Marc Jolicoeur (aka "Jolly Thoughts")

“Being told to participate - while in fact being unable to participate - is deeply dispiriting to worshipers, especially worshipers with anxiety…” (pg 152 of Worship In An Age Of Anxiety)

This Michael Jordan may or may not be able to palm a basketball, but he can certainly help us wrestle with the deep & challenging topic of how contemporary Christian worship practices (read “Western” and “Evangelical” in there too, likely) interact with those who are experiencing anxiety in our day & age. His new book (Worship In An Age Of Anxiety: How Churches Can Create Space For Healing) is a well-written & thought-provoking treatise on the subject, based in large part on his many years of relevant experience planning & leading worship for students at Houghton University, where he also counselled such students as he lead.

If you’re looking for just a little more from Michael on this topic, he actually wrote a review about the movie Inside Out 2 for CT Magazine recently, which you should be able to read here.

While editing this episode, I also came across this interview with former Bethel worship leader Amanda Cook, which I believe is timely & relevant.

“Collaboration does not have to be about corruption; it can be about cooperation.” (pg 78 of God’s Ghostwriters)

Have you ever stopped to wonder how the biblical texts were actually written down, and by who (or… whom)? In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Dr Candida Moss about her newest book, God’s Ghostwriters, which is about that very thing. In her own words, Candida is known as a bit of an iconoclast, and this book doesn’t disappoint in that regard, shedding light on (and raising questions about) the nature of inspiration.

Chapters

01:00 Introduction and Background

12:05 Enslaved Collaborators in the New Testament

19:23 Challenging Traditional Notions of Authorship

21:39 The Use of Shorthand in Ancient Writing

25:06 Interpretation and Alteration in the Transmission Process

33:41 The Role of Enslaved People in Biblical Texts

49:41 Challenging Traditional Interpretations

55:59 The Influence of Paratexts

01:01:25 Broadening Perspectives in Bible Reading

Sound Bites

* "Enslaved collaborators wouldn't have made changes to the texts that they were receiving. That doesn't mean they're corrupting things, they might be improving them."

* "There's no theological reason why you could not have more people. You can still have your authors. You just have more of them."

* "Ancient shorthand seems to only have been learned by enslaved or formerly enslaved people because it takes two years to remember."

* "The story of the paralytic... centers enslaved loyalty"

* "Paratexts deeply influence... how we read and think about [the Bible]"

Keywords

Candida Moss, God's Ghost Writers, New Testament, enslaved collaborators, authorship, Bible, secretaries, copyists, divine inspiration, shorthand, interpretation, transmission process, enslaved people, biblical texts, interpretation, marginalized communities, Paul, Gospel narratives, sexual ethics, historical context

In this episode of the pod, I’m cross-sharing a sermon I was glad to have been able to preach at my local church on Sunday, July 28th, as part of a 10-week series on the Sermon On The Mount. I reference in it this devotional, which is still available online, if interested. Also, the video version of this is available on my YouTube channel.

David Bennett is a self-described “celibate gay Christian”, but goodness… he is so much more than that!  He’s an author, a theologian in residence, with a PhD from none other than Oxford, and he’s a fierce lover of (and follower of) Jesus.

And yet, he’s a controversial character.  In large part, this is because of his online presence (which some might construe as “activism”) on behalf of what is often shorthanded as “side-B Christianity”.  I hesitate to offer any sort of in-depth definition of that community of belief here (largely because I’m not an expert in it), and yet I also hesitate to let you loose onto the internet to Google it, since… well, there’s no shortage of inflammatory press about it.  What’s even more exciting? Those negative reviews tend to come from both the conservative Christian right and the progressive liberal left.  It is for this very reason that I wanted to have a conversation with David.

As I hope will be clear throughout the conversation, I am not engaging as an antagonist, but nor am I wholeheartedly agreeing with all of his stances.  In my limited experience, the kinds of considerations that David and others like him are bringing forward are important for the church.  Of course, as I’ll mention in the audio which is the preamble to our conversation, my opinions are only that: opinions.  Though I wear multiple hats, I have no intention of allowing any of those hats to trump my responsibility to teach & uphold the views of the denomination I’m happy & blessed to serve (that is, of course, unless the unthinkable day comes where that denomination comes into conflict with Kingdom values).  As such, if you’re interested in knowing a little more about The Wesleyan Church’s interpretation of scripture and how it applies to questions of human sexuality, this little document does a masterful job exploring that.

If this conversation stirs up challenging or uncomfortable thoughts in you, it is my hope that those impulses drive you to conversation, not argument.  Primarily, I’m hopeful that our first conversation partner will be God (in Christ, through the Spirit, and in the light of the traditions of the Church), and yet not in a way that we become deaf to the conversations happening around us.

