Together 4 Good: Making Sense of Life and Faith

Every December, it feels like the whole world is shouting buy more, hurry up, don’t miss out. And honestly? Most of us listen. Whether it’s a late-night Amazon cart or that one gift we’re convinced will finally make Christmas feel right, we all know the rhythm.

But underneath the purchasing and the pressure is something deeper — a soul-level ache that Advent invites us to notice rather than numb.

In this episode, I talk about the strange ways consumerism shapes us, why our desires feel endless, and how Advent meets us right in the middle of that frustrated longing. With a little help from Hagel, Lacan, and Peter Rollins (yes, we’re getting philosophical — but I promise, gently), we explore why waiting matters and how God might already be meeting us in the places we feel most incomplete.

Advent isn’t asking you to buy less stuff to be a better person. Advent is asking you to make space — in the ache, the boredom, the wanting — for the God who calls you enough before you even begin.

If you’ve ever wondered why the thrill of buying fades fast… or why your soul feels restless in December… this one’s for you.

00:00 — The weird thrill of online shopping01:00 — Why we buy more than we need03:00 — Capitalism, wants vs. needs, and the December pressure cooker05:00 — 3,000 ads a day: how marketing shapes our souls07:00 — The ache beneath our desire to buy09:00 — Advent as a season of lack, waiting, and holy discomfort10:00 — Hagel: God at work in tension and contradiction12:00 — Lacan: Why desire never satisfies14:00 — The secret is the lack15:00 — Peter Rollins: Christianity doesn’t erase the ache17:00 — God enters the messy, restless, lacking human experience18:00 — The Word tabernacles among us19:00 — Centering prayer and learning to sit with the ache20:00 — The manger as a space made ready21:00 — Asking better questions of our desires22:00 — A more abundant way to live this season

Chapters

This Advent, I’ve been sharing a short spoken-word piece each week—little moments to help us breathe, pay attention, and remember what God is growing in us during this season.Today, we’re talking about Joy and not the thin, glittery version December tries to sell us, but the deeper kind. The kind that actually holds.

Because if you’re anything like me, joy can feel a little buried this time of year. The lists get long.

The lights get loud. And somewhere between “too much” and “to-do”… joy gets jammed.

But Scripture reminds us: joy isn’t about pretending everything’s fine. Joy is what happens when grace finally gets our attention.

In this reflection, I explore the connection between the Greek words for joy and grace, why John the Baptist is such a surprising teacher of joy, and how stepping out of the spotlight might actually be the place where joy grows deepest.

My hope is that this simple poem gives you permission to stand where grace has placed you, breathe a little deeper, and recognize the light that God is already shining through you.

Make a plan and join us this Advent: https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

00:00 — Welcome & Advent mini-episode introduction00:37 — When joy gets buried under December01:15 — Joy vs. momentary happiness01:40 — The Greek roots of joy & grace02:08 — John the Baptist and the joy of knowing who you’re not03:05 — Why we chase titles—and why grace tells the truth03:40 — Joy as standing where grace has placed you04:10 — The good news of who you are (and who you’re not)04:40 — Blessing & Amen

Have you ever felt like the anticipation of Christmas is better than the arrival? 

My kids said that to me recently and honestly…they’re onto something. 

There’s something about the lead up. The lights going up, the music (I bet your favorite Christmas songs are actually hymns, looking at you “Joy to the World,”) the catalogs arriving, that stirs more excitement in us than the day itself.

And believe it or not Advent has always been focused on the magic of waiting.  

Today I’m talking about why waiting isn’t wasted time, and how Advent invites us to slow down, breathe a bit deeper, and resist the cultural pressure to hurry, buy, and cram every moment full. 

If the pace of this season feels more frantic than hopeful, consider this an invitation to step back for a moment and listen again for the quieter story Advent is trying to tell.

Make a plan to join us this season in-person or online: https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

00:00 — A very Advent greeting (and a nod to John the Baptist)

01:00 — Why Advent hymns might just be the best hymns

01:40 — Advent as a season of holy anticipation

02:10 — The “almost” feeling we love more than arrival

03:05 — Why we’re wired to enjoy the build-up

04:00 — Packaging, Oreos, and the psychology of wanting

06:10 — Is Advent playing into this? A surprising “yes and no”

07:20 — How Advent helps us unlearn the hurry

08:30 — Centering prayer and the gift of slowing down

10:10 — What surfaces when we finally get quiet

11:10 — Wilderness stories and the importance of in-between time

12:35 — Why we need space before we’re ready for Christmas

13:40 — Advent vs. cultural Christmas: two different rhythms

14:45 — Letting Advent reshape our pace

15:15 — A blessing for slowing down

This Advent season, we’re taking a few minutes each week to reflect on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. And to mix things up a bit, I’m sharing a short spoken-word piece every week.This week, I’m talking about Peace.

