On this Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, I'm wondering about the ingredients that make seemingly impossible healing possible - how did Dr. King point to a Resource greater than any human as he proclaimed a dream for humanity? I'll close with two prayers written by Dr. King. All of that somehow relates to apple pie, obviously, right?

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The post S3:E2 – MLK Day: How to Make an Apple Pie appeared first on Matthew Clark.

Welcome to Year Three of the podcast! I'm excited to get things started up for this season. In this episode, I'll share one of my "quirky loves", and explore three analogies - jazz improv, storytelling, and sailing - as we talk about how to discern reality in the midst of so much confusion. Please subscribe, comment, and share.

Read the essay text: www.matthewclark.net/onethousandwords

The post S3:E1 – A Brawl in the Jazz Club appeared first on Matthew Clark.

The title of this season's finale is a play on words: "Radiant" as a noun is the source of light, and "radiant" as an adjective is whatever is being illumined by that Radiant. Jesus is Creation's Radiant, the Light and Logos who makes it radiant. This is too often a lost connection that must be remade again and again, since without it, the wisdom of God that signals life's dignity is broken.

The post S2:E31 – Season 2 Finale, “The Radiant” appeared first on Matthew Clark.

This week, special guest essayist Amy Baik Lee shares about her "personal quirk": grapheme-color synesthesia, and how its "joint perceptions" may offer an encouraging clue toward developing faithful sensitivities. How do the body God has given us and the world we live in intermingle so that God's promises and presence "make sense to our senses"?

The post S2:E30 – Amy Baik Lee, “Synesthesia” appeared first on Matthew Clark.

Lately, life has been a landslide and I've felt exhausted by the false-light of information and the apparent darkness. A people without vision perish, says Proverbs, and Jesus in the sermon on the mount appeals to those whose lamps (eyes) have gone dark without their realizing it. This week, I'm writing as a sort of prayer for renewed vision - a vision of God alive and at work in the world giving faith to those who seek the light of his face, a face that remains at peace amidst the storm.

The post S2:E29 – The Bluebird, the Landslide, and a Fool’s Hope appeared first on Matthew Clark.

This week is a departure from the normal podcast. I decided to revisit an old, familiar nursery tale and it went in a direction I hadn't planned.

The post S2:E28 – Storytime: Of Wolves and Piggies appeared first on Matthew Clark.

As an artist and in everyday life, perfectionism can be paralyzing. Afraid I'll fail to do the best thing, I wind up doing nothing. Of course, I believe in excellence, but there's no way around the fact that there will always be a "gap" between what we hoped to do and what we were able to do. But, in grace, Jesus invites us to bravely, humbly offer up whatever we can, and he will fill in the gaps.

The post S2:E27 – Good enough is more than enough appeared first on Matthew Clark.

I was worn out last week, so I didn't make a podcast. Then, I had a great conversation with a friend which helped me remember (again) that salvation is not a thing to get, or do, or achieve. Rather, Jesus *is* our salvation. That sets me free to be a person in abiding love with a Person - ever becoming a living character in God's story - rather than a task machine.

The post S2:E26 – He has become my salvation appeared first on Matthew Clark.

I need sobering reminders that snap me out of the spell of apathy, passivity, and disengagement with life. This week, I've been hearing Jesus's call to stay present and to participate deeply through talks given by friends during Anselm Society's "Imagination Redeemed" online conference (imaginationredeemed.com). I'll talk some about that, and close with a passage about bravery from Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead".

The post S2:E25 – The Yoke of Glorious Engagement appeared first on Matthew Clark.

Psalm 135 says, "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, Made by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, Eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear... Those who make them will become like them, And so will all who trust in them." But what happens when we worship Jesus - a person with eyes that do see, and ears that do hear? Do we become like him? Do we have a real shot at becoming fully alive and human again?

The post S2:E24 – You become like what you worship appeared first on Matthew Clark.