Crackers and Grape Juice

“I bring you news of a living reality that changes everything. Jesus has come; Jesus will come. Whatever your own personal darkness, it has been and will be overcome.”

Means of Grace is a weekly devotional culled from the sermons of beloved pastor and theologian Fleming Rutledge, organized according to the framework of the liturgical calendar. Each entry, compiled and edited by Rutledge’s friend Laura Bardolph Hubers, begins with a biblical passage and ends with a short prayer.

Those familiar with Rutledge’s work will recognize both her genuine empathy for human experience and her deep reverence for God. Anyone longing for the wise pastoral guidance of an adept veteran preacher—one who views Scripture not as bland life lessons or timeless teaching but as “the living God present and acting in the story of redemption”—will find here a meaningful companion through the seasons of their spiritual journey that they can return to year after year.

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Father Stephen is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America, Pastor Emeritus of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is also the author of Everywhere Present and the Glory to God podcast series.

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Our guest for #316 is Brian Kaylor.

Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor & President since 2016, is an award-winning writer and sought-after expert on issues of religion, politics, and communication. He also hosts the award-winning podcast “Baptist Without An Adjective.”

In addition to articles and editorials for Word&Way, his writings have been published by CNN, Houston Chronicle, Kansas City Star, Louisville Courier-Journal, Religion News Service, Roll Call, Sojourners, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington Post, and many other outlets.

Brian has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Communication from the University of Missouri, and a B.A. in Communication and Christian Ministry from Southwest Baptist University. He is the author of four books on religion and politics: Vote Your Principles: Party Must Not Trump Principles; Sacramental Politics: Religious Worship as Political Action; Presidential Campaign Rhetoric in an Age of Confessional Politics; and For God’s Sake, Shut Up!

He previously served as Associate Director of Churchnet (also known as the Baptist General Convention of Missouri), Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at James Madison University in Virginia, Contributing Editor for Ethics Daily, and Pastor of Union Mound Baptist Church in Elkland, Missouri. He currently serves as chair of both the Communication Advisory Committee and the Resolutions Committee for the Baptist World Alliance.

Follow Brian on Twitter: @BrianKaylor.

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Daniel Williams joined the pod to talk with Teer and Jason about his new book, 'Politics of the Cross.'

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Where do Christians fit in a two-party political system?

The partisan divide that is rending the nation is now tearing apart American churches. On one side are Christian Right activists and other conservatives who believe that a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate is a vote for abortion, sexual immorality, gender confusion, and the loss of religious liberty for Christians. On the other side are politically progressive Christians who are considering leaving the institutional church because of white evangelicalism’s alliance with a Republican Party that they believe is racist, hateful toward immigrants, scornful of the poor, and directly opposed to the principles that Jesus taught. Even while sharing the same pew, these two sides often see the views of the other as hopelessly wrongheaded—even evil. Is there a way to transcend this deep-seated division?

'The Politics of the Cross' draws on history, policy analysis, and biblically grounded theology to show how Christians can protect the unborn, advocate for traditional marriage, promote racial justice, care for the poor, and, above all, honor the gospel by adopting a cross-centered ethic instead of the idolatrous politics of power, fear, or partisanship. As Daniel K. Williams illustrates, both the Republican and Democratic parties are rooted in Christian principles, but both have distorted those principles and mixed them with assumptions that are antithetical to biblical truth. Williams explains how Christians can renounce partisanship and pursue policies that show love for our neighbors to achieve a biblical vision of justice.

Nuanced, detailed, and even-handed, 'The Politics of the Cross' tackles the thorny issues that divide Christians politically and offers a path forward with innovative, biblically minded political approaches that might surprise Christians on both the left and the right.

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We invited two friends of the podcast, who are longtime friends of one another, to talk about ministry, the state of preaching in the Church, and how they often feel like exiles in Mainline Christianity. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Tony and Will.

Be sure to check out Tony's website: https://www.anthonybrobinson.com

Also, here's the link to the documentary about Will: https://www.aptonline.org/catalog/WILL-TO-PREACH-A

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"God's holiness to mend our brokenness. God's faithfulness to resolve our doubt. It was the exact reversal of Mormonism's worthiness-brings-blessings schema, and my heart sang out. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had come home."

Katie Langston is the Director of Digital Strategy for Luther Seminary. Raised in a fundamentalist Mormon home, she became a Christian and was baptized not long ago. She's written a memoir of her journey from Mormonism to grace, Sealed. Check it out.

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In a post-Christian, post-modern, post-truth society where Jesus' followers aren't often well regarded, modern evangelism approaches are eroding and increasingly ineffective. Christians often talk more than we listen, confront when we should converse, and demand that people believe before they belong. We need a compelling way to share our faith that combines the timeless practices of Jesus with timely perspectives about our post-everything era.

Author and Executive Director of Alpha US Craig Springer believes that reaching non-Christians is possible, but only if we are willing to shift our perspectives, abandon ineffective methodologies, and consider the unique cultural moment in which we are living. In How to Revive Evangelism, he shares the often-overlooked evangelistic approaches of Jesus himself and demonstrates how returning to these fundamentals is key to reviving evangelism in the 21st century. Incorporating groundbreaking and often startling data, Springer offers Christians seven shifts in how to share their faith with friends and family members, neighbors, and coworkers which create greater potential for life change.

Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast.

Head over to http://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com.

Click on “Support the Show.”

Become a patron. Subscribe to CGJ+

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For this week's episode, we're giving you a sneak peek at a podcast we release only for our paid subscribers to our biweekly newsletter, Crackers and Grape+. We call it the Secret Podcast and we hope you enjoy the conversations between Jason and his Padwan, David King, a rising second year at Princeton Theological Seminary.

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Our guest for episode #310 is filmmaker Chris White about his new film, Electric Jesus.

CHRIS WHITE has written and directed three micro-budget features: showbiz comedy CINEMA PURGATORIO (2014, co-writer, director, actor), and broken family dramas GET BETTER (2012, co-writer, co-director, actor) and TAKEN IN (2011, writer, director). He co-wrote the screenplay for SIX LA LOVE STORIES (2016), and has written and directed for the multi-award-winning, web series phenomenon, Star Trek Continues. White has write-directed many acclaimed short films-collecting his most recent for a 5-film, "southern gothic comedy" anthology called UNBECOMING (2016, writer, director).

About his fantastic new movie, Electric Jesus, Chris writes:

"I was raised by devout Southern Baptist parents and fully immersed in (and committed to) Evangelical Christian youth culture—which included Sunday School, Bible studies, summer camps, retreats, choir tours, ski trips—all of it set to an ‘80s Christian rock soundtrack.

This immersive religious culture is difficult to explain to many of my friends today—but it’s even more difficult to explain why I loved it. The fact that something so alien to most of the world is so vivid in my memory...and kind of embarrassing to talk about now... It makes me feel odd.

Just listen to a Christian hair metal anthem of the era—let’s say Stryper’s “To Hell With the Devil”—and you’ll start to understand. Honestly, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I revisit that time in my mind, but either way, there’s no looking away.

Turns out, my Christian friends and I were a lot more like all of you than I’d thought. Who can’t relate to being young and wistful, devoted to a big unifying idea…and in love? Who doesn’t remember the moment or the moments when you saw your youth, your naiveté...your hope slip away?

We’ve all been young. We’ve all had plans and dreams and loves that didn’t work out the way we’d hoped. And from time to time, we think about it. We remember.

ELECTRIC JESUS was born out of years of looking back, reconstructing, re-discovering moments and memories I’d long since left behind that suddenly fascinated me. I missed being a Christian youth group kid. I missed the certainty, the comfort…I missed Jesus.

But then, as I wrote and eventually as we shot the film, a bigger revelation came to me. I’d been operating under the illusion that my churchy teen years were all about me—that I’d been the sole protagonist in an origin story about me…that coming of age was something that happened to me, while everyone else was just kinda along for the ride...my co-stars.

So that’s what ELECTRIC JESUS came to be about to me: believing in something so much it all gets too big to fail, all the while completely missing the existentially huge story that’s happening right under your nose. And only being able to realize that several decades later when it’s too late to do it over."

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Six months into a deep personal crisis occasioned by the unexpected end of his marriage, Jamie Howison traveled halfway across the continent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to engage in a unique and intense five-week contemplative retreat served in the context of the chapel community of the University of King’s College. Immersed in the liturgies of the Canadian Book of Common Prayer, mentored in the writing of an Orthodox icon of Christ Pantocrator, challenged to confront the hard truths behind his brokenness, and laid bare by the hours of silence and solitude, Howison discovered something of the power of the ancient spiritual traditions in the restoration of a twenty-first-century soul. A Kind of Solitude tells that story.

Jamie Howison, an Anglican priest in Canada and pastor Benedict’s Table Church, is back on the podcast to talk about his new book. Friend and supporter of the show, Joshua Retterer joined me for the conversation.

Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast.

Head over to http://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com.

Click on “Support the Show.”

Become a patron. Subscribe to CGJ+

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Follow us on the three-majors of social media:

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit crackersnjuice.substack.com/subscribe