Sarah Bessey on The Lift

I had the honor of interviewing Sarah Bessey, author of Out of Sorts and Jesus Feminist, on The Lift. Sarah's warmth is contagious and shines through in her voice - talking to her, I felt like I was sitting down with an old friend.

Sarah Bessey is an award-winning author of Jesus Feminist: An invitation to revisit the Bible’s view of women; and Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith. Sarah lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia, with her husband Brian and four children. She writes, blogs and speaks about Christianity in all its complexity, from women’s roles and stained glass ceilings, to social justice, politics, mothering, loss and lament, ecclesiology, stepping on toes, leaving church, circling back, and wrestling – all out, all in – with a God who won’t let go.

Check out our podcast at these links:
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lift-podcast/id1194719815?mt=2
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-lift-2?refid=stpr
Soundcloud:


In this episode:
0:00  Do questions threaten God?
1:18  About Sarah
2:08  On not having things figured out
4:41  Growing up faith
8:18  The fear of questions (and how they're stifled)
15:26 Tough questions: Is the Bible inerrant?
18:42 Tough questions: Hell?
21:00 Tough questions: Why did Jesus have to die?
25:15 Excerpt from Out of Sorts
26:44 500 year shifts in Christianity
29:20 A "toddling charismatic stumbling along the Canterbury trail"
30:38 The door of grief & lament (and pregnancy loss)
34:41 Jesus Feminist & patriarchy
38:07 Sarah's Word-of-the-Year for 2017

Darryl Burton: 24 yrs falsely imprisoned

image (c) Riverfront Times

I recently had a chance to interview my friend, Darryl Burton, who was falsely imprisoned for 24 years for a crime he didn't commit. I'm always amazed to speak with Darryl, as we work together to coordinate public events to bring his story of injustice, redemption and forgiveness to the world.

Link on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lift-podcast/id1194719815?mt=2

Link on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-lift-2?refid=stpr

Sheila Sonnenschein on Judaism

Sheila Sonnenschein recently joined me on the podcast to talk about Judaism. Sheila is a speaker, writer and leader in the Jewish and interfaith communities in Kansas City. She and her husband are the founders of the Mitzvah Garden which produces food for the needy, and started the Table to Table program for the Kosher food pantry, Yachad. Sheila is active in Salaam/Shalom, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Crescent Peace Society, from whom she received the Peace Award. Her work in racial justice has earned her the Heart of Gold for Racial Justice award through the YWCA, and she continues to build bridges – to people of other faiths and to the poor and marginalized, including refugees. Sheila’s family graciously hosted me this year for the most sacred meal of the Jewish faith, the Passover Seder, an experience I’ll forever treasure.

Link on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lift-podcast/id1194719815?mt=2

Link on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-lift-2?refid=stpr

In this episode:

0:00 The Jewish faith and immigrants

2:37 Introduction for Sheila Sonnenschein

3:39 Sheila’s faith growing up

5:35 Judaism & community

6:33 Beliefs about life after death

7:29 How Judaism makes the world better & Tikkun Olam

8:48 Feeling God’s presence – tragedy, nature, synchronicity

11:37 Israel’s meaning for Jewish people

13:20 Antisemitism, solidarity & Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom (contact theory)

16:09 History of persecution & how it’s shaped the Jewish people

21:09 The Passover Seder

25:13 Reformed, Conservative and Orthodox traditions in Judaism

27:33 The Jewish holy books & how Sheila approaches scripture

30:50 Conversations between generations (patriarchs AND matriarchs)

31:34 Sheila recites the Sh’ma

Br. Paul Quenon & Thomas Merton

I recently made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Gethsemani, a monastery in Trappist, KY, to sit down with Br. Paul Quenon – poet, author and novice of perhaps the most influential American contemplative and monastic writer of the twentieth century, Thomas Merton. Br. Paul was a gracious host who invited me to None (afternoon prayers), a visit to Merton’s hermitage and a tour of the grounds, and then loaded my arms with several boxes and varieties of his homemade fudge (a true penance in the thick of Lent!). Ora et labora: prayer and fudge.

The memory of this day with Br. Paul - reciting poetry, recalling the lives of saints and sharing stories about his beloved novice master (one of my spiritual heroes) - is one I’ll never forget.

Learn more about Br. Paul Quenon and read his wonderful poems at www.monks.org. And if you haven’t read Merton, I’d suggest you start HERE with his #1 bestseller and autobiography, Seven Storey Mountain.

Link on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lift-podcast/id1194719815?mt=2

Link on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-lift-2?refid=stpr

In this episode:

0:00 How Thomas Merton experienced God

2:23 Introduction to Br. Paul Quenon

3:01 How Br. Paul became a monk at Gethsemani

3:52 How do you experience God?

4:49 On mystical experience & apophatic spirituality

6:21 What was Merton like?

8:05 Merton’s interfaith work

9:42 How do we build bridges in the spirit of Merton?

11:42 Union with God & other lessons from Merton

Mindy Corporon: SevenDays

Photo credit Kansas City Star

Today’s guest is the remarkable Mindy Corporon with SevenDays, whose father and son were killed in a hate crime in 2014 outside the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, KS. Ever since, Mindy has become a champion of building bridges with people of other faiths and defeating hatred with lovingkindness. SevenDays 2017 will kick off with events the week of April 16, culminating in the SevenDays walk in Downtown KC on Monday night, April 24. Learn more at GiveSevenDays.org. 

Link on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lift-podcast/id1194719815?mt=2

Link on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-lift-2?refid=stpr

In this podcast:

FIRST HALF - MINDY’S STORY & MISSION

0:00 Mindy’s experience on the day of the hate crime that took her father and son

4:08 About Dr. William Corporon, Mindy’s father

6:40 About Reat Underwood, Mindy’s son

8:56 Why this evil didn’t swallow her

10:37 The hate crime outside a mosque that expanded Mindy’s mission

17:18 What other faiths can teach us about our own

24:12 Mindy’s visit to a mosque

______________________________________

SECOND HALF - SEVENDAYS EVENTS

26:43 About SevenDays & 2017 events

28:06 SevenDays First Fridays Art Show

28:35 4/18 “LOVE” - Kickoff Celebration & Panel @ B’nai Jehudah

29:52 4/19 “DISCOVER” - American Public Square Civility Panel @ UMKC

31:07 4/20 “OTHERS” - An Unbroken Bond with Edie Lutnick @ Church of the Resurrection

31:39 4/21 ”CONNECT” - focus on organ donation & blood drives; Mindy speaking @ St. Anthony’s Parish

34:48 4/22 - “GO” - T.A.K.E. Defense class and Improv. Workshop for Anxiety & Grief @ LDS Church in Olathe

35:51 4/23 - “YOU” - Interfaith Youth Workshop @ Cleveland University

37:19 4/24 “ONWARD” - Walk departing from Union Station

38:22 SevenDays 2018 - save the dates (4/10-4/16/18)

Prof. Jim Kreider: Mystical Experience

I'm excited to share my latest podcast episode, a fascinating look at the supernatural and mysical experience with Professor Jim Kreider.

Jim Kreider, retired Professor, licensed psychotherapist and student of consciousness, spirituality and energy psychology talks about working with people who have psychic abilities, and how each of us can tune into this heightened awareness for the healing of ourselves and, ultimately, the world.

Link on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lift-podcast/id1194719815?mt=2

Link on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-lift-2?refid=stpr

In this podcast episode:

0:00 Why people are suspicious of spiritual reality

0:30 Introduction to Prof. Jim Kreider

1:13 Jim’s Mennonite childhood

2:40 On God

7:55 Are some people natural mystics?

9:37 Working with psychic & highly sensitive people

13:33 The sacred act of seeing people as they are

14:27 My own prophetic encounters & synchronicity

18:04 Theology of supernatural experience (and its loss)

21:18 Sensitivity = the essential ingredient of psychic experience

22:45 Supernatural terminology

25:07 Energy work and seeing auras

30:05 Dark, dense (toxic) energy

33:56 Religious rituals & energy

35:58 Inviting hard emotions in for tea
37:38 The hope of a shifting generation