Crazy Faith Talk

To hear the opening story of creation in the Bible tell it, all of God's creation, and all its many forms of life, all fit together supporting one another and giving life to one another. Human beings, too, are placed in a role of being stewards who nurture life, who help foster its growth with beauty, and we find our own sense of purpose at least partially in how we care for the world God made and has entrusted to our stewardship. In a sense, both our ability to care for creation and our ability to appreciate its splendor, complexity, and goodness are part of what it means to be human. In other words, it makes us more fully alive to care for other things that are alive as well. So... what might that mean for us in the twenty-first century? In this week's episode of Crazy Faith Talk, we'll explore how our vocation to care for creation brings us to life as individuals, households, communities, and congregations. We'll look at the spiritual and personal as well as projects we might take on as church or neighborhood, and see how we might be made more fully alive through them. So join pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve around the microphone this week in our latest episode for Eastertide of Crazy Faith Talk.

Sometimes it can feel like we have huge burdens of responsibility placed on us and we don't know how to let them go or catch our breath. When the things you usually enjoy or have a sense of accomplishment from seem fruitless, or when your bad days outnumber your good days at work or home, you may be moving beyond just tired to burning out. And that can be a great deal more difficult to recover from. So what can help renew us or bring us back to life--or offer some guardrails to help keep us from going over the edge of a cliff--when we find ourselves headed in the wrong direction like that? That's the conversation we're having on this episode of Crazy Faith Talk, as part of our Eastertide series on "what gives life." Pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve will explore their own personal tells that warn them they're headed into something like burnout, as well as what can be helpful for life in the church as well as all of our areas of life for being renewed when we're worn down and weary. In a conversation that ranges from Studio Ghibli movies to Brother Lawrence's "Practicing the Presence of God" to Jesus taking naps in boats and Elijah complaining to God, there's an entry point here for you. Check out this week's Crazy Faith Talk.

The storytelling in the book of Acts records the spread of the early Jesus-movement like it was an explosion--it can seem like the first generation of Christians had it all figured out and reached every corner of their world with lighting-fast speed and unmitigated success. But even just a closer, more honest, read of the New Testament reminds us that the early church had both times of rapid progress and also times of slow growth, and neither of those are "wrong." Sometimes we tell ourselves that we have to be doing everything all the time at a non-stop pace in order to be faithful, but Jesus himself offers us a better way, where we take things at a manageable pace and find our work together as church is life-giving again because it's not constantly overwhelming us. As we take another look at what it means to say that the risen Jesus gives us life, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve explore how it can be life-giving to shift our thinking as church folks from running a sprint to being in a marathon, and how we pace ourselves for the long haul accordingly.

Easter celebrates the good news that Jesus' resurrection somehow gives life and hope for us all, but... what exactly do we mean by that? In a new series for this Eastertide, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve take a look at what we mean when we talk about Jesus giving us life. And starting with what might seem obvious, we start with the way the early Christian community made the startling claim that Jesus' resurrection means something for everyone, not just Jesus. Unlike Greek and Roman stories of gods, demigods, or heroes who die and come back to life, the Christian story from the beginning claimed that Jesus' resurrection didn't just apply to him, but meant something for all of humanity through Christ. And beyond the thought of life AFTER death, the Gospels show us Jesus bringing people more fully to life in other ways--healing them from illness, restoring them to community when they had been ostracized, offering forgiveness for those who couldn't see a way forward, and more. So in this first episode, we'll explore how Jesus' life, death, and resurrection give us life, and how they point us also toward hope for the universe itself in new creation. Check it out here on Crazy Faith Talk.

Throughout the season of Lent, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve have been looking at practices and disciplines that are often taken up in the season of Lent--things like new ways of prayer, fasting [whether from food or other things], and generosity. But once we leave behind the forty days of Lent, what are we supposed to do? How might some practices continue on as part of our long-term Christian life? What things do we leave behind, while carrying on what we have learned from them? And how do we make sure we don't reduce these spiritual practices to a mere "box" to be checked off in our faith-life? This is where our conversation is headed today in this week's episode of Crazy Faith Talk.

Throughout the season of Lent, many Christians take on new practices or return to annual disciplines to refocus our faith and discipleship. Over the course of these weeks, pastors Sarah, Steve, and Erica have explored some of those traditional practices, ranging from fasting to prayer to almsgiving and other sorts of variations on them. But as Lent turns to Holy Week, a different kind of ancient practice comes to the center of our attention: we retell, and even rehearse, stories. The observances of Holy Week, from the procession with palms to the washing of feet to the growing darkness of Good Friday, and beyond, all are part of the ancient rhythms of the church's time-keeping. And in a sense, they are also faith practices--or rather they are all part of being "re-storied" each year with the central events and meaning of Jesus' cross and resurrection. And instead of "doing" more--like fasting, praying more, or giving more--this re-storying is something we let happen to us, to be reshaped again in the cruciform love of Jesus. In the coming days, we'll have the chance to gather with others in the Christian community to mark the events of Jesus' last days and the hope of resurrection, and in this episode we'll unpack a little of what happens at each of those moments.

So far this Lent, we've looked at creative ways to fast, either from food or in uses of our time and technology, and we've looked at creative ways of praying. But how can we be "creative" in giving away money? What's the difference between giving to my local church for its regular maintenance and ministry work and charitably giving to others in need? And do I get to put strings or conditions on money or resources I donate to others? In this week's episode of Crazy Faith Talk, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve explore these questions as we look at another traditional discipline of Lent: almsgiving. And once again, we're invited to blow off the dust from an old idea and perhaps rediscover how practicing generosity makes us able to live in God's economy of grace daily right now. Check it out here.

When you want to deepe your relationship with another person or reconnect with them after a season of growing apart, you make time to connect with them. What if we saw the church's season of Lent as a chance to do the same with God by deepening our prayer lives? And what if, instead of making that "one more thing to do" that we felt we have to check off our already-busy schedules, we looked for ways to pray that are more than scripted moments or laundry lists of requests and names, but much more open and honest about our needs, our struggles, our hopes, our worries, and even the times we don't know how to put things into words? In this episode of our series on Lenten practices, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve take a look at new ways to "experiment" in prayer, which might work well for a season like Lent, or beyond. Join us in this conversation, as we look for ways to deepen our own conversation in prayer.

As we continue our series for Lent 2023, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue to look at new ways to consider traditional spiritual practices and disicplines people may take up in these forty days. While many people are familiar with the idea of fasting from food--at least as a concept--the idea of other kinds of fasts can be helpful, too, as we take an inventory of what really matters in our life and our time. One way of reframing the notion of fasting is to consider a fast of our time--to decide to use some of our time differently for this season, in order to reprioritize what matters, or to remove distractions and see how they help us to focus on listening for God's voice in our lives. That could mean a changed relationship with your smart-phone or all the screens in your life, a new time for prayer or devotion when you would have otherwise been binge-watching or doomscrolling, or some other "fast" that goes beyond food. If you're intrigued, join us for this conversation here on Crazy Faith Talk.

In the second episode of our series for Lent 2023, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve look at an ancient spiritual practice with roots not only in the past two thousand years of Christian history, but also going even further back to the spiritual life of ancient Israel: fasting from food. Whether it was Daniel and friends' fasting from meat as an act of defiance against the Babylonian Empire, the prophets' reminder not to separate fasting from social justice, or Jesus' teaching to fast without calling attention to ourselves, the Scriptures have plenty of suggestions for what this practice could look like in our lives. But knowing, too, that our lives are complicated, our schedules are busy, and everyone in a household may not be able or willing to share in the same kind of dietary restrictions, it can be hard to practically observe any kind of fast for very long. In this week's episode we'll explore some of the spirituality behind fasting, the different ways it can look, and why you might, or might not, choose to let this be a part of your Lenten season this year.

Let's be honest: Lent is a strange critter. Some devoutly observe this seaon of forty days with dedication by giving something up, or adding a spiritual practice to their lives for this season every year. Others are worried that it comes off as too showy or self-righteous to fast or change their habits for a season. And for some, this season just looks like a second chance to start New Year's Resolutions, dressed up in religious garb. What are we to make of this season and the practices that are often associated with it? And can we see something good for our souls in the small gestures or changes we might make in our lives? Here in this first episode of a new series for Lent, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve take a look at what Lent is, how we might frame the practices that often go with this season, and where we might put up some guardrails, too. Join us as this Lenten season and series of conversations begins here on Crazy Faith Talk.

In this final episode of our series on finding honesty and hope in situations of death and dying, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve spend time looking at two extremes: situations where medical choices may hasten death in the name of relieving suffering, and situations where life ends in infancy or during a pregnancy. These situations are especially difficult but for almost opposite reasons. In situations of palliative care, we can be uncomfortable at the idea of having too much control over ending a person's life--especially if treatment meant to ease pain also carries a collateral cost of hastening death. And in situations of infant mortality, stillbirth, and miscarriage, the trauma is from having no control at all and feeling so powerless. How do we think about these circumstances as people of faith? If listening in on a conversation on these subjects would be helpful for you, we invite you to join us for this episode of Crazy Faith Talk.

In this episode of Crazy Faith Talk, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve talk through some of what makes the subject of suicide and self-harm so especially difficult to deal with. Because of the content of this episode, you might want to choose the right time and place to listen. And if you or someone you love is dealing with thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please reach out to the new national hotline for suicide prevention, 988. In addition to al of that, this conversation tries to unpack some of the contradictory emotions that are often opened up when someone dies from suicide or attempts suicide, and we also explore more in depth some of the ways that previous centuries of institutional Christianity has made it harder, not easier, to deal with this subject, and how we need to recover the promises of the Scriptures that nothing--not even death--can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Or as the late Robert Farrar Capon would put it, when any of us dies, we may lose our own ability to hold onto our own lives, but we do not lose Jesus' ability to hold onto our lives. With that kind of hope, we invite you into this conversation.

