Holy Shenanigans

Tara tells stories of transfiguration… of Jesus on a high mountain, of her own travels up a mountain and the journey into the everyday valleys of life. Our guest poet and musician, Zohaib Khawar, shares his poem based on the 23rd Psalm: "In my talks, and in all my conditions, You are with me / In my happiness and sadness, You are with me / You hold my hand, guide me on the way and take me to green pastures / In my everyday, and in every night, You are with me / You said, you'll not leave me alone / Your love flows everywhere / In my dryness and in rains, You are with me.”
Find the video to this song at Zohaib’s YouTube: https://youtu.be/XWJELqPA8nY

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

Tara tells a story of the compassionate & rebellious healing action of Jesus, as well as a personal encounter of healing from thousands of miles away. This episode reflects how healing takes place where it is needed and often arrives in ways we least expect.

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

Tara shares the story of her calling to be a pastor, She also asks you to consider your calling to your community.

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

Tara tells a story about Dr King's dream and reflects on the call of curating "beloved community" today. 

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

Let’s take some time today to consider peace and what it calls us to do.

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

The New Year may find us occupied with the future, but Tara encourages us to pause for a moment and trace out our connections to the past and the present. A resource mentioned in this episode is Sacred Space, published by the Irish Jesuits. It is a good resource if you’re looking for daily inspiration. For more information on Sacred Space go to: https://www.sacredspace.ie/

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

It’s our 1st annual holiday special with listener contributions from Australia, Ireland & the USA.

Contributing Artists:
Lorraine Savage – Church Member and sewer of all things beautiful from King of Kings Lutheran Church in Liverpool NY. Poem titled: “Dear Santa”

 LeoWT  - a seminarian, hairdresser, and activist, but most importantly they are a Tejera. Leo, together with their partner, Elle Tejera, own #WTHAIR in Olean Ny. They have five children, four pets, and one passion in life, making the world a better place by loving the people in their lives. You can contact him at: [email protected]  or Leo Wolters Tejera on Facebook. Poem titled “Hope”

 Colleen Keating – is an Australian poet, who enjoys the pursuit of words to express her amazement with life. She has four award-winning books of poetry published, including : A Call to Listen, Fire on Water, Desert Patterns and Hildegard of Bingen are available as book or ebook version through the publisher Ginninderra Press in South Australia , Amazon, Goodreads, and other supply outlets. Poem titled “Gardeners of Hope”.

 Marilyn Dyer - is a member Hope Lutheran in Troy (formerly St. Timothy's) is the widow of Pastor Lee Dyer. You may know her from her role as Past President of Upstate NY Synod Women of the ELCA or for her "announcements" about World Hunger at Synod Assembly. Poem titled, “I Watched the Moonrise Christmas Eve”

 Adrin Fisher - is a teacher from Fairmount, West Virginia. She is the recipient of the 2020 National Writing Project at WVU Writing Excellence Award and was awarded. Her writing medium of choice is non-fiction or flash fiction. Poem titled, “December”

 Francisco Herrera - (he/him/mother) left a life in classical music (viola, orchestra conducting) to begin divinity studies at Chicago Theological Seminary, (MDiv 2012). Since beginning his PhD work at the Lutheran School of Theology (LSTC) he has exercised his Christian agitation skills as a seminary instructor at LSTC and the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, co-founded the collective #decolonizeLutheranism. He has written for 1517 Media and Sojourners Magazine, and is currently knee-deep in preparing a dissertation on intersectionality and church planting. Polymath and scatterbrain that he is, Francisco pays his bills with https://www.patreon.com/PolyglotEvangel, tweets at @PolyglotEvangel, would love to cook for you (just email him), and raises money in the name of Jesus. Francisco shares a recording of his composition “My Song (for baby)” The main singer in the recording, pastor Rev. Erin Coleman Branchaud of St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Logan Square.

Nancy Liccione – poet from Syracuse and Staten Island NY shares her song lyrics for her composition of, “May my life thus be a Song”

 Christine Valters Paintner - comes to us by way of Ireland. She is curator of  AbbeyoftheArts.com and the author of two collections of poetry - The Wisdom of Wild Grace and Dreaming of Stones. The poem she shares, "Suspended"

Thanks to audio technician and Holy Shenanigans Co- conspirator, Ian Eastman
Host and curator of the podcast is, yours truly, Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman – a creative, feminist and pastor.

Gratitude to artist Kellyn Baron who created the Artwork for this episode. Kellyn Baron, has a bachelor of arts from SUNY College at Brockport. She is a mixed media artist, who currently resides in Florida. To find Kellyn’s artwork, go to:https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/kellyn-baron 

Merry Christmas - and Happy New Year!

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

The pressure is on to have a perfect Christmas, but love is the only thing that really matters.

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

The pandemic can find us feeling so disconnected from others, but we can say HERE I AM to the same love present in Mary’s song—even over a Zoom call! Check out more about the outstanding poet referenced in this episode, Kaitlin Shetler: FB @kaitlinhardyshetler , Instagram @theskeptileptic & Twitter @tufftaffy

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.

Joy shows up in places we least expect.  Even in stressful times we can make room for it.

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Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman is a pastor, podcaster and host of Holy Shenanigans since September of 2020.  Eastman combines her love of ministry with her love of writing, music and visual arts. She is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary’s Theological Education for Emerging Ministry Program and the Youth and Theology Certificate Program at Princeton Seminary. She has served in various ministry and pastoral roles over the last thirty years in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of America).  She is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Warren Pennsylvania. She has presented workshops on the topics of faith and creativity at the Wild Goose Festival. She is a trainer for Soul Shop Suicide Prevention for Church Communities.