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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology, the whole gang – Alli, Dr. Howard, Belle, and me - have gathered together to celebrate Christmas! We’re talking all things Yule with y’all – okay, I know that was so cheesy but eggnog and fruitcake tend to activate my dorky sentimental side! And while we are going to take a stroll down memory lane today, we’re also going to talk about how the miracle of the Incarnation should inform and permeate the other 364 days of our calendar. J.I. Packer explained the magnitude of Christmas like this: It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. ‘The Word became flesh.’ God became a man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation. I’ve thought about Dr. Packer’s observation often these past few weeks of Advent – about how our holy, transcendent Creator Redeemer condescended to earth in a suit of skin to be born in a Bethlehem barn. Australian theologian John Nolland actually refers to the Incarnation as the divine condescension. I can’t quite wrap my mind around a love so vast that it compelled the King of all kings to lay down His ruling scepter in glory and lower Himself not only to human form but ultimately to be nailed to a cross. King Jesus became like us on order to rescue and redeem us. Goodness gracious, Christmas is SO MUCH BIGGER than December 25th y’all! So please grab a spiced apple cider, a peppermint mocha, a tumbler of eggnog, or some other Yuletide beverage concoction and your Bible – unless you’ve got both hands on an electric knife and are making a mess out of what was a beautiful holiday ham mere moments ago, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’ve got the whole gang in the studio – Alli, Dr. Howard, Belle – from Ring My Belle – and me – and we’re going to spend some time gawking at God’s faithfulness and how He’s gotten us to our 100th episode – which is today, December 11th! We’re two years into this podcast adventure and we’re still pinching ourselves that we get to do this and get to do it together. One of my favorite, long-dead church fathers – those ancient spiritual leaders that I like to refer to as my pretend theological boyfriends – Bernard of Clairvaux – said this: “I preached myself, and the scholars came and praised me. I preached Christ, and the sinners came and thanked me.” We’ve certainly made some mistakes and shared lots of shenanigans in the studio while recording the first 99 episodes of BPT, but it’s been a profound privilege to attempt to make Jesus the Hero of every podcast leading up to this centennial celebration. And we’re beyond grateful that y’all consistently carve the time out of your days to lean into His unconditional love for us on the porch. Honestly, when Alli and I started, we thought our listeners would be comprised of her husband Jonathan, and my mom, Patti. Thank you for enlarging our dreams and better yet, our community. Now most of y’all know the drill - please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’ve gotten all Pinteresty this season and need both hands to finish those dadgum handmade ornaments before Christmas is over, of course – and come hang out on the porch for this super special praise party with us.

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During today’s Back Porch Theology session, I’ll be the one alternately laughing and crying because we have the pure joy of continuing a soul-stirring conversation about the heart of worship with none other than my dear friend, Brooke Ligertwood. Romans 12:1-2 says: Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. And those verses Paul penned are a great description of worship because it's not simply the songs of faith we sing in church or in the car or listen to while we’re gutting out a few more minutes on the elliptical at the gym – instead the act of worship should encompass the entirety of our lives when we’re living in obedience to God! I’ve learned so much about the wholistic – 24/7 - nature of biblical worship through Brooke. She’s one of the preeminent worship leaders of our modern era, she leads tens of thousands of people toward the throne of Jesus in stadiums all over the world, and she’s written or co-written some of the most God-honoring, faith-galvanizing, biblically rooted worship songs that are sung in almost every stream of the Christian faith including What a Beautiful Name, King of kings, Awake My Soul, Who You Say I Am, and A Thousand Hallelujahs. Christ-followers across the globe are familiar with her music, but what some people don’t know about Brooke is that she’s a passionately devoted student of God’s Word, a voracious reader of theology – we’re rabid fans of some of the same long dead church fathers like Saint Augustine, Brother Lawrence and Blasé Pascal - and in fact, Brooke is so serious about biblical fidelity that runs all of her lyrics by theological scholars before recording them. Every single time I have the pure joy of hanging out with Brooke, I walk away more in love with Jesus and today is no exception so please grab a great big mug of coffee or hot chocolate or green juice, and your Bible – unless you’re trying to get ahead of the Christmas curve and stuck in the attic untangling last year’s tangled strands of lights, of course – and come relax on the porch with us.   

