The Puddcast

Pastor, poet and mystic Kevin Sweeney comes to The Puddcast this month to share about his journey of encountering God while high on mushrooms. And that’s just the beginning! Starting this episode, we welcome Tryphena Perumalla-Gagnon as a co-host on the show. Tryphena and I had a blast with Kevin, exploring what it means to lean into the contemplative and mystical and find God present in the everyday moments of our lives. He explained the importance of transitioning from spiritual peaks to spiritual practices, and how the key to safety, identity and fulfilment really does lie in letting go of everything. We touched on a range of topics, including vulnerability, pastoral idealism, parenting, pursuing the Spirit without the expectations of others, and much more. Get in!

Order The Making of a Mystic: My Journey with Mushrooms, My Life as a Pastor, And Why it’s Okay for Everyone to Relax by Kevin Sweeney.
Learn more about Kevin at imaginehi.org and listen to his podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-church-needs-therapy/id1525310667
Follow Kevin on Twitter and Instagram.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

BONUS EPISODE! I’m away on vacation so instead of a fresh interview, Tryphena and I decided to share our B-Side from episode 127 (back in the days of episode 127 the B-Sides were exclusive to patrons only). Tryphena echoed the question of many listeners by asking why—after 3 years—I decided to publicly engage the topic of LGBTQ+ faith when I have been mostly silent on it. You’ll hear lots of my own story with my dad, and we talked about Bridget’s amazing poise and grace in carrying this heavy burden, for all our benefit. And more!

For maximum impact, make sure you listen to our source episode, #127: What gay Christians experience in church (with Bridget Eileen Rivera).

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Bridget Eileen Rivera comes to The Puddcast this month to share what it’s like for LGBTQ Christians in the church today. Her book, Heavy Burdens: Seven Ways LGBTQ Christians Experience Harm in the Church, is a compassionate, heartbreaking exposé on the theological and sociological structures that block queer Christians from pursuing Christ together. Bridget shared her journey of growing up believing she was an object of wrath, before diving into Scripture to find the truth of her belovedness. We explore some of the different ways queer Christians live out their faithfulness and the importance of allowing everyone the dignity to follow the Holy Spirit. I commend this discussion to you as strongly as I can.

Order Heavy Burdens: Seven Ways LGBTQ Christians Experience Harm in the Church by Bridget Eileen Rivera
Learn more about Bridget at meditationsofatravelingnun.com
Follow Bridget on Twitter and Instagram.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

This month I got to interview a true kindred spirit, Ashley Abercrombie. Ashley’s message of embracing transformative love by bravely facing disagreement and conflict was challenging to me in all the best ways. Ashley grew up in the American South before moving to Los Angeles and Manhattan. Along the way, she faced addiction, perfectionism, sexual assault and more, and today is a writer, podcaster, pastor and mom to three young kids. Her latest book is called Love is the Resistance: Learn to disagree, resolve the conflicts you've been avoiding and create real change. It’s excellent.

Order Love is the Resistance: Learn to disagree, resolve the conflicts you've been avoiding and create real change, by Ashley Abercrombie.
Learn more about Ashley at ashabercrombie.com
Follow Ashley on Instagram and Twitter.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

This month I connected with long-time blogger and author Tsh Oxenreider all about Lent. Tsh grew up big Bible church and after living abroad for many years found herself drawn to the Catholic church. Her new book, Bitter & Sweet: A Journey into Lent is a practical, easy to use devotional tool for leaning into the upcoming season of Lent. Our conversation has got me reflecting on the seasons of nature, especially winter, the darkness and the hope we need, and how Lent grew out of the human need for hope in this season. Did you know that Lent predates the Bible? We talk about all this, and the idea of “being in the season of Lent”, rather than Lent as something you do.

Take my survey! A few quick questions to help me plan for this year.

Order Bitter & Sweet: A Journey into Lent by Tsh Oxenreider

Learn more about Tsh at tshoxenreider.com
Follow Tsh on Twitter and Instagram.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

I had the great joy of welcoming author, psychologist, researcher and podcaster Hillary L. McBride, PhD to the show this week. We discussed the idea that our bodies are a source of wisdom and truth, the topic of her critically important new book, The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection Through Embodied Living. Hillary shared profound insights on the burdens our bodies bear when we ignore them, the ways Western colonialism has disembodied all of us, and how salvation itself can be a bodily reality. She offers helpful guidance for those of us getting used to being in-person again after COVID lockdowns, and more. I highly recommend this discussion and her book!

Order The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection Through Embodied Living (Canadian edition)
Order The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection Through Embodied Living (US edition)
Learn more about Hillary at hillarylmcbride.com
Follow Hillary on Twitter and Instagram.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

My new friend Daniel Bowman Jr. is my guest this week, and he shares his story of learning he was autistic as an adult. Daniel is an English professor and poet, and he shares the importance of understanding the different ways brains work, the gifts present in neurodiversity, and the importance of moving away from a pathology paradigm. We also discussed the life-giving rhythms of contemplative prayer for folks whose brains desire consistency and repetition. Daniel is the author of On The Spectrum: Autism, Faith, and the Gifts of Neurodiversity.

Order On The Spectrum: Autism, Faith, and the Gifts of Neurodiversity by Daniel Bowman Jr.
Learn more about Daniel at danielbowmanjr.com
Follow Daniel on Twitter and Instagram.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Kat Armas comes to the show this week to discuss embodiment, the sacredness of survival, and the faith of our grandmothers. Kat argues that our grandmothers, especially abuelitas in Latine cultures, function as live-in ministers particularly because the privilege to receive formal religious instruction is often unavailable. We all miss out on the unique, embodied, ways of knowing truth and practicing wisdom when we don’t turn our gaze to these figures who have been in our lives since before we were born. Kat’s book is called, Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach us About Wisdom, Persistence, and Strength, and it’s excellent. Check it out below!

Order Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach us About Wisdom, Persistence, and Strength, by Kat Armas.
Learn more about Kat at kararmas.com
Follow Kat on Twitter and Instagram.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Michael F. Bird, editor of The New Testament in its World with N.T. Wright returns this week to discuss things that he wishes Christians knew about the Bible. Mike is a scholar and theologian and his new book, 7 Things I Wish Christians Knew about the Bible, provides lots of fodder for thought and discussion. He lays out how the Bible came to be, how to respond to literalist claims about Scripture, examining why people should read the Apocrypha, and then we talk about critical race theory and why it’s important to read outside your own tradition, listening to the stories of folks who don’t look like you.

Order 7 Things I Wish Christians Knew about the Bible by Michael F. Bird
Read Mike’s blog at patheos.com/blogs/euangelion
Follow Mike on Twitter.

Order Evangelical Theology, Second Edition: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction by Michael F. Bird
Order Early Christian Readings of Genesis One: Patristic Exegesis and Literal Interpretation by Craig Allert
Mike’s review of African American Readings of Saul, by Lisa Bowen

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

This week, pastor and author Brian Zahnd returns to The Puddcast to discuss his new book, When Everything’s On Fire. This helpful and timely book is a sort of field guide to maintaining faith in a secular age, and so we unpacked deconstruction, modernism as a framework for secular society, Nietzsche’s predictions about the death of God, postmodernism and more. I asked Brian some very pointed questions about faith leaders espousing a faith we can’t support and why that’s led so many to deconstruction. It’s wonderful.

Order When Everything’s on Fire: Faith Forged from the Ashes by Brian Zahnd
Learn more about Brian at brianzahnd.com
Follow Brian on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.