God Help Us

First, we honor the lives of Ahmad Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, and countless others who have died in the past months as a direct result of police brutality. 

For resources on anti-racism from past episodes, visit anniemesaros.com/resources. Here are my top recs right here:

• So You Want to Talk about Race
• How to be an Antiracist
• The New Jim Crow
• Austin Channing Brown
• Brittany Packnett Cunningham
• Rachel Cargle
• No White Saviors

Today’s episode with Carla Godwin is about listening for and listening to your inner howl of passion and following it to the work you are uniquely meant to offer this world. Carla is a writer, speaker, and leader who lives with her two kids in Minneapolis. 

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

• W/ Collective
• She is Called Podcast
• Women Who Run with the Wolves
• Dance of the Dissonant Daughter
• Christina Cleveland
• Tina Schermer Sellers
• Paula Williams
• Women After All

FIND CARLA:

• Instagram
• Holy Writ podcast

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and I hosted God Help us from 2018 to 2020. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

Crystal Cheatham and I share a desire to end the extreme pendulum swings in our political culture and to find a way forward that is inclusive of traditionally marginalized groups and doesn’t ostracize and isolate conservatives in a way that makes them more isolated and more extreme.

To that end, Crystal and I talk about running her member-funded app during the COVID pandemic, the need for responsible capitalism, resisting cancel culture, and practicing nonviolent communication. 

Crystal has an MFA from Antioch University and is an LGBTQ rights activist with a focus on religious liberty. She is the founder of Our Bible App and The IDentity Kit, both of which provide resources for marginalized communities of faith. And she is the host of Lord Have Mercy, a podcast about God, sex and the Bible.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

• Our Bible App

FIND CRYSTAL:

• Crystalcheatham.com
• [email protected]
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and I hosted God Help us from 2018 to 2020. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

Since the global outbreak of COVID-19 over the past many weeks, our lives have been thrown into chaos, which looks different for everyone - even in our shared experience of pandemic. It’s all very disorienting and isolating. 

In this episode, I talk with Michele Ward, associate pastor of Brown Memorial Park Avenue Church in Baltimore, Maryland. We discuss what it’s been like for Michele’s congregation to shift to virtual meeting spaces.

And we offer some ideas for creating spaces that feel sacred and grounding - whether you’re observing the Easter holiday, or just wanting some breathing room to mark the many joys and griefs of everyday life that feel extra heightened right now.

If you are in need of soul care during this time, please contact me at [email protected]. I’m happy to listen if you need someone to talk to over the phone.

• Sacred Seasons Calendar
• Celtic Daily Prayer Series
• Soul Feast
• Women in Praise of the Sacred

• Sermons
• Instagram
• Facebook

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and host of this podcast. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

Lyvonne Proverbs is a black woman, a pastor, and a body- and sex-positive writer who is dedicated to tending to the mental, physical, sexual, and spiritual health of black women, for their own sake, and as an act of community justice in the US and in the world and invites white listeners to examine their own role in white supremecist, misogynistic power structures. 

In this episode, Lyvonne and I talk about how trauma crops up and impacts our everyday lives and relationships and how that plays into politics, specifically public response to (former) Democratic primary candidates Mike Bloomberg, Liz Warren, and Pete Buttigieg.

• TED Talk by Kimberle Crenshaw on intersectionality
• TED Talk by Jackson Katz on male sexual violence
• Shawn Ginwright’s work on healing-centered engagement
• Alice Walker’s definition of “womanist”
• Sexuality and the Black Church: a Womanist Perspective
• Ebony Janice Moore

• Lyvonnep.com
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Online Learning Community

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and host of this podcast. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

Wherever it occurs and in whatever form it takes, abuse is about power and control and - whether in a church or the highest office of government - abuse results from a lack of accountability for our leaders.

In this conversation with Rev. Ashley Easter, we discuss her theology of safety - that by understanding that all people are made in the image of God, we learn that we are all each other’s keepers. Acts of abuse as well as the mistreatment of survivors are not possible if we take seriously the value of each beloved human being, particularly the most vulnerable.

Ashley is a Christian feminist, writer, speaker, television producer, news pundit, ordained reverend, and abuse-victim advocate who educates churches and secular communities on abuse. She is the founder of The Courage Conference for survivors of abuse and those who love them.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

• Spotlight the movie
• Pastor Lyvonne Proverbs
• Nonprofit organization GRACE: Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment

FIND ASHLEY:

• Ashleyeaster.com
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Emerge Retreat

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and host of this podcast. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

For the past several decades of American Evangelical culture, the Bible has been used as a weapon against queer people, banning or restricting their participation in many faith communities and denying their place in the world God created.

Dr. Jun Young, communications expert, speaker, teacher, and consultant, to talk about a new ministry he’s founded: Beloved Arise supports LGTBQ+ youth of faith with resources, encouragement, and biblical teaching that affirms their identity.

As a reference, there are six places in the bible where same-sex activity is mentioned: Genesis 19:5, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9, and I Timothy 1:10.

• Matthew Vines’s case for biblical inclusion
• Seattle Times article on Jun and Crista Ministries
• Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality
• The Reformation Project
• Churchclarity.org

• Belovedarise.org
• Facebook
• Instagram

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and host of this podcast. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

In anticipation of the upcoming winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, I’m here with ecotheologian and spiritual guide Mary DeJong. Mary is the founder of Waymarkers, which offers guidance and support for those who are ready to respond to the call to wander into the sacred wild, seeking wisdom from our interrelated web of life through retreats, pilgrimages, one-on-one and group rewilding guidance, writing, and speaking.

Mary has a master’s in theology and culture from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology as well as post-graduate certificates in Religion and Ecology, EcoPsychology, and applied mythology. She and her family live in Seattle’s Rainier Valley in Columbia City.

• Article by Mary on practicing biomimicry
• Seattle Times Hostile Waters series
• Praying with the Earth

• Waymarkers.net
• Facebook
• Instagram

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and host of this podcast. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

On this very special Thanksgiving episode, I invited Dr. Brian Bantum to help me identify and unpack our origin stories - from Adam and Eve to Thanksgiving. These are the narratives we all construct to help us understand the world around us as we experience it. 

Brian is the Neal F. and Ila A. Fisher Professor of Theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Chicago (though he lives in Seattle with his wife Gail Song, a Korean-American pastor, and their three sons.) Brian has his PhD from Duke University and considers how Christians encounter and speak about God as they make sense of their world.

• Keri Day
• Wil Gafney
• Angela Parker
• Anne Joh
• Seattle Peoples Party
• Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery

• Redeeming Mulatto
• The Death of Race
• Instagram

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and host of this podcast. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

In the first part of this very special episode, I join Coastland Commons for their monthly gathering to talk about the significance of personal story and the importance of trusting our instincts. In the first segment, Dani Forbess and I present in front of a live audience. In part two, I have a follow-up conversation with Dani as well as Zac Calvo and Kyle Turver, co-leaders of Coastland Commons.

• Share a meal as a spiritual practice. Here are some suggested discussion questions:
  • Who is your favorite literary character and what do you admire about them?
  • Did anything in this podcast episode resonate with you?
  • Do you have a story that you can safely share with the group?
  • After hearing from someone, spend a moment in silence and then offer a word of gratitude or blessing to the person who shared
• The Half Has Never Been Told
• 1619 podcast

• Coastlandcommons.org
• Facebook

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and host of this podcast. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com. 

In this episode, I talk with Kerry Connelly about the pervasive lie of white supremacy - or what Kerry more accurately refers to as pseudo-supremacy, how our whiteness shows up in our daily interactions, and just a couple of the many ways that Christianity has perpetuated racist hierarchies, both historically and presently.

Kerry is a writer, Certified Life Coach, author of the blog Jerseygirl, JESUS, and host of the podcast White on White, which reimagines white identity apart from pseudo-supremacy. Kerry is currently pursuing an MDiv at Christian Theological Seminary. She lives in New Jersey with her family. 

• Rachel Cargle
• Layla Saad
• I’m Still Here
• So You Want to Talk About Race
• The Death of Race

Reflect on the question, “How has my whiteness been invisible to me until now?”

• Kerryconnelly.com
• Good* White Racist

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I’m Annie Mesaros: a theologian, writer, spiritual guide, and host of this podcast. I offer coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that are working to transform the world for good. 

Learn more, contact me, and stream the full archive of God Help Us at anniemesaros.com.