The Apprenticeship Way with Marc Alan Schelske

Episode 040 – This IS Us. We Need To Own It. “This isn’t us. This isn’t America. We are better than this.” Have you heard—or said—those words recently? Well, you may not want to hear this, but the only way forward is to let those words go. Show Notes On January 6th, 2021 there was a historic and unprecedented event where people who had gathered in Washington D.C. to protest the certifying of the results of the presidential election turned into a violent mob that stormed the capital building. While details about exactly who was involved and what happened are still coming out at this time, one thing is clear. The majority of the participants were white, and many of them were Christian. Saying “This isn’t us. This isn’t how real Americans behave” or “No real Christian would do this,” is a form of denial, meant to shield us from facing difficult truth. Spiritual maturity requires naming the lies we’ve accepted and choosing to repent of them and change our ways. Name the lie. Renounce the lie. Repent of your participation in the lie. Then, only then, can there be healing, and growth. If we want a more free and equal country, we need to stop denying our difficult past and the ways that past still shapes our life together. If we want more Christlike and impactful churches, we need to stop denying the ways we use power to get what we want, and follow the way of Jesus which means laying down our power and privilege to serve others. For another viewpoint on the issue of saying “This isn’t us,” read this article by Soraya Nadia McDonald. Let her viewpoint challenge you. Verifying ownership for Vurbl: https://vurbl.com/station/3lwZx96NSx1/ You can also watch and share the video version on Youtube. RESOURCES & OTHER LINKS Today’s Sponsor The Writers Advance – A Weekend for Writers to Write – This is the perfect weekend for writers who are serious about getting their project moved forward. This is not a weekend to learn from experts or do networking. This is a weekend where you will write in an inspiring venue, where you’ll have great food, lots of space, and just enough structure and encouragement to get those words out. The next Writers Advance is in April of 2021. Find My Stuff Get The Anchor Prayer: A Prayer and Process for Remaining Grounded in a Chaotic World – This little book is free for you by opting in to my email list. Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide Untangle Workbook: A guided journaling process for untangling emotions and finding wisdom. Untangled Heart Course Online. Subscribe to my Email List. You’ll get a free copy of a little book called The Anchor Prayer: A Prayer & Process for Remaining Grounded in a Chaotic World. Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.

Episode 039 – You Need an Architecture of Grief (Interview with James Prescott) Twenty Twenty seems to be the car wreck that just keeps going, and the result is that many of us are experiencing more and more pain and grief. How are we to deal with this? Writer James Prescott and I discuss the ways we structure our lives for either avoiding or entering into and processing our grief. You’ve got to do it! Show Notes We all have an “architecture” to our lives. This is the structure of our lives that makes living our lives the way that we do easiest for us. Much of this structure is inherited and unconscious. Most of us live with an unconscious architecture that protects us from experiencing our grief. We hide from pain, and try to live our lives in such a way that the pain isn’t visible. For a healthy life, where we grow personally and spiritually, we need an architecture of grief, structures in our life that enable us to experience and process our grief without being controlled by it. You can also watch and share the video version on Youtube. RESOURCES & OTHER LINKS Today’s Sponsor The Writers Advance – A Weekend for Writers to Write – This is the perfect weekend for writers who are serious about getting their project moved forward. This is not a weekend to learn from experts or do networking. This is a weekend where you will write in an inspiring venue, where you’ll have great food, lots of space, and just enough structure and encouragement to get those words out. The next Writers Advance is in April of 2021. Find My Stuff Get The Anchor Prayer: A Prayer and Process for Remaining Grounded in a Chaotic World – This little book is free for you by opting in to my email list. Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide Untangle Workbook: A guided journaling process for untangling emotions and finding wisdom. Untangled Heart Course Online. Subscribe to my Email List. You’ll get a free copy of a little book called The Anchor Prayer: A Prayer & Process for Remaining Grounded in a Chaotic World. Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.

Episode 038 – Would Jesus call you (or your church) Satan? “Get behind me, Satan!” Those are the words Jesus said to Peter. Yikes! But as I survey the current landscape of Christianity, I wonder if Jesus is saying this to us, or to our churches. In this episode, I reflect on what Jesus meant when he said these words to his friend, and what they might mean for us. Show Notes Read the scripture passages for yourself. The story: Matthew 16:21-28 The background of Peter’s declaration. Matthew 16:13-20 Paul’s eloquent description of the Christian attitude toward power: Phil 2:3-11 The Hebrew root and meaning for the word Satan. May you Have the courage to let go of power, to use what you’ve been given to serve others, to use your privilege to bring more people to the table, to use your vote to speak for those who our society considers least. May you follow the peaceful path of Jesus into other-centered co-suffering love. You can also watch and share the video version on Youtube. RESOURCES & OTHER LINKS Today’s Sponsor The Wisdom of Your Heart: Discovering the God-Given Purpose and Power of Your Emotions. You can’t grow spiritually if you’re not growing emotionally. Explore the vital importance of emotional wellness and growth in your discipleship. The Wisdom of Your Heart tackles some of the myths Christians have learned about emotions, looks at emotions in scripture, what we understand about emotions in the body and the brain, and offers a process for sitting with and understanding our emotions. Available in Paperback, ebook, and Audible audiobook. Find My Stuff Get The Anchor Prayer: A Prayer and Process for Remaining Grounded in a Chaotic World – This little book is free for you by opting in to my email list. Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide Untangle Workbook: A guided journaling process for untangling emotions and finding wisdom. Untangled Heart Course Online. Subscribe to my Email List. You’ll get a free copy of a little book called The Anchor Prayer: A Prayer & Process for Remaining Grounded in a Chaotic World. Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.

Episode 037 – Looking for God in All the Wrong Places – Interview with Paul J. Pastor Do you sometimes feel like your spiritual life is supposed to be in color, but you can only see it in black & white? Do you worry that we might be numb to God’s presence? Are you looking for a goose-bump moment and overlooking God in the process? In this episode, I ask Paul J. Pastor about this. Paul’s the author of The Face of The Deep: Experiencing the Beautiful Mystery of Life with the Holy Spirit, a book that tackles the mysterious sacredness of God’s presence. Show Notes More from our guest: Check out Paul’s website: www.PaulJPastor.com Pick up The Face of the Deep. It’s available in paper, ebook, and an amazing audiobook with an original score. Paul also has written two of the very best daily devotionals I’ve ever read, The Listening Day, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Note: Those links are Amazon Affiliate links. If you buy a book through those links I will receive an infintesimal kickback that I promise to spend on good books and frivolous electronics. More info here You can also watch and share the video version on Youtube. Other Links Mentioned Get The Anchor Prayer: A Prayer and Process for Remaining Grounded in a Chaotic World – This little book is free for you by opting in to my email list. Find My Stuff The Wisdom of Your Heart: Discovering the God-Given Purpose and Power of Your Emotions. Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide Untangle Workbook: A guided journaling process for untangling emotions and finding wisdom. Untangled Heart Course Online. Subscribe to my Email List. Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.

Episode 036 – Don’t Avoid Starting Over I like knowing stuff. I like being seen as a good person. I love being an expert. Weird that I became a pastor, right? But here’s the thing. As much as I like this stuff, I’ve discovered it’s not very good for me. Turns out that being an expert doesn’t help you grow spiritually. Consider this: What you think you know about God might be getting in the way of really knowing God. Show Notes Scriptures referenced: The story of Abraham’s calling. Genesis 11:27 – 12:4 The story of Nicodemus. John 3:1-12 Two of the most famous stories in the Bible, one from the Hebrew scripture and one from the Christian gospels, tell the same exact story in different contexts. The Divine Voice invited Abram to leave behind everything he knew and head out into the unknown. The Divine Voice through Jesus invited Nicodemus to set aside what he thought he knew in order to start again spiritually. Being an expert or being comfortable can be an obstacle to spiritual growth and a deeper connection to God. Consider if God is saying, “What you think you know about Me is getting in the way of really knowing me.” If you prefer, watch and share the video version on Youtube. https://twitter.com/schelske/status/1303084395142639616 https://twitter.com/schelske/status/1303084775725391872 Other Links Mentioned Do You Need a Speaker? – Our all-online world of Zoom gatherings has made it really easy to bring in guest speakers. I’d be happy to come speak for your church, retreat, organization, or event. We can talk about spiritual growth, inner life health, emotional health, core values, navigating a polarized world as a follower of Jesus, or any number of things. Click the link and let’s talk. Find My Stuff The Wisdom of Your Heart: Discovering the God-Given Purpose and Power of Your Emotions. Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide Untangle Workbook: A guided journaling process for untangling emotions and finding wisdom. Untangled Heart Course Online. Subscribe to my Email List. Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.

Episode 035 – Your Values are Showing! Pain is a terrible thing to waste. At least, that’s what my Trauma Therapist friend says. So, how are we using the pain of this difficult time of pandemic and protests so that we can be better people? This is part 3 of my 3 part conversation with Byron Kehler, a trauma therapist with nearly 40 years of experience. In this last conversation we’ll talk about who the pandemic is revealing us to be, and how we can come out the other side better people. Show Notes Byron Kehler is a trauma therapist with nearly 40 years of professional experience. Learn more about him at www.ByronKehler.com. Production Note: My apologies for the less than ideal audio and a bit of video lag. I’m learning the ropes with remote interviews, and this one didn’t turn out as well as I would like. It’s been edited so that it is as enjoyable as possible. We are experiencing a Real-time Values Clarification Exercise: Therapists and psychologists often use hypothetical situations to help people think through their priorities and values. What we are experiencing right now with the pandemic, protests, and political division is working this same way. “The way we are reacting right now to the circumstances we find ourselves in is revealing our true values.” – Byron Kehler. Values are our priorities and deeply held beliefs including our internal motivations. They serve as a compass for our actions and reactions and often go unevaluated. Aspirational Values are values that we wish we held or even that we say we hold, but that our behavior doesn’t align with. A question we must consider: what does it mean to “love our neighbor as ourselves” in the midst of a pandemic? Here’s a great summary article to Lawrence Kolberg’s Stages of Moral Development that Byron referred to. If you prefer, watch and share the video version on Youtube. Resources Mentioned The Untangle Workbook – Sort out your complicated feelings with this guided journal. The first 30 pages teach you the basics of what emotions are, what is happening in your body and brain when you feel them, and what they mean. The rest of the workbook is a template you can use to walk through an emotional experience so that you can understand it and respond with wisdom. Learn more at the link above. The Untangled Heart Workshop Online – Learn what’s happening in your body and brain when you feel those big emotions, how they are connected to your story, and how to navigate them with wisdom. This is the online version of the live workshop. 5 hours of video teaching, guided journaling exercises, 23-page downloadable notes packet and more. Learn more at the link above. Find My Stuff The Wisdom of Your Heart: Discovering the God-Given Purpose and Power of Your Emotions. Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide Untangle Workbook: A guided journaling process for untangling emotions and finding wisdom. Subscribe to my Email List. Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.

Episode 034 – The 5 Stages of Pandemic Grief We are going through deep weeds right now — pandemic, protests, unemployment, so many losses — and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better any time soon. But there’s one important factor that will determine how well we deal with all of it. We are all feeling an important emotion we might not even realize we’re feeling: Grief. What’s going on? Why is this happening? What can we do about it? This is part 2 of my conversation with Byron Kehler, a trauma therapist with nearly 40 years of experience. He’s got some really helpful things to say about what we’re all feeling and how we can face it well. Show Notes Byron Kehler is a trauma therapist with nearly 40 years of professional experience. Learn more about him at www.ByronKehler.com. One emotion almost all of us are feeling right now is grief. Grief is the natural emotional processing of loss. Nearly everyone has lost something during the pandemic. That means we are holding grief. We are really bad at expressing and processing grief because we want to avoid it. Failing to name and process our grief will lead us to much more emotional discomfort and undermine our emotional and spiritual health. If you prefer, watch and share the video version on Youtube. Resources Mentioned Tear Soup – a great book about the process of healing from grief. Also appropriate for children. Sacred Sorrows – a great book about the process of healing from grief. The Untangle Workbook – Sort out your complicated feelings with this guided journal. The first 30 pages teach you the basics of what emotions are, what is happening in your body and brain when you feel them, and what they mean. The rest of the workbook is a template you can use to walk through an emotional experience so that you can understand it and respond with wisdom. Learn more at the link above. The Untangled Heart Workshop Online – Learn what’s happening in your body and brain when you feel those big emotions, how they are connected to your story, and how to navigate them with wisdom. This is the online version of the live workshop. 5 hours of video teaching, guided journaling exercises, 23-page downloadable notes packet and more. Learn more at the link above. Find My Stuff The Wisdom of Your Heart: Discovering the God-Given Purpose and Power of Your Emotions. Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide Untangle Workbook: A guided journaling process for untangling emotions and finding wisdom. Subscribe to my Email List. Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.

Episode 033 – Why are we feeling so crazy, and what can we do about it – Trauma response in the time of pandemic & protests Covid-19, Masks, Quarantine, and now protests against racial injustice and police brutality? If you’re feeling overwhelmed, or depressed, or angry, or confused, you are not alone. Why are we feeling this way and what can we do about it? Show Notes Byron Kehler is a trauma therapist with nearly 40 years of professional experience. Learn more about him at www.ByronKehler.com. The next wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is trauma. You may already be experiencing it. How you are responding to the pandemic, as well as the protests, is shaped by your story because of the impact of State-Dependent Memory. State-Dependent Memory is the psychological phenomenon where certain kinds of memories are easier to recall (sometimes involuntarily) when you are in the same or similar physiological state. The pandemic and protests are bringing up unresolved pain and even trauma from the past. This is manifesting in feelings of powerlessness, increased anxiety, fear of uncertainty, anger in response to feeling violated, and binary responses and polarization. What can we do to limit the impact of these factors in our lives? 1) Be aware of the impact of your own story. Ask yourself, “Where else in my life did I feel like this growing up?” Consider how your current reactions might connect to your story. Note that the more out of proportion your emotional response, the more likely it is involving your story. 2) If your routine has been disturbed by the new COVID & Social-Distancing reality, built a new routine. Routine is a “container” for our mental health. 3) Keep up with your basic self-care. Eat. Sleep. Rest. Limit news and social media. 4) Spend time outside and in nature, when possible. 5) Stay connected to your family, friends, or supportive community through whatever means you are able to. 6) Reduce media consumption. If you prefer, watch and share the video version on Youtube. Resources Mentioned The Untangled Heart Workshop Online Learn what’s happening in your body and brain when you feel those big emotions, how they are connected to your story, and how to navigate them with wisdom. This is the online version of the live workshop. 5 hours of video teaching, guided journaling exercises, 23-page downloadable notes packet and more. Learn more at the link above. The Untangle Workbook Sort out your complicated feelings with this guided journal. The first 30 pages teaches you the basics of what emotions are, what is happening in your body and brain when you feel them, and what they mean. The rest of the workbook is a template you can use to walk through an emotional experience so that you can understand it and respond with wisdom. Learn more at the link above. Find My Stuff The Wisdom of Your Heart: Discovering the God-Given Purpose and Power of Your Emotions. Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide Untangle Workbook: A guided journaling process for untangling emotions and finding wisdom. Subscribe to my Email List. Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.

Episode 032 – Pentecost, Breathing & George Floyd This is the air I breathe! My heart broke open this week as I watched the events unfold around the murder of George Floyd, and the protests and riots that followed. At the same time, I was studying the lectionary passages for Pentecost. This is an edited version of the sermon I preached at Bridge City Community Church. Let me be clear: In this sermon I am a white preacher speaking to white Christians about a topic that white people have to own and take action on. It might be heavy and uncomfortable… but it’s a lot less uncomfortable than 400 years of oppression. So, keep your arms and hands inside until the ride has come to a complete stop. And I promise — I’ll give you practical steps you can take. Show Notes The song I referred to: This is the Air I Breathe. In scripture, both in Hebrew and in Greek, the word for the Holy Spirit and the word for breath is the same. Ruach in Hebrew and Pneuma in Greek. The well-known Pentecost passage is Acts 2. The lesser-known Pentecost passage is John 20:21-22. Jesus’ mission statement is found in Luke 4:18-19 Steps white Christians must take to obey the Spirit’s call to anti-racism: 1. Listen & Learn. An excellent reading list can be found at the end of this post. 2. Interrogate Your Feelings. (I’ve got lots of posts and resources on how to work through difficult emotions. Let me know if you want support in that area.) 3. Use your privilege to support and protect people of color, including your finances, your influence, your bodily safety, and your vote. Drew Brown, the musician, who wrote the prayer I closed with, can be found here: http://www.drewbrownmusic.com/ If you prefer, watch and share the video version on Youtube.

The discussion dives into the emotional turmoil experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, from anger to confusion. It highlights how society's structures contributed to these challenges, especially within religious communities facing safety debates. The conversation shifts to confronting suffering, emphasizing that it’s a normal part of life, not a sign of divine disfavor. Finally, it explores how suffering can deepen one's relationship with Jesus, inviting listeners to embrace their pain and foster compassion in turbulent times.