Faith Matters

Bishop Karen Oliveto was just eleven years old when she felt a powerful spiritual call to ministry, and her Methodist congregation lovingly nurtured that call as she grew. But years later, as a young seminary student, she found herself facing something she had long tried to ignore: her sexual orientation. She pored over scripture, shed endless tears, and wrestled with God. And she says that when she was finally able to accept this part of herself, she felt a peace that passes all understanding. She went on to become the first openly gay bishop in the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Oliveto has spent much of her ministry loving people who weren’t sure they could or should love her back. When she was assigned to congregations across the West, some called for her removal, and others threatened her life. So she began a practice of sitting outside each church before entering, not knowing what awaited her behind those doors, and praying for an undefended heart. Again and again, her genuine love softened hearts, and over time, many who had come prepared to oppose her became her friends.

At last year’s Gather conference, Tim and Aubrey got to sit down with Bishop Oliveto to hear about what she learned through these experiences and to explore themes from her book, Together at the Table, which offers a path for being in loving community across deep differences—for experiencing unity without uniformity.

We are so grateful to have experienced Bishop Oliveto’s warmth and wisdom firsthand.

If you are interested in more conversations like this, the Gather Conference put on by the Lift+Love Foundation is happening November 13-14 in Provo, UT this year. You can go to liftandlove.org/gather to register, and use code FAITHMATTERS26 for 20% off!

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!

Bishop Karen Oliveto was just eleven years old when she felt a powerful spiritual call to ministry, and her Methodist congregation lovingly nurtured that call as she grew. But years later, as a young seminary student, she found herself facing something she had long tried to ignore: her sexual orientation. She pored over scripture, shed endless tears, and wrestled with God. And she says that when she was finally able to accept this part of herself, she felt a peace that passes all understanding. She went on to become the first openly gay bishop in the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Oliveto has spent much of her ministry loving people who weren’t sure they could or should love her back. When she was assigned to congregations across the West, some called for her removal, and others threatened her life. So she began a practice of sitting outside each church before entering, not knowing what awaited her behind those doors, and praying for an undefended heart. Again and again, her genuine love softened hearts, and over time, many who had come prepared to oppose her became her friends.

At last year’s Gather conference, Tim and Aubrey got to sit down with Bishop Oliveto to hear about what she learned through these experiences and to explore themes from her book, Together at the Table, which offers a path for being in loving community across deep differences—for experiencing unity without uniformity.

We are so grateful to have experienced Bishop Oliveto’s warmth and wisdom firsthand.

If you are interested in more conversations like this, the Gather Conference put on by the Lift+Love Foundation is happening November 13-14 in Provo, UT this year. You can go to liftandlove.org/gather to register, and use code FAITHMATTERS26 for 20% off!

It was just over a decade ago that I experienced a profound season of doubt. I began questioning nearly everything I’d believed, and the spiritual practices that had sustained me felt completely empty. Scripture especially became painful to engage, a reminder of my unbelief. Where I’d once found comfort and connection, I now found spiraling questions and fear.

Discovering the work of today’s guest had so much to do with my reconnection to our sacred texts.

Vanessa Zoltan earned her Master of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, where she now teaches courses on chaplaincy. She’s the author of Praying with Jane Eyre, and together with Casper ter Kuile (who joined us at Restore this year,) she co-created the wildly popular podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.

Vanessa approaches spirituality from a secular Jewish perspective, and her warm, witty, down-to-earth nature has drawn millions of listeners to Lectio Divina, the ancient practice of sacred reading. Inspired by Simone Weil’s idea of experimental certainty, Vanessa invites us to practice sacred reading with beloved works of literature—approaching them as if they were sacred—to discover the gifts of this centuries-old spiritual practice.

For me, this became a source of wisdom and connection while my faith flickered. And eventually, it became my way back into scripture. Today, Lectio Divina is one of my most treasured spiritual practices and steadiest ways of connecting to God and my purpose.

In this conversation, we explore what makes something sacred in the first place, why this kind of reading belongs in community, and we get personal and practice Lectio Divina together in real time. 

I can’t wait for you to hear this episode.

—Aubrey

Find even more sacred practice how-tos from Vanessa and HPST here!

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!

Today we’re sharing a conversation with Paige Crosland Anderson, an award-winning abstract artist who wrote a beautiful essay for Wayfare Magazine’s special Advent issue.

Paige builds her paintings in layers: she paints, paints over the paint, sands everything down, and paints again until the piece emerges often in unexpected ways. She suspects our lives work in a similar way; from the studio to the daily work of raising children, God seems to work through this pattern of creation and repair—and we’re invited to participate.

In this conversation, we explore how in big ways and small, this pattern creates a seedbed of hope in a world of uncertainty. Paige’s invitation today is that when you’re looking for what’s yours to do, in a world where suffering outpaces anything our hands can do, to start moving—because inspiration, she says, comes to people who are already on the move.

We’ve also included a reading of Paige’s essay from this special Advent issue at the end of this episode if you want to stick around. And if you’d like to celebrate advent this year, this special issue will make a beautiful guide and companion with art, poetry, and thoughtful reflections to make this season meaningful. Become a  paid Wayfare subscriber by October 31 to receive a copy in the mail, or order individual issues at our new storefront here.

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!

Today we’re excited to welcome back Thomas McConkie to celebrate a new season of another Faith Matters podcast he hosts: One Heart, One Mind. Together, we dig into the story of Mary and Martha, which he recently explored in an episode there.

Drawing on decades of contemplative practice, Thomas’s read of this story is that it may be inviting us to discover the kind of presence that allows us to carry the stillness of Mary into the action of Martha. It’s a new understanding that means we don’t have to leave divine presence—whether we’re at the Savior’s feet or getting dinner on the table.

In this conversation, we also talk about how easily even an invitation to grace can become another item on our spiritual checklist—another way to feel like we’re falling short. Thomas invites us instead to turn toward that wound with compassion, and to remember that transformation doesn’t have to begin with fear, shame, or even striving for self-improvement. It can begin with the recognition that we are already and completely loved.

Thomas has a remarkable gift for helping us slow down and experience these ideas rather than simply think about them. We loved this conversation, and we hope you will too.

You can find Thomas' book At-One-Ment here, and find even more from him at LowerLightsWisdom.org.

Thomas also shared his insights into the Mary and Martha duality in an episode of Proclaim Peace, a portion of which has been adapted for print and included in the brand-new print issue of Wayfare specially created to accompany your Advent and Christmas celebrations. Get your copy here, or become a Wayfare subscriber by October 31 to receive one in the mail — and take a look inside the issue here!

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!

If Isaiah has ever felt impenetrable, start here. With Come, Follow Me taking us into Isaiah over the next couple of weeks, we’re sharing a special crosspost from Proclaim Peace, which is another Faith Matters podcast that we produce with Mormon Women for Ethical Government.

In this episode, Jen and Patrick sat down with Reverend Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners, a Christian nonprofit dedicated to social justice and peace.

Today they are exploring Isaiah 58, which Adam calls his favorite text in the Old Testament. It's a chapter about fasting and about what happens when religious devotion stops changing hearts. The people in this story are fasting faithfully and getting frustrated that God doesn't seem to be noticing. They learn that a meaningful fast has more to do with who we feed, who we make room for, and how we treat each other.

Adam shares some ideas for making our own Latter-Day Saint Fast Sundays more meaningful, and a simple prayer practice he’s returned to for years. 

We hope that this episode helps Isaiah feel less distant and moves you to become a "repairer of the breach" like Isaiah calls for in this chapter.

Find Reverend Taylor's book A More Perfect Union on Bookshop.org or on Amazon.

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!

Hey everybody, this is Aubrey Chaves from Faith Matters.

Maybe some of you relate to the stomach-dropping feeling I get when I’m asked to speak in church. If you’re anything like me, those 12 minutes can loom over your whole week.

Today, Ben Crosby and Isaac Richards join us to talk about how to give a talk! How to prepare and deliver a talk with confidence and share a message that will be nourishing for your congregation.

Both Ben and Isaac teach public speaking at a university level, and they’ve just completed an anthology of Latter-day Saint speeches spanning our entire church history—a fascinating window into how we’ve talked, taught, and testified, and what’s shifted about that practice over two centuries.

Despite how central these talks have always been to our Sunday experience, they note, almost none of us are ever taught how to actually give one.

So today: tips and tricks to make your talk less daunting, four methods for delivering and preparing one, and help finding the voice that’s authentically yours. We hope this conversation leaves you feeling a little more prepared for the the next time that call comes.

Find 5 helpful principles from Ben Crosby here, use the discount code S26UIP for a 30% discount when you order the book, and get a look inside the book through a collaboration with Wayfare Magazine.

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!

Today, we decided to bring back one of our favorite conversations with Casper ter Kuile, because he'll be joining us this next week, September 24th through 26th, at Restore:Connect. 

Casper has spent years exploring the changing landscape of spiritual life in America, especially the new ways that people are finding belonging, meaning, transformation, and even sacredness as traditional religious participation declines. 

About a decade ago, Casper and his fellow Harvard Divinity School classmate, Angie Thurston, wrote a fascinating report called How We Gather, looking at the ways that millennials were finding forms of spiritual community in seemingly secular spaces, from CrossFit and SoulCycle to social justice movements. 

Since then, Casper has continued exploring how we create meaningful spiritual lives. He co-hosted the beloved podcast, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. He wrote The Power of Ritual and launched The Nearness, an online community built around exploring life's big questions together. 

In this conversation, Zach Davis talks with Casper about what he's learned from years of studying and working at the edges of America's evolving spiritual landscape.

We are so excited to share it again since Casper will be joining us next week. If you don't have your tickets for Restore:Connect yet, now is the time. We would love to see you there so you can hear more from Casper and so many other incredible speakers. You can go to faithmatters.org/restore for tickets.

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!

Today we're joined by Colette Lafia, a spiritual director, poet, and author whose newest book Leaving the Shore: Experiencing Poetry as Prayer invites us into a different way of meeting the divine than we might be used to.

Much of our faith language often centers on effort—perseverance, pressing forward, fighting the good fight. Colette offers a somewhat gentler direction: the idea that relationship with God can look much more like surrender than striving.

One of the most vivid parts of the conversation is Colette's take on delight. She traces it back to relationship: the moment she stopped approaching God as someone to plead with, and started experiencing the connection as something to simply enjoy. Her point isn't that discipline or commitment don't matter—she still believes in practices that cultivate a spiritual life—but that delight can carry us there without so much of the striving we're used to.

We felt like this conversation is an invitation to loosen our grips on outcomes, on certainty, even on the idea that connection with God has to be earned, and to notice what opens up when we let delight and creativity lead instead.

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!

Today we're joined by John White, a theologian and ethicist who is currently Research Fellow at BYU's Maxwell Institute  — and who has a fascinating and unexpected story that led him to convert to the Church just under a year ago.

For over a decade, John was a tenured professor of practical theology and ethics at Baylor's Truett Theological Seminary, where he directed the graduate chaplaincy program. His work has been at the intersection of theology, ethics, and everyday embodied life—character formation, moral agency, and the ways our institutions and practices shape who we become. Then a few years ago, an unexplainable experience at an academic conference set him on a path he never saw coming, one that eventually led him to baptism.

What made this conversation so fascinating for us, is that John brings the full weight of that background to the questions many of us have lived with our whole lives. Together we explore the theology of the body—what it means to embrace the body, not just tolerate it, and how our theology supports that idea. We wrestled a bit with the phrase “the Church is true,” and how a Christ-centered lens might free us from treating every question as a row of dominoes. And we spent some real time on the problem of agency—where our freedom actually lives, and how it might expand as we act in concert with the divine.

Again and again, John helped us see things we'd almost stopped noticing, and hear language we take for granted with fresh ears. We’re excited to share this one.

Join us at the Organized Intelligence conference on November 10!