Liminal Living

What does a theology of Eternal Life really look like? If you've deconstructed the idea that you need to pray a magic Jesus prayer to go to heaven when you die, what do you do with the concept of Life Eternal? In this solo recording from a teaching at my church I go into what eternal life is and is not. All Music for this episode is provided by Axeltree: @axletree Voiceover for this episode is provided by Play.ht https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

Today, I talk with Aaron McConnell, a long time friend from a previous church. He shares his experience growing up in a hyper fundamentalist Baptist church and school, where the Baptist Church down the street wasn’t fundamental enough. Also half way through Aaron turns the tables and interviews me unexpectedly about my deconstruction as a pastor and how I am doing church differently, to create safe spaces for those who are unsure of their faith. 0:48 Introduction 3:03 Not Fundie Enough for the Fundies 6:14 Jumping back into church 8:46 Planned Parenthood Protest 12:07 Guilt, Shame, Fear, the fundie toolbox 17:17 Humility from pain 21:03 “Sound of the Genuine” 22:21 Deconstruction and personal relationships 24:59 Inerrancy, Ideology, Covid Mandates 29:14 Deconstructing as a pastor, creating safe spaces 33:22 Weaponizing Dogma vs knowing you’re not infallible 38:29 A Different Church MO 40:26 Suffering “Breaks” your understanding of God 43:49 Scientific Revolution, Fundamentalist reaction, new ch

Today I talked to Dr. David Rice about his journey into a pastoral role that followed the retirement of a beloved pastor of 33 years. They asked for change, but resisted, while shortly into this position David's father passed away. He learned that change is grief. He stayed for 8 years and left shortly after Covid shutdowns in America subsided. He had no job lined up, was emotionally spent, and moved his whole family to Oxford to weather the liminal season. The breakdown of today's conversation is as follows: 0:48 Introductions 3:20 Church Community in denial of grief 6:31 Loss of Father and personal grief 9:21 Emotional Prosperity Gospel and space to grieve 11:07 Church decline, transition, and grief process 14:43 Power Broker, leadership, boundaries, restraining orders 19:09 Church planting vs Revitalizing 22:51 leaving my pastoral role, skipped sabatical 27:06 Covid, Burnout, Everything Changed 30:49 Trauma, Loss, and Nervous System 36:01 pastoral transitions 40:38 Community, friendship, support outside ch

Today, I talk with Jeremie Wilson, a great friend, a great musician, a great soul. He shares his experience growing up in the faith as the son of a musical evangelist, his exploration of science with his college degree, his journey into church leadership, seeing how the sausage is made, and his eventual exit of the faith when there was no hospitality to reconcile his understanding of science with the demands of fundamentalist religion. 0:48 Introduction 5:04 Faith upbringing, CCM, Kieth Green 10:06 Stress of art, poverty, and false hopes of God given fame 14:16 Prosperity Gospel, Artistic Insecurity, Success 18:59 The Bible, Justice, Politics, Christian Nationalism 23:38 Systemic Theology, Communal Conformity 27:14 Science and Faith, Young Earth Creationism, Conspiracy Thinking 33:17 At odds with the faith, no space for discussion 38:36 Quiet Quitting the Church 42:27 Trying church again, but with kids 47:30 Deacon to Elder to Board Member 52:51 Excluded 57:13 Overcoming his religious prejudice

In this conversation with my dear friend Dr. Paul Jones, we hear his story of deconstruction, burnout, exiting the pastoral world as a profession, abandonment by Christian friends and colleagues, and finding his way through the dark night. 0:48 Introductions 6:02 Life Post Pastor 10:14 Dark Night of the Soul 14:24 Church planting and pressure 19:07 Building the Church Machine 23:36 Ego, Burnout,Boundaries 25:36 Trump, Christian Nationalism 27:02 Depression, Almost Atheist 30:25 Spiritual Direction and Counseling 36:35 Rethinking Church 41:31 Love not Found 47:07 The Unforgivable sin: Trump 52:19 Liminal Living Tips 57:39 Conclusions All music for this episode is provided by Axeltree https://soundcloud.com/axletree Voiceover for this episode is provided by Play.ht https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

Today I talk to long time friend, Jayson Simonson, Chief Resource Officer of New International. We talk about his deconstruction process and his passion for eliminating poverty. 1:34 his faith story 3:23 Deconstruction and Poverty 10:21 Deconstruction and Spiritual Direction 12:10 Deconstruction and the nature of Truth 14:57 Church Bureaucracy and Truth 17:47 Church Entertainment Machine 21:56 Politicizing Poverty 31:17 Christian Authoritarian Empire 38:40 Row v Wade 41:38 January 6th Insurrection Spirit 48:28 Empowerment vs Power 52:19 Liminal Living Tips 57:24 Sources and Motivations All Music for this episode is provided by Axeltree: https://soundcloud.com/axletree Voiceover provided by: play.ht https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

In John 2, did Jesus turn the water from the religious basins into wine? I do not think so. He did something greater to which this points. I explore this story in relation to its Old Testament roots in Isaiah. Check it out. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

The definition of hope is found neither in pessimism nor optimism, but in a "theology of color." Check out the latest #LiminalLiving podcast to see how. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

Does your doctrine sound like a lawyer wrote it? What is doctrine and what is it for? We explore the roots of what doctrine means in the Old Testament, New Testament, and early church. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

What does it mean to be a theologian? Many people have an understanding of theologian as someone who can logically systemetize doctrinal points into a bullet proof statement. But traditionally this is not the meaning of theologian, we explore the roots of this word: theologian, from its pagan origins to its Christian application. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

Time may appear to be a bully and a tyrant. We say we do not have enough time in a day. But having a healthy relationship to time can help bring us into rhythm with heaven all around us, an attention to the present moment can free us from anxiety. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

We all live within the confines of time. Time is defined as the progess of existence and events from future into the present and on into the past. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, all pass before us and disappear into oblivion never to be seen again. Where did yesterday go? Where is tomorrow stored? If you pinpoint the present moment as one second on a calendar, Time is rushing in and rushing onward without a pause. The Bible calls this: chronos. Everything when looked through this understanding of time is meaningless, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says. But there is a deeper understanding of time, one that is eternal, an understanding that time comes from somewhere, and this somewhere gives meaning. (music by: http://dexterbritain.co.uk/ ) https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

In our fourth and final installation of the Shalom and Salvation series we explore how the broken shalom of the earth is a reflection of the broken shalom of the human souls found within. We explore, briefly, climate change, social justice, and restoring Shalom: a harmonious interdependence of all parts of God's creation. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

Shalom is a big word in the Old Testament and the roots of New Testament Salvation dig into this soil. To fulfill the great commandment: Love God, others, and self, we need shalom in all three areas. In this talk we speak of Shalom with self rooted in the concept of New Testament maturity. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

Shalom with God means taking up your cross, crucifying everything from the old creation in order to make way for the new creation and new identity that God has for us. This is the message of John 1-4. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/ 

Shalom is a big word in the Old Testament. It is directly translated as peace into English, but the Hebrew is much larger than an absence of conflict. It is a universal flourishing of all of God's creation. In this podcast series we explore how the roots of the New Testament concept of salvation is rooted in this word: Shalom. When the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek it took three words to translate Shalom. We will explore these three words and their connection to salvation: peace with God, others, and self. https://liminalliving.simplecast.com/