Rachel Hagewood and Ben Howard are joined by Beth Ritter-Conn, a lecturer at Belmont University's College of Theology and Christian Ministry. Together they talk about what it means to feel hope in dark times when you just don't feel it, how to process a lot of the struggles we've been going through in the last year, and what is giving us hope today.
Jan 17, 2021
48 min
In today's episode Rachel and Ben talk about our hope in Jesus Christ and how it spans the spectrum from the routine and every day to the profound. They look at the story of John the Baptist and his interaction with Jesus, Jesus' early ministry and how he overturned the expectations of the Messiah, Paul's thoughts about what it means to place our hope in Christ, and finally the ultimate goal of our hope described in Revelation.
Jan 3, 2021
57 min
Rachel and Ben are joined by Rev. April Casperson, the director of diversity and inclusion for the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church to talk about how she works with churches to become more diverse, what diversity really looks like, and why it's so complicated even when we have the best of intentions.
Dec 20, 2020
43 min
This week Ben and Rachel talk about what it means to be made in the image of God. They'll explore passages from Psalms, Philippians, and the Gospel of John as they discuss how we can dismantle our assumptions about what it means to be human and embrace the identity we are given as God's creation.
Dec 6, 2020
50 min
Rachel and Ben talk to Bruce Reyes-Chow, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, about his experiences with online worship, both before COVID-19 and during the pandemic, the importance of simplicity and community in shaping online connections, and where he sees online worship heading in the future.
Nov 15, 2020
49 min
Rachel and Ben talk about different places of worship throughout the Bible. They start by exploring altars in the Old Testament before moving on to synagogues and other worship communities in the Gospels and Acts. Finally, they discuss Revelation's depiction of worship in the throne room. Throughout they talk about the purpose of worship, how it empowers us to know God, and how the places we worship can shape the way we understand who God is.
Nov 2, 2020
49 min
This week Rachel and Ben talk to author Jordan Ritter Conn and chef Riyad Alkasem about Jordan's new book The Road from Raqqa which tells the true story of Riyad and his brother Bashar. It's a story filled with the hard truths of war, struggle, and the pain of leaving home, but also one with hopes, dreams, and the power of hospitality.
Oct 18, 2020
58 min
This week, Rachel and Ben explore four stories about making covenants. They talk about the importance of symbolism and ceremony when it comes to making covenants, how memorials and reminders play a role in helping us a keep our covenants, and what it means to re-establish a covenant once it's been broken.
Oct 4, 2020
1 hr
This week, Rachel and Ben talk with Hannah Adair Bonner about advocating for justice, learning how to change your mind and how to better listen to unheard voices. Hannah is a speaker, member of the UMC clergy, and the author of The Shout: Finding the Prophetic Voice in Unexpected Places.
Sep 20, 2020
1 hr 3 min
This week on Let's Talk About the Bible, Rachel and Ben explore the conversion story of Paul in Acts, Paul's theology of salvation in his letter to the Romans, and why Paul's writing can be really, really confusing sometimes.
Sep 6, 2020
1 hr 1 min
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