The Liturgists Podcast

In this episode we want to share a liturgy we created for Holy Week called "Garden." This liturgy features Amena Brown, Rachel Held Evans, Rob Bell, Science Mike, and Gungor. If you are not a regular consumer of liturgies, it as a collection of related works of art that all cover a specific topic. As we are all social distancing, we want to offer this to you as a way to connect to the ideas of holy week and a way to connect with others while your normal Easter plans have been changed.

This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

Ruthie Lindsey talks with Dr. Hillary McBride and Michael Gungor about her experience with pain and trauma. They also discuss some things we can do during the COVID-19 crisis.

Ruthie's new book, There I Am: The Journey from Hopelessness to Healing, will be released on April 21, 2020.

At seventeen years old, Ruthie Lindsey was hit by an ambulance near her home in rural Louisiana. She was given a five percent chance of survival and one percent chance of walking again. One month later after a spinal fusion surgery, Ruthie defied the odds, leaving the hospital on her own two feet.

Just a few years later, newly married and living in Nashville, Ruthie began to experience debilitating pain. Her case confounds doctors and after numerous rounds of testing, imaging, and treatment, they prescribe narcotic painkillers—lots of them. Ruthie became bedridden, dependent on painkillers, and hopeless, when an X-ray reveals that the wire used to fuse her spine is piercing her brain stem. Without another staggeringly expensive experimental surgery, she could well become paralyzed, but in many ways, she already is.

Ruthie goes into the hospital in chronic pain, dependent on prescription painkillers, and leaves that way. She can still walk, but has no idea where she’s going. As her life unravels, Ruthie returns home to Louisiana and sets out on a journey to learn joy again. She trades fentanyl for sunsets and morphine for wildflowers, weaning herself off of the drugs and beginning the process of healing—of coming home to her body.

You are not alone! We have virtual rooms you can join 24/7 to talk with other liturgists from around the world. To find out more, visit theliturgists.com

Most of us are cooped up inside our homes and are social distancing in response to COVID-19. If we live with people, this marathon of close proximity may engage our feelings and heighten both the good and bad elements in our relationships. In this episode, Lisa Gungor joins Michael to talk about fighting, communication, and how they have grown over the years.

To put your event on the calendar for one of the virtual rooms, go to theliturgists.com/community and follow the link that says schedule.

You are not alone! You can join us each Sunday to talk with other liturgists around the world and meet in small groups. It is one of the most meaningful things we do. To find out more, visit theliturgists.com and look for the "Join The Liturgists" button.

Dr. Hillary McBride, Science Mike, William Matthews, and Michael Gungor talk about COVID-19 and its impact on our health, culture, and economy.

Many news sources are discussing the pandemic using the titles "Coronavirus" or "COVID-19." Here are some quick facts and terminology to help you understand what it all means:

This virus is a "novel coronavirus," meaning it is a new coronavirus that humans have not experienced before

The virus' name is SARS-CoV-2

The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 is called COVID-19 which stands for Coronavirus Disease-2019

There are 3 strategies that health experts recommend:

Hygienic measures like frequent hand-washing, avoiding touching your face, always covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and STAYING HOME when you exhibit any symptoms of illness.

Sanitizing surfaces often, like light switches, door knobs, desks, and counter-tops.

Social Distancing (more on this below)

A primary way to aid in this crisis is the third point: social distancing. Here are the 3 elements of proper social distancing:

Meet in-person with people less often.

When you do meet with people, limit how many people are present. (As of mid-March 2020 that looks like less than 10 people at one time.)

When you interact with people, keep a 6 foot bubble around yourself. Greet with a wave and show kindness with your words instead of handshakes, hugs, or other physical touch.

Here are 6 ideas for how to cope with stress and isolation during this time:

Be physically active in your home through yoga, push ups, stretching or our favorite: a dance party! Physical activity allows your body to release tension instead of storing it. Using movement and expression can help our nervous system get back to a state of rest.

Strategically be active in open, outdoor spaces where few people are. Go for a walk in the woods, hike on a trail, or run in a large open park.

Talk virtually with friends and family often. Here at The Liturgists, we are running The Sunday Thing every Sunday at 11am Pacific as a way to get connected with people — you are invited! Visit theliturgists.com and there is a big button to sign up.

Practice meditation and mindfulness. Even for just a few moments a day notice what is happening with your thoughts and see if you can try to catch them if they are wandering into anxiety-laden territory

Scan your body regularly for tension, if you notice it, try to take some breaths, soften your muscles, or practice progressive Muscle Relaxation (you can look lots of these audio tracks and scripts up online).

Play, create, make, express, design, write. Move things through you existentially. Turning your inside stuff into something on the outside can be so empowering. You can transform your pain and uncertainty into something beautiful you can see. Plus, share what you are making by going to theliturgists.com/make

You can also stay up-to-date with the CDC's COVID-19 Resource Guide.

You are not alone! You can join us each Sunday to talk with other liturgists around the world and meet in small groups. It is one of the most meaningful things we do. To find out more, visit theliturgists.com and look for the "Join The Liturgists" button.

Deconstruction is a common experience for people in The Liturgists Community. We all have stories of how we grew up, memories of what we were taught, and key ideas that still influence us. We may use many words to describe our deconstruction: freeing, scary, lonely, or exciting. The social cost of deconstruction can also be very high. We may feel like our social circles alienated us, or that our family abandoned us.

In this episode, Dr. Hillary McBride and Michael Gungor talk about deconstruction and how it affects us. They explore the emotions that we feel, the narratives we tell ourselves, and how we can embrace healthy outlooks and overcome the difficult aspects of deconstruction.

You are not alone! You can join us each Sunday to talk with other liturgists around the world and meet in small groups. It is one of the most meaningful things we do. To find out more, visit theliturgists.com and look for the "Join The Liturgists" button.

While pleasure is usually positive and suffering usually negative, Christian culture often celebrates suffering while denigrating pleasure. Phrases like "dying to the flesh" highlight how we learn to internalize martyrdom in order to please God. Unfortunately, when we suppress our personal needs to conform to this social norm, the result can often lead to a loss of identity.

In this episode, Linda Kay Klein, Dr. Hillary McBride, and Michael Gungor talk about the complexity of pleasure, and Linda shares how her fixation on suffering landed her in the hospital at one point in her life. They discuss different ways of understanding pleasure and suffering and how we can all develop a healthier perspective.

You are not alone! You can join us each Sunday to talk with other liturgists around the world and meet in small groups. It is one of the most meaningful things we do. To find out more, visit theliturgists.com and look for the "Join The Liturgists" button.

In this episode, we highlight two poets: James Baldwin and Maya Angelou. Both were best selling authors and world-renown poets. We highlight their words as they relate to art, the creative process, and the moral responsibility the artist carries to humanity and society. James Baldwin wrestles with that tension in his speech at the University of Chicago in 1963. Maya Angelou discusses her love for humanity and performs her poem "Still I Rise." Let's listen to James Baldwin and Maya Angelou.

If you like this podcast, join The Liturgists to receive even more content like this and talk with other liturgists via our weekly video chat.

In this episode, we focus on the words of two men who early on had two very different opinions, but at the end of their lives they were much closer together — closer than you may think. These two men were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Pay attention and hear the nuance in their words. Envision yourself transported back to the 1960's and be mindful to really hear their perspectives. Let's listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

If you like this podcast, join The Liturgists to receive even more content like this and talk with other liturgists via our weekly video chat.

Womanism doesn't position itself in relation to masculinity, whereas black feminism and feminism specifically seek to elevate women to the status of men socially, politically, and economically; and also overcome patriarchy, sexism, and oppression.

Black feminism asserts that the experience of black women places them in a unique position as they relate to patriarchy, sexism, and oppression. There is a distinct focus on class, gender expression, and sexual orientation as it relates to the distribution of power socially, politically, and economically. Womanism has been called "women loving other women." It doesn't position itself with masculinity which is a specific contrast with feminism. Let's talk about Womanism & Black Feminism.

If you like this podcast, join The Liturgists to receive even more content like this and talk with other liturgists via our weekly video chat.

There is a God shaped hole in your heart, or at least that's what a white Jesus texted his friend in the tract you read as a kid. We were told we need Jesus because total depravity — our inherent defect — has separated us from God. As well, the idea of hell is a strong incentive to share the story of Jesus with others, because if we don't share those people will be tormented forever.

In many communities, Jesus was the way people cleaned up their lives, got off drugs or alcohol, and found stability. Being invited into a supportive community like a church is what some people needed to find a job and thrive. What do we do with the religious superiority that stems from seeing everyone else as inherently wrong? What do we do when we see everyone else as needing a life altering conversion? What do we do with the way colonialism has been paired with evangelism to ignore and scrub away people's culture and context? Often the way people teach others about Jesus misses the entire message of who Jesus was.

In this episode, Dr. Hillary McBride, William Matthews, and Michael Gungor talk about these ideas of needing Jesus and sharing Jesus with others. We recorded live at The Solvang Folk School Talks in Solvang, California.

You are not alone! You can join us each Sunday to talk with other liturgists around the world and meet in small groups. It is one of the most meaningful things we do. To find out more, visit theliturgists.com and look for the "Join The Liturgists" button.