The Pocket Contemplative

La La Land says we need to take the risk to follow our dreams. It's a Wonderful Life says we find meaning apart from our dreams--in doing the right thing and being a good neighbor. Val, Dave and guest Arianne Graham explore the challenges and opportunities both of work that's intrinsically mission-driven and meaningful (including raising kids or caring for aging parents) and work that's mostly about making a living.

Christian psychiatrist Karl Lehman noticed that many popular prayer methods, for all their virtues, weren't helping patients work through their traumas. Some simple tweaks led to what he calls Immanuel Prayer, a way to connect people to Jesus in some of the most war-torn places on earth. And it's become Tom's favorite prayer practice. 

Peter Eavis, until recently a reporter with The New York Times, and Francine Kiefer, the chief congressional reporter for The Christian Science Monitor join Val, Tom and Dave for a freewheeling conversation about what on earth just happened with journalism and fake news during the campaign and what wisdom they have about what comes next.

Celebrating our year's anniversary, Dave, Val and Tom reflect on what they learned from favorite episodes, meeting avid listeners, and the experience of recording fifty podcasts.

Dave didn't grow up with Advent. Tom and Val help guide him into the power, hope and inspiration it's meant to bring us.

Val, Dave and Tom were all surprised and disappointed by the election results. But what has processing in the weeks since looked like? How might people who try to follow Jesus think about what happened? And is there cause for hope?

In front of a live audience in Iowa City, Tom, Dave and guest host Leah Martens offer a few thoughts on how the Hero's Journey--a mythic look at a life of faith--helps us connect to God. Then they think more about what faith and connection for millennials looks like. Then they close with some remarks on religious trauma before answering listeners' questions and letting us know what they're into this week.

 In last week's conversation about a possible reboot of Christianity, Tom, Val and Dave talked about the threat some of us can feel when faith feels subjective. Ever since the Reformation and our attempts to regard faith "scientifically," objectivity has been the good thing! But perhaps "subjective" faith is just...faith that people actually experience. And maybe that's not the worst thing.

The late, dearly-missed Phyllis Tickle published two books a few years back that argued that Christianity was going through a comprehensive reboot in the way it did during the Reformation and did earlier with the schism between the East and West churches and did before that under Constantine. Is she right? Does Christian faith require a periodic reboot? Dave, Tom and Val discuss.