovering who God is for us and for our world today. 

xo
meagan 

Back from a loooooooong break. I did a 10-week summer intensive training for chaplaincy at a hospital that's roughly 45mins from where we live. The commute, the work itself, the rest of life that still needed tending to = intense.  

So glad to be back at it here...Hope you all are hanging in there. 

On this episode, we dip our toes in the water of what's known as the New Testament. We start with Gospel According to Matthew, the first book sequentially in the NT. 

The book kicks off with a long list of names. This is the only account of Jesus's lineage that we have in Scripture. It's interesting to note that the author includes female relatives, especially as this was a patriarchal culture. 

We learn a bit about the cultural context into which Jesus was born through the writings about his parents and Herod. 

We meet John the Baptizer/Baptist. Jesus gets baptized, and we hear a declaration from Heaven about the identity of Jesus. 

We have the appearance of Satan and hear about Jesus's temptation. 

We cover the Beatitudes ("Blessed are...") and get all the way through, what's commonly called, the Sermon on the Mount. The "mount" where this speech happened is debated, but many agree it's a hill in northern Israel, in the Korazim Plateau, that has now been named, "The Mount of Beatitudes". 

Lots of ground is covered....

I'll look forward to being back soon(er) with more from the book of Matthew! 

Back after a long break to finish out the book of Job. 

In this section, we hear from God directly. Finally! We've heard Job asking for God chapter after chapter, and in Chapter 38, God comes to Job and answers him (+ also questions him).  

Job is found guiltless and his righteousness with God and in his community is restored. Job's faithfulness is found to be so great that it extends even to his friends (those who were giving Job grief for most of the story). 

God explains who God is, and Job is humbled. Job is reconciled to God, reconciled to his community, and through Job, others are also reconciled to God.

Listen along as we finish out this book of incredible suffering and eventual triumph! 

We're almost through the book of Job.

It feels like Job is becoming more and more hopeless. He's definitely bitter. 
And his friends continue to be unhelpful.

One thing that stuck with me after reading this section is how often we attribute natural events to the hand of God. This is something that I've long found interesting, and I hear it loud and clear in this passage. It brings to my mind the sacrifices and offerings that our ancestor humans would make in an effort to bring about favorable weather. Listen, I believe God is a provider (not only in a paternalistic way) and nurtures all of creation in seen and unseen ways. But when we start to view God's punishment and wrath vis-a-vis natural phenomenon, that's when my spirit says halt...danger!! 

The diversity of ways/manners that God has worked through creation in the past is vast. My mind and heart continue to say "awwwwww/awe/whoa!!" at new cosmological and scientific discoveries. 

ALSO - I'm looking for partners in this podcast!! Women who believe in the vision and want to join me in reading holy texts and related conversations (since there will be more than just me!). If you are interested or know someone who is, email me [email protected].

In this episode, we walk through Song of Songs, also known as Song of Solomon.

We see the roots of this poem in ancient Egyptian and Sumerian poetry. 

This book landed in Scripture because of its interpretation as an allegory of God's love for humans, and specifically, for "God's people".

There is no evidence or reason to believe that these words originated with King Solomon. 

Listen for yourself and see how you sense God in this text.

Back with more of the book of Job.

I'm going to do my best to wrap up Job in the next two episodes. This book makes my heart heavy. I'm ready to move on!

Important things for us to consider in this week's reading. 
How are we carrying an idea of a God who repays our actions with blessing or cursing? 

Let's listen and consider how we can get free - together.

Dearest Listeners - 

I got laryngitis this week and was not able to speak a prayer at the end of this episode so I'm typing it here instead.

Also this week, my dad died. And with the passing of my dad, a new layer was added to these readings. When I read this week and last, the desperation of Job’s words broke my heart. The way that his friends chide and scold him was hard for me to read. When those we love are hurting, how do we show up for them? How can we show up authentically and lovingly for those around us? 

In times of suffering (our suffering or the suffering of others), this is often when our theology is on full display. The deep things we hold about God arise. In what ways do we believe that our actions (or inactions) contribute to life's outcomes? In what ways do we see God present/active in suffering? How do we sense God's absence/silence in suffering? Sit with that idea of God and see how it makes you feel. 

Dear Creator God, this day I lift up to you those who are suffering, in mind, in body, in spirit, in big ways or small ways.  Come into their hurt and their wounded places and heal. I thank you for the courage of Job to speak his true feelings, to question, to come to you when he was hurting. Remind us that you are a God that is for us. That you are okay if we have questions, if there are places that we don't understand - either from our books of faith or situations in our own lives. Connect us to your unconditional love - this love that you both ARE and give freely - that through that love we might love others and love ourselves well. Strengthen our sympathy for others as they experience pain - and guide us in providing care that feels soothing, and not like rejection or correction. Show us our blindspots and give us a spirit that is willing to change. These things we pray in Jesus’s name. Amen. 

Join me as I read through the first 5 chapters of the Book of Job. 

Why Job?
Job is supposedly the oldest book in the Bible.  The story of Job also has timeless relevance - what are we to make of the events in our lives? How do we understand God speaking to us and God’s silence? What do we do with tragedy, pain and suffering in our lives and the lives of others? 

I read from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition.