Crackers and Grape Juice

This week is a real treat! We are sharing Jason's unedited live talk from the Mockingbird Annual Conference in New York! A huge thank you to Mockingbird for having Jason speak and for recording it as well!

“Orthodoxy is historically defined according to the creeds, and there is nothing at all in the creeds about human sexuality.”Steve Harper, author of the new book, Holy Love, published today, is our guest for Episode #206. Steve is a former Professor of Historical Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary, which is— mind you— the UMC’s most conservative school. Steve was also a leader in traditionalist movements like Good News and the Confessing Church Movement. In 2015, though, Steve’s understanding of sexuality in light of scripture changed.His new book is a concise primer for all folks but especially those like his former self. He’s a warm and wise man with whom I felt honored to speak.Here’s the blurb I had the opportunity to provide for the publisher:In all our church fighting about what is and is not incompatible with Christian teaching, Christians seem to have forgotten the core of Christian teaching; that is, we’re all incompatible with Christian teaching. Not one of us is found compatible— we are made compatible by God’s grace. In Holy Love, Steve Harper reminds Christians that married love is holy precisely because it’s an arena where life with another exposes the stranger you call you to the unmerited forgiveness of the other who knows your worst self. The experience of such grace makes us holy— different— in a culture premised on merit alone. Marriage, as the wedding rite makes clear, is about sanctification; therefore, to deny committed couples, gay or straignt, marriage deprives them not of a privilege but of a medicine. Holy Love provides pastors and parishioners the biblical and theological resources to have a holy conversation about how that medicine may be administered to same-sex couples too and how their marriages might also serve as parables for how God loves us all.You can order his book from Cokesbury.

In a culture of performancism, virtue-signaling, and enoughness-chasing, Nick Lannon's new book tells us the good news that Life is Impossible (and that's the good news). Nick is an Anglican priest in Louisville, a movie buff and sports buff, and a contributing writer to Mockingbird Ministries and Liberate.

Martin Luther said that God loves to hide himself behind his opposites. Though we prove time and again to think we need to strive and succeed so that we might be found acceptable by God or, in succeeding, find God in God's glory, the God who condescends to us in the suffering Christ never stops so condescending, meeting us not in our triumphs but in our struggles, suffering, and failures. Friend of the podcast Chad Bird, is back to talk about his new book Upside Down Spirituality: The Nine Essential Failures of a Faithful Life.

Calvin said the human heart is an idol factory. Augustine said our hearts are restless until they find rest in God. DZ of Mockingbird Ministries and the author of the new book, Seculosity, says we’re more religious than ever before we’re church “in church” in different ways (love, politics, parenting, technology, fitness) searching for “enoughness” from gods that, without the promise of grace, cannot bestow it. Check out his work at www.mbird.com and grab a copy of his book over at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Jerry Herships joins the podcast to talk about his newest book, 'Rogue Saints: Spirituality for Good-Hearted Heathens.' In this episode, we talk about what exactly Jerry means by "shitty church," if you are looking for a church how you can avoid one, and if you are a pastor how you can avoid pastoring one. ---------------More on the book: The world is full of good-hearted heathens, those who love people and those who want to do good in the world. They're not against God--they just have little use for church. Church is boring and hypocritical. Plus, who wants to sit through a sermon every week? But while organized religion doesn't appeal to them, these heathens long for a connection to something bigger than themselves: meaning, community, mission.---------------Jerry Herships is the founding pastor of After Hours Denver, a faith community of rebels and misfits that meets in dives and pubs to talk God and the Holy over drinks while making PB&Js to pass out to the hungry and homeless of downtown Denver. A former bartender turned comedian, Herships was drawn into ministry after realizing that the connections and conversations he had with his customers were deeper and more real than anything he'd ever experienced in church. He is the author of Last Call: From Serving Drinks to Serving Jesus.https://afterhoursdenver.org/https://www.amazon.com/Rogue-Saints-Spirituality-Good-Hearted-Heathens/dp/0664264425https://www.wjkbooks.com/Products/0664264425/rogue-saints.aspx

200 Episodes!!! Say what?!? Listen as the guys take a trip down memory lane to talk about their favorite episodes, their white whale guests and what's to come for the podcast Crackers and Grape Juice!

Jason crushes on his hero Barbara Brown Taylor while talking with her about her new book, Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. The author of previous books like the Preaching Life and Leaving Church, Baylor University recognized Taylor as one of the most influential preachers in the English language.

Now that the sting of the UMC Special General Conference is lessening, what is next? How can those who are dissatisfied with the work done by the delegates in St Louis organize and be better prepared for GC2020?Rev. Mandy Sloan McDow is the Senior Minister at First United Methodist Church in LA and is the co-author of the forthcoming book, 'Out of the Depths: Your Companion After Divorce.' Follower her on Twitter - https://twitter.com/RevMama

The podcast team caught up with Emma Green to talk about the implications of what occurred at the Special General Conference in St. Louis. Emma argues the storyline coming out of #GC2019 is a common storyline being experience throughout the United States: a breakdown or inability to live in community with people who we disagree with. This struggle to maintain community is causing fracture throughout institutions that once held up our communities.Emma Green is a staff writer at ​The Atlantic, where she covers politics, policy, and religion. https://www.theatlantic.com/author/emma-green/https://twitter.com/emmaogreen