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to wade into the refreshing, invigorating, cleansing and sometimes even healing waters of worship. According to theological scholars – in the context of our Judeo-Christian belief system - worship is the reverential response of creation to the all-encompassing magnificence of God. In biblical narrative, worship includes activities like bringing an offering or sacrifice to God, bowing down in deference and obeisance, and of course proclaiming His transcendent holiness, omnipotent power, and compassionate faithfulness through song. It’s what Moses models in Exodus 15:11 when he asks in awed wonder: Who is like you, O Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? When it comes to worship leaders, it’s probably not too much of a stretch to call King David the perennial favorite because he wrote almost half of the 150 Psalms, all of which were originally written as songs – s-o-n-g-s. That means Dave’s tunes were all over some kind of ancient Spotify! And when it comes to modern-day worship leaders, our guest on BPT today is a perennial favorite, as well. She’s written and co-written some of the most God-honoring, faith-galvanizing, biblically rooted worship songs of this era that are consistently belted out in communities of faith all over the world including What a Beautiful Name, King of Kings, Awake My Soul, Who You Say I Am, and A Thousand Hallelujahs. But what I love and respect most about my dear friend Brooke Ligertwood isn’t her Grammy-award winning musical genius or her gorgeous voice, it’s her humility-soaked heart. All it takes is a few minutes in her company and you can tell this woman spends a lot of time at the feet of Jesus. I think you’ll find yourself leaning more fully into His presence after hanging out with her today, too. So please grab a cup of coffee on this glorious Fall day, and your Bible – unless you’re learning the the ancient art of henna and practicing on a brave friend with indelible ink, of course! – and come prop your feet up on the porch with us. 

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During today’s episode of Back Porch Theology, Alli and I are continuing a joy-saturated conversation with Dr. Curt Thompson, who’s a board-certified, practicing psychiatrist who loves God and His Word and His people. Dr. Thompson’s expertise in connecting neurobiology with biblically sound theology has been a game changer for me and his latest work – which connects suffering and the formation of hope – has helped me lean further into God’s restorative, healing compassion with regards to some of my oldest and deepest wounds. Just listen to this excerpt from his latest book, The Deepest Place: The creation of beauty and goodness out of carnage – the resurrected Jesus in the wake of crucifixion – opens the door to the most durable formation of hope. Hope that is sustainable because it has emerged from crucifixion, from suffering. Contrary to what some of us were taught in church, we don’t have check our emotions at the door of biblical fidelity – God wants us to bring everything – all of our disappointment and loneliness and shame and the fear that if someone actually looks under the hood of our life, they’ll leave - to His throne of mercy - pretending you’re okay is actually not a fruit of the Spirit, y’all! This episode is packed with potential freedom so please grab a cup of coffee or a tumbler of your favorite, albeit exorbitantly priced but oh so yummy - cold-pressed juice, and your Bible and come prop your feet up on the porch with us!

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology Alli and I are diving in deep with Dr. Curt Thompson, who’s a board-certified, practicing psychiatrist who loves God and His Word and His people. I first met Dr. Thompson about ten years ago through a mutual friend who gave me one of his books called Anatomy of the Soul. I was immediately intrigued by the title because that’s my favorite description of the Psalms, written by ancient church father, John Calvin, and I was also intrigued by how Curt connects his medical expertise in neurobiology with Christocentric theology. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, who’s a world-renowned Bible scholar, describes him as having remarkable agility between neuroscience and theological verities. In other words, God has given this incredibly kind man a gift to help the rest of us better understand what Paul was talking about in Romans when he encourages Christ-followers to renew our minds. This conversation blew redemptive gales of fresh wind in the sails of my heart and I really think it’s going to do the same for y’all. So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible –unless you’re hollowing out a huge gourd for a Fall centerpiece, of course - and come allow your great, big, beautiful – albeit possibly weary - heart to exhale on the on the porch with us!

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Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the final episode, – the compelling caboose, if you will - of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? The brilliant spiritual diamond we’ve been examining from all kinds of angles is theodicy – which means the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. And the facet we’re going to gaze at today reflects our responsibility as Christ-followers to pursue unity in this wildly diverse community called humanity. Despite lots of Christian’s comfort zone, homogeny is not a characteristic of the New Covenant. In fact, the “every tribe and tongue” part of John’s glorious vision in Revelation negates our natural tendency toward tribalism. Following Christ’s ascension in the New Testament, it becomes increasingly clear that avoiding our own version of Samaria is no longer an option, nor is keeping our head in the proverbial sand. As Elie Wiesel (pronounced El-ee Wee-zell) soberly observed in his classic book “Night,” which recounts his experience in Auschwitz during the Holocaust, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Since Alli’s still unpacking boxes after she and Jonathan moved to a new house, my brilliant spiritual brother E.J. Gaines graciously agreed to guest host another episode. And quite frankly, there’s not too many people I respect more when it comes to dealing with difficult topics like theodicy and reconciliation with wisdom and grace. So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible – unless you’re anxiously attempting to park a chunky, rental RV into a skinny parking space on what you thought would be an epic family road trip, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us! 

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Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the second to last episode of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? The weighty and wonderful biblical truism we’ve been exploring is theodicy – which means the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. Frankly y’all the fact that the infinite, all-powerful Creator of the Universe allows us to question His character when we can’t see around the corner of our finite human circumstances underscores the immutability – the changelessness – of His compassion. A God who was anything less than perfectly good would surely fry fussy, fickle followers like us into grease spots of oblivion! Now since Alli - my five-foot-twelve spiritual wing-woman – is still up to her ears in bubble wrap, we’ve got another great guest host this week and I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to love the brilliant baritone of my spiritual brother E.J. Gaines! So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible – unless you’ve got a white-knuckled grip on a shopping cart and are currently fending off other crazed parents in your quest to fill your child’s school supply list, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us! 

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Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the fourth episode of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? We’re continuing our trek deep into the wild and wooly territory of theodicy – which is the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. Hillary Scott is back as our guest co-host because Alli’s playing hooky for a few more weeks – okay, okay, she’s not really playing hooky, she’s on a mission to unpack the last of what seemed like a mountain of moving boxes so as to get her family settled into a new house, and get their youngest son settled into a new school. And speaking of mission that’s the direction we’re headed today under the canopy of theodicy. In other words, what does it look like to lean into God’s kingdom purposes and live missionally when we feel like we’re languishing in a hot mess? How can we maintain momentum and keep moving forward into our own redemptive history and not get permanently stuck in disappointment or sorrow? So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible - unless your hands are still clasped over your eyes after watching too much Shark Week, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us! 

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Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the third episode of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? The spiritual rink we’ve been skating in for a few weeks is theodicy – a fancy word which simply means the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. In other words, how do we hang onto the fact that God is for us when everything in our life seems to be falling apart? If today’s episode was a song lyric, it could aptly be titled A Broken Hallelujah. Or if country music’s your thing, Jesus Take The Wheel. Speaking of country music, since Alli’s still in the midst of moving to a new house, we’ve recruited some really spectacular guest hosts to ride shotgun for the next few weeks and today’s is none other than my dear friend and the sweetest member of the 9-time Grammy-award winning trio, Lady A, Hillary Scott! So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible - unless you’re in the backyard catching lightening bugs with your favorite kiddos, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us! 

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@BackPorchTheologyPodcast

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