Theosophia Podcast

Khortlan Becton is a native Houstonian. By the grace of God, she has received Bachelor's degrees from the University of Alabama in African American Studies and Religious Studies as well as a Master's of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Khortlan is passionate about affecting social change, serving underprivileged children and youth, and writing poetry. She will be attending law school in the Fall. 

In this episode, Kelsey and Khortlan talk about God as Mother and the myriad of ways God's character shines through women in motherly roles. 

Khortlan Becton is a native Houstonian. By the grace of God, she has received Bachelor's degrees from the University of Alabama in African American Studies and Religious Studies as well as a Master's of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Khortlan is passionate about affecting social change, serving underprivileged children and youth, and writing poetry. She will be attending law school in the Fall. 

The Rev. Kayla Bonewell joins us for a second episode about her church Cathedral of Hope’s prison ministry.  What started as visiting an incarcerated parishioner turned into a quarterly open and affirming worship service and pastoral care session for the many inmates at a prison in rural Oklahoma.

The Rev. Kayla Bonewell was born in Oklahoma City.  She earned a BA in Religion from Oklahoma City University (2002), a Master of Liberal Arts from Naropa University (2004), and a Master of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California (2008). Ordained in the United Church of Christ (2010), Kayla has ministry experience as a hospital chaplain, campus minister, social justice activist, youth minister, associate pastor, and solo pastor.  Her personal mission statement is “To empower community, through experiences of the divine, to lead lives of deep meaning, while cultivating health, peace, and beauty in our world.” She is passionate about relevant worship, spiritual growth, and community engagement.   She is currently the pastor in charge at two UCC churches in OKC, the Cathedral of Hope and Church of Open Arms.  

Kayla and Sarah have a candid conversation about the intersections of her faith, doubt and sexuality.  She shares her story of growing up with a passion for all things God and church but finding no refuge in her home church of the United Methodist tradition and her journey to finding a home in the UCC tradition.  They also chat about how the social landscape of Oklahoma has changed since we both grew up here and what gives her hope.

Rocky’s work is a ministry to those who have oppressed and harmed by people’s interpretations of the Bible.  The documentary traces the steps two scholars took in uncovering the history of how the word homosexual was put into the text nearly 50 years ago and subsequently used as a weapon against the LGBTQ community.  

This is a powerful and timely story for not just the queer community but all christians that have struggled with what they were taught about the biblical text in terms of sexuality and sin and how to treat others.  Rocky recounts how her story ran right into Kathy Baldock and Ed Oxford’s research on the translation team that put the word homosexual in the Bible and the divinity student who wrote the team telling them of their error that he predicted would be very costly on people’s lives.  

Forge Article: Has “Homosexual” always been in the Bible?
Follow Rocky's work on instagram and twitter @litthemovie
Website: litthemovie.com
Email: [email protected]

To honor Pride Month we are highlighting stories of LGBTQ women.  Rocky Roggio is a film maker out of Los Angeles, California.  Rocky shares that “As an LGBTQ female Christian, I have been navigating a religious environment that views me as “other,” “less than,” and “not equal,” for too long. These beliefs, held by many dear to my heart, have cast a dark, dangerous shadow over my life. After years of searching for my voice, and calling, as a storyteller, my path has led me here. It is my goal to change the Christian narrative and liberate the many LGBTQ people living in the dark; oppressed by bad theology. I want us all to live and be acknowledged as equals, under Gods love. There are truths that must be shared. We are here to share those truths.”

This week is part II with the Rev. Chelsea Yarborough.  Chelsea is a Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt in Homiletics and Liturgics in the Graduate Department of Religion. If you missed last week’s conversation I would highly recommend listening to that first episode.  As one of our friend’s commented, it is completely and utterly a delicious conversation on Chelsea’s notion that "if it’s not dialogical, it’s not ethical."  This second episode echoes this ethical framework - the process of homiletics and preaching should be transformative, authentic, real and vulnerable.  Ya’ll this one is full of wisdom bombs again so you may have to listen to it twice!

The Rev. Chelsea Brooke Yarborough is a Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt in Homiletics and Liturgics in the Graduate Department of Religion. She is an ordained minister, a poet, an enneagram enthusiast, and a lover of leadership development. Her motto is "live to love and love to live each day” and is excited to continue her journey of cultivating and engaging curiosity in all that she pursues. 

This week Kelsey and Sarah chat about stories to continue our mini series on Story.  We explore what it means to share stories, what stories do to us, how they impact the way we see the world, how we see ourselves and how stories are created and for what purpose.  

Kelsey and Margo dive deeper into the importance of story telling and how it can be a transformative practice.  Margo Guernsey is a filmmaker and director of Time Travel Productions LLC, a documentary film and media company.

This weeks episode is the beginning of a mini-series on Story.  Filmmaker Margo Guernsey shares her wisdom on the power of storytelling.  In theological language, this episode explores story as "hermeneutic." Hermeneutic is a fancy word for interpretation.  It is how a story shapes and informs our lives, as our lives influence how we hear/understand a story.