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9 mins read|09/05/26Are You More Spiritual Than a Medieval Peasant? In this episode, we sit with The Book of the Craft of Dying to discuss how medieval spiritual warfare was explained in the 1415 text Ars Moriendi. What temptations do Christians experience in the midst of death? How do temptations to desperation, impatience, complacency, and concern about worldly matters seduce Christians? How do we distinguish between divine actions and nefarious powers at work? How many times can Gillespie interrupt and contradict Riley before he goes apoplectic? Are there patterns Christians can look for to recognize when temptations are approaching? Is there anything we can do to avoid temptations? Is being tempted the same as sinning? Why is so much of medieval piety and discipline no longer taught by the churches? This and much, much more on today’s episode of the podcast.
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6 mins read|08/20/26Suicide Solution. In this episode, we sit with Martin Luther and C.S. Lewis to discuss the topic of self-murder (“suicide”). We talk about focusing on higher truth, how individualism leads to harmful consequences, and how Christians and churches may discuss this with others.
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14 mins read|07/17/26Run for the Hills! On this episode, we sit with Eugene Peterson and Jonah, listening to what they have to teach about God’s grace, death and resurrection, threshold experiences, believing Jesus is God versus encountering him, and much, much more! What does pastoral ministry look like in Jonah’s disobedience and obedience to God’s call? What would a “Church of St Jonah” look and sound like? What is it about God’s love for sinners that drives us away from God? When will this episode description end?
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11 mins read|06/05/26We’re in This Together. In this episode, we sit with Bo Giertz and read his open letter to the churches — A Shepherd’s Letter. As translator, Bror Erickson says of the opening section (we read on the show), “Crises and Sources of Strength”: “Christians had been systematically persecuted by the Nazis, and this systematic persecution continued in soviet countries. However, in Western Europe, church leaders like Bo Giertz saw how increasing industrialization was also assisting an increasing secularism. There were huge population shifts into the city, and people lost track of the church even as the church lost track of the people during these shifts. Some political parties were also actively hostile to the church. The trends toward secularism and atheism in the West have continued, of course, and have also become a point of consternation for believers even to this day. This age has not ceased to be evil since Paul designated it as such in Gal. 1:4. So the church continues and will continue to suffer crises, and so the essay “Crises and Sources of Strength” takes on a sort of timeless dimension that way.
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9 mins read|08/30/25Take Me to Church. In this episode, we read Bo Giertz’s "Christ’s Church: Her Biblical Roots, Her Dramatic History, Her Saving Presence, Her Glorious Future." The Church, who is she? What kind of life is present within the church walls? Who wants to understand that life better and know more about it? We read Christ's Church and take you on a walk from her biblical roots toward her glorious future.
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11 mins read|05/16/25Come Together, Right Now… In this episode, we read from Tim Keller’s sermon, which asks, “What is the Church?” We discuss the relationship between churches and culture, what the church is and isn’t, where we locate faith, whether Christian faith changes one’s values, and much more.
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9 mins read|04/12/25Can’t You See. In this episode, we read the Lutheran theologian Matthias Flacius, and discuss inter-church debates, the Lord’s Supper as ground zero for most church conflicts, the consequences of compromise in matters of faith, the limits of love, and when it’s time to push away from the table and go into prayer.
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8 mins read|04/04/25Kick Out the Jams. In this episode, we focus on the raw, real work of life in the parish—the ordinary burdens, the hidden insecurities, and the quiet faith that holds it all together. We explore the distinction between philosophy and theology and why attempts to fuse them often leave both diminished. There’s talk of reformation—its drama, its necessity, and its cost. We reflect on the pervasive victim-perpetrator dynamic that shapes so much of modern life and how the gospel when rightly preached, breaks that cycle. At the heart of it all is this: the power of Christ’s mercy to open what we’ve shut tight, to drive out the bitterness we’ve made into habit, and to speak a word stronger than shame.
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7 mins read|03/27/25Hey, Hey, What Can I Do? In this episode, we read Lucas Woodford’s book, Great Commission, Great Confusion, or Great Confession? and discuss the Great Commission, evangelism, the radical gospel, the purpose of the church’s preaching about Jesus, post-modern consumerism, and many, many rabbit trails into uncharted topics.
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8 mins read|03/21/25First It Giveth. In this episode, we discuss Jonah’s vocation, gospel imagination, dogmatic materialism, spell casting, the contemporary effects of the Industrial Revolution, and God’s preference for wasted places while reading Eugene Peterson's Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness.
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9 mins read|12/13/24Tighten Up. In this episode, we read Martin Luther’s Advent 3 ordination sermon, discussing rites and ceremonies, church traditions, God’s mysteries versus the devil’s, and much pastoral talk about transparency and honesty amongst brothers and sisters in the Gospel.
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10 mins read|11/16/24Break on Through (To The Other Side). In this episode, we discuss preaching to the dead and how to unlock doors when one doesn’t have a good lock pick. We also discuss Robert Capon’s book, Foolishness of Preaching, reading his Easter sermon on John 10. This podcast episode includes preaching, polity, pastoral care, and renegade priests.
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