Pod Be With You

With Pastor Paige on a well-deserved break, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Jim Halverson, PhD, a member of FCC Dundee and a professor at Judson University. Jim has particular expertise in Medieval Christianity, the Reformation, and world history, and he brings that knowledge to bear on our questions about salvation: What are we saved from - and how? How have we answered these questions differently through the ages? How is our cultural context - our lived experience - reflected in how we think about God? All this and a lot more (yikes - it's kind of a long episode)! We hope you find this interesting and inspiring!

A small detour from following our Summer Series pattern, we are taking some time to follow up on a topic we touched on a few weeks ago...Salvation. What is it? What are we saved from? What are we saved to? How does it all work, anyway? This language is at the core of our faith, but what does it really mean? Pastors Paige and Aaron begin a mini-series on this important and interesting topic.

We're back! After a week away, we are returning to an exploration of the Summer Series we are doing. This week, Pastor Aaron is reading "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants," by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It's a series of essays that encompass all the various parts of Kimmerer's experience as a botanist and a member of the Potawatomi Nation. On this episode, we focus on the power of our creation narratives to mold and shape us. And the Roadtrip Summer Series takes Pastor Paige to the story of The Good Samaritan, a story that is so familiar that it has become woven into the very cloth of our culture. This story is about us, for better or for worse, and we listen carefully as  we hear Christ say, "Go and do likewise."

Another deep dive into our Summer Sermon Series, Paige gets to wax rhapsodic about her favorite Hebrew Bible story of all time, the tale of Ruth and Naomi, and the covenant that make with each other. Aaron is reading "Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence" by Diana Butler Bass. This book is a exploration of just some of the ways we come to know Christ, and an attempt to reclaim them for ourselves and our faith.

A special request for input from you! We want to hear about those things that you want to hear about...questions you have, guests you'd like us to have on the pod, topics you would like to explore, anything. Just email us at [email protected].

This week on Pod Be With You, Aaron explores the book "Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others," by Barbara Brown Taylor. In this book, Taylor celebrates the beauty and wisdom of what other faiths have to teach us, as well as how they can enhance the practice of our own. And the Roadtrip series takes us to Jericho, a troubling and difficult story that brings up questions of violence and colonization, but also offer hope in the absurdities of life.

Astonishments...part of the subtitle of the book Aaron is reading this week (World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil) and a great description of the pillar of cloud and fire that lead the Hebrew people our of Egypt. Because that is what we are talking about today, the awe and wonder of those places where the Divine peeks through at us. They are everywhere. Do we have the eyes to see?

There is much overlap between the Sermon Series this week, as we explore Rev. Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund's book about marriage and mental illness, "Blessed Union," and the story of Jacob wrestling with God (an angel? his conscience?) in Genesis 32. Struggle is real, for all of us, and so is the power of reconciliation and relationship. Join us for a (longer) meditation on mental health, covenant, struggle, and love.

Above and below is our theme this week, as we both continue with our Summer Sermon Series. Pastor Paige continues on the Roadtrip with the story of Jacob and his dream of a great ladder connecting heaven and earth. Then Pastor Aaron picks up the cosmological theme with an investigation into Rob Bell's book "Love Wins," a look at the place of heaven and hell in Christian theology.  Join us this week for a wide ranging conversation about sin, grace, and the places where God finds us on the journey.

We are in week two of our Summer Series, and we explore saying yes with the patriarch Abram, as God calls him into an unknown but blessed future. It is frightening and thrilling all at the same time when God beckons us into a new way of being. And we also discuss "How to Do Nothing," a book by Jenny Odell, which asks us, among other things, to pay attention to who and what id vying for our attention, our time, our very selves. What do we say yes to, and what can we say no to? It's a wide ranging conversation this week about faith, courage, living into who and what you are called to be, and whose voice you listen to.