Faithfully Creative

The extending piece of being a person of welcome… offers a more substantial sense of belonging than if we were to only consume. - Sarah Westfall My humanity needs space for nothingness. It needs to become settled once again… so that sometime in the future again, I can exhale and give again. - Sarah Westfall In this episode, Matt has a conversation with Sarah Westfall. Sarah is a full-time writer, speaker, and podcast host whose work delves into the complexities of communal life. She is the author of The Way of Belonging: Reimagining Who You Are and How We Relate and writes regularly on her Substack, Human Together. Her podcast has the same name and the amazing tagline: a podcast for people who agree it is not good to be alone (but secretly wonder whether it might be easier). We have a great conversation about why humans long to belong, how helping others belong is a creative act, and also a great discussion about all things writing! Books & Links Sarah’s Website Our Unforming: De-Westernizing Spiritual Formation by Cindy S. Lee The Way of Belonging Get full access to Faithfully Creative at mattbrough.substack.com/subscribe

“To live a creative life, we do have to make a choice to live in courage, to be willing to be vulnerable and to put ourselves out there.” In this episode Matt has a conversation with Stephen Roach. Stephen is host of the Makers and Mystics podcast and founder of The Breath and The Clay creative arts organization. Stephen travels as a keynote speaker and event curator conducting workshops and events centred on the exploration of creativity and the spiritual life. He has penned five volumes of poetry, an illustrated children’s book, and 2 other books including Naming The Animals: An Invitation To Creativity. Stephen is a multi-instrumentalist with a background in ethnomusicology and film composition. His musical group, Songs of Water composes for film and television including the award-winning Australian animated short, Teacups. Stephen has contributed to the works of recording artists Ricky Skaggs, Josh Garrels, Jonathan and Melissa Helser, John Mark McMillan and others. Matt and Stephen talk about: * Courage and Vulnerability in the Creative Life * Co-creative partnership between God and humanity, where God leaves room for human contribution and delight. * The importance of sabbath, rest, and the place of contemplation and wonder. * Embracing the process rather than obsessing over outcomes Selected Links/Books * Makers & Mystic Podcast * Breath & the Clay * On Writing by Stephen King * The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel * Naming the Animals: An Invitation to Creativity by Stephen Roach Get full access to Faithfully Creative at mattbrough.substack.com/subscribe

"If we believe we're made in the image of God, a creator God, then that image in us is creative. It's a way of engaging with that divine spark." In this episode, Matt has a conversation with Shari Green. Shari writes fiction and poetry for children and young adults. Her latest book, SONG OF FREEDOM, SONG OF DREAMS, is a 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award finalist. Her other novels in verse include GAME FACE, MISSING MIKE, Schneider Family Book Award winner MACY McMILLAN AND THE RAINBOW GODDESS, and ROOT BEER CANDY AND OTHER MIRACLES. Shari’s books have been included on international “best of” lists and selected for numerous provincial and state readers’-choice programs. Much of the conversation centres on Shari’s latest, Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams which has strong themes connected to music and faith and centres around a young pianist in East Germany trying to make sense of love, duty, and the pursuit of dreams during the unsettled months of protest that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Shari and Matt talk about: * Music/art as a way of processing difficult emotions, connecting with God, and also a vehicle and catalyst in supporting social change. * Art and faith as a means of finding normalcy, hope, and purpose in challenging times. * How both faith and creativity are about an openness to awe, wonder, and mystery. Links / Books * Shari Green’s Website * Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams Get full access to Faithfully Creative at mattbrough.substack.com/subscribe

"The church doesn’t need to be full of professional artists to be creative. Creativity is about engaging our neighbourhoods with imagination and love." In this episode, Matt has a conversation with Dr. Mark Glanville. He currently works as the Director of the Centre for Missional Leadership at St. Andrew’s Hall at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and is the author of 5 books. He has pastored in creative, justice-seeking churches for 14 years in both Canada and Australia and has played jazz piano professionally for 30 years. Through a variety of lenses, Mark shows how the Bible is forming churches that extend the tenderness of Jesus in their particular neighbourhood. Matt and Mark talk about: * The parallel between artists and Christ followers, seeing both as seekers of truth. * The role of beauty, creativity, experimentation, and discernment in the Church. * Preaching as an artistic craft. Links / Books * Mark Glanville’s website * Centre for Missional Leadership * Preaching in a New Key: Crafting Expository Sermons in Post-Christian Communities * Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul Get full access to Faithfully Creative at mattbrough.substack.com/subscribe

“Creativity is a response to being loved. Whether through poetry, music, or even gardening, it’s how we express our connection to the sacred.”—Kaitlin Curtice In this episode, Matt has a conversation with Kaitlin Curtice. Kaitlin is an award-winning author, poet-storyteller, and public speaker. As a citizen of the Potawatomi nation, Kaitlin writes on the intersections of spirituality and identity and how that shifts throughout our lives. Her books include, Native: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God and Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day. She also has a series titled An Indigenous Celebration of Nature — four children’s books on the seasons, the latest, Spring’s Miracles, released on March 4, 2025. Besides her books, Kaitlin has written online for Sojourners, Religion News Service, On Being, SELF Magazine, Oprah Daily, and has been featured on CBS and in USA Today. She writes essays and poetry for The Liminality Journal found on Substack. Matt and Kaitlin talk about: * Creativity as an Act of Healing & Resistance * Embodiment as integral to both Spirituality and Creativity * The need for both decolonization (breaking away from colonial structures and mindsets) and Indigenization (infusing Indigenous wisdom and practices back into daily life). * The role of representation in art and how artists, particularly writers, might sensitively approach representing diverse cultures. Links/Books * Kaitlin’s Author Website, where you can find details about most of her writing, including Living Resistance and Native. * The Liminality Journal on Substack * Definitely, check out Kaitlin’s latest book, Spring’s Miracles! Get full access to Faithfully Creative at mattbrough.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Matt talks with Laura Alary. Laura is the author of over 20 books (a few are on their way to publication). On her website, she claims to “write stories that make us bigger on the inside” and explains that “…means my books make you think. Wonder. Ask big questions. Maybe understand other people a bit better. Some of them are serious. Some are funny. Most are a bit of both. But they all aim to stretch minds and hearts.” This conversation was so rich and full of wonder as we spoke about: * Creativity as intrinsic to being human, reflecting the image of the Creator. * The hopeful orientation of Christian artistic expression * Having a more broad view of vocation as not just an unexpected calling but as something that “lights you up” and aligns with natural gifts and passions. * The power of Children’s Books especially in rediscovering a sense of wonder and connection to faith * The role and importance of curiosity * Laura’s approach to writing Links / Books * Laura Alary’s Website * Rise: A Child’s Guide to Eastertide * The Astronomer Who Questioned Everything Get full access to Faithfully Creative at mattbrough.substack.com/subscribe

In this inaugural episode of the newly minted Faithfully Creative Podcast, Matt has a conversation with Merideth Hite Estevez. She is a Juilliard-trained oboist, Doctor of Musical Arts, author, coach, and speaker who helps self-identified artists and the creatively curious recover the joy of making. Merideth is host of the Artists for Joy podcast and author of The Artist’s Joy: a guide to Getting Unstuck, embracing imperfection, and loving your creative life. We talk about: * Her journey from experiencing burnout as a musician and academic to supporting artists in rediscovering joy in creativity. * Creativity as a spiritual practice, and what it might mean to reframe creative practice as “devotion.” * Having a portfolio life and making room for regular creativity even when you are busy. * What a writing coach or creative coach does. Resources / Books Mentioned * Merideth’s website, where you can find her podcast “Artists for Joy” and details about her excellent book. * Merideth’s Substack * Ann Kroeker’s website (Ann was Merideth’s writing coach) * The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron * The War of Art by Steven Pressfield Faithfully Creative is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Faithfully Creative at mattbrough.substack.com/subscribe

Note: The personal essay below is most of this podcast episode. You may either listen or read. Your choice! As I’ve attempted to move toward a more regular pattern of writing, I’ve decided to change the name of this Substack newsletter and also change the name and essentially re-launch my podcast. Both will now be called “Faithfully Creative.” My aim is to stay on the same trajectory that I’ve been on—writing and speaking about creativity, imagination, faith, spirituality, theology, God. The banner of “Faithfully Creative” is broad enough to encompass all of this, but hopefully it will provide a bit of focus as well. Before I lay out some specifics, I have a small confession, and then a bit of a personal story. First, the confession… As I look back on my life, a lot of the time I have been reluctantly creative. It may not seem like that to the outsider looking in. But the outsider can’t really see fully in, can they? They can’t see my hesitancy, fear, my almost-devotion to second-guessing. I’ve been in this world long enough to know know that imposter syndrome is real and won’t ever fully go away. I also know that I do better when I lean into creativity. I am more fully alive when I engage in creative practice. I am most myself when I have regular occasions to explore something new. This confession is reason enough to call this newsletter and associated podcast “Faithfully Creative.” The name is aspirational for me. I want to be less reluctant and more faithful toward the creative call. I promised you a story… I was a very shy kid and teenager. I certainly never would have wanted to be on a stage and yet when I look back I am surprised by the stages I ended up on. My entire grade nine english class had to be in the play. Our teacher, Ms. Peterson, wrote it with some help from William Shakespeare. It was called “The Shakespearean Spell,” and it had two modern-day narrators who provided the thread that strung together scenes from various Bard plays that featured the supernatural. We, of course, had the witches from Macbeth and Hamlet’s ghost. A Midsummer Night’s Dream provided comic relief. I can still remember my friend having to play the part of Bottom and kind of loving it, especially the scene where he got affectionate attention from Titania. I ended up having two roles from different plays. Other than my horror at having to perform in front of actual people, I was basically okay being Hamlet. I wasn’t as thrilled to play Oberon who is dubbed “king of the fairies.” I was shocked that my fellow mid-1990s teen thespians didn’t make more innapropriate jokes than they did. After the rousing success of the grade nine play, a few of my friends got the acting bug. At least I think they did ,because in grade ten and eleven they went about pressuring the same english teacher to let us do more. We did a read through of “The Lady’s Not for Burning” by Tom Stoppard but I can’t remember putting it on. We did end up performing scenes from “The Princess Bride.” We chose the part where the man in black bests the swordsman, the giant, and the so-called smart one. I got to play the “smart one” who lost to the man in black in the battle of wits to the death, a role played in the movie by a short bald guy. Perfect for my lanky fifteen-year-old almost 6 foot 3 frame. Still, this one was fun. In grade eleven, we put on “As You like It.” More Shakespeare! Anyone in the school could audition for “As You like It,” but the cast was mostly my friends. I perhaps should mention here that I never saw myself as the centre of my friend group. I was by far the most reserved out of all of them. But, I was also the only one out of all of them who sang. I’d always been in the school choir, I had sung in church, and my family sang together, The Beatles and “The Sound of Music” on long road trips most memorable. I had sung some solos before with school choir and I hadn’t yet died on the spot, so I put my name in for the part of Amiens, the...

This amazing conversation with Juno-award winning musician, Steve Bell, was the 9th episode of the Spirituality for Ordinary People Podcast. I felt like it was worth re-sharing, and have also included the original “show notes” below. You can also get a transcript by reading this post in the substack app or on the substack website. This interview was such an amazing experience, recorded in Steve’s own studio in Winnipeg. Steve was incredibly gracious and generous with his time and his honest sharing. Steve shared a ton in this episode, and you can find all kinds of links below that reference just some of what Steve spoke about. Thanks for reading Noticing Delight! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This podcast episode also features several of Steve’s songs, used with his permission. CONNECT WITH STEVE BELL * Steve’s Website – stevebell.com * Pilgrim Year * Steve’s Albums SOME OF WHAT WE COVERED IN THE INTERVIEW: * Following Jesus as a Pathway * Interactions with First Nations People and the effect on Spirituality * The unhelpfulness of some of Western Christianity’s theological assumptions for our spirituality. * Spirituality as relationality and grounded in the Trinity * Reading as Spiritual practice and way in to inner quiet * Scripture as art * The role of music and art in spiritual formation * Kindly guides for understanding art (and spirituality) * Being deliberate with your Spiritual “diet” to be spiritually healthy. QUOTES * “The Bible starts with the goodness of creation.” * “[You should] read 80% from people who are dead and 20% from people who are alive” * “If there is this deep relationality that goes beyond words and mere ideas, we need art to get there.” LINKS, RESOURCES, AND PEOPLE * Terry Leblanc, Ray Aldred, Cheryl Bear and North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies – http://www.naiits.com/ * Richard Twiss – His books * Theresa of Avila – http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=208 * John of the Cross – http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=65 * Edith Stein – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Stein * G.K. Chesterton – http://www.chesterton.org/who-is-this-guy/ * C. S. Lewis – http://www.cslewis.com/ * Charles Williams – http://www.charleswilliamssociety.org.uk/ * Gerard Manly Hopkins – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Manley_Hopkins * Godric, a novel by Frederick Buechner Thanks for reading Noticing Delight! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

There are certain Christian traditions that seem talk about how we need more “Bible-based teaching.” These same traditions that tend to indicate that they are elevating the Bible and take pride in “understanding the Bible literally” or, if they actually deign to admit that it is impossible to take the entire Bible literally because, well, least of all, there are poems in the Bible (even an entire book of poetry called the Psalms) and you can’t actually take a poem literally or you’ve totally missed the point, then they will instead declare that they, and maybe only they, are “taking the Bible seriously.” Some of these same traditions have churches and leaders who have done things like silence women, perpetuate abuse and discrimination, gather enormous wealth, or created their own kingdoms and then done what is “necessary” to protect them. (See the Secrets of Hillsong documentary, and the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast) I’m not usually one to criticize other Christian traditions, but my aggravation at the way certain segments of the Christian Church are seen as representative of the entire Christian Tradition has grown in recent years. I usually want to try and just get along. Let’s just keep talking about grace and do our best to love one another. But still, I have become sick of a term like “Bible-believing” being far-too-often a code for a supposed God-sanctioned exclusion of anyone who is not a white man. How is it that “Bible-believing” has come to mean in some circles that because there are a few places in the New Testament that have references like “women be silent in church” or “wives submit to your husbands” that that gives “wise male leaders” the right to subjugate women and pretty much anyone else they deem “less than” by using an institution that is actually meant to represent a community that is also described in that same New Testament as one where “there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus?” (Galatians 3:28) If I’m a leader in a true “Bible-believing church,” shouldn’t I be shining a light on ALL the heroes of the faith, instead of just a select few? How about people like Sarah, Deborah, Hannah, Ruth, Naomi, or Elizabeth, just to name a few? And indeed what about Mary? Should we silence Jesus’ mother in the church? In some churches it seems so, because how can Mary’s song be heard as anything other than just a personal song of praise (I guess women are allowed to have those) in places that continue to perpetuate power for the few at the expense of others? Mary sings - and I’m just quoting the Bible here… He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:52-53) Hmm. I’m thinking there words are a little hard to swallow while flying in your private jet to your next speaking gig at the Bible believing mega-church where your college buddy is the head pastor? I’m sick of seeing Christianity being portrayed as synonymous with corruption, abuse, discrimination, and the like. And I don’t want to defend the religion of Christianity. I want to instead point to the Bible, not as a proof-text about how to see things my way, but because it has a ton to say against the corruption of power, especially when that power is claimed as divine right. As a Christian, I am supposed to see things through the lens of Jesus Christ and Jesus didn’t do any of the manipulating, excluding, discriminating, or defending or bolstering of his power or authority that you see among church leadership in certain circles. Sure, we can say, that if Jesus is God incarnate, then he simply **has** all power and authority (no defending needed), and we ought to just be obedient subjects. But interestingly, Jesus himself didn’t even make that argument. He spoke of coming to serve and not be served. Instead of consolidating power and protecting his inner circle so that they would keep him in place so his...

A podcast episode based on a written reflection first posted to the Noticing Delight Substack. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

Reading is interpreting. We know this more keenly than ever because we interpret all the time. You receive an email announcing that you have won a cruise. You read just a bit of it and already you have done your interpretation. It is spam or a scam. You delete it or send it to your Junk Mail folder. You read a news story and wonder if they have really got all their facts straight. Where is the news from? Is it the Globe and Mail or the National Post? NBC or Fox News? You interpret what you read or watch accordingly based on the source, on your beliefs, and probably a host of other things. The same goes for novels, plays, movies, TV shows. You are reading or watching, and interpreting. All the time. Reading the Bible isn’t any different. We don’t just read and get “the facts” or “the plain meaning.” Interpretation happens. One of the most important things to pay attention to is what we can call the narrative arc of Scripture. When reading the Bible one really must enter the world of the story. We often zero in on something small, but we also must zoom out to take in the wideness and wonder. We aim to resist proof-texting (quoting a single verse to just prove a point). Instead, we read one verse in light of another, a story in light of the law, a letter in light of a psalm, a series of proverbs in light of the book of Job and on and on. Thanks for reading Noticing Delight! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. So knowing something about the overall arc of scripture is important for us as we interpret particular parts of Scripture. When starting at the beginning, we discover that God created all that is and called it good. This seems to be as good a founding principle as anything. Creation is good, the animals are good, human beings are good. Then, there is a fall from original goodness. Things get twisted or distorted. And then, as we read forward in the story, there is a grand restoration. We could see this narrative arc as life - death - new life, remembering always that there is an original goodness. So, anytime we come up against a thought, or a whisper, or a hint of anything in all creation, and most especially humans (called images of the divine), being talked about as less-than, we know that this is simply not in line with the overall arc of Scripture that is emphatic about the high worth and goodness of all that has been created. The arc of scripture points to prevenient grace, a technical term that basically means grace before anything else. God’s grace is not primarily seen as a response to some terrible thing that humans have done. It is not that the Almighty is waiting “up there” watching for us to slip up, to transgress, so He can decide suddenly at that point, to be gracious. No, God’s grace is THE starting point. God is gracious. God’s love is a constant: in good times and bad, when we get it right and when we get it wrong. The overall arc of scripture points to creation and then re-creation. There is something new that God is doing. It also points to God being all about justice and grace at the very same time. Justice and grace are not opposites in God’s way of doing things. They belong together. The overall arc of scripture is not best communicated in concepts, but in story. This is why we might call it the narrative arc of Scripture. There is a story of God with a particular people. There is wandering in the wilderness, the experience of exile from home, and there is the jubilation of return. There is a garden with a tree of life at the beginning and a broken relationship between God and humans, and then stories about gardens and a tree of life and the reconciliation of God and humans toward the end. There is certainly far more that could be said about the narrative arc of Scripture, and in particular, what to do with the more challenging bits, but the important thing for us is that we enter into the narrative. You see, we are shaped by story, and this particular...

You can listen to the version audio or read the full reflection (transcript) below: The fact that we hold this collection of books as sacred (or if you personally don’t, you may at least agree that there is deep ancient wisdom there), is enough to say that we may want to do our best to understand what the Bible is all about. Interpreting the Bible can be challenging but, believe it or not, it can also be fun, and diving into understanding the bible through imaginative engagement with the stories, letters, poems and more that lie within its pages can be deeply rewarding, even life-changing. On Saturday, Nov 18th, 2023 from 9:30 to 11:30, I will be offering a workshop on Interpreting the Bible Imaginatively. (In person only at 590 University Cres, Winnipeg) Email me if you plan to come! The idea for this started when last year someone asked me about where ideas for some of my sermons come from. They were basically commenting on how they seemed to “get more out of it” when listening to a sermon about a particular text than when they would read the same text on their own. This isn’t really that surprising. It is almost always better to be in a community setting when trying to understand the Bible (or any text). Also, I spend many hours on a given sermon, I went to seminary, and I have over twenty years of preaching experience. At the same time, I really believe that there are things anyone can learn to help them in their understanding of the Bible, and one of the greatest things we can learn is how to read Scriptures while engaging our imaginations. What do I mean by that? Part of it is giving yourself permission. Permission to play with the text, to wonder, to ask questions, to focus in on specific images or words, and to focus out on the wider story arc, seeking connections with other parts of the Bible. This is what we will learn and practice together at our little 2 hour workshop on Nov 18th, but for now, here’s a bit of a reflection on some of the challenges of this approach… It can sometimes be hard to interpret scripture by using our imagination because we can feel hemmed in by a number of things. We may feel restricted by tradition, by particular teaching that is ingrained in us. We may feel constrained by certain concepts of God. We may have been taught that God absolutely must be this way or that way. We may feel trapped by particular philosophies, world-views, or pedagogies. For example, we may subtly believe that authority is never to be questioned, or we may believe the opposite: that no authority is to be trusted. We may somehow feel limited by the Bible itself. Shouldn’t we look at more than just scripture? Or we may feel paralyzed by a lack of biblical knowledge and so we hesitate to jump in. For some of us, we have been taught not to trust ourselves, or that our thoughts or ideas do not have value, or are probably wrong. Or we don’t want to risk sharing something that we imagine coming from a biblical text for fear that we will sound stupid, or that others with more theological knowledge might shut us down or shame us. Maybe we’ve been shut down before. Another reason it can be hard to interpret scripture imaginatively is because we have a sense that the Bible is sacred, and so to wrestle with it, question it, read against it at times, or play with it, might seem somehow irreligious or just plain wrong. But, perhaps the most difficult barrier to interpreting scripture imaginatively is that many of us have all but lost our ability to imagine at all. We are more used to formulas, processes, techniques, and the application of critical methods. Of course, we can learn those tools as well and they can be of great help, but imagination is another matter, and is actually, for the average reader of the Bible, more readily available, and dare I say, more fun to employ. When confronted with a story from the bible it might be very useful to ask “what is the historical context of this story?” We may even have a...

The fifth in a 5-part series for Advent/Christmas 2022. He is born among us and is one of us. The incarnation. God with us and with intent, with imagination and creativity. Bearer of hope, and peace, and joy, and love. And so, we can be religious about the incarnation. As God came into the world and loved the place and people to which He came, we can do the same. You can see the places you find yourself through God’s eyes. You can be incarnational about where you are. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

The fourth in a 5-part series for Advent/Christmas 2022. The final advent theme is Love. Love is so central. It is at the core of who we are as human beings. We naturally love. Think of parents, children, grandchildren, wives, husbands, true friends. And our faith takes us further with love. Over and over we are asked to give ourselves to love. To be religious about it. To let our love reflect divine love. As we move toward Christmas, we glimpse once again God with is. Love incarnate. Love itself in human form, for God is love. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

The third in a 5-part series for Advent/Christmas 2022. What if joy was something you could simply choose? We tend to think joy is something that happens to us. It isn’t in our control. We would love to feel joyful, but that is really hard to do day in and day out. Is it the same as just being happy all the time? No, not really. So, what would it mean to be religious about joy? To say yes to joy, to make joy part of the pattern of our life. To give ourselves over to joy... This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

The second in a 5-part series for Advent 2022. Being religious about something is about devotion, it’s about commitment. It is about staying the course even when you don’t feel like it. We are compelled to stay with it. We’ve made it our religion, and ours is a religion of peace. War is rampant, but we claim peace. Jesus claimed “Blessed are the Peacemakers” and declared that they would be called the children of God. On Sunday, we share peace with one another. It is a sign of having reconciled relationships. Of a healing between us. Peace is far more than an end of war. It isn’t about tolerating each other. It is things being set right. How they truly ought to be. It is a massive concept in the scriptures. The Hebrew word Shalom is peace, healing, wholeness, salvation. And we are people of this shalom. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

The first in a 5-part series for Advent/Christmas 2022. Getting religious about hope is not about being unrealistic or having some pie-in-the sky, everything will always be totally fine attitude. Religiously hoping means a full on acknowledgment of life in all its mess, brokenness, and still we fend off cynicism. We lament, but we don’t despair. We don’t just “hope everything gets a bit better soon.” We go bigger than that. We hope for complete renewal. We hope for reconciliation. We hope for a new heaven and a new earth... This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

"From now on you will be catching people" - Jesus says this to his followers and it does not sound positive at all. Catching people? So, the job of people who follow Jesus is to go and "catch" others? Trap them? Trick them into something? I'm going to just say NO to all of that, but also say that when Jesus said this, there was something far more going on (no surprise - it's Jesus!). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

Matt welcomes AJ Sherrill for a conversation around a book that has one of the most amazing sub-titles of all time! - Being With God: The Absurdity, Necessity, and Neurology of Contemplative Prayer. AJ is the Lead Pastor at St. Peter's Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and is an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he teaches popular courses on transformational preaching and the Enneagram. Visit is website at https://www.ajsherrill.org/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com