The Liturgists Podcast

In this bonus episode from The Liturgists Network show Loving This, Michael Gungor discusses and demos his new solo album Are You Perfect Yet? which is by his new artist Weiwu. The album follows the flow of Five Rhythms dance, which is a movement meditation practice devised by Gabrielle Roth. It draws from indigenous and world traditions using tenets of shamanistic, ecstatic, mystical and eastern philosophy. It also draws from Gestalt therapy, the human potential movement and transpersonal psychology. This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

A special preview of The Alien Podcast which is our private podcast for patrons. This week Michael (The Alien) and Jamie (The Sex Witch) talk about all manner of rabbit trails. Each week on The Alien Podcast Michael has open ended conversations with wonderful people like William Matthews, Dr. Hillary McBride, Jamie Lee Finch, Peter Rollins, and more. Join The Liturgists at the $10 and get more episodes like this every single week: theliturgists.com/join This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

William Matthews, Dr. Hillary McBride, and Michael Gungor discuss dissonance and how our minds work to make sense of things when we have two incongruent ideas occupy our minds at one time. How does our ability to survive affect how we approach those different ideas? What kind of new thing exists in the space of that dissonance? Michael describes the experience to be like that of a polychord from Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

Heather McCain talks with Dr. Hillary McBride to pull apart the story that disability is inherently negative. Heather McCain is Executive Director of Creating Accessible Neighbourhoods, a non-profit they founded in 2005. Heather’s experiences with multiple types of disabilities, inaccessibility, and ableism led them to become a well-known and respected speaker, advocate, educator, and activist, working with a variety of companies, cities, and non-profits to confront the issues that face disabled people. Recognizing that the disability community is comprised of people with many intersecting identities, Heather is committed to cross-movement organizing and working to ensure that the entire disabled person is considered. Heather facilitates Qmunity’s group Chronically Queer, a support group for queer folk who have chronic health conditions and is an organizer of Burnaby Pride and facilitates the Burnaby Pride Community Action Network. This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

Christy Harrison talks with Dr. Hillary McBride and Michael Gungor about our culture's obsession with dieting and our views of our bodies. They dive into over one-hundred years of history to highlight how our modern day assumptions are often based on decades of social norms that have built up over time. Christy is an anti-diet registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor, host of the podcast Food Psych, and author of Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating (2019). You are not alone! This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

Peter Rollins and Michael Gungor talk about happiness and the many ways we seek it out. We may use the tools of religion, belief, work, ideals, pleasure, or others to help us be happy. By breaking down the stories we tell ourselves using nondual thinking and philosophy they seek a deeper understanding of what makes us happy. Peter Rollins is an author, philosopher, storyteller, producer and public speaker. He is the author of The Divine Magician (2015) and The Idolatry of God (2013) among other books. Peter received his PhD in Post-Structural Thought from Queens University, Belfast. You are not alone! This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

We have all experienced or will experience grief at some point in our lives. Loss, whether unexpected or not, leaves us feeling alone. In this episode, Dr. Hillary McBride, William Matthews, and Michael Gungor talk about grief, how it affects us, and the toll COVID-19 is taking on the world by creating a large-scale sense of despair. We want to say a special thank you to the many liturgists who submitted their stories of working through grief. Your vulnerability helps us gain a deeper understanding of this complex experience. You are not alone! This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

Evelyn Tribole, an award-winning registered dietitian and co-author of the influential book Intuitive Eating, dives into the complexities of our relationship with food and body image. She discusses how the pandemic reshaped eating habits, emphasizing the need for compassion and guilt-free enjoyment of food. Evelyn also critiques diet culture, shedding light on the discrimination faced by those in larger bodies and advocating for a Health at Every Size approach. Listeners will appreciate her insights on breaking free from restrictive dieting and embracing body positivity.

In this episode we want to share a liturgy we created for Holy Week called "Garden." This liturgy features Amena Brown, Rachel Held Evans, Rob Bell, Science Mike, and Gungor. If you are not a regular consumer of liturgies, it as a collection of related works of art that all cover a specific topic. As we are all social distancing, we want to offer this to you as a way to connect to the ideas of holy week and a way to connect with others while your normal Easter plans have been changed. This Sunday at 11am Pacific you are invited to join us for The Sunday Thing. Hundreds of liturgists from around the world get together via video. We break into smaller groups to talk and it is such a wonderful time. You are not alone in your doubts, questions, anger, sadness, atheism, theism, or any other thing you are going through. To find out more and to join us on Sunday, go to theliturgists.com

Ruthie Lindsey talks with Dr. Hillary McBride and Michael Gungor about her experience with pain and trauma. They also discuss some things we can do during the COVID-19 crisis. Ruthie's new book, There I Am: The Journey from Hopelessness to Healing, will be released on April 21, 2020. At seventeen years old, Ruthie Lindsey was hit by an ambulance near her home in rural Louisiana. She was given a five percent chance of survival and one percent chance of walking again. One month later after a spinal fusion surgery, Ruthie defied the odds, leaving the hospital on her own two feet. Just a few years later, newly married and living in Nashville, Ruthie began to experience debilitating pain. Her case confounds doctors and after numerous rounds of testing, imaging, and treatment, they prescribe narcotic painkillers—lots of them. Ruthie became bedridden, dependent on painkillers, and hopeless, when an X-ray reveals that the wire used to fuse her spine is piercing her brain stem. Without another staggeringly expensive experimental surgery, she could well become paralyzed, but in many ways, she already is. Ruthie goes into the hospital in chronic pain, dependent on prescription painkillers, and leaves that way. She can still walk, but has no idea where she’s going. As her life unravels, Ruthie returns home to Louisiana and sets out on a journey to learn joy again. She trades fentanyl for sunsets and morphine for wildflowers, weaning herself off of the drugs and beginning the process of healing—of coming home to her body. You are not alone! We have virtual rooms you can join 24/7 to talk with other liturgists from around the world. To find out more, visit theliturgists.com