Bristlecone Firesides

Welcome to Bristlecone Firesides: Summer Sessions! Same great podcast but more good summertime vibes. Madison and Abbey speak with Karin Anderson and Danielle Dubrasky. They are the editors for a forthcoming book Blossom as a Cliffrose: Mormon Legacies and the Beckoning Wild published by Torrey House Press. Blossom as a Cliffrose is available for pre-order now and will be released on June 8th of this year.

Blossom as the Cliffrose: Mormon Legacies and the Beckoning Wild features original poems and prose by talented writers who are faithful, non-faithful, believers, heretics, converts and de-converts, dragged in or forced out of the Mormon faith. This dynamic collection demonstrates the breadth, complexity, and diversity of a Latter-day Saint legacy of commitment to natural place and challenges us to examine the myriad ways our own deeply rooted heritage shapes our personal relationship with landscape.

In the conclusion to the conclusive episode of Bristlecone Firesides, Abbey, Madison, Luis, and Esther discuss the difference between Radical Solidarity and Charity. Each of us is entangled in the systems of sin in this world. While we can’t fully extricate ourselves from sin, we can stand in solidarity with those most impacted by systems of sin and oppression. And truly changing the world is a long-term multigenerational process. How then can we remain committed to changing to the world without succumbing to hopelessness or resentment? How is activism a practice of letting go?

Links:

David O. Mckay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Greg Prince and Rob Wright

Letting Go of Innocence by Prentice Hill

We Will Not Cancel Us by Adrienne Marie Brown

Emergent Strategy by Adrienna Marie Brown

Healing Resistance by Kazu Haga

All About Love by Bell Hooks

The Lower Light Wisdom School

Music by Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com)

On the final episode of Season One of Bristlecone Firesides, Abbey and Madison are joined by Esther Meroño Baro and Luis Miranda. Both Esther and Luis are some of the best activists for environmental and social justice issues in the Utah/Salt Lake area. To close out a season of conversations about faith and reconnection with the Earth, we will end with a deep and robust discussion about how to utilize our faith on behalf of the world.

Faith traditions around the globe begin with an affirmation of the inherent dignity and divinity of all beings and the Earth. How can we best practice our faith to live this affirmation into the real world? What are the parallels between the life of activism and a life of faith? Are they the same?

Links:

People’s Energy Movement

Mormon’s Building Bridges

Sanctuary Movement

Music by Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com)

Abbey and Madison practice a bit of ecotheology in this special episode of Bristlecone Firesides in an attempt to demonstrate that Christianity is a natural religion. The Earth lives a continual pattern of change that enables the ever regeneration of life. From the seasons to the water cycle, the Earth forever in a state or process of change. This pattern of order, disorder, reorder is the pattern of the Gospel — Life, Death, and Resurrection. The magic in the universe is that dead things become the grounding for new life. In the life and death of Jesus, this becomes a Resurrection Journey.

By re-grounding the good news of the Gospel in natural Earth processes, we see that the Gospel is bigger than any Church and is a force of nature. And that Faith is much more about saying “yes” to this Journey and experiencing our membership in the Family of Things

Links:

Book of Nature

An Early Resurrection by Adam Miller

Why the Church is as True as the Gospel by Eugene England

Convergent Evolution

Go to the Limits of Your Longing by Rilke

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

In part two, Abbey, Madison, and Dan take the universal concepts and experiences from part one and find a way to make them life-changing. How does this Incarnational way shift the way we see our own natures? How might we better understand repentance and forgiveness?

An incarnational way of viewing the world can transform everything in reality to be a kind of sacrament. The ordinance of the sacrament can be a process by which we recognize the divine that is inherent in all things. Dan also gives some practices to experience our mundane lives as sacramental.

Links:

Deep Ecology by Bill Devall

Music by Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com)

Acclaimed podcaster and scholar Dan Wotherspoon sits down with Abbey and Madison in this special two-part episode to discuss Incarnational Spirituality and Nature Mysticism. Dan previously hosted the Mormon Matters podcast and currently hosts the Latter-day Faith podcast. He is one of the leading voices in the broader Mormon community and he brings tremendous wisdom to Bristlecone Firesides.

An in-depth discussion on the Incarnation of Jesus and the Light of Christ is crucial to laying the foundation Bristlecone Firesides is building. Re-enchanting the physical world through an understanding of Divine Presence is an essential piece of understanding the universe as sacred. What is the difference between Jesus and the Christ? What are the metaphysical underpinnings of the cosmos? As well, Madison, Abbey, and Dan each relate experiences they have had with this Incarnational Universe.

Links:

Tao te Ching

Doctrine and Covenants 88

The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

Oneing: Christ is not Jesus’ Last Name

Awakening Joseph Smith: Dan’s Dissertation

Music by Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com)

Abbey and Madison are joined by their good friend Rachel Gilman for this episode of Bristlecone Firesides. Rachel is a writer and teacher and has many good things to say about living a simple life.

The world we live in has turned us into consumers. Buying and producing seem to be the solution to whatever problem we face. The goodness of simple living can get lost in the buzz of our modern world. In fact, this hyperactive need for productivity can worm its way into our spiritual life in the form of Prosperity Gospel. This way of living the gospel is a plague on American Christianity. What does The Book of Mormon have to say about prosperity? How can we root out our addiction to Prosperity Gospel through grounded and simple living? And what wisdom can we learn from one of the most grounded Mormons, Lowell Bennion?

Links:

Learning to Like Life by George Handley

The Achievement of Lowell Bennion by Eugene England

Music by Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com)

In this episode, Madison and Abbey confront the beast of politics and political action. While environmental issues are first and foremost spiritual and moral issues, at some point we have to involve the political machine if we are going to do anything about it. Government is one of the most powerful tools for action and change in the world. However, in the recent decade, Climate Change has become intensely politicized which has made it incredibly hard to enact change. What lies behind this politicization? What is the balance between personal and communal responsibility? And how can we engage in genuine ways with an obviously broken system?

No matter your political affiliation, we deeply encourage you to listen to this episode.