Irenicast - A Progressive Christian Podcast

In a special Irenicast episode the team welcomes guest host Casey Comstock. Casey joins us this week to share a very personal story about raising a child with special needs. We hear from him the joys and difficulties that he and his wife face on a regular basis as they raise their wonderful daughter, Lily Kate. He also expresses his desire to help other families with special needs children and how we can help. We close this week's show with another round of Jesus or Jay-Z.

To help Casey and his family start a service that would provide quality childcare for families with special needs children go to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lkc-sitters. There you will receive all the information on LKC Sitters and how you can donate.

Show Open (00:17)

Discussion on Families with Special Needs Children (01:23)

Jesus or Jay-Z Segment (50:44)

RELEVANT LINKS

From Our Conversation on Parents with Special Needs Children

• Subcortical Band Heterotopia (more information on Lily Kate's condition)
• Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) (a surgery Lily Kate recently underwent)
• Welcome to Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley (poem read by Casey)
• CNN Documentary on Charlotte's Web - Medical Marijuana Treating Seizure Disorders (YouTube Video)
• Medical Marijuana and Epilepsy (Information from Epilepsy.com)
• Lily Kate's Journey (Casey's wife Theresa's Blog documenting Lily Kate's Life)

From Our Jesus or Jay-Z Segment

• Best Friend by P. Diddy (YouTube Video)
• Feels Like by Jeremy Camp (YouTube Video)
• You Took My Heart by Usher(YouTube Video)
• Some Kind of Zombie by Audio Adrenaline (YouTube Video)
• He Loves Us by David Crowder Band (YouTube Video)

• To Kingdom Come by Passion Pit (YouTube Video)

THANK YOU

Thank you so much to Casey Comstock for sharing his family's story.

Also, thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter and Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Listen to Us on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and TuneIn

Speak to Us on our Feedback Page

Love Us

Ever ones to speak, the team takes on the topic of active listening this week. Jeff, Mona and Allen discuss the elements of good listening, the habitual quirks of bad listening, and offer ideas concerning the cultivation of listening as both art and skill. The latest installment of Knowin' Jemonen follows the discussion and reveals the co-hosts' favorite works of fiction.

Host Check In (00:25)

Active Listening Conversation (08:25)

Knowin' Jemonen Segment (54:14)

This week Allen presented us with some helpful tips on how to create a space where we can make people feel heard.

1. Pay Attention (stay with the person on the edge of their experience)
2. Nonjudgement
3. Generally embrace the speaker's perspective
4. Concreteness (focus on specifics instead of vague generalities)
   1. Restatement (repeat what the person said)
   2. Rephrasing (slightly reword and summarize)
   3. Reflection ("it sounds like you feel")
5. The Three R's
6. Be comfortable with silence
   1. Why questions (can be taken as accusatory)
   2. Quick reassurance ("oh, it's ok…")
   3. Advising
   4. Interrupting
7. Avoid Roadblocks to Listening

RELEVANT LINKS

From Host Check In

• Miss USA Math Question (YouTube Video)

From Conversation

• My Little Pony Cake Story (article)
• Cake Fails (buzzfeed article)
• People receive less than 5-10 min of high quality listening a week (Practical Psychology book)
• Practical Psychology for Pastors by William R. Miller and Kathleen A. Jackson (book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Carl Rogers, American Psychologist (wikipedia page)
• How to Truly Listen by Evelyn Glennie (TED Talk)

Known' Jemonen Segment

• Charles Bukowski (author)
• The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann D. Wyss (book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Breakfast of Champions (book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• East of Eden (book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Watchman by Alan Moore (graphic novel - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (graphic novel - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Andre the Giant by Box Brown (graphic novel - Amazon Affiliate Link)

THANK YOU

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter and Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Listen to Us on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and TuneIn

Speak to Us on our Feedback Page

Love Us

With Mona and Allen on assignment this week Jeff brings in guest host Adam Loveridge for a discussion on deconstructing your faith. Adam shares insights from his journey away from Evangelicalism and what things were important for rebuilding. They then walk through the deconstruction process, from the tearing down to the rebuilding. The conversation also explores leadership structures, the importance of community and how to do interact with people from your previous context. Adam and Jeff conclude the conversation on deconstructing your faith with a round of Judging a Book by Its Cover (Movie Edition).

Host Check In (00:19)

Deconstructing Your Faith Conversation (4:09)

Judging a Book by Its Cover (Movie Edition) Segment (49:23)

RELEVANT LINKS

From our Conversation

• Oscar Romero (Liberation Theologian and fourth Archbishop of San Salvador)
• Leaving Evangelicalism - East of Eden - 001 (Irenicast Episode)
• Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell (book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Changeby Don Edward Beck and Christopher Cowan (book -Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Rescuing the Gospel from Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way by Richard Twiss (book -Amazon Affiliate Link)

Judging a Book by Its Cover Segment

• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (movie - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Transylvania 6-5000 (movie -Amazon Affiliate Link)
• The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (movie -Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Undercover Blues (movie - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive (imdb)
• The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak (book - Amazon Affiliate Link)

THANK YOU

Thanks to Adam Loveridge for joining us this week to guest co host.

