Anita Lustrea

Melinda Schmidt

Michelle Van Loon

It’s always good to have a conversation group on the podcast with these two excellent thinkers. Michelle Van Loon is an author and on of the founder of The Sage Forum a community of women in the second half of life. I highly recommend checking it out. Michelle’s most recent book is Translating Your Past: Finding Meaning in Family Ancestry, Genetic Clues, and Generational Trauma.

Melinda Schmidt is my former cohost from my radio days and a brilliant thinker and conversationalist who you hear regularly on Faith Conversations.

Here is a link to the Madeleine L’Engle quote Michelle shared on the podcast.

Here is the article Michelle recently wrote for Christianity Today titled Christian Boomers Like Me Want to Change Too.

Melinda mentioned this new book by Sarah Billups titled, Orphaned Believers.

Follow Michelle on Social Media:

• Website

Follow Melinda on Social Media:

• Facebook

Note: When clicking through on links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Melinda Schmidt & Michelle Van Loon – episode 354 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below

Rumblings. 2.17.23 

1. In a conversation awhile back a friend observed that “we’re either upholding broken systems or opposing them.” 

It seems to me that when we uphold broken systems for any length of time, that brokenness is going to seep into our own lives in one way, shape, or form. That’s a formidable downside for choosing to keep our mouths shut.

When we oppose broken systems and question those who guard them, it won’t take long for those systems and guardians to turn on us. That’s the downside of opening our mouths. But when you do and then look in the mirror, you’ll see the face of integrity looking back at ‘ya. 

2.  When I’m at  my worst I feed my anxiety, my worry, and my fear. When I’m attempting to be clever I’ll state that “I practice being anxious, worried  and afraid because they have served me well. Those things that I worry about, stress over and face fearfully rarely come to full fruition. In other words. Worry, anxiety and fear work.”  

Crazy, huh? 

My shadow self tries to convince me that worry, anxiety, and fear protect me, that they are a valuable defense mechanism. My true self, on the other hand, invites me to trust God and find more helpful ways to cope.

3. I know a whole lot of folks  who are struggling with matters of faith and/or the practice of it.  In their mind no church measures up. Old answers feel tired. Matters of deep importance are swept under the rug. Hypocrisy runs deep.The temptation is to walk away and be done with it all. I get it. 

I know people, of course, who don’t walk away but they go off script for a bit and take a sabbatical to sort things out. They begin to deconstruct their faith, trying to discern what’s real and what’s not and what needs to stay or acquired and what needs to be jettisoned. It’s more about taking baby steps than giant leaps.  As a spiritual director I’ve spent a good chunk of time with folks who ask for some help during that “putting things back together time.” It’s an honor and privilege to be there for them. 

I’m convinced that deeply imbedded in all humans is a desire for the God who yearns for us and won’t let us go. Oh, we might walk away from the institutions for a time and for many that’s probably not a bad option especially if they’ve  been beaten up  by religious folks. But that yearning to know and be known by a good God never really goes away. How that is addressed varies from person to person. Left unaddressed or unattended it can’t help but lead to a sense of incompleteness.

4. Corrie ten Boom and her family helped to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. She and her family risked their own lives for the sake of others. And eventually ended up in the same concentration camp they were trying to save others from. 

Why did they do it?  

How could they not? 

Was it scary? Sure it was. But she once said: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” 

That known God beckons us to count the cost and then do the right thing. 

5. Need a pep talk. Here’s one from Henri Nouwen in his book named  Discernment

“The truth is that God loved us before we were born and will love us still after we have died. God molded us in the depths of the earth. God knitted us together in our mothers womb. God inscribed us on the palm of his hand. Every hair on our heads is numbered and counted by God. We are held by God in an everlasting embrace. We belong to God from eternity to eternity. Indeed, we are God‘s daughters and sons. As beloved children our core identity is secure in the memory of God whether we do anything worthwhile, prove anything important, or give anything of value. God still loves us unconditionally. It is a strong, vital, and active fatherly and motherly kind of love that holds us safe and affirms our worth, wherever we go and whatever we do.”

We are the beloved of God. Claim it. Live into it. Give thanks for it.

6. The Jim Jordan and Friends  “Let’s Get Even Hearing” is off to a rocky start. How rocky? Even FOX News won’t cover it. There are a couple of other congressional witch-hunts going on but the Republicans are getting checked by Dems who have actually done their homework and know the ins and outs of the law. 

It’s time for a third political party to emerge, don’t you think? What we once knew as the Republican Party has become, in essence, the MAGA Party, an extremist, right wing entity fueled by outrage, conspiracy theories, Christian nationalism, lies, racism, and dubious loyalty to our country. Who wants to be part of that nonsense? Unfortunately, a whole lot of people do. I’m not one of them.

