Welcome to Podmas Day 8! Corissa (18), Cade (15), Alex (15) and Ruth discuss the part of the Christmas story that we tend not to want to discuss...Herod. We talk about the nitty, gritty bits of bible stories that we don't hear as kids. In the end though, we recognize that, in so many situations, the ugly bits are so important because they make the joyful bits even more joyful. 

Welcome to Podmas Day 7! Corissa (18), Cade (15), Lena (12), and Ruth chat about the many times angels show up in the Christmas story. In the middle of this episode, we pass around a picture of angels based on the biblical descriptions of them. For a better understanding of this part of the episode, go check out Ezekiel 1:5-11. We spend a lot of time talking about how we can be messengers of the Good News in the way the angels are messengers of the Good News. 

Welcome to Podmas Day 6! Corissa (18), Cade (15), Charlie (15), and Hallie (16) look at both times an angel appeared to Jospeh and how he responded to the tasks God gave him. So much of this conversation revolves around how deeply Joseph portrays his love for Mary, Jesus and the Father and how unquestionably he cared for them. 

Welcome to Podmas Day 5! Corissa (18), Cade (15), Charlie (15), and Alex (15) discuss Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how we would react in Mary's position. A true, deep dive into Mary's bravery has given us a whole new perspective on her role as the mother of Christ. 

Welcome to Podmas Day 4! Today, Charlie (15), Corissa (18), Cade (15), and Ruth discuss the wise men that visited Jesus and offered him gifts after his birth. We talk about the symbolism of the gifts he brought, the deep faith and trust that we're slowly but surely recognizing in the Christmas story, and how we mirror this type of faith in our own lives. 

Welcome to Podmas Day 3! Today, Charlie (15), Cade (15), and Ruth sit down and talk about the infamous Innkeeper...or the lack of an innkeeper, actually. What role does the innkeeper play in the story of Jesus's birth and what role does the innkeeper play in how we remember the story? Ultimately, what does the lack of an innkeeper say about how we read the Bible and interpret the Christmas story?

Welcome to Podmas Day 2! Today, Lila Jane (12) joins Charlie (15), Corissa (18) and Cade (15) to talk about the animals that appear through out the Christmas story and even later in Jesus' life. She reads from the song "The Friendly Beasts" by Sufjan Stevens and they discuss how the animals have helped them interpret the story of Christ's birth. 

Today is the first day of the 12 Days of Podmas! For the next twelve days, we'll be releasing one episode a day leading up to Christmas Day. We'll be exploring the Christmas story from the perspectives of different characters we've spent years hearing about in Sunday School and during church. Now, we know this isn't when the real twelve days of Christmas are but, don't worry, we explain it all in this episode. 

Due to some technical difficulties, this episode did not drop on November 29 as we had planned. So, we've got it for you today! Cade (15), Corissa (18), Charlie (15), and Ruth discuss how we've created a culture that holds space for things like Thanksgiving and Black Friday at the same time and the weirdness of all of that. We discuss how we can lose sight of the meaning of the holiday season and different ways we can remind ourselves to stay intentional during this time. 

Welcome to #faithcheck! Every few episodes, we interview a fellow member of our big old faith family on their personal faith journey. Today, Corissa (18), Cade (15), and Charlie (15) sit down with fellow Second Pres. member, Rebecca Ring (26) to talk about her journey back into the church as a gay, Christian, scientist. She is currently a PhD candidate in cell biology and physiology and has discovered a passion for service ministry over the past couple of years at Second Presbyterian.