Advent Peace isn’t the soft, candle-lit word we print on cards. It’s not the “if I could just get my life together…” kind of peace. And it’s definitely not the version we try to manufacture by control, comfort, or numbing.

In the poem, I explore how real peace doesn’t show up in palaces or power structures — it shows up in the wilderness. In unexpected places. In unlikely people. And ultimately in Jesus, who brings peace not by force, but by presence.

If you’re carrying worry, striving for calm, or trying to hold it all together during a season that promises “peace and quiet” but rarely delivers… this reflection is for you.

Take a breath. Listen in. And let this be a reminder that peace isn’t something we achieve — it’s a gift already given.

Watch, reflect, and share if someone in your life needs a small moment of peace today.

Make a plan and join us this Advent: https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

00:00 — Opening Reflection: What Do We Mean by Peace?00:32 — The Peace We Chase (and Can’t Quite Catch)01:13 — Peace in Jesus’ Day: Power vs. Promise01:50 — The Wilderness Word: John’s Message02:28 — Peace as Gift, Not Achievement03:05 — Peace in the Manger, Cross, and Resurrection03:48 — Closing Invitation: Stop Running, Receive Peace

Every year, Advent shows up with candles, wreaths… and, strangely enough, apocalyptic readings. And if you’ve ever thought, “Wait—why are we talking about the end of the world when we’re gearing up for twinkle lights and baby Jesus?”—you’re in good company.

In this episode, I’m talking about why the church calendar always begins with the end. Why Jesus keeps bringing up apocalyptic moments. And why “apocalypse” doesn’t really mean destruction—it's about transformation.

I share a story about binge-watching House when my daughter Evelyn was a newborn (yes, really), and how a cliffhanger episode helped me understand what Advent is actually trying to teach us: We don’t know every detail of what’s ahead, but we do know how the story ends—with God gathering all things in love.

And maybe that’s why Martin Luther could say, “If I knew the world was going to end tomorrow, I’d still plant my apple tree today.” Because faith in an apocalyptic God isn’t about fear—it’s about hope. It’s about trusting that God is already in the future, pulling us toward something good, something whole, something new.

As we step into Bethany’s Advent theme, The Beginning of Everything, I pray this episode helps you hear those apocalyptic texts not as doom, but as a promise: Something new is beginning. Something hopeful. Something God-shaped.

Thanks for listening, and as always—stay in peace.

Sunday School Remix is a new Together 4 Good series re-examining familiar Bible stories to uncover what they really tell us about faith, humanity, and grace today.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/together-4-good-making-sense-of-life-and-faith/id1529196060 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0aFHcs9xjcRK54uXJzUBbH?si=VwBUEjyQQnieXyKHdkcfvA 🙏 Bethany Lutheran Church ELCA | Cherry Hills Village, CO https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

This Advent season, we’re taking a few minutes each week to reflect on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. And to mix things up a bit, I’m sharing a short spoken-word piece every week.

This week, I’m talking about Hope.

Hope and fear can live in the same space inside us — same heartbeat, same tight shoulders — but they push us in very different directions. Fear shuts us down. Hope asks us to open up, even just a little.

In this reflection, I’m naming that tension we all feel when life is unclear, and why Advent is the perfect time to lean toward hope while we wait for Jesus to show up.

If you’re needing that shift toward hope this week, I’m right there with you.

Join us this season https://bethany-denver.org

In this Sunday School Remix I take another look at one of Jesus’ most well known miracles, the feeding of the 5,000, and explore a different angle than what many of us learned in Sunday School. Yes, Jesus multiplies bread and fish, but what if that is not the only miracle happening on that hillside?

As I walk through the story, I share:

• Why this is one of the only miracles recorded in all four gospels

• The small detail most people miss, Jesus organizing the crowd into little communities

• What happens in our hearts when someone goes first in generosity

• Why “You give them something to eat” might be the real invitation

• How gratitude, neuroscience, and faith overlap in surprising ways

• Why Thanksgiving is not only giving thanks but giving it back

• How sharing even a little of what we have can bring God’s kingdom closer
  

My hope is that this story shapes your Thanksgiving week with a deeper sense of abundance, gratitude, and community.