I do believe our nation needs a principled, conservative alternative to the MAGA  party. Sooner rather than later.   But it won’t happen soon. That would require more than a few conservatives to step up, willing and able to be really, really courageous, and say that enough is enough. That’s going to take awhile, if ever. In the meantime, we’ve got to deal with the nut jobs from crazy town. 

7.“The basic fact is that Christianity as it was born in the mind of this Jewish thinker and teacher appears as a technique of survival for the oppressed. That it became, through the intervening years, a religion of the powerful and the dominant, used sometimes as an instrument of oppression, must not tempt us into believing that it was thus in the mind and life of Jesus. ‘In him was life; and the life was the light of men.’ Wherever his spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them.” ~ Howard Thurman

Amen. Fear, hypocrisy, and hatred are indeed the three hounds of hell. And Jesus had no time for them.

8. “In the beginning God created …”

That always grabs me. It goes on to say that what God created was good. I think the Lord still wants it to be. He just wants us to get with the program, by being good and promoting goodness.  

9.  “Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.” ~ Simone Weil

Page through the scriptures. It’s one waiting moment after another. Our job is to make ‘waiting in expectation’ a habit, a spiritual discipline.

10. The old hymn begins with the words “Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to thee.”

It continues by begging the Lord to take our hands, our voice, our silver and gold, our moments and days, our feet, lips,  heart, intellect and will and to use them for His good purposes.

We sang this last Sunday at Church of the Palms and it really got to me. Is this what I really desire? That  was the question I was asking myself. I wondered, in the moment, if anyone else was asking that same question. My guess is that they were. 

Once we get our desires straight, we can recalibrate the rest of the pieces of our life.

The post Mike’s Rumblings – 02-17-23 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address [email protected].

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 39 – Matthew 4:12-17 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

Faith Conversations favorite, Joyce Rupp, is back talking about Lent. Her latest book contains thoughtful reflections for the Lenten journey titled Jesus, Companion in My Suffering. If you find yourself in a busy season, this devotional is for you, and if you find yourself in a season of suffering, you will find a home within its pages. As usual, a thoughtful and substantive conversation with Joyce Rupp. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Find Joyce in the following places:

• Website

Note: When clicking through on links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Joyce Rupp – episode 353 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below

Rumblings. 2.10.23 

1. The Governor of Florida has made it a habit to deliberately sow chaos into people’s lives and in his cold hearted way calls it virtuous. Most recently he took his anti-woke agenda to New College ( a public school) in Sarasota where I live. In a relatively short time (25 days) he appointed a new governing board which resulted in the resignation of the school’s current President and pledged to completely remake the college using a small, Christian college in Michigan as his blueprint for excellence. 

As a result, students who chose New College because of its innovative and collaborative approach to learning find themselves searching for another academic home base. Parents are shocked, unsure about how best to advise their sons and daughters. Faculty and administrators aren’t sure they’ll be allowed to stay on or not. If allowed to stay, will they have DeSantis’s anti-woke watchdogs looking over their shoulder, poised to spring into action? Yes they will. 

Everyone is in a state of exasperation and exhaustion.  They are grieving the loss of the school they loved and are confused about how best to navigate their uncertain future. Why? Because one powerful man believes liberals always indoctrinate and conservatives are the only ones capable of educating. Crazy, huh? 

The fear of many of us is that this newer New College will only accept one  kind of world view, i.e., a radically conservative one, heavily peppered with Christian nationalism ideology,  indifferent or perhaps openly hostile to matters of inclusion, equity, and diversity and will  feature a view of Western Civilization that extols the virtues of white people, ignoring and/or minimizing any nefarious matters such as slavery and the conquest and genocide of Native peoples. The worry is that the school will become nothing more than an indoctrination center for the kids and grandkids of the MAGA crowd. 

2. “Sometimes I grow weary of the days, with all their fits and starts.

I want to climb some old gray mountains, slowly, taking

The rest of my lifetime to do it, resting often, sleeping

Under the pines or, above them, on the unclothed rocks.

I want to see how many stars are still in the sky

That we have smothered for years now, a century at least.

I want to look back at everything, forgiving it all,

And peaceful, knowing the last thing there is to know.

All that urgency! Not what the earth is about!

How silent the trees, their poetry being of themselves only.

I want to take slow steps, and think appropriate thoughts.

In ten thousand years, maybe, a piece of the mountain will fall.” ~ Mary Oliver

 I definitely grow weary of the days at times. Slow steps and appropriate thoughts help. As does finding an old gray mountain to climb. Or in my case, a bike ride to the Gulf.

3. Christianity, I’ve discovered, is a full contact way of being faithful. Jesus modeled this. It’s impossible to be a person of faith and not get bumped around and  bruised in the process. It’s part and parcel of the normal experience of faith. No scars =no faith. But it is also a joyous faith which offers us a storehouse full of blessings. The bumps, bruises, and blessings all serve the same purpose. They shape us into the image and likeness of Jesus. It’s easy to be faithful amidst the blessings. It’s quite another thing when bumps and bruises are our reward. But when we keep on keeping on, I gotta believe that pleases God. As I used to proclaim at weddings “in sunshine and shadow, through good times and bad, stay faithful to the promises you make.”

4. “The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true.” ~ Galadriel. Lord of the Rings

As long as the Company is true hope remains. Never underestimate what a loyal, committed band of people can do. Better yet, be part of one. 

 5. “The only way evil can succeed is to disguise itself as good. And one of the best disguises for evil is religion. Just pretend to love God, go to church every Sunday, recite the creed, and say all the right things. Someone can be racist, be against the poor, hate immigrants, and be totally concerned about making money and being a materialist, but still go to church each Sunday and be “justified” in the eyes of religion.” ~ Richard Rohr

When I’m in a spiritually constant and healthy place I understand full well what it means to “work out my salvation in fear and trembling.” It’s sobering. It starts with keeping what I do consistent with what I believe. Some days I do a better job of that than others. But keeping faith aligned with actions remains a priority. Pretending to be a person of faith and doing it in the company of other pretenders isn’t a very good strategy.

6. “ … the words of Meister Eckhart, of course, ring true for us, “God is at home. It is we who have gone out for a walk.” Out we go into the world, often looking for God and we are told, God is out there somewhere and if we do certain things and behave in certain ways, well, we might connect with God, we might glimpse a little of God. And so we try and we try to attract God’s attention and we try and we try to be good and to be faithful and to do the right thing. And often we fail and we hurt and we get disillusioned. We have forgotten: God is at home; it is indeed we who have gone out for a walk…” ~ Edwina Gatley 

God is inviting you to keep company with Him. Do it. Linger. Sit in the quiet of the presence of the Almighty.  Be at home with the Lord. See what happens. 

7. It’s early yet, but  we are seeing very clearly that the differences  between Speaker McCarthy and former Speaker Pelosi are, well let’s just say, ‘many’. I’ve figured out for sure that one has the spine of a jellyfish and the other still has no problem standing tall. 

Speaking of spines, President Biden stood very tall, resolute, and in command during his State of the Union Address. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her crew not so much.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her State of the Union rebuttal said: “The dividing line in America is no longer between right and left — it’s between normal or crazy,”  Believe it or not, I agree with her statement. I just apply it differently.  

8. “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate…”  

I think this is one of the saddest lines in Scripture.I know full well who Pontius Pilate is because I’ve seen him in the reflection in my mirror. Not as much these days, though. Maybe it’s because I’m older and currying favor with the crowd is just too stinking hard and frankly the short term reward isn’t worth the effort because it just blows up in my face. Going along to get along isn’t a healthy way to live is it? There’s another way. There always is. And it’s a better way. But it is a harder way.

9.Take it to the bank. Here’s my long awaited Super Bowl prediction. KC by two touchdowns over Philly. 

10. Early on in my life I knew God was watching me. Over time I realized he was watching over me. That was a turning point moment. 

The post Mike’s Rumblings – 02-10-23 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address [email protected].

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 38 – John 1:35-41 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

Susan Mettes, an editor with Christianity Today, joins me on the podcast to talk about The Loneliness Epidemic. It is a fact and it’s the name of her recent book that leans on research from The Barna Group. Why do you think so many of us feel alone? That is just one of the questions Mettes addresses in the book and we talk about on the podcast along with how the United States differs from countries around the globe. We also look at loneliness across generations and you might be surprised, as I was, to find out that younger generations have more of a struggle. An enlightening conversation.

Find Susan Mettes in the following places:

• Website

Note: When clicking through on links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Susan Mettes – episode 352 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below

Rumblings. 2.3.23

1.“In his latest book, “Seeking God,” Trevor Hudson recalls a time when he met with Dallas Willard, seeking wisdom in regard to a vocational decision. Trevor was trying to discern God’s will, but his observation was that “The heavens seemed to be silent.” Willard responded: “I am reasonably sure that if God had anything in mind, he would have let you know by now. Maybe God wants you to go ahead and do what you really want to do. It is unlikely that God plays games of hide and seek when we ask for guidance.” 

So true. 

Often people have two or three wonderful choices before them and they spend months trying to discern God’s perfect will for their life. They pray, fret, fume, and worry. What if they just picked one of their wonderful choices? The one that rings truest. Maybe they think God will punish them if they pick wrongly. That’s not the way He rolls. 

2. “Football, beer, and above all gambling filled up the horizons of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.” George Orwell, 1984.

Why bother with weighty matters of race, class, poverty, justice, climate change etc. when bigger issues like the Super Bowl point spread demands our attention?

I’m all in on distractions. It helps keep us sane. I love championship games. I enjoy doing nothing. But Orwell is right. When matters of little consequence occupy the vast percentage of our time and energy those who want to control us can do their dirty work in plain sight knowing full well preoccupied people won’t pause to notice.

3. “When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.” Isaac Asimov

I have no stomach for a patriotism that depends on delusion and stupidity to fuel it and uses religion to give it cover.

I’m not the brightest bulb in the ‘smarts’ category. I’m certainly not an intellectual. But I have acquired some wisdom along the way. Wisdom, I’ve found, shows up and is cultivated in people’s lives  in a variety of ways. It’s not about IQ. It’s not about degrees earned. It has a lot to do with a desire to learn, to be discerning, and to use common sense. Most people I know who are discerning don’t need to wrap their arms around a stupid view of patriotism. They know what a real patriot looks and talks like and they don’t have to wrap themselves in a flag to prove they’re right. They manage to live it out in real time. All day, every day. They don’t do stupid.

4.  “Anytime the Bible is quoted to defend behavior that is not motivated by the law of love, something is wrong.” Amy Butler.

The law of love includes acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God.

5. “Immature religion creates a high degree of cognitively rigid people or very hateful and attacking people—and often both. It is almost the public image of Christianity today, yet God’s goal is exactly the opposite…~ Richard Rohr

The public image of much of Christianity fails us. Perhaps that’s why Gandhi famously said  “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” 

6. “I think a lot of Christians have never moved beyond survival questions, security questions, even securing their future in eternity. First-half-of-life religion is an insurance plan to ensure that future. In this stage, any sense of being a part of a cosmos, of being part of a historical sweep, that God is doing something bigger and better and larger than simply saving individual souls (and my own soul in particular) is largely of no interest to us. I don’t think I’m exaggerating. That’s all the first half of life can do.

It’s clear that if someone wants to be elected to a political office in the United States or any country, all they need to do is assure people of safety. Bill Plotkin, who’s been such a wonderful influence on so many people in recent decades, speaks of the first half of life as our survival dance, and the second half of life as our sacred dance. Most people never get beyond their survival dance. It’s just identity questions, boundary questions, superiority questions, and security questions. We would call them ego questions, but they’re not questions of the soul.

The soul moves beyond questions of security and importance because it has discovered that it is absolutely important to do so.” ~ Center for Action and Contemplation

To discover and live into the sacred dance that God has for us requires giving ourselves permission to consider the deeper ‘soul’ questions that lie before us. I need help doing that. That’s why I go to a spiritual director and am always on the lookout for soul friends, those who know there’s more to the spiritual life than they are experiencing. I need help getting to where God wants me to go and to be who God created me to be. Bet you do too.

I love it when people sign on to do spiritual direction or ask how they can find a spiritual director. So, give me a holler if you’re feeling that kind of tug on your life. 

7. If you want to understand ‘deconstruction’ watch the movie “Dirty Dancing”. It’s all about ‘change’. That’s the backdrop. Something esteemed and valued is being forced to start changing. It’s joyful for some and it breaks the heart of many. In the religious life, it’s a necessary part of the journey. As is reconstruction. And it all takes time, effort, and intentionality. 

8. When Jesus asked to see a Roman denarii (with Caesar’s image front and center)) and then said, “Give back to Caesar, what is Caesars and to God what is God’s” he ruffled the feathers of both the religious types and the political crowd. In effect he was saying “Don’t confuse the rule of Caesar with the rule of God. They are not the same. Pay your taxes as Rome decrees. But don’t make the mistake of making Caesar into a deity, even if he insists he is. That’s a fool’s errand. 

Jesus had this uncanny ability to tick people off, especially those who were full of themselves. He still tried to teach them but he refused to suck up to them.

9. “Don’t try to win over the haters. You are not a jackass whisperer.” ~ Scott Stratten

I’ve learned this the hard way over the years. 

10. The late, great Mike Yaconelli was once asked about his go-to spiritual gift. He said, “That’s easy. Crap detecting, I have the spiritual gift of crap detecting.”

There are moments when I think I have that gift too. Thus, the Rumblings.

The post Mike’s Rumblings – 02-03-23 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address [email protected].

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 37 – John 1:14-18 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

Creativity is important for your heart, mind and your whole body. But we don’t often incorporate creativity into our everyday lives. Melinda Schmidt makes a return appearance on the podcast as we delve into this important topic and give suggestions of how you can connect with creativity in surprising ways, maybe ways you are already but you didn’t put in the creative category! And check out the links below for a variety of creative websites for inspiration and classes and for art supplies along with a link to the podcast Melinda mentioned by Amy Latta.

Follow Melinda on Instagram

* Amy Latta website

Follow Anita on social media:

• Website

Other links from this episode:

* Everything Art Mixed Media Art Classes

Note: When clicking through on links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Melinda Schmidt – episode 351 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.