At some point, experience teaches us and readies us to say to goodbye to the generations that have come before us; as painful as it is to lose grandparents, parents, or even older mentors, in some way life teaches us to prepare for those losses, as hard as they are. But something feels more jarring--and often unfair or unjust--when people die in unexpected ways and times. When lives seem "cut short" or people die "before their time" we feel greater anger and look for someone or something to blame, and we find ourselves grieving not only the past, but an unrealized future of what might have been. In this episode of our series looking at death and dying with honesty and hope, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve explore some of the dynamics of what happens when we go through this kind of loss, and how it feels different, as well as how we can deal with the feelings of outrage, anger, injustice, and lament as people who also belive in the goodness and strength of God. Join us for another important and poignant conversation here on Crazy Faith Talk.

When it comes to making important--and often difficult--choices about care needs at the end of life, sometimes we aren't in a position to speak our wishes out loud or make decisions in real-time. We do, however, live in a time and a place where it is possible to write down wishes in advance, or to designate other people to make medical decisions for us in times when we are not able to communicate or are not conscious. Collectively, those kinds of documents are called "advanced directives," and they allow people to instruct doctors about what kinds of treatments they do or do not want administered in the event they are not able to make those decisions for themselves. And while it can be helpful to have these papers completed and on file, even more important is the conversation with our loved ones about what we want done or not done in difficult future situations. How do we have these conversations? That's where this week's episode of Crazy Faith Talk will take us--so join pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve in our current series looking at death and dying with honesty and hope.

We are more than the set of molecules that make up our bodies at any given moment, right? After all, our bodies are constantly trading out old dead cells and creating new ones, and yet we believe that there is a continuity to the "you-ness" of you and the "me-ness" of me. Christians also classically believe that God created the universe out of chaotic nothingness in the beginning, and so resurrecting us from whatever corners of creation our bodies have been are scattered to should be no problem for God. That would be true whether a person's body is lost at sea, fed to the lions in a Roman coliseum, burned in a tragic fire, cremated after death, or even partially donated in organs that others could use to live. In this episode of our new series on Honesty and Hope About Death And Dying, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve look at how we think faithfully about questions of cremation, burial, and organ donation--and how we communicate our wishes with those closest to us right now. As people who believe in God's promise to make us into new creations, we can both honor the worth and value of our bodies and also be open to using them in ways that could extend or help others' lives. Listen in on this important conversation here.

Nobody likes to talk about death, but it's one of only a handful experiences that touch everyone [you know the old saying about death and taxes]. The trouble is, there are so many ways to avoid really dealing with matters of our own mortality. We can ignore and deny it. We can delay and procrastinate. We can fill the uncomfortable silences with bad theology about God "needing another angel." Or... we can be brave and talk about things that may seem scary, only to find our courage rising the more we are able to talk about them. In this first episode of a brand-new series, pastors Erica and Steve [to be joined again by Pastor Sarah in our next conversation] set the table for how we talk about death and dying, and all the ways it affects our lives now, and we invite you to join us and listen in. Like the old adage of Mister Rogers reminds us, things that are mentionable become manageable, so if we can talk together about facing our our finitude then we can deal with it in a way that gives hope and grants us peace.

In one light, it makes total sense that Jesus was baptized--after all, Christians today usually mark their own baptism as the formal beginning of their lives of faith, much like Jesus' baptism marks the beginning of his public ministry. And the New Testament connects our baptism with Jesus' death and resurrection, so there seems to be a close connection between Christ and the followers of Christ through baptism. But on the other hand, when Jesus was baptized, it was at the hands of John [the Baptizer] who used this water ritual as a mark of repentance from sin and turning toward a new way of life. So why does Jesus need to be baptized, if he's the one person who has no sins for which to repent? What's going on when Jesus goes into the water, and the voice from heaven speaks, and the Spirit descends like a bird? Join pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve for a closer look at this moment recorded in the gospels and connected to our own lives of faith, too, here on Crazy Faith Talk.

In 21st century American culture, almost everyone has heard the name "Jesus." And most probably have some clue about the person being referenced by that name--even though it would more likely have been pronounced something more like "Yeshua" and been more closely associated with the biblical figure we remember as "Joshua" from the Hebrew Scriptures. But what does the name of Jesus mean, and why is it important enough that apparently angels directed Mary and Joseph to give it to their baby? What does the name say about Jesus--and what does it say about God? And what are we supposed to do with the other figures in the New Testament named "Jesus" as well [because there are several]. As the church marks the naming of Jesus eight days after Christmas on January 1 every year, this is a good moment to explore the significance of Jesus' name and what it means for our lives today. So join pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve here for a new episode in a new year, here at Crazy Faith Talk.

All this Advent, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve have been tracing the themes associated with each of the candles on the traditional Advent wreath--things like "hope," "peace," "joy," and "love." But the celebration of Christmas isn't merely a listing of abstract concepts or spiritual virtues--it's centered on Christ. And appropriately, many Advent candles have a fifth candle, waiting to be lit on Christmas Eve or Day, representing the light of Christ for whom we have been waiting. But what does it mean to talk about Christ as "Light from Light," as the ancient creed does? In this Christmas-tide episode of Crazy Faith Talk, join us in a conversation that ranges from the ancient poetry of John's Gospel to contemporary particle physics, as we turn our focus to the Light of Christ this Christmas.