Thank you for being here. Truly.Stay in peace, friends.

Sunday School Remix is a new Together 4 Good series re-examining familiar Bible stories to uncover what they really tell us about faith, humanity, and grace today.

 💬 Tell us what story you want to see remixed next! 🙏 Bethany Lutheran Church ELCA | Cherry Hills Village, CO https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

📍 Listen & Subscribe:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/together-4-good-making-sense-of-life-and-faith/id1529196060 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0aFHcs9xjcRK54uXJzUBbH?si=VwBUEjyQQnieXyKHdkcfvA

You’ve heard the story of Adam and Eve before: a snake, an apple, a garden, and a whole lot of trouble.But what if that’s not what the story was ever meant to be about?

In this first episode of Sunday School Remix, Pastor Nate digs into the Garden of Eden story with grown-up eyes. Together, we look at how this ancient story speaks to our world today, where we still wrestle with control, guilt, and the temptation to “play God.”

Maybe the serpent wasn’t Satan.Maybe the fruit wasn’t an apple.And maybe the real “fall” was never about disobedience at all — but about shame and blame.

In this episode:

• The surprising details Genesis actually says (and doesn’t say)
  
• Why calling the serpent “Satan” misses the point
  
• The connection between the fig tree and Jesus’ last week
  
• How shame and blame became humanity’s oldest reflex
  
• What it means to let God be God — and live unashamed
  

✨ Sunday School Remix is a new Together 4 Good series re-examining familiar Bible stories to uncover what they really tell us about faith, humanity, and grace today.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/together-4-good-making-sense-of-life-and-faith/id1529196060 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0aFHcs9xjcRK54uXJzUBbH?si=VwBUEjyQQnieXyKHdkcfvA

💬 Tell us what story you want to see remixed next! 🙏 Bethany Lutheran Church ELCA | Cherry Hills Village, CO https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

When faith feels complicated or life gets messy, why do we still show up?

In this guest-hosted episode of Together 4 Good: Making Sense of Life and Faith, Kimberly—Bethany’s podcast producer—takes over while Pastor Nate is away and looks back at our summer series, Why Are You Still Here? This collection of stories from the Bethany community reminds us what keeps us grounded in faith—hope, belonging, and grace.

From the “God-size hole” that faith fills to the “foreverness” of church that anchors us, these voices reflect what it really means to be part of something bigger than ourselves. You’ll hear moments of honesty, humor, and deep connection that show how faith is lived through people—on mountaintops, in worship, and everywhere in between.

💙 Whether you’ve been at church forever or you’re just finding your way back, may these stories remind you why you’re still here, too.

🎧 Listen now:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/together-4-good-making-sense-of-life-and-faith/id1529196060 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0aFHcs9xjcRK54uXJzUBbH?si=VwBUEjyQQnieXyKHdkcfvA

Follow Bethany Lutheran Church for more reflections and the best moments from the show: https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

It’s Pastor Nate’s birthday episode and he’s using it to talk about one of his favorite topics: spirituality in everyday life.

Because let’s be honest sometimes faith can start to feel like another thing on the to-do list.

Go to church. 

Read your Bible.

Say your prayers.And all of that matters, but having faith is so much more than just going to church or reading your Bible.

It’s about connection and relationships. Remembering that God is bigger than any one practice or person.

After 15 years as a pastor, Nate admits that worship and Bible study can sometimes feel more like work than rest, so he’s learned to look for God in other places, too:

in gratitude before a meal,in a walk under the trees,in the rhythm of a ritual that brings you peace,or even in a sticky note on your bathroom mirror that reminds you:God’s here.

He shares how the Bible talks about forgetting and remembering God and how spiritual practices are really just ways to help us remember who God is, who we are, and who we’re called to love.

📖 In this episode:

• Forgetfulness vs. sin and why “ah shoot, I forgot” might be a gentler way to understand grace
  

• How your faith practices can change with the seasons of your life
  

• Why ritual and repetition (yes, even lighting the same Advent wreath every year) matter
  

• What gratitude and nature teach us about remembering God
  

• And why even a few seconds of stillness can be an act of worship
  

This episode is a reminder that God’s already here — in your work, your car, your chaos, and your quiet. You don’t have to be in church to be close to Him.

🎧 Listen now:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/together-4-good-conversations-on-faith-family-and/id1529196060

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0aFHcs9xjcRK54uXJzUBbH?si=VwBUEjyQQnieXyKHdkcfvA

Follow Bethany Lutheran Church for more reflections and the best moments from the show: https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver