An opening prayer for wisdom. Could be used with a reading from Proverbs/Wisdom literature or on its own.
Lord, grant us wisdom as we seek your way. Remind us that you deal lovingly and graciously with us, and we are meant to do so with others. Help us grow in wisdom, works, and worship. Move us to share your love with each other and the world. Amen.
Hello! As we put the finishing touches on Season 2’s pre-launch, we’re also working on adding new resources. We write a lot of liturgy, and we figured, hey, why not share it? Check back soon. If you’re a worship planner (or someone who just likes liturgy), what kinds of things would you like to see?
We’re getting ready for Season 2!
Interesting, Isn’t it?
During Season 1, we ran some Facebook ads to get the word out about the podcast. The comments (and DMs) mostly came from two groups who, on the surface, have little in common. There were triggered diatribes from people who think all Christians are mean-spirited fundamentalists, and there were the triggered diatribes from actual fundamentalists who think all people who aren’t fundamentalists are going to the Bad Place. Interesting, isn’t it?
People who have actually listened to the show seem to appreciate it, and we’re grateful for that. As we launch Season Two (Even Worser), we invite you to bring your questions, (respectful) feedback, suggestions for topics and guests, and welcome you to share your stories.
Here’s what we’re planning:
New for this Season:
Stay tuned! New shows start in July, but some warm-up Bonus Episodes (Short, Sweet, and Random) may drop sooner!
“A few chapters back, Sarah tells Abraham to get rid of Hagar, and Abraham says “she’s your slave. She’s your issue. Do whatever you want.” In other words, you’ve already trafficked this Egyptian to me, I’ve already raped her, I don’t give a shit.” But now, oh, but now. But now there is a son involved, and so now, this jackass seems to care…”
Hagar’s story is far from over as the cycle of trauma in Abraham’s family continues. A few episodes later, we’ll see how Sarah’s actions in this chapter haunt Isaac into adulthood and into his own marriage.
Lots of trigger warnings in this episode. It’s just a terrible story. Trauma is repeated and repeated, partly because that’s what our brains and bodies do.
In this extended episode, we follow the Genesis narrative(s) into Chapter 19, and we take some journeys to later Christian scripture. We look at the reasons why this text and later texts are not about homosexuality why if you take the Bible on its own terms, they simply can’t be. Trigger warnings: sexual assault, rape.
Abraham haggles with God, but with language and deference that sound an awful lot like the way a victim talks to an abuser, or, at the very least, to someone with explosive anger issues on the rich side of a huge power differential. Listen for yourself.
Hello!
Worst Church Ever here. We started our podcast on May 5, 2021, and we’re about to hit our 500th download. That’s not earth-shaking news, but it’s also not bad for a new pod with no budget that comes out and tells you how much it sucks right from the start.
Why Worst Church Ever? The name is part joke, part humblebrag, part theological aspiration. It’s a reminder (to ourselves) that we don’t know everything, that we don’t claim to represent the entirety of the progressive Christian tradition, and it’s a little bit of flaming coal for those pastors (conservative and progressive alike) that think it’s their job to be the hippest, coolest, biggest, best. That’s not our journey, but we hope they’re warm and well-fed on theirs.
We’re as sick as you are of words like “deconstructing,” but we have a hunch that deconstruction hasn’t gone nearly as far as it needs to in Christian circles. No, we can’t just slap together a flaming pile of garbage and call it deconstruction (this isn’t a cooking competition), but we can continue to look our scriptures, traditions, and theologies with fresh eyes. This podcast has a near-obsessive need to do just that. In the process, we’re rejecting theologies of exclusion, believing that the Good News is going to be good, and not just for people who “get it” (whatever that means).
Our costs are fairly low (most of the platforms we use are free), but we’re launching a Patreon account to help defray the occasional (modest) social ad buy and to connect to people who are interested in taking an honest, thoughtful look at these issues together.
That’s our story. What’s yours? Let’s connect!
Hushed and tired tones from 1AM. Holy Ghost Coast to Coast. Quantum physics, Upanishads, Schrodinger, Eden, and Jesus…
We skipped the bumper music and reached directly for the warm milk and melatonin. The snoring dogs scared away Schrodinger’s cat.
Many quantum theories predict that objects move from the quantum to the macro realm only when (and only because) they are observed. This bonus episode considers the incarnation of Christ as God’s quantum choice to observe us from within the flesh and blood of Jesus. In choosing to enact this course of action from the infinite scenarios in the probability cloud of God’s consciousnesses, God elects a reality in which God is bound to us. We also consider the quantum origins of evil and more.
Who gets to put (which) skin in the game, and why does it matter?
Partial transcript:
Hello and Welcome to Worst Church Ever, the progressive Christian podcast that grew up down the block from Wayside School. We like our stories sideways and our Biblical theology…subversive.
In the last episode, we talked about Sarah’s treatment of Hagar in Chapter 16 as Sarah’s way of reproducing her own trauma. Trafficked by her husband in the court of Pharaoh, Sarah now traffics her Egyptian slave in Abraham’s tent. We said that it’s hard to see the patriarch and matriarch as anything but villains in this story, and we ended with Hagar’s exaltation of El Roi, the God who she saw in the wilderness, and, perhaps more importantly, the God who saw her.
We pick up today with Chapter 17, which again finds God (Yahweh) making a covenant with Abram/Abraham:
“ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”
9 God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. 13 Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Listen to episode 10 for the rest of the story!
Worst Church Ever 