Reimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia Becker

In a time of social distancing, it’s hard to help other people. It’s hard because of the physical distance, but it’s also hard to feel motivated to engage in the needs of the world. Most of us feel needy ourselves right now, even if we are sheltering-in-place with relative ease. In this week’s episode, we talk about how to understand ourselves as beloved children of God, and how out of that belovedness we can find our way into the work of social healing using our heads, hearts, and hands.Show Notes:PDF version of Head, Hearts, HandsA Good and Perfect GiftSmall TalkPhilippians 2:12-18We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

Science, medicine, and politics can answer lots of our questions about where the coronavirus came from and what it is doing in and among humans. But another set of questions arises in times like this. Can we find any meaning or purpose in this suffering? Can we find any meaning or purpose in our lives right now? Is God present, and loving, and real? Where is God in the midst of suffering? In this episode, Amy Julia looks at what Paul writes about who Jesus Christ is as a way to understand who God is in the midst of suffering and how voluntary self-sacrifice motivated by love equips and empowers us to find meaning and experience God’s loving presence in our current moment. Show Notes:Casey Cep in the New Yorker on the gift of church: https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/the-gospel-in-a-time-of-social-distancingN.T. Wright in TIME: https://time.com/5808495/coronavirus-christianity/NYT on politician turned Jesuit: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/opinion/sunday/cyrus-habib-jesuit.htmlC.S. Lewis quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/221026-a-man-s-physical-hunger-does-not-prove-that-man-willBloomberg Article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-31/divorces-spike-in-china-after-coronavirus-quarantinesPhilippians 2:1-10Romans 5:8John 3:16From White Picket Fences: "The privilege of whiteness and wealth can become a wall against the privilege of being human, loved not for status or performance but simply loved, and able to give love in return not because of obligation but in grateful response to an invitation. I have been given much that I do not deserve, and my very real social privilege has cut me off from others as much as it has also made my life comfortable. But social privilege is not the end of my story. The real privilege of my life has come in learning what it means to love others, that love involves suffering and sacrifice and sleepless nights and tears and heartache and great gifts.It makes sense to talk about privilege in terms of access to private clubs and schools and bank loans and preferential treatment by authorities. It makes sense to expose the injustices of privilege and call for them to be rectified. But there is also the privilege of cleaning the wounds of people you love, of participating in healing and new life, of becoming vulnerable and needy and receiving love and care. There is another type of privilege, privilege that connects instead of divides, that shimmers tWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

What does COVID-19 tell us about our humanity? In today’s episode, Amy Julia talks about the way this pandemic exposes three truths of human nature. She also explores three impediments to living in love: distraction, fear, and injustice. With a look at Philippians 2:1-4 as an ideal way to live, she offers thoughts on the way social divisions impede living in love. Show Notes:For the Life of the World podcast (Miroslav Volf)Article in Washington Post by Sarah Pulliam Bailey re Samaritan’s Purse and Cathedral of St. John the DivineUpdate: While the organization Amy Julia mentions in this podcast, Samaritan's Purse, has set up in Central Park and is serving people there, the plans to work in the cathedral of St. John the Divine were canceled. According to the New York Times, it is unclear whether that changed due to need or to disagreement between Samaritan's Purse and St. John the Divine over same-sex marriage. (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/nyregion/st-john-the-divine-franklin-graham.html)Philippians 2:1-4We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

“Why does God allow the coronavirus to exist?” is the question my kids (and many of us) are asking this week. More generally, why does God allow suffering to happen? Why doesn’t God stop the suffering? I can’t offer any easy answers, but we will tackle this age-old question in today’s episode of the Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast. As we enter the Christian celebration of Holy Week, we’ll look at how Jesus faced his own suffering and death with love. We will also explore how Paul faced the prospect of his own death without fear and with love, and how we too can enter into a place of greater peace, hope, and love without denying our real fears and sorrows. Show Notes Philippians 1:19-30Psalm 88Psalm 63 Blog post I wrote about how Psalm 63 moves us towards hopeWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

What do we do when the foundation is shaking? Thousands of Americans have already died from the coronavirus. Hundreds of thousands of people are sick from this virus around the globe. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, just last week. So what do we do when the foundation is shaking and busyness, self-medication, and entertainment are not enough? Today’s episode explores six ways to receive God's love in the time of coronavirus.Additional Resources:Philippians 1:13-18, 1 Corinthians 13, Ephesians 3:14-21, 1 John 4Blog Post: How to Receive God's LoveHarvard Business Review: That Discomfort You're Feeling is GriefExpanded Show NotesWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

For all of you who are stressed, and fearful, and worried—for yourself, for your family, for those you love, for our whole world—I want to share a practice that has helped me. I invite you to give yourself three minutes today.We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

How do we connect socially in a time of social distance? Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians in the midst of his own extended time of social isolation. This letter he wrote offers us words of honesty and hope in the midst of our current moment. SHOW NOTES:Philippians 1:1-11We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

It was after the election of President Trump in 2016 that I first wrote the words, “Love is stronger than fear.” Fears haven’t abated in the past few years, and they only increased in the past few weeks as we face an unprecedented medical and economic crisis across the globe.SHOW NOTES:Book of PhilippiansWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

And now for something completely different: the Superbowl halftime show! After noticing really different reactions to the show from white Christian women and Christian women of color, my good friend Niro Feliciano and I decided to record a conversation. Listen as we talk about Shakira and J Lo, about how culture shapes our view of the world, and how to grow in love even when we disagree.We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

I'm excited to introduce to you Head Heart Hands, my new resource that accompanies White Picket Fences. This free action guide offers ways to respond to the harm of social divisions and privilege in a thoughtful, loving, and courageous manner.We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!