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter and Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Listen to Us on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and TuneIn

Speak to Us on our Feedback Page

Love Us

Sans Mona this week, Jeff & Allen bring in guest host Dylan Van Lant. After sharing interesting stories from their honeymoons, Dylan starts the conversation on mental health and the church by sharing his history with depression. The conversation touches on the taboo stigma of mental health in certain segments of the church, the role of a pastor in counseling and the underlying pressure within certain churches to present yourself as having it all together. The trio ultimately concludes that the best kind of support for mental health and for the church is a healthy, accepting, and empathetic community. The episode then concludes with a getting-to-know-you segment called 2 Truths and a Lie.

Host Check In (00:26)

Mental Health and the Church Discussion (08:09)

2 Truths and a Lie Segment (45:12)

RELEVANT LINKS

• Henry Nouwen (catholic priest, author)
• Richard Rohr (franciscan friar, author)
• Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer (Book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• When Pleasing You is Killing Me by Les Carter (Book - Amazon Affiliate Link)

THANK YOU

Thanks to Dylan Van Lant for joining us this week to guest co host.

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter and Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Listen to Us on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and TuneIn

Speak to Us on our Feedback Page

Love Us

This week's listener-requested episode goes after the issues surrounding the afterlife, particularly heaven and hell. Jeff, Mona, and Allen discuss the historical and cultural context behind "hell" passages in the Bible, why they lead us to rethink concepts that have been around since the Middle Ages, speculate about the this-worldly nature of a future heaven, and then disagree about how all of this relates to the here-and-now. Their discussion is topped off with an old-fashioned round of Wacky News.

Host Check In (00:25)

Heaven and Hell Conversation (05:14)

Wacky News Segment (52:07)

RELEVANT LINKS

From Show Opening

• This American Life Episode #559 - Captain's Log (podcast episode)

From Discussion

• Doom and Gloom, the Third Eagle's Tune (YouTube video)
• Love Wins by Rob Bell (Book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Rethinking Hell (evangelical organization)
• Sheol - Hebrew word for 'grave' (hebrew word)
• Dante's Inferno - The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, Hell by Dante Alighieri (Book - Amazon Affiliate)
• Paradise Lost by John Milton (Book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright (Book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Hades - Greek word for 'the realm of the dead' (greek word)
• Geenna - Greek word translated to hell (greek word)
• Code of Hammurabi (ancient text)
• Why ISIS Should Make Christians Rethink The Doctrine Of Hell on Former Fundie, Benjamin L. Corey
• John Polkinghorn (an English theoretical physicist, theologian, writer and Anglican priest)
• Hell Yes. Hell No! Or Who the Hell Cares? (7 Part Series) on The Pangea Blog, Kurt Willems
• Three Views on Hell: Introduction on Split Frame of Reference, Nicholas Quient

From Wacky News Segment

• Superman Fan Has Plastic Surgery To Look Like Superman (YouTube video)
• From $250K to $1: Seaside Nova Scotia home declared worthless following discovery of Mi'kmaq artifact (article)
• Watch bizarre moment firefighters hose down 'randy bulls' so RSPCA can rescue cow (article)

THANK YOU

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter and Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Listen to Us on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and TuneIn

Speak to Us on our Feedback Page

Love Us

Criminal justice is a complex topic with many ethical streams. This week the team takes on a bird's eye view of justice in the prison industry, capital punishment and immigration, to name a few, and hidden factors many might not think of in these issues. They explore what it might mean to seek restorative justice, both in the ways we challenge our systems and in how we treat others. The episode ends with a new round of Famous Christians for 100, where they try to guess who said what in the media recently.

Host Check In (00:29)

Criminal Justice Conversation (06:12)

Famous Christians for 100 (50:53)

RELEVANT LINKS

• U.S. Has World's Highest Incarceration Rate (statistics from Public Reference Bureau)
• Criminal Justice Fact Sheet (statistics on race and incarceration from NAACP)
• Shocking Facts About America's For-Profit Prison Industry by Beth Buczynski (article from Truth-Out.org)
• Pin the Tail on the Death Penalty (an irenicon article referencing death penalty disparities)
• Pennsylvania Judge Gets "Life Sentence" For Prison Kickback Scheme (article)
• Making Sex Offenders Pay… and Pay and Pay and Pay - A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast
• Neuroscience Suggests that Brian Williams May In Fact Be "Misremembering" by Allison Eck (article)
• How the Brain Works (and doesn't) vs Our Justice System by Amy Cools (article)
• Get on the Bus (organization uniting children with their parents in prison)
• Racism and Dialogue - "But I Don't See Color?" - 008 (Irenicast episode)
• Racism and Dialogue BONUS Episode - Interview with Mariama White-Hammond - 008.5(Irenicast episode)
• California Town Turns Away Buses Of Detained Immigrants (article)
• 'It was cold, very cold': migrant children endure border patrol 'ice boxes' (article)
• Gun killings fell by 40 percent after Connecticut passed this law (article)
• Republicans uphold funding ban for CDC gun violence research (article)
• Black and Pink (organization)

THANK YOU

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Speak to Us by leaving a voice message on our Feedback Page

Follow Us on Twitter or on Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Love Us

The team takes a bit of a break from heavier topics this week to discuss the nature of beauty, and what it means to describe and participate in beauty. The conversation veers philosophical as Jeff, Mona and Allen discuss wonder, love and transformation, and ultimately where God might be in relation to it. They wrap up with a silly game similar to Scattergories, which is much more difficult to play over the air than they imagined.

