Mid-faith Crisis

It's Easter! And we reflect on what Easter means for us this year and how we can see our own faith journeys patterned in the events of Holy Week. Meanwhile, Nick is impressed by Hot Cross bun technology and Joe has discovered the word 'heuristic'. Happy Easter everyone.

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As the song goes, 'Praise him on the trumpet, the psaltery and harp!' But why? In another of our excitingly named Moderately Interesting Questions, we explore the nature of praise. Does God demand it? How do we approach it? And what the heck is a psaltery anyway? We talk about praise as gratitude and heightened appreciation, how it needs to be based on intellectual content, and why attempts to do mood-altering worship never really work. Yes, it's worship on the dancefloor, so you'd better not kill the timbrel.

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We delve into the feedback this week, especially various reflections on the What is the Point of Joe?' episode. Also we talk about being the person that God imagined, how we over-value and over-share achievements, the role of regret, and whether the true sign of Christlikeness is getting 40% off at Mountain Warehouse. And we have some brilliant historical research on church crockery and a lot of stuff about gemstones, most notably, beryl.

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Joe talks to Jo about the menopause. And perimenopause. And post-menopause. What is it and why does it matter? And why don't we talk about it more? You will learn a lot.

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Joe is having an existential crisis and, worryingly, is asking Nick to help. So we discuss meaning and purpose. What are we here for? What is our calling? Is there a purpose to our lives or are we just fooling ourselves? Is it true that everyone on earth is a pun? Does Joe's purpose involve cheese?

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We discuss Lent, Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. We reflect on the purpose of fasting, the way that Lent creates contours in the year, and the cheery fact that we are all going to die. From dust we are made and to dust we shall return. But what kind of dust? That's the question. Also in the new, fabulous 'Thankful for Food' feature, Nick, inexplicably forgets to mention pancakes.

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Last week we talked about lots of different kinds of church. This week we're thinking about the purpose. What, actually, is the point of church? What are we supposed to do? And has this whole thing just been market research so that Joe can start a cult? Warning: there's a lot of food in this episode, none of it healthy.

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Last week we asked what people would like to see in a church. Turns out a lot of people have an opinion. A lot. We talk about the need for safe places, shared values, and how to balance evangelical roughage with full-fat, dairy liturgy. Most of all, though, it's a feast of feedback. Common themes include food, honesty, trust, food, the need for a safe place, music, no music, inclusivity, more food, silence, listening and, er, food.

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Welcome to our first ever publicly broadcast planning meeting. And just to get us started, Nick has a few of what he is calling 'Mid-faith Crisis Moderately Interesting Questions'. Snappy. Before that, we talk about haggis, ghosts, whether it's wrong to get angry and the idea of church as a place to share stories.

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We're back! And we talk about what life has been like in the past week or so. We discuss how we can support one another in grief and mourning, how our faith affects our approach to these times and how, even though we can say goodbye with hope, pain and loss are always real. Meanwhile, Nick is enjoying the improvements in oven chips technology and we discuss whether Baptist church meetings would prepare you for Traitors.

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