Faith in a Fresh Vibe - On Decolonizing Christianity

The FINAL episode of Season 10 arrives featuring Jenai Auman! Don’t forget to rate the show and share it widely! In this episode….

This conversation revolves around themes explored in Jenai’s book “Othered,” focusing on her experiences navigating toxic church environments and the subsequent journey toward healing and liberation. After introductions, Jenai and Rohadi dissect the dynamics of gaslighting and DARVO within toxic church environments, shedding light on the emotional turmoil and internal fractures caused by oppressive church systems. They delve into Jenai’s personal narrative of betrayal and resilience, emphasizing the profound cost of leaving toxic communities while highlighting the transformative power of reclaiming agency and identity. Throughout the conversation, they underscore the importance of boundaries and cultivating genuine belonging outside of oppressive structures, ultimately revealing the potential for liberation and renewal found in embracing one’s “otherness.”

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Prasanta Verma’s debut book, Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, is the topic for our conversation. If you’re not white then you have at some point or another, maybe even recently, have fielded the question, “so what are you?” or “where are you really from?” Trying to fit into community often means assimilating, or giving up a piece of yourself in order to find belonging. That posture leaves folks on the margins unseen, in a space of loneliness, and often causing loss of cultural identity. We talk about these realities and offer some solutions of what’s beyond–how to live out our whole selves.

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One of the top books for Christian non-fiction in 2024, Lamar Hardwick joins Rohadi on the show to talk about his latest book and the topic: How Ableism Fuels Racism. This eye opening connection between disability and racism will shift paradigms for listeners. This episode is released as full hour long conversation. We begin the conversation surrounding the historical formation of white supremacy in America, tied to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and connect the dots to the root source of anti-Blackness: ableism. As soon as white supremacy becomes about bodies, something must be developed to build an understanding certain bodies (white) are more valuable than others (Black and Indigenous). What those factors are ranging from intellect to supposed inherent biological traits, are built on the ruse of “disability”. We interrogate not only historical formation but how the same factors remain at play in the present with the policing of Black bodies including other intersections like health and faith. This conversation ends with a cursory view on the theological underpinnings of ableist theology that not only look at contributing bodies of work from Black or brown traditions as inferior, but also how the disabled Christ is sanitized to accommodate white superiority and thought.

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Theologizin’ Bigger: Homilies on Living Freely and Loving Wholly. Title pique your interest? Pastor Trey returns to the Faith in a Fresh Vibe podcast for the second time. His first interview was so nice that we had to do it twice. We discuss expanding our imagination around the Bible. Many listeners have grown up in traditions where the treatment of scripture lacks humility. The Bible becomes a proof-text machine, applied to any sort of modern problem and often used to uphold malformed power structures. Is there a way to redeem it? That’s the bulk of our conversation as we meander way through some of the key features of Trey’s debut book.

If you’re curious about new ways of approaching faith and scripture, this episode is a good place to start.

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Forged: Following Jesus into a new kind of family. That’s TC Moore’s book title. We talk about what it looks like to redeem the language around family given so many have bad experiences in their own families, and in churches that use that type of language. You may be familiar with it, and how it can be used to harm rather than give life. We unpack what it looks like to build a new kind of chosen family with key features like sharing of your life; developing community rhythms; serving one another; and solidarity. Come through to meet T.C. learn about his story and ministry, and the possibilities of finding healthier community.

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Season 10 continues with a season of authors and their (mostly new) books. Rohadi invites author Tasha Jun to the show to chat about, Tell me the Dream Again. Reflections on Family, Ethnicity & the Sacred Work of Belonging. This episode discusses themes from her book including:

Find Tasha’s book available wherever books are sold. Visit Tasha’s website, her Substack, and connect with her on Instagram and Facebook.

A little about “Tell me the dream again.”

Tasha Jun has always been caught between worlds: American and Korean, faith and doubt, family devotion and fierce independence. As a Korean American, she wandered between seemingly opposing worlds, struggling to find a voice to speak and a firm place for her feet to land.

The world taught Tasha that her Korean normal was a barrier to belonging—that assimilation was the only way she would ever be truly accepted. But if that were true, did that mean God had made a mistake in knitting her together?

Tell Me the Dream Again is a memoir-in-essays exploring

We are not outsiders to God. When we let all the details of ourselves unfold—when we embrace who we were divinely knit together to be—this is when we’ll fully experience his perfect love.

The Blues and Advent

Advent is a rhythm of waiting. Waiting for deliverance from a darkness. That can mean different things for each of us meandering through various seasons and life. In the Christian tradition this observance awaits liberation ushered in by a Saviour. This idea, or notion in history, only means something if your faith tradition or worldview ties Jesus’ victory over death as the pronounced symbol that ultimately all “that ain’t right”, in our lives and in the world, will and can be reversed for goodness. We hold this tension, a now but not yet, of living out the fulness of our humanity versus struggling with the defeats. A continuous cycle that clings to the hope spoken through Advent that in the end, the former will win out now and forever.

Give Peace a Chance?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately following the violence in Gaza and Israel. What unique thought can I possibly add to the corpus of material and calls to action already online? Nothing really. I also think about how we ought to respond. Thought I suppose this makes an assumption–response. Christians should have a clear direction here. When Jesus shares his core teachings (Matt. 5 and Luke 6) peace making is explicit,

“Happy are people who make peace, because they will be called God’s children.” (Matt. 5:9)

If this were a sermon I might opt for a phrase that, “Jesus is calling us to act as peace MAKERS not peace TAKERS!” It sounds better in my head….

I’ve often wondered if noticing beauty is a practice. We often say some folks have, “an eye” for things that strike us as beautiful. I think we all have it. And it’s something we can cultivate–an intention to spot and create beauty. In fact, finding beauty is an act of repair. , This becomes more poignant when it’s finding beauty amidst the rubble. My partner has been sharing Palestinian artists/creators on socials during this time of upheaval. That’s beauty amidst the rubble for sure. A repair of brokenness in our midst, cultivated to pose as a form of resistance.

Beauty and joy are connected. One follows the other. How so?

Listen for more.

Hi Friends,

Welcome to the first Sunday of Advent. Grab a blanket and cup of something warm and hot and settle in…. This first Sunday of Advent will look at hope and annunciation.

*Advent as a liturgical tradition does not necessarily follow the typical Advent wreath lighting of candles (symbols of hope, joy, peace, love). They are (I believe) distinct practices (same same but different). I’m going to swing between the two by using the themes but also influence from the lectionary ‘A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church’ by Dr Wilda Gafney. I invite you to use these reflections over the coming weeks in whichever way that fit your own traditions be it lighting an advent candle or something else.*