Our first YouTube short. Turns out these are fun.
Scripture Unplugged: Psalm 77
Reading the scripture as most people encounter it. How does it hit you?
Writing Prompt: What Do You Enjoy Most About Writing?
First, a confession. I have taken the good folks at WordPress for granted. These prompts are a good idea.
Hard question. I don’t write my sermons, but I do write (most of) our episodes.
I think the thing I enjoy most about writing in this context is how different it is from the other kinds of writing and communication I’m usually doing. It’s fun to find a voice, develop it, and cut loose a little bit. I think it’s healthy, too.
When Hamilton came out, I saw some of my younger self in the idea of writing like you’re running out of time. Now I think more like Bruce Springsteen:
What about you?
New Episode! Isaac, Jacob, and Esau: Repeated Motifs and Traumas in Genesis 25
We’re kicking of Season 2 with another headache, another heartbreak, and a whole lot of repeated trauma. In this episode:
Isaac mourns the death of his mother…by consummating his marriage to Rebekah in his mother’s tent.
Isaac builds a life…in the same place Sarah banished Hagar and Ishmael.
Isaac tries to rewrite the story of lost birthrights and unwanted sons…by picking a favorite son.
You can’t make this stuff up. I mean, you could, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
Don’t Be Like Anakin. Support Loan Forgiveness.
If you think canceling debt is Marxism, you’re gonna hate Leviticus. But you love Leviticus because you think it’s proof that being gay is bad.
A quandary.
While you figure it out, why not encourage a doling out of all the liberty and freedom you say love? Why not advocate for freeing people from debts that have left them destitute?
It’s only Biblical. And you love anything Biblical, right?
Right?
Season 2 (Even Worser) Coming Soon!
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:
- Continuing with the stories of the Old Testament through the lens of generational trauma
- Deconstructing fundamentalist approaches to scripture in general.
- Sharing Bonus Episodes (short, sweet, and random)
New for this Season:
- Interviews
- Special Guests
- Supplemental looks at Gospel passages, Epistles, Psalms, and Proverbs (following the Narrative Lectionary cycle, more or less)
Stay tuned! New shows start in July, but some warm-up Bonus Episodes (Short, Sweet, and Random) may drop sooner!
Ep 14: Headfakes & Heartbreaks (The Banishing of Hagar and Ishmael, Genesis 21)
“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.
Ep 13: Lots Daughters Keep the Score
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.
Ep. 12: The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Was Never About Homosexuality (Genesis 19)
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.
Episode 11: Abraham’s Big, Bad Daddy Issues
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.
Worst Church Ever 