The Living Church Podcast

Welcome back podcast listeners. And welcome to Lent. Whether you're relatively new to Lent, old hat, or just really not that into it if you're honest -- totally cool. We've got a little something for everyone today -- to think about, enjoy, maybe even new to glean for your Lenten practice.My guest today is the Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley, has just released a brief, readable, and very wise guide to the season of Lent. And I'm looking forward to sharing our conversation with you.We talked about our own journeys into discovering Lent and the church seasons. We wrestle with the relationship between Lenten practices and spiritual maturity, such as the dangers of relying on ritual, as well as the dangers of running from it.How do we discern sin in an anxiety-ridden, shame-saturated, fearful world? Is there a relationship between personal fasting and social justice? If your car breaks down close to a church, should you take it as a sign and just go in and see what's going on? And perhaps most importantly, speaking of cars, if your spiritual life were a car, what would it be?Esau is associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and theologian in residence at Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago. He is the author of four available books, Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal, Sharing in the Son’s Inheritance, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, and Josey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy Spirit. He is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and has a memoir coming out in September.Now put away that chocolate and settle in. We hope you enjoy the conversation.Give to the Living Church Check out Esau's books:Lent: The Season of Repentance and RenewalSharing in the Son’s InheritanceReading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in HopeJosey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy SpiritHow Far to the Promised Land? (new memoir)--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Donate to the Living Church.What's more important, unity or justice?Today we're travelling back in time with the Rev. Dr. Brandt Montgomery and the Rt. Rev. R. William Franklin to look at some influential figures from the Episcopal past -- John Henry Hobart and the founders of Saint James School in Maryland -- and how they influenced the shapes of political engagement of Anglicans in the United States. We'll examine the choices they made that encouraged justice and flourishing among God's people, especially among Black Anglicans -- or not; and mistakes they made that, however clear or unclear they were at the time, we can now see in retrospect. What can we learn from them?One interesting pattern that we'll trace from the 19th century to today is the high-church Anglican habit of reserve, which often includes a strategy of gradualism or reticence when it comes to social justice issues. How do you balance social justice with a peaceful or coherent community life? Is it a matter of balance? Or some other kind of equation?Together Father Brandt and Bishop Franklin will examine this speckled history as it plays out in these leaders' responses to social ills and evils, especially those that affect Black Americans, from slavery to civil rights. And what do the Anglo-Catholics have to do with all of this?Bishop Bill Franklin is assisting bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. He was previously Bishop of Western New York, and has also served, among other places, at St. Paul's Within the Walls in Rome, as associate director of the American Academy in Rome, and as associate priest of the Anglican Centre in Rome. He served as dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, and as a professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York and at St. John's University in Minnesota.Fr. Brandt Montgomery is the chaplain of Saint James School in Hagerstown, Maryland, having previously served as the Chaplain of Ascension Episcopal School in Lafayette, Louisiana and curate at Canterbury Episcopal Chapel and Student Center at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He is a trumpet player and profound lover of jazz, as well as a scholar of American religious history, Episcopal Church history, the Oxford Movement and Anglo-Catholicism, and the Civil Rights Movement.Last but not least, our interviewer today is the Rev. Mark Michael, who is our editor and interim executive director here at the Living Church.Now ready the horses and hold onto your garters. We're headed into 200 years of history to see what we can learn for today. We hope you enjoy the conversation.Donate to the Living Church.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Is it the Book of Acts where someone says, "Look, here is patch of flat dirt. What should prevent us from building a pickleball court?" So maybe not. But any of us who have been in Christian leadership for any length of time, if we have our eyes open to surprise, will experience God doing lots of things with the world and inviting us to participate, often in unpredictable ways. And when we follow, the Lord only knows what he will do. How do you know if God is opening a door? If your community is being called to grow into a new ministry or identity? How can you tell when your own vocation might be taking a turn into new territory? Today -- and here's where we get to the jazz -- we will enjoy a case study in John Coltrane and evening prayer, pickleball courts, and an Anglo-Catholic parish on the Pacific coast pastored by someone who never wanted to be a priest in the first place. But he's since gotten used to the idea. The Rev. Doran Stambaugh is rector at St. Michael's by-the-Sea in Carlsbad, California, where he began as curate in 2005 and where he was ordained to the priesthood. He is also a talented musician. He has learned what pickleball is, and he has a robust and ever-growing zeal for jazz and the liturgical life of the church. We talked about the slow game of ministry in a community, embeddedness, building trust, and opening up God's sometimes subtle invitation to our neighbors, and to our common good. Now change out that clarinet reed. Stretch out those hamstrings. And grab your prayer book. We're headed into a beautiful story of creative ministry. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Check out William Edgar's book, A Supreme Love. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back, dear podcast listeners. We are in our 93rd episode here at the top of Epiphanytide, and I hope you had a peaceful and happy Christmas. As Jesus' identity is revealed to the world, first to the Wise Men and later at the Jordan River, how can those who receive this gift be witnesses to his life and love, and not either lose a sense of who he is or who we are or what his presence does in the world, or go about flying our Christian flag in such a way that we're accidentally recruiting for team pirate instead of team Prince of Peace? Last November I had a conversation about mission and evangelism at Duke Divinity School with three friends you've heard on this show before. And I want to share that conversation with you here. It offers fresh and surprising insights from three different contexts: high-powered Manhattan, funky and fabulous Austin Texas, and booming immigrant communities in Dallas. What does it look like for Christian communities, and especially churches, to be involved in sharing the gospel in their own neighborhoods? There aren't many how-tos in our conversation today, but the adventures my guests describe, the trouble they get into for the kingdom, aren't for the faint of heart, either. I was joined by the Rev. Jacob Smith, the Rev. Dr. Samira Page, and the Rev. Dr. Shawn McCain Tirres. I'll introduce them all in the episode today. Finally, special thanks to the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Duke and Duke Divinity School for hosting this conversation, as part of their Symposium on the Future of Anglican Theological Education in North America. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Learn more about the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Duke. Give to the Living Church. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Make a holiday donation to TLC. Welcome, listeners, to our Christmas chat episode of the Living Church, our final episode of the year. Kick back with a hot cider and listen on. Fr. Mark Michael, our interim executive director and editor of the Living Church magazine asked if he could sit down with a good friend of TLC, the Rev. Dr. Russ Levenson, to talk about Russ's new and intriguing book. What is it like to pastor a president? Russ Levenson has spent many years as rector of St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, and among his parishioners, he has had the fascinating job of shepherding and observing the spiritual lives of fellow Episcopalians, former president George and Barbara Bush. His new book about it is called Witness to Dignity: the Life and Faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush. While religion and politics can get tied up in so many unhelpful ways, and we'd be hard-pressed to point to a set of genuine, bonafide, good old days, it is probably safe to say that dignity is not a bad thing, and learning from the strengths of a previous generation of leadership, as well as their weaknesses, is a worthy endeavor. Russ Levenson has been rector of St. Martin’s for 15 years. He has served in many capacities in the Episcopal Church as pastor, council member, and a leader in global charitable and humanitarian organizations, including medical services and veterans' care. St. Martin's also serves as a Living Church Partner. How is a president also a local parishioner? And how does it work do be their pastor, even just practically speaking? How do you help a former president to age and die well? What might it mean for a world leader to also be an authentic person of faith? We will hear many interesting stories today. But before I pass the mic to Mark, let me add that a sense of good humor might not be the least of the impacts of faith on leadership. Comedian Dana Carvey developed a, let's say, famous impersonation of the former president, and what was President Bush's response? Take a look at the show notes today -- not only to click the link to give to TLC, of course, but also to see the former president's answer to being lampooned. It's a pretty good one. Now whether you're in the Oval Office or just a normal square one, the white house or brick, Air Force One or your Camry, we hope you enjoy the conversation. Make a holiday donation to TLC. Watch George H.W. Bush and Dana Carvey.  Read Russ Levenson's book. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Make a holiday donation to the Living Church. Today is a special day on the liturgical calendar. It is what the fathers and mothers of the Church knew as the "First Podcast of Advent." Welcome to this wonderful time of waiting. And we've got a treat for you almost as sweet as those baked goodies you're wondering whether or not to fast from because this is technically a penitential season: we welcome author and philosopher James K.A. Smith, who has written such books as Imagining the Kingdom and You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit, and most recently, How to Inhabit Time. We've got a cozy Advent chat with him on his new book, How to Inhabit Time, from his home in Grand Rapids. How do we live in time? And how do we resist -- how are Christians some of the worst at resisting -- living in time? How does time make us vulnerable, but also give us a sobering kind of power? And what does it mean that time is one of the conditions in which God becomes Immanuel to us? It will be no surprise to you, given what I've just said, that James K.A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University. Over the years he has become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic, an award-winning author, and a widely traveled speaker, building bridges between the academy, society, and the Church. The author of a number of widely-known books, Jamie's writing has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today, as well as in influential literary and religious magazines. He serves as editor in chief of Image, a quarterly journal at the intersection of art, faith, and mystery. We talk keeping time and catching curve balls, walking through houses once-loved, the charms and dangers of longing for the past, time as an adventure, and the radical freedom and trust the Incarnation invites us into. Lord of the Rings comes in, as well as the Left Behind series, Wes Anderson, and lots of German philosophers. We had a lovely time. So cuddle up with a warm, frothy cup of whatever penitential holiday drink you feel like -- and if you're in the car, make sure you've got a lid securely on it -- we hope you enjoy the conversation. Make a holiday donation to the Living Church. Read How to Inhabit Time. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Subscribe to The Living Word Plus -- 30% off with an annual subscription. Learn more about the Anglican Heritage Pilgrimage. Today's episode is bittersweet. When we were recording it, we were saying goodbye, now we have said goodbye to our executive director of 13 years, Dr. Christopher Wells -- the inimitable Christopher Wells -- and in today's episode, I sit down with him for a little heart-to-heart. An exit interview, if you will. We reflect together on his time at TLC, his own sense of calling, and what next for him in his new role in London. And how can you have a conversation with Christopher without also talking about Anglican history? We do talk about Anglican history, and little about the history of the Living Church as a magazine and a movement; about the vocation of Anglicanism; and about how evangelical, Catholic, and ecumenical go together like Stanley Hauerwas, George Lindbeck, and the Second Vatican Council. For those of you who sense some insider baseball up in here, you are absolutely right, and like baseball, you will still enjoy yourself even if you don't know everything that's going on. So grab yourself a hotdog and stick with us. We'll be entertaining and edifying as always. But there will definitely be some goodies in here for those interested in the Living Church's history and mission, and what further cahoots might look like with, for example, the Anglican Communion Office in London. Speaking of which, Dr. Christopher Wells is the new Director of Unity Faith and Order for the Anglican Communion Office. He was executive director and publisher of the Living Church Foundation for 13 years. He is affiliate professor of theology at the General Theological Seminary and Nashotah House Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses on Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Anglican ecclesiology. He has served as theological consultant to the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the U.S. (ARC-USA), is a prolific writer and editor, as well as a runner and an appreciator of good food. You definitely want to have dinner with Christopher. I also count him as a friend. And like me, I hope you enjoy the conversation. Subscribe to The Living Word Plus -- 30% off with an annual subscription. Learn more about the Anglican Heritage Pilgrimage. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Subscribe to The Living Word Plus -- 30% off with an annual subscription. Learn more about the Anglican Heritage Pilgrimage.  Objection 1: It would seem that there cannot be a virtue about comedy. For Ambrose says: "Our Lord said: 'Woe to you who laugh.'" Wherefore I consider that all, and not only excessive, comedy should be avoided. I answer that: Just as man needs bodily rest for the body's refreshment, since his power is finite, so too is it with his soul, whose power is also finite. And the soul's rest is pleasure. Consequently, the remedy for weariness of soul must needs consist in the application of some pleasure. Now such like words or deeds wherein nothing further is sought than the soul's delight, are called playful or humorous.  Happy recent feast of All Saints' and All Souls' dear listeners, and Happy all Hallow's Eve. And my apologies to any Thomas Aquinas scholars out there who noticed the very small liberties -- very, very small -- that I just took with the Summa Theologica.  What hath the saints to do with laughter? That is the question, in the nutshell, that I pose to my guest today, comedian Jen Fulwiler. Scripture and Christian tradition have much to say about joy, much to say about truth and truth-telling, and much to say about being human and growing into our full humanity before God. And all of these, I propose, are related to humor, laughter, and learning to tell our stories.  Jennifer Fulwiler is a standup comic, bestselling author, former Sirius XM talk show host, and mom of six. Her podcast, This Is Jen, now The Jen Fulweiler Show, debuted in the Comedy Top 10 on iTunes. She is the one-woman show of The Naughty Corner standup comedy special and author of Something Other Than God, One Beautiful Dream, and Your Blue Flame. And: she's on tour! Tickets are on sale at jfcomedytour.com. You can follow her on Instagram at @JenniferFulwiler.  We will talk today about standup comedy and the saints, about Jen's journey into Christianity, about holiness and laughter, and about the common grace that comedy reveals.  And yet humor must "befit the hour and the man" (thank you again St. Thomas) -- so we'll also talk about how truthfulness, maturity, and facing reality can actually make a comedian funnier.  Word to the wise, if you preach, if you pastor, I would listen to this conversation in that light too. What hath preaching to do with standup comedy? What might these art forms have in common?  Finally, I make passing mention in the podcast of something called "blue" comedy -- and that simply means comedy you would not listen to with your children in the car. Or with your parents for that matter.  (You can listen to today's episode with children and parents in the car.)  But now, since "it is against reason for a man to be burdensome to others by hindering their enjoyment" (God bless you, St. Thomas), we hope you enjoy the conversation.  See Jen Fulwiler live! Check out Jen's books. Check out Jen's comedy podcast.  Subscribe to The Living Word Plus -- 30% off with an annual subscription. Learn more about the Anglican Heritage Pilgrimage. --- Support this podcast:Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

What is it, like, 4 weeks until the start of Advent? I am not the kind of person to turn a holiday or a holy season into a time of stress. Believe me. But for everyone pastoring a church, or even on the staff of a church, or even a seriously involved person at a church, will know there are times when things "ramp up" liturgically speaking. When the calendar gets busier. And those can be times of great joy, some of the most fun planning work in a church's year. It can also be a time when the seams show: stress, disorganization, those structural pieces you could have gotten into place six months ago that would have made this easier, but you just never got around to it. If this sounds familiar at all, you may really enjoy our conversation today about administrative skill and executive functioning, and how they help churches and pastors stay sane, and preach the gospel. I'm talking today with the Rev. Aaron Zimmerman. Aaron is rector at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Waco, Texas. He is past President of the Board of Directors of Mockingbird Ministries and is currently on the advisory board for StoryMakers NYC, a creative studio that designs Christian resources for kids. He is currently the Dean for the Northwest Convocation of the Diocese of Texas, and co-hosts the Same Old Song lectionary podcast with the Rev. Jacob Smith. We take about the whys and wherefores of getting organized, karate chopping emails, setting standing meetings, delegating tasks, taking time off --  but we're not here to heap onto your to-do list shame pile. No! Aaron's got some tips, too, to help you get started, including a word or two for staying gracious with yourself, even as you improve your administrative skills. Register for The Word of God Endures Forever. Check out Aaron's podcast, Same Old Song.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Register for "The Word of God Endures Forever" webinar. Our guest today is the Rev. Dr. Annette Brownlee, chaplain, director of field education and professor of pastoral theology at Wycliffe College, a theological school that forms many Anglicans and Christians of other traditions, in Toronto, Ontario. And she is someone who has had a profound influence in many lives of clergy and clery in training, whether they're serving in the Episcopal Church or elsewhere. She is the person whose door, in her own words, people knock on and say, "Can I come talk to you?" She is someone I have wanted to talk to for some time, and I finally got a chance to get her on the other side of the mic to ask her what it takes to nurture and disciple people who will very soon be leaders in God's Church -- many of them in the beautiful and broken family we know as Anglican. We talk together about how training young ministers to be effective means teaching them to be rooted and ecumenical. In a school where Episcopal and Catholic students learn Greek with Reformed ACNA and non-denom students, what happens in this kind of context? And how can the challenge and opportunity it presents be pressed into formation? So you're not into corporate prayer? Well you need it. Crack open that prayer book! And you? You're in love with the BCP, the liturgy? Reverent with your burses and veils? Great! Now go sing praise songs and help serve soup at that storefront church. Much of what we talk about centers also on teaching seminarians early to value and know the power of the Holy Spirit in the quotidian and the small, because much of parish life -- and indeed our life given as creatures -- is made of exactly this small dailyness. And if moments of heroic decision or action come for any of us, they'll depend on what we did without being noticed. The de-centering of oneself and learning the art of humilty -- something we could all benefit from. Before coming to Wycliffe Annette was in fulltime parish ministry for many years. She currently assists and preaches at St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux in Scarborough. Her research interests include the multiple implications of preaching Scripture as the church’s book, Augustine’s divine pedagogy as a rule of life for preachers, the sermons of André Trocmé, and a model of theological reflection based on the Spirit’s use of Scripture in the Church. She is married to Ephraim Radner and they have two children. Strap on your knapsack. Zip up your anorak. We're going to Canada. We may even see a bit of what the future of Anglican formation looks like. Register for "The Word of God Endures Forever" webinar. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-church/supportAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands