Teach Us To Pray

The phrase, "Who knows?!", found throughout Scripture, features prominently in Joel 2:12-14. Praying this prayer is an act of childlike dependence, placing our trust in the God Who knows.

Episode 72 | Trusting the God Who Knows

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• Crafting a Rule of Life
• "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," music by Albert Hague
• "Place on the Wall," performed my MILCK, words and music by Mark Crawford, from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for Girl Climber
• Learn more about Lectio Devina HERE

John 20:11-18 tells the story of the appearance of the resurrected Christ to Mary Magdalene. At its core, this story is about turning to Christ when we hear him speak our name. This is also what prayer is all about.

Episode 71 | You are Named, You are Known, and that is Enough

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys
• "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" by Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Prince, et. al.
• "Turn, Turn, Turn" by The Birds
• "The Gardener" by Rudyard Kipling

In this episode I continue to reflect on the story of Jesus' anointing by an unnamed Woman in Mark 14. This woman's understanding of Jesus is more aesthetic than it is cognitive. She longs for the form of Christ, a longing that is founded on her own brokenness.

Episode 70 | Brokenness: Hers, His, and Mine

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• Johnny Cash, "Hurt"

Mark 14:3-11 is the story of an unnamed woman who anoints Jesus with costly ointment. If we pray this passage, we are opening our lives to be cruciform, to be akin to this woman's costly and extravagant devotion to King Jesus.

Episode 69 | What the Gospel Smells Like: Praying with an Unnamed Woman

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• Overture to Don Giovanni, Mozart
• Anointing at Bethany by Linda Richardson

2 Kings 22 is the little known story of the prophet Huldah, a faithful woman whose interpretation of the Torah led to a great season of repentance. In this episode I pair that story with Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, and suggest how our own repentance can be sustained by remembering and returning.

Episode 68 | Remember, Return, Repent

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• Soundtrack from "Where the Wild Things Are" Where the Wild Things Are read by Christopher Walken Conversation With My Son by Mumford and Sons

The conclusion of the book of Genesis, with Joseph's words of forgiveness offered to his brothers, provides a profound parallel with the death of Jesus, and helps us understand and pray about God's redemptive work.

Episode 67 | God Means to Impose

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• The Storytelling Initiative
• "The Story" by Brandi Carlile
• "Lord of the Rings" Theme Song by Howard Shore
• "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Sufjan Stevens

In this episode, a joyful exposition of both Genesis 28 and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," I suggest that prayer is akin to Jacob's setting up of a pillar in acknowledgement of God's presence.

Episode 66 | Stairway to Heaven (Pt 2): The Slow Build Epic

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• Led Zeppelin, "Stairway to Heaven"
• Nat King Cole, "Route 66"
• Sufjan Stevens, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"

In Genesis 28, Jacob, the "fleeing deceiver," sees a vision of a ladder (or stairway) linking heaven and earth. The surprise of this story, which leads to prayer, is not about the dream itself, but in the Who, the When, and the Where.

Episode 66 | Stairway to Heaven (Pt 1)

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• Wendell Berry, "How to Be a Poet"
• Led Zeppelin, "Stairway to Heaven"
• Listen to "What If I'm not good at prayer?" episode on The Faith & Work Podcast to hear the story of Teach Us To Pray

Luke 2 is the wondrous story of the shepherds hearing of Jesus' birth from the chorus of angels. As we trust in this story we are formed by it; we are "made better," which is what Handel hoped would happen for those who listen to his oratorio, Messiah.

Episode 64 | The Light Has Come: Angels, Linus, and Why I Believe

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• Charlie Brown Christmas Special
• Handel's Messiah: Movement 16 and Movement 17

Movement 9 of Handel's Messiah combines two texts from Isaiah, one which proclaims that the exile is about to be over, and one that celebrates that the exile is over. This combination of passages is a beautiful juxtaposition that orients us in betweenness, which is what Advent is all about.

Episode 63 | The Light Has Come: The Darkened Between

Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your feedback.

Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.

• Messiah, Part I, No 9 from the London Symphony Orchestra
• "Everything That Rises Must Converge" by Flannery O'Connor