Host Check-In (00:21)

Conversation on Beauty (07:19)

Sort of Scattergories (53:54)

RELEVANT LINKS

• Vincent Van Gogh Visits the Gallery - Doctor Who Series 5 - BBC (YouTube Clip)
• Teresa de Lauretis, Professor of History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz, is quoted in Religion, Art, & Visual Culture: A Cross-Cultural Reader (book)
• Why Can't You Remember Being a Baby by Julia Davis (article)
• In Esther 1:11 the two hebrew words used for beauty are yophiy and towb.
• Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (image)
• Up To Speed with Timothy "Speed" Levitch (show)

THANK YOU

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter or on Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Love Us

You can also send us a Voice Message at irenicast.com/feedback

Sin is a difficult subject when viewed from Biblical, cultural and philosophical perspectives. What is sin exactly and what does it have to do with us? The hosts attempt a real discussion of the idea of sin while being honest about their personal reservations. They propose different avenues for rethinking the word sin in light of its historical baggage and look for ways that are life giving, honest and compassionate. The episode winds down with a lighthearted game of Name That Sound.

Host Check-In (00:22)

Sin Conversation (06:42)

Name That Sound Segment (55:05)

RELEVANT LINKS

From Our Conversation on Sin

• Words for Sin: In the Hebrew Scriptures is Chatta'ah and in the New Testament is Hamartia
• Walter Rauschenbusch, pioneer of the "social gospel"
• Theology for the Community of God by Stanley Grenz (Book - Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Karen Armstrong, feminist theologian
• Understanding the Effects of Maltreatment on Brain Development (series of articles from Child Welfare Information Gateway)
• The Neuroscience of Free Will (series of links to articles from Scientific American)
• Monster Energy Drinks Are the Work of Satan (YouTube Video)
• The God of Life by Gustavo Gutierrez (Book - Amazon Affiliate Link)

From Name That Sound Segment

• Dramatic Squirrel (YouTube video)
• Funny Squirrel ! Allan Allan Allan... Steve Steve Steve (YouTube Video)
• Kittens Inspired by Kittens (YouTube Video)

THANK YOU

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter or on Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Love Us

You can also send us a Voice Message at irenicast.com/feedback

Concluding our series of episodes on gender and sexuality Jeff sits down for an interview with a gay couple, Jim and Richard. Jim and Richard share their individual stories of coming out and how they met. They also discuss how they've remained in the faith despite their experience with people's reactions to homosexuality and the church.

RELEVANT LINKS

• Organization: Reconciling Ministries Network is a United Methodist organization that helps congregations learn how to reconcile homosexuality and the church and to be completely open and affirming to all members of the LBGTQIA community.

THANK YOU

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter or on Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Love Us

You can also send us a Voice Message at irenicast.com/feedback

After catching up on their past two weeks of life filled with grilling and hammocks, Jeff, Mona and Allen begin an in-depth conversation about homosexuality and Christianity. They touch on historical attitudes toward sex, what the Bible says about "homosexuality" in its cultural context, present-day issues, and what the stakes are for us today. After an arousing conversation, they play Jesus or Jay-Z: the Sequel and try to guess whether song lyrics are Christian or secular.

Host Check In (00:24) Conversation on Homosexuality and Christianity (08:44) Jesus of Jay-Z? Segment (55:30)

RELEVANT LINKS

From Our Conversation on Homosexuality and Christianity

• Ireland passes Gay Marriage Referendum (article)
• N.T Wright's Blunder on Homosexuality (blog post)
• Sexual orientation info from a psychological perspective "Answers to Your Questions For a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality" (article)
• The Liturgists, Episode 20 - LGBTQ (podcast)
• Stonewall Riots - LGBTQ liberation and civil rights history (wikipedia)
• Kinsey Scale - psychological findings on most people being on a spectrum of attraction (article)
• Radical Love by Patrick Cheng (book recommendation - Amazon Affiliate Link)

From Jesus or Jay-Z? Segment

• Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park (song)
• Take Me To Church by Sinead O'Connor (song)
• Locked in a Cage by Skillet (song)
• Without Words by Ray LaMontagne (song)
• Party by Chris Tomlin (song)
• Metalingus by Alter Bridge (song)

THANK YOU

A big thank you to Mike Golin for our intro and outro music. Check out his band Soulwise.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Thank you for supporting the podcast! Your ratings, reviews and feedback are not only encouraging to us personally, but they help others find the show. If you appreciate the content we provide please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Join our conversations on faith and culture by interacting with us through the following links:

Read Us on our blog An Irenicon

Email Us at [email protected]

Follow Us on Twitter or on Google+

Like Us on Facebook

Love Us

You can also send us a Voice Message at irenicast.com/feedback