Conor Conway is a coffee connoisseur, top notch trumpeter, and spiritual conversationalist.  Since he is a co-owner of Epoch Coffee in downtown Moncton, I have known of Conor for years now, but this in-depth conversation was long overdue.  We dip into his early days with Canadian pop music sensation The Weeknd, drink three marvelously prepared cups of coffee, and dive DEEP into not only his own experiences of God in general and Judaism in particular, but also some of the (good and less-good) ways Judaism & Christianity have historically interacted.

I learned a lot in this conversation, not least about Sistema and Reconstructionist Judaism.  I also learned (hopefully) how to do a better job recording a pod in-person rather than online… next time.  Please, your patience for the audio-quality is requested!  Most importantly, though, I learned that while it is obviously difficult to talk about difficult things, it can be worth doing so with safe people, even if you stumble pretty hard over your own words. I truly appreciated Conor’s grace to me throughout our chat, but especially in the back quarter when we get into one of the hottest of the hot topics (in my world, at least).  

During this episode I referenced Carmen Joy Imes’ books.  Here’s a link to the podcast I recorded with her: Episode 31

I also referenced my love for David Desteno’s “How God Works” podcast.  Here’s a review I wrote of his book: How God Works

If I had thought about it, I would have referenced this previous podcast I recorded with Dr Matt Friedman, who is himself both Jewish & Christian:  Episode 36

Chapters:

04:47 // Gesha Village Coffee

08:07 // Multicultural Upbringing and Tasting Differences

13:12 // From Music to Coffee: Conor's Journey

18:50 // Conor's Experience with The Weeknd

30:04 // Religious Identity and Reconstructionist Judaism

37:47 // Coffee Tasting and Cultural Exploration

38:26 // Walking through an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood

39:49 // Orthodox Judaism and the Importance of Community

41:18 // Observing Shabbat and Jewish Law

42:48 // Reconstructionism: Individual Interpretation of Jewish Practices

43:18 // Questioning and Wrestling with Faith

54:53 // The Power of Participating in Ritual

1:07:15 // The Book of Job: Wrestling with Suffering and Seeking Truth

1:14:08 // The Exclusivity of Christianity and the Benefits of Applying Oneself to a Religion

1:24:15 // Navigating the Complexities of Supporting Israelis and Palestinians

1:35:49 // The Rise of Anti-Semitism and the Importance of Difficult Conversations

Keywords: 

coffee, flavor, coffee industry, music industry, multicultural, religion, Reconstructionist Judaism, community, religion, Orthodox Judaism, reconstructionism, language, beliefs, questioning, wrestling with faith, book of Job, religion, Christianity, exclusivity, truth claims, applying oneself, benefits, Israel, theological viewpoints, support, Palestinians, anti-Semitism, Jewish community

Today is the first time I’ve wondered if the movie title “Free Willy” was actually a hidden joke.

…probably not. Nonetheless, the question of just how “free” our wills may be is no longer a conversation restricted to theologians. That said, this conversation is from a theological vantage point. In it, Nathan Adams (who is currently a PhD student @ McGill University) runs us through the paper he recently presented at the Wesleyan Theological Society. Wanna find out more? Either listen to the pod or comb through the guides below.

Hey, if you’ve gotten this far… maybe either leave a comment here (👇) or leave a quick review on your podcast provider of choice… if you’re inclined, that is!

Chapters:

04:04 Intro & "Wesleyan Theological Society"

09:12 What do we mean when we say "Wesleyan"?

13:05 Introduction to Melanchthon and Wesleyan Theological Society Conference

24:44 Luther and Melanchthon's Views on Free Will and Salvation

28:49 Calvin's Denouncement of Melanchthon

32:17 Melanchthon's Understanding of Grace and Human Agency

35:15 The Windmill Analogy: Human Will and God's Initiative

39:04 Faith Arising in the Process of Salvation

45:28 The Preached Word and the Transformation of Hearts

48:23 Looking to Christ and the Assurance of Salvation

50:05 Prevenient Grace and the Urgency of Responding to God's Call

56:11 Similarities Between Catholic and Protestant Perspectives on Salvation

59:38 The Ongoing Reformation Within the Catholic Church

(AI-generated) Conversation Summary:

Nathan Adams presented a paper on Proto Wesleyan Arminian at the Wesleyan Theological Society conference. The paper explores the relationship between God's will and human will in salvation. Adams delves into the theology of Luther, Melanchthon, and Calvin to understand their perspectives on free will and predestination. He highlights the unique position of Wesleyan Arminians, who believe in the involvement of free will in salvation. Adams focuses on Melanchthon's theology, which emphasizes the external action of God upon humans and the role of conviction and faith in salvation. He argues that salvation is not about human striving, but about recognizing our powerlessness and relying on Christ's resources. The conversation explores the concept of salvation and the role of human agency in the process. It discusses the prevailing approach of presenting salvation as a cost-benefit analysis and contrasts it with the views of Melanchthon, Luther, and Wesley. Melanchthon's view is that everything in salvation is from God, and human will is best pictured as a windmill that desires the wind of the Spirit to move it. The conversation also touches on the significance of the preached word in initiating salvation and the assurance of salvation. It concludes by discussing the modern implications of these theological perspectives.

(AI-generated) Sound Bites:

* "One of the perennial problems of theology, any theology, is the relation between God's will and human will in salvation."

* "Salvation is something that God's doing. It starts outside of us. We're not the initiators. None of the resources for this are coming from within us."

* "You don't have a free will to do good things in regards to God. The standard's too high, you're too selfish. It's really just a will that could say no to God, but any yes that your will says, it's not even you saying yes, it's really God saying yes."

* "We all do it in a very semi-Pelagian way. We basically present Christ like a cost benefit analysis."

* "The human will is best pictured as a windmill... The windmill can't make it happen. It's only as the wind blows on the windmill, the wind of the spirit, that the windmill will move."

* "If I think that the only way that anything's gonna happen is if God is moving and present in that moment, then I'm preaching for a miracle."

Keywords: Proto Wesleyan Arminian, Wesleyan Theological Society conference, God's will, human will, salvation, Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, free will, predestination, Wesleyan Arminians, conviction, faith, powerlessness, Christ's resources, salvation, human agency, cost-benefit analysis, Melanchthon, Luther, Wesley, preached word, assurance of salvation

Tim Perry has some strong feelings about the state of the Church at large, and he’s not afraid to lay them out for open & honest dialogue. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss:

* the unique place of Mary in Christian Theology throughout history, and how that intersects with today

* the potential dangers of “dismissing” Mary

* the latent worth of the Old Testament in the Church today

* the value of embracing a whole-person, embodied worship experience

We get into some nitty gritty weeds a few times in this conversation, and I walked away with some areas of potential disagreement, but I deeply valued Tim’s time and his expertise, and hope you’ll enjoy this conversation. You can find some of Tim’s books at Lexham Press, but might need to hunt / bid for some of the others.

“I would say to evangelicals, ‘Be very careful in disparaging or getting rid of Mary, because she’ll go (she’s not a bully), but she’ll take her son with her… and you end up with a Jesus who is a motivational speaker, or who’s a politician haranguing you to get on the right or the left side of whatever is the cause du jour, but you don’t have the divine-human Saviour anymore.’” - Tim Perry

Keywords: connections, Christian traditions, denominations, research, Mary, Evangelicals, Catholicism, Orthodox, Protestant churches, Bible, Mary, Christian theology, worship, Scripture, grace, unique place, fully divine, fully human, Old Testament, embodied worship

A few episodes back I shared my conversation with W David O Taylor, wherein we got nerdy on the question of whether or not Jesus could have been considered an “artist”. I shared part of that conversation during the Sunday morning message attached to Moncton Wesleyan Church’s annual arts fest (Imagine). This podcast is the remainder of that message...

Imagine ‘24 (an annual Arts Fest that I’m quite involved in) is well in the rearview mirror now. Soon I’ll be posting the message I was pleased to be able to share as part of Moncton Wesleyan’s Sunday morning service (a service that featured live dance, live painting, and some other beautiful artistic expressions), but this episode is actually a panel conversation with visual artist Leanne Prescott and songwriter Aaron Bartlett, both of whom are on Imagine’s Lead Team. We recorded this conversation live & in real-time as part of Imagine ‘24’s Saturday Sessions, and the technology was giving us a little grief, so please bear with some of the glitchiness. I’m grateful for these two folks, and am glad to be able to share this wide-ranging conversation about art, the church, and the space(s) between.

This episode of the pod is me riffing briefly on the waiting that Holy Saturday interposes into the celebration of Easter, followed by a sermon that was part of Moncton Wesleyan’s “Domino Effect” series.

I’m releasing this episode just a few hours after what amounted to a historic Good Friday service in the city of Moncton. Officially 5 churches (and several others “unofficially”) joined together in remembrance, and it was immensely powerful. Right after the service, I got into a brief conversation with someone I know who’d been participating in Lent this year a little more intentionally than has been their typical practice. He said to me, “It was… less impactful than I thought it was going to be.” Honestly, to me, this was beautiful to hear. I feel we need to be honest with ourselves & with others, honest with our expectations, honest with our gains & with our losses. I acknowledged to this individual that this is often my experience, as well. The kinds of practices I advocate for in this podcast (and that I typically practice, to greater or lesser degrees) occasionally lead me to moments of significant impact. More often than not, though, they seem to lead me nowhere at all.

Sometimes (often, even), Holy Saturday seems to lead us nowhere at all… but we can’t see what’s happening underground.

(In my message I heavily reference Justin Earley’s book The Common Rule.)