Coffeehouse Contemplative

As we consider the habits and decisions that have brought us to where we are, that will especially include how this pandemic season has forced us to rethink and redirect parts of our lives. We’ve been presented with so many different changed circumstances that we can’t avoid taking into consideration that the question “what are you building” can’t be answered in the same way now.

Episode 18: What Are You Building?

Episode 19: Church Building

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

The question "What are you building?" pertains to every aspect of our lives, but let's apply it to one thing: the church. Through this example, non-churchgoers may still be able to see how this may be applied in other ways.

Episode 18: What Are You Building?

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

Many events in our lives or in the world happen because they’ve been building for a while, set in motion days, weeks, years ago by a series of decisions and factors. We may or may not know it at the time, but they helped contribute to where things are today. Are we able to analyze how certain things in our lives built to where they did? Can we pause to look behind and see what we’ve been building now?

Matthew 7:24-27

Episode 4: Practice Makes Proficient

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

After admitting you can no longer do something and entering the bare season after, you may begin to get anxious about how long that season is taking. Maybe the answer involves a slow discovery or comes as a sudden epiphany. Either way, there are certain ways in which we may take active and intentional steps to figure it out.

Episode 15: Sometimes You Can't

Episode 16: A Bare Season

Brian Cook, The Story 2021: As You Can See, I Can't Pay You

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

Letting go of something can feel liberating. But then we may enter a new season where we wonder what's next, and it may take a while to figure that out. What can we do during this bare season that will help us discover what we may be called to produce next?

Episode 15: Sometimes You Can't

Luke 13:6-9

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

We receive so many messages around us that no matter how hard things get, we should be able to push through. We're told to never say that we can't. And yet admitting that we don't have the energy, resources, or willpower that we really need could be the first step to greater healing and wholeness.

Blog posts: Blank, Can't Handle This

Bo Burnham, All Eyes on Me

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

It's been a long, low creative energy summer. But I'm ready to get this podcast back up and running with some new ideas and a slightly different approach. I hope that you didn't give up on me in the meantime, and that this episode popping up on whatever subscription feed you use is a welcome thing.

Coffeehouse Contemplative: Spiritual Direction for the Everyday

Episode 4: Practice Makes Proficient

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

If the concept of hell in the Bible isn’t as clear cut as many Christians believe, what do we do with it? Can we, or should we, retain the idea of hell at all? Most importantly, does hell mesh logically with the idea of an all-loving God who shares God’s grace unconditionally? Given how damaging the idea of hell has been for so many Christians and non-Christians, it’s worth spending more time with to consider how worthwhile it really is.

Romans 5:12-19

The Divine Comedy

Episode 6: Palm Sunday

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

Where did the popular concept of hell as a place of eternal torment come from, and how can we reconcile it with the idea of a God who loves humanity unconditionally? This week begins an exploration of the concept, including a brief treatment of the primary places in scripture on which the idea is based.

Love Wins by Rob Bell

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

After publishing last week's episode on a theology of Star Wars, I started thinking that I wanted to continue focusing on the subject. There is so much possibility in just how the Jedi and Sith each approach the Force, that I wanted to explore it more. In particular, the Jedi tend to discourage focus on one's emotions, which ends up having devastating consequences. What can we learn from the mistakes of the Jedi to better incorporate emotion into our spiritual experience?

A Theology of Star Wars

My books on spirituality and popular culture:

Wonder and Whiskey: Insights on Faith and the Music of Dave Matthews Band

The Doctor and the Apostle: Intersections Between Doctor Who and the Letters of Paul

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder