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A hymn sing can be a history lesson, a prayer meeting, and a freedom school all at once. We gathered to honor Black History Month by lifting African American spirituals out of the margins and into the center, pairing each song with the stories and scriptures that shaped it. With piano, liturgy, and rich context, we traced how melodies carried maps, how verses held warnings, and how worship became a language of survival.

We start with Kumbaya, reclaiming its Gullah meaning—come by here—as a serious plea for God’s nearness. From there, Go Down Moses reframes Exodus as a protest anthem, echoing along Underground Railroad routes and invoking Harriet Tubman’s courage. The set moves through companionship-in-sorrow songs like I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and Guide My Feet, where call and response turns the room into a convoy of care. Along the way, we dig into the oral tradition that kept these hymns flexible and alive, explaining why rhythms and words shift across regions and years.

Midway, My Lord, What a Morning opens a window on apocalyptic hope that doubles as a liberation vision, while reflections on radical welcome root hospitality in love of neighbor. Lord, Make Us More Holy becomes a sung prayer for character that can carry the work. Balm in Gilead answers Jeremiah’s ache with healing and courage, and Were You There invites reverent witness to the cross and the rising. By the closing charge, we’re holding a clear throughline: honor the past, live awake in the present, and build for a freer future with God’s help.

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Texts: John 2:1-11 & Matthew 13:31-32

Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

What if Lent began with laughter, a full dance floor, and a secret only a few people notice? We kick off a different kind of season by walking through the wedding at Cana and the parable of the mustard seed to uncover a throughline of holy surprise: where the world sees not enough, grace keeps overflowing. Along the way, we share a family story about a five-year-old who switches languages mid-argument, and how that unexpected moment became a window into God’s delight, cultural breadth, and the everyday ways the Spirit interrupts our scarcity reflex.

We talk about why joy is not naive, not selfish, and definitely not a crumb. Joy can hold grief and still choose courage. It is a renewable resource that equips us to pursue justice without becoming brittle, to resist division without mirroring the contempt of our age. Cana reframes Jesus’ first public sign as a celebration that refuses to end, and the mustard seed reframes power as small, steady, and sheltering. Together they form a counter-story to fear, hoarding, and despair, inviting us to practice attention: to notice jars quietly filling and seeds quietly rooting.

You’ll hear reflections on humor in scripture, the danger of a Jesus confined to halls of power, and the freedom of a Savior revealed among ordinary people at an ordinary party. We offer simple, actionable practices for the week: fill the jars you already have, plant the seeds within reach, make room at the table, and stay for the celebration. If your days have felt heavy, this conversation is an open door to joy as resistance, rest as wisdom, and abundance as the truest word.

If this episode encourages you, share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe so you don’t miss what comes next. Tell us: where did grace interrupt your day?

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Text: Luke 14:15-24

Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

What if Lent felt like an RSVP instead of a diet for the soul? We open the season by stepping into Jesus’s parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14, where the first invitees bow out with thin excuses and the feast overflows with guests from the streets and the margins. That story doesn’t just tweak etiquette; it overturns the pecking order and asks us whether we can bear a grace that can’t be bought. We share why we’re choosing a Lent of invitation and good news in a year already heavy with fear and fatigue, and how the table image helps us swap scarcity for trust.

Around the Pharisee’s table, Jesus challenges the scramble for honor and teaches a new social logic: take the low seat and let the host do the lifting. From there we trace the shock of a guest list that widens instead of narrows, then connect it with C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, where heaven and hell are directions shaped by our willingness to accept “the bleeding charity.” It’s a bracing question: are we clinging to a moral résumé that makes joy unbearable? Ash Wednesday’s ashes meet that question head-on. You are dust can sound like doom, but we hear it as release from proving ourselves and permission to belong.

We bring the vision down to the sidewalk: the worker juggling two jobs, the neighbor with the yard sign that spikes your pulse, the refugee, the anxious, the disabled, the friend sleeping rough. If God keeps making room, then our practices should, too. We talk about resting first in unearned welcome, then taking one simple step to widen the table: set an extra plate, move down a seat, forgive a debt, learn a name. Along the way, we echo Jesse Jackson’s “I am somebody” liturgy as a benediction over every listener—loved, respected, never rejected. If your heart needs a lighter, truer Lent, pull up a chair. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs good news, and leave a review to tell us how you’re making room this week.

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Preaching: Owen Beale

What if the clearest map for your calling looks a lot like a dashboard? We open Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 and trace a living metaphor: you are designed like a car, uniquely engineered for a purpose, meant to move with the body of Christ on a shared road. Owen Beale joins us to connect Scripture to daily life with plain, memorable language—design, fuel, driver, maintenance, restoration, and motion—so you can trade comparison and control for clarity and courage.

We start with design: God doesn’t mass-produce people. Drawing on Romans 12, we unpack why different gifts aren’t problems to fix but instructions to follow. From leadership and teaching to service and mercy, each role keeps the church running. Then we check the tank. Prayer, Scripture, worship, and the Holy Spirit are the fuel that turns potential into power. If you feel stalled, it may not be a roadmap issue—it may be a refill issue.

From there, we hand over the keys. Proverbs 3 reframes surrender as wisdom, not weakness. Letting Jesus drive means delays can carry meaning, detours can spare damage, and destinations can stay steady even when the route changes. We talk real maintenance, too—repentance as routine care that scrapes off bitterness, unclogs pride, and keeps the heart responsive. And for those who feel too dented or too late, we lean into hope: the Manufacturer still restores. God rebuilds what shame says is totaled, repainting stories with mercy.

Finally, we put it in gear. James challenges us to move: purpose often clarifies in motion. Start small, serve somewhere, take the next right risk, and let God steer a moving life. Along the way, we honor the unseen parts of the body—those quiet alternators and brake pads whose faithfulness keeps the whole journey safe. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a tune-up of hope, and leave a review telling us: What’s your next mile?

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A city was thriving, a lie took hold, and democracy was overturned. We gather to unpack Wilmington’s Lie and trace how a coordinated white supremacy campaign in 1898 used fear, newspapers, and even pulpits to justify a violent coup—then rewrote the story for generations. Our conversation moves from Reconstruction’s fragile hopes to Fusion-era politics, showing how Black civic participation and modest prosperity were framed as an existential threat to the racial order. We revisit Alex Manly’s editorial, the sensational headlines that followed, and the militias mobilized to remove duly elected leaders, all while national power looked away.

What emerges is a recognizable playbook. Manufactured panic sold as news. Morality weaponized from the pulpit. Voter intimidation dressed up as “law and order.” We name the throughlines to today’s disinformation wars, gerrymandering, and efforts to narrow access to the ballot. Along the way, we talk candidly about how history gets buried, how institutions preserve the winners’ version of events, and why recovering suppressed stories matters for civic health. We also challenge the misuse of scripture to sanctify domination, offering a counter-vision: treat voting as a sacred act and faith as a resource for human dignity, not a shield for power.

Yet this isn’t just a lament. We hold space for hope—especially in younger organizers who are learning, mobilizing, and refusing fatalism. If fear spreads fast, so can clarity. If coups calcify into memory, communities can still break the spell by telling the truth and defending the franchise. Join us as we connect the dots between 1898 and now, and commit to the everyday work that keeps democracy from becoming a museum piece.

If this conversation moved you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review with one takeaway you’ll act on before the next election. Your voice—and your vote—matter.

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Preaching: Dylan Lewellyn

What if “so glad you made it” isn’t the finish line, but the starting bell? We open with Genesis 2 and Revelation 21, then move through a seminary walk, a well-timed lyric, and a fragile cat to uncover a deeper truth: our place in the garden is not ownership, it’s guardianship. Instead of lingering on survival, we pivot to responsibility—tilling and keeping, serving and guarding, receiving and returning.

We talk honestly about how “dominion” became a license for harm, and why the text actually points us toward devotion and restraint. The story of The Little Monk and his cat exposes how even the smallest life bears the weight of our choices. From oil-choked seas to throwaway habits, we name the wounds without despairing. Then we reach for practices that heal: consuming less, restoring habitats, honoring limits, and treating creatures as neighbors rather than resources. Along the way, we connect sacrament to soil—baptism’s waters to streams, bread and cup to fields and vines—so grace is no longer abstract but rooted in living systems.

Hope threads through every moment. Revelation’s promise that God makes all things new does not excuse waste; it energizes repair. We offer two invitations: delight in creation’s goodness and take up the daily duty of care. Learn your place’s names, mend what you can, and make choices that let others live. If only humans have sinned and yet all nature suffers, then our repentance must be ecological and communal.

Listen, reflect, and then act in your own watershed and neighborhood. If this conversation moves you, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves the outdoors, and leave a review with one commitment you’ll make to tend your corner of the garden.

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Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

Texts: Proverbs 4:25-27 & Philippians 4:6-9

What happens when Scripture sits on the bench and your phone takes the stand? We put social media and AI through a playful mock trial, using Philippians 4 and Proverbs 4 as the judge and jury, and followed the evidence toward a surprising, practical middle way. Instead of a simple guilty or not guilty, we asked sharper questions: Does technology pull our gaze off the path or help us walk it with others? Does it feed panic or deepen prayer? Does it form people of peace or keep us on edge?

We share stories from both sides of the aisle. On one side, the all-too-familiar cycle of doomscrolling, outrage, and comparison that scatters attention and crowds out silence. On the other, real wins: livestream worship that welcomes homebound neighbors, prayer chains that mobilize care, clergy across the country organizing on Zoom to support immigrant and refugee communities in fear. The tool isn’t the villain or the hero; the heart of the matter is attention—our most precious, finite resource. Where we aim it shapes who we become.

You’ll hear simple, repeatable practices to reclaim focus: adding friction with a “brick” that locks news and social apps after 9 p.m., batching updates, removing home-screen temptations, and using a daily digital examen to notice what feeds the soul and what frays it. We end with Mary Oliver’s three-line compass—pay attention, be astonished, tell about it—and a charge to let technology serve love, not steal it. If you’re longing for less noise and more peace, for tools that help you serve your neighbor without mastering you, this conversation offers a grounded, hopeful path forward.

If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more thoughtful conversations, and leave a review with one practice that helps you guard your gaze.

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What happens when you put social media and AI on trial using Scripture as the judge? We invite you into a creative, candid journey through anxiety, attention, and the spiritual disciplines that help us live with peace in a noisy world. Grounded in Philippians 4 and Proverbs 4, we explore how prayer, gratitude, and a straight path can coexist with modern tools—if we choose them intentionally.

We share real stories from our community: livestreams that connect the homebound, online prayer chains that carry people through crisis, and digital organizing that gathers clergy across the country to support vulnerable neighbors. Then we face the hard parts—doomscrolling, outrage cycles, and the subtle ways our phones train our eyes away from the person right in front of us. The verdict is nuanced and practical: technology can be a faithful servant but makes a terrible master.

You’ll hear a simple practice that changes everything: a “brick” that locks news and social apps at night, requiring a deliberate step to unlock. It’s not withdrawal; it’s choosing when to engage so attention can rest, curiosity can breathe, and prayer can take root. We name attention as the scarce currency we all share equally, the resource that shapes our empathy and our discipleship. And we close with Mary Oliver’s three-part rule of life—pay attention, be astonished, tell about it—offering a weekly rhythm you can try today.

If you’re craving calmer mornings, clearer focus, and a kinder relationship with your phone, this conversation offers both encouragement and tools. Listen, reflect, and then join us: subscribe, share with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with one practice that helps you keep your eyes on what is true.

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A winter storm closed our doors, but not our hearts. We met from living rooms and kitchen tables, lit by lamps and laptop screens, to breathe, pray, and remember what steadies us when the world feels heavy. Guided by Mary Oliver’s poetry and the strength of Psalm 27, we explored how attention can become a kind of prayer—and how wonder can reshape the way we move through news, social media, and the long gray of cold days.

We began with “The Summer Day,” letting that final question—what will you do with your one wild and precious life—land in real time. From there, “Wild Geese” loosened the grip of striving and shame, reminding us that belonging does not hinge on perfection. “When Death Comes” turned our faces toward urgency and tenderness, asking us to be married to amazement rather than merely visiting this world. Along the way, we named gratitude for first responders, utility crews, shelter teams, and neighbors who keep one another warm and fed. Psalm 27 anchored us: fear is loud, but the Holy shelters, lifts, and teaches us to sing.

We prayed by name for those facing illness, grief, and job loss, making intercession a counter to doomscrolling. Oliver’s “I Worried” helped us set down anxiety and take our old bodies into the morning to sing. And we closed with a charge many of you know by heart: do justice now, love kindness now, walk humbly now. If you need a pocket of quiet courage, this is a warm cup for the cold. Press play, breathe with us, and consider one small way you might answer that wild and precious question today.

If this time grounded you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a steady word, and leave a review so others can find their way here.

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Preacher: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

Texts: Jeremiah 6:16 & Matthew 11:28-30 

When the world shouts from every screen, how do we stay awake to suffering without burning out our souls? We open with Jeremiah’s call to “stand at the crossroads” and pair it with Jesus’ invitation to the weary, building a roadmap for people who want to be engaged, faithful, and sane in a noisy age. The result is a practice-based approach to balance: hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other, but add Sabbath so your heart can hold both.

We trace how notifications, social media, and AI-driven feeds hijack attention and push our threat-biased brains into overdrive. Drawing on psychological insights about doomscrolling, anxiety, and decision fatigue, we explain why information overload makes everything feel urgent and trivial at the same time. Then we pivot to hope: ancient rhythms that protect empathy, restore nuance, and make our activism more effective. Rest is not retreat; it is training. Limits are not laziness; they are wisdom.

Along the way we share two sticky models for daily life. First, Brene Brown’s household check-ins—How much do you have today?—which turn love into logistics and prevent resentment. Second, the sentinel meerkat, a simple picture of rotating vigilance so everyone gets to eat, sleep, and play. Apply those patterns to families, teams, and congregations: share the watch, schedule digital sabbath windows, and trust your circle to tap you only when it truly matters. We close by reclaiming rest as a spiritual discipline that honors our design and fuels sustained, compassionate action.

If this message helps you breathe a bit deeper, share it with a friend who needs a reset. Subscribe for more grounded conversations on faith, resilience, and wise engagement, and leave a review to tell us where you’re finding rest this week.

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