Attaching to God: Neuroscience-informed Spiritual Formation

In this episode of the Attaching to God podcast, hosts Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw welcome Steve Cuss. They delve into the nature of anxiety, different coping mechanisms, and how these dynamics affect relationships, including one's relationship with God. Steve highlights the importance of addressing reactivity, identifying false needs, and fostering supportive environments within leadership teams. The episode also touches on creating inclusive spaces for minorities in leadership and discusses Steve's future project of developing an anxiety assessment tool. The conversation is engaging and insightful, offering practical tips for leaders striving to create healthier, more resilient communities.Steve Cuss is the author of Managing Leadership Anxiety and The Expectation Gap: The Tiny, Vast Space between Our Beliefs and Experience of God,  and also a columnist and host of Christianity Today’s Being Human podcast. Steve founded Capable Life to help people lower anxiety, break stuck patterns and increase well being in the workplace, home place, and in your faith.00:00 Steve Cuss00:14 Introduction and Guest Introduction01:21 Formula One Fandom05:35 Steve's Background and Capable Life08:27 Understanding Anxiety and Relationships13:47 Differentiation and Attachment17:58 False Needs and Chronic Anxiety23:25 Coping Mechanisms and Insecurity23:46 Overconfidence and Pretense24:25 Trauma Chaplaincy and Self-Discovery26:19 Building Healthy Church Cultures27:09 Pursuing a Doctorate and Integration of Disciplines28:16 Understanding Protection and Pretense31:14 Addressing Organizational Anxiety33:37 Minority Experiences in Leadership38:53 Contagious Emotions and Jesus' Example42:05 Final Thoughts and Future PlansStay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

We are all looking for a bit of relief. Some pain relief, relief from stress, the relief of getting the kids off to school or maybe to bed on time. But do we think of God’s grace as the big relief?In this episode, we welcome back David Zahl, of Mockingbird Ministries. David introduces his new book titled The Big Relief: The Urgency of Grace for a Worn-Out World, which focuses on how God's grace is the ultimate relief we all seek in our stress-filled lives. They discuss various aspects of grace, including forgiveness, imputation, and surrender, and how these can alleviate the modern pressures of status anxiety and the demand for control. The conversation delves into the importance of recognizing suffering and offering consolation through the grace of God. David also shares insights on creating church communities that provide relief rather than additional burdens.00:00 Introduction: Seeking Relief00:39 Guest Introduction: David Zahl01:24 The Urgency of Grace02:56 Grace in a Pressure Cooker World06:11 Defining Grace: The Big Relief08:49 Forgiveness: Relief from Regret14:03 Imputation: Relief from Status Anxiety21:00 Surrender: Relief from Control27:09 Cultivating Communities of Relief30:10 Conclusion and FarewellStay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Host Geoff Holsclaw engages with New York Times columnist and author Ross Douthat. They discuss the enduring relevance and shifting perceptions of religion in a scientific and secular age, driven by Douthat’s book Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious. The conversation navigates the historical impact of new atheism, the existential malaise in youth culture, and a generational gap in religious knowledge. Douthat elaborates on his rationale for advocating religion not just for its therapeutic or social benefits but also for its intellectual robustness. Topics covered include the persistence of supernatural experiences, the case for commitment to established religions, and the importance of community and institutional structure in religious life. Douthat also shares his personal journey through various Christian traditions, culminating in his commitment to Catholicism. The episode concludes with insights into how suffering and chronic illness have deepened Douthat’s faith and understanding of God's providence.Stay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Sometimes, when you feel stuck, and overwhelmed, you don’t need more and better information. Sometimes you need to engage your story, to better understand how the past influences the present. That's what we talk about with Adam Young. Adam Young is a therapist who focuses on trauma and abuse, and the host of The Place We Find Ourselves podcast. He currently serves as a Fellow and Instructor at The Allender Center.  Adam is the author of Make Sense of Your Story: Why Engaging Your Story with Kindness Changes Everything.Also, check out his mini-conference hosted each month. Adam explains the concept of story work as a therapeutic and spiritual practice that helps individuals understand how their past experiences shape their present. He emphasizes the importance of approaching one's story with kindness and the role of attachment, neuroscience, and spirituality in the healing process. They also delve into the significance of exploring familial, cultural, and spiritual narratives to achieve wholeness and integration, or 'Shalom.' Additionally, Adam provides insights into addressing common resistance to story work and the importance of leaders engaging in this process to foster supportive community environments. He concludes by sharing information about his ongoing mini-conference series aimed at helping individuals delve deeper into their stories.Stay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

In this episode of the Attaching to God podcast, hosted by Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw of Embodied Faith, licensed therapist Lisa Cuss joins the conversation.Lisa shares her journey from teaching to becoming a therapist, her focus on trauma and attachment-informed modalities, and her work with  Capable Life alongside her husband, Steve Cuss. The discussion delves into the complexities of anxiety, personal and collective grief, and the transformative process of attachment both to oneself and to God. Lisa highlights the importance of being seen and comforted by God, the role of trauma in shaping behavior, and the significant shift when individuals recognize God's presence in their deepest pain. This episode offers insights into how mental health and spiritual growth can be fostered within church communities.Lisa is a licensed therapist (MA, LPC), speaker, and trainer who is passionate about the intersection of Psychology and Faith. In her private practice, Lisa uses trauma and attachment informed modalities to help people journey through deep pain and stuck places to find more healthy connection within themselves, with others, and with God. Lisa also works alongside her husband, Steve Cuss, within Capable Life, an organization that helps people find relief from chronic anxiety and deepens connection with God in the workplace and the home place.Stay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

What is Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount really about?  Is it an out-of-reach spirituality for the really devoted? Is it a practical guide for political action? A reworking of the Old Testament Law? Or an existential treatise on the intentions that guide our actions?What if it outlines the way toward human flourishing?Dr.  Jonathan Pennington is a Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.  And a teaching pastor his local church. Dr. Pennington is the author of many books, including Reading the Gospels Wisely, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, and Jesus, the Great Philosopher: Rediscovering the Wisdom Need for the Good Life. Find out more about Dr. Pennington here: https://www.jonathanpennington.com/Stay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

God’s true nature is beyond human comprehension. It can never be fully expressed in human words. But Scriptures uses one particular word to describe the distinctiveness of God’s character; this is the Hebrew word hesed. Michael Card is an award-winning musician and performing artist. His many books include Scribbling in the Sand, A Fragile Stone, and Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God's LovingkindnessStay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

This Holy Week, as Jesus, "the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Is. 53:3), walks toward the cross, we ask what it might be to proclaim this as good news. An older evangelism might ask, Where will you go when you die? But in our age of anxiety and despair, maybe we need to shift to: What do you do with your sorrow as you live?  That Jesus walks with us in our sorrows is really good news. That's what we are talking about today with Dr. Andrew Root. He is the Carrie Olson Baalson professor of youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations.  And most recently has written about Evangelism in an Age of Despair: Hope Beyond the Failed Promise of Happiness.Stay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Does doing your job need to feel like losing your life? Can your vocation be part of your spiritual formation? Can we survive digital overwhelm?Dr. Craig Mattson is a researcher, teacher, and writer at Calvin University. He’s the editor of The Mode/Switch newsletter and podcast on Substack, both of which decode workplace culture and the strange etiquettes of digital spaces. Craig’s three books address spiritual formation by attending to the kinds of humans we yearn to be in the digitally saturated spaces of life and work. His most recent book is Digital Overwhelm: A Mid-Career Guide to Coping at Work.Stay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

In a thought-provoking conversation, Ashley Lande, a writer and artist from rural Kansas, shares her transformative journey from psychedelic exploration to finding faith in Jesus. She candidly discusses the risks and complexities of using psychedelics for spiritual enlightenment while emphasizing authenticity in faith. Ashley also reflects on existential questions, identity, and the profound relationship between suffering and spirituality, enriched by her poignant experiences with grief and the solace she finds in music. Her journey is a compelling exploration of love, loss, and redemption.