PODCAST · religion
Ronnie McBrayer
by Ronnie McBrayer
This is the podcast of author, speaker, pastor, and spiritual teacher Ronnie McBrayer. This is his collection of talks, interviews, insights from the Enneagram, and conversations with friends on the ever-changing, ever-evolving nature of faith. It is especially for those who are “burned out on religion” - to quote Eugene Peterson’s marvelous paraphrase; for spiritual exiles; and those whose faith is in transition.
Episodes
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Mind Your Own Business
An encounter with Jesus and a song by Hank Williams combines to challenge us all: While we find it much easier to critique and manage the lives of others, our true responsibility is deeply personal and deeply focused; to follow the particular path Christ has for each of us, and to "mind our own...
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On This Day
"On this day in history, September 13th: Hadrian began construction on a great wall across the north of England (122)...Michelangelo began carving the statue, 'David' (1501)...Army physician Walter Reed was born (1851)...so was Bill Monroe (1911)...Nintendo released a game called 'Super Mario...
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Remember to Remember
"It is the evaporation of common memory, what a society experiences over time, say a time span of 25 years. When a tragedy is new, the wound fresh; everyone knows, everyone remembers. But as time goes on, evaporation makes the remembrance pool smaller and smaller until one day, only the outline...
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"All There Be"
"Love is all energy, all strength, all health, all beauty, and all good work, well done. Love is the thinker of every good thought. Love ties all things together. Love makes all things one. Love is all there be. The books of the Holy Bible never say but one time just exactly what God is, but in...
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A Simple Faith: Toward the 20th Year
On a hot August Sunday 19 years ago, the fledging congregation known as "A Simple Faith" met for the first time. The 20th year begins here.
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What To Do In A Storm, Part 2
This is Ronnie's conclusion (Part 2 of 2) entitled: What To Do In A Storm, based on Acts 27.
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What To Do In A Storm, Part 1
"A storm is coming. You can count on it. And how I wish the coming storm was just thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening; just a little wind and rain. But the storm I’m talking about is more severe than that. I’m talking about personal, sometimes private storms. I’m not a pessimist.…
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Wherever The Water Flows
"Ezekiel’s dream of the future has come true. Not with the construction of some highly advanced cathedral for God with an artesian well, but with the construction of a people, of temples not made with human hands. God no longer lives in a temple. God doesn’t live in a church. God hasn’t been...
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Worry, Worry Everywhere
"Water, water, everywhere...and not a drop to drink." So cried the Ancient Mariner. "Worry, worry, everywhere" seems to be the cry today. This is Ronnie's look at Philippians 4, heeding the wisdom of the Apostle Paul who instructed early Christians to, "not worry about anything, but to pray about...
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The Idolatry of Patriotism
"You might ask, 'What is wrong with a little flag waving or a pledge to the nation of our birth?' Nothing! But to center American nationalism in the church is to marginalize the Lordship of Jesus. It demands that God share his place of supremacy with the flag. It fools us into calling this…
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Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
Ronnie concludes his series from the Psalms (while connecting these with more contemporary songs), with this episode entitled, "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen." Using Psalm 86, the African-American spiritual, and the insights of Viktor Frankl, this talk challenges the listener to wisely…
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In My Time of Dying
I know this is not the most pleasant subject for many people. But in the last words of President McKinley, "We are all going. We are all going." So long as death is way down the road, at some far and distant juncture that remains out of sight, it can remain out of mind. But we have no such...
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Give Thanks And Praises
Bob Marley...The Book of Psalms...Meister Eckhart...John Oatman Jr. What do all of these have in common? Gratitude. It's the best way to live your life.
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How Great Thou Art
I have no way to prove this, but I suspect that more people know the song "How Great Thou Art" than know the Psalm upon which it is based - Psalm 8. I venture to guess that more people have heard this song in the last 75 years than have read the book of Psalms. And I think that’s just fine!...
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Creation Song
Ronnie's continuing exploration of Psalms from the Revised Common Lectionary arrives at Psalm 104, with an ode to the Psalmists and contemporary artist, Fernando Ortega. Ronnie urges listeners to rediscover God's good creation by saying: "We are more fixated on looking through tiny digital…
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Riders In The Sky
What do Stan Jones, King David, the Apache Tribe, the Canaanites, Baal, and Yahweh have in common? You'll have to listen to find out more. My latest talk from Psalm 68.
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Fire and Rain
"God protects us from death and keeps us steady. Our God, you tested us, just as silver is tested. You trapped us in a net and gave us heavy burdens. You sent war chariots to crush our skulls. We traveled through fire and through floods but you brought us to a land of plenty” (Psalm 66 8-12).…
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Like a Rock
When it comes to people who have truly suffered, who have endured so much trouble, they must have something extraordinary that sustains them. It must be something solid. Something stronger than anything else. Something that doesn’t move, that doesn’t wash away. Surely, their feet have found a…
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A Rolling Stone
"Take in the scope of this ancient proverb: 'A rolling stone gathers no moss.' It emerged in ancient Antioch, was rediscovered during the European Renaissance, beloved in the peat moss bogs of the Scot-Irish, and institutionalized by the royalty of blues, country, and rock and roll music. And…
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"Your God Is Too Small," Part 2 of 2
"Seventy percent of your body is water. Seventy percent of all you ingest is water. Seventy percent of this planet is water. Water is everywhere and in everything. Water is what each of us are made of, and water sustains us. Water sustains everything in our world. That's not hard too understand -...
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"Your God Is Too Small," Part 1 of 2
JB Phillips coined the phrase, "God-In-A-Box." What did he mean? We have tamed God. We think we own or control God. Just look how God works through the religious machinery we have built, after all. God is reduced to a wafer in the hands of a priest; a doctrinal statement; the rules and…
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What Really Matters
Francis de Sales said, "I would rather answer to God for being too lenient than for being too severe. Is not God all love? Is not God the Father the Father of all mercy? Isn’t God the Son as a gentle Lamb? Is not God the Holy Spirit like a Dove? Can we act any different than God? It is a terrible...
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Believe in the One, Part 7 (8 of 8)
"I am the true vine," Jesus said. "Abide with me." My friends in recovery really get this concept of abiding - finding home on the way. It’s captured in Step 11 : “Seek - through prayer and meditation - to improve your conscious contact with God as you understand God, praying only for knowledge…
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Believe in the One, Part 6 (7 of 8)
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Only card-carrying Christians get to go to heaven? Not so fast. This statement has nothing to do with religion. Nothing whatsoever, for Jesus did not come to start a new religion. “Are you saying it does’t...
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Believe in the One, Part 5 (6 of 8)
"I am the resurrection and the life." - Jesus in John 11:25 Martha says to Jesus as he arrives too late to save her brother Lazarus, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died." Mary says the same thing to Jesus. Jesus had let them down. More so, God’s chosen one had let…
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Believe in the One, Part 4 (5 of 8)
Maybe the cowboy is the consummate American. Driven. All in with big, thunderous, stampeding noise. Armed to the teeth, fighting, pushing, and eating everything from the head to the hoof on the promise of big payday. “I am the good cowboy.” Jesus wouldn’t say that. He couldn’t! Not in the...
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Believe in the One, Part 3 (4 of 8)
Jesus said, "I am the gate." He didn’t speak of religion, sacraments, denominations, rituals, or even the Bible . He spoke of himself. If we take Jesus at his word, and if he is the living in-the-flesh representation of all that God is, then Jesus is enough. I am not anti-religion or...
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Believe in the One, Part 2 (3 of 8)
Consider the sun: It protects us, orders out time and the seasons. It provides what is needed for plants to grow, thus giving us air to breathe. It warms the oceans and keep the water currents moving. It is the basis of all agriculture. It disinfects our water. It provides renewable, abundant...
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Believe In The One, Part 1 (2 of 8)
In this second part of the Ronnie's series on the gospel of John and Jesus' "I Am" statements, he turns to John 6 where Jesus says, "I Am the bread of life." Jesus offered his listeners, and his readers today, a fulfillment beyond their shallow or misguided desires.
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Believe In the One: Introduction (1 of 8)
This is an introduction to the Gospel of John, Part 1 of 8: Of all the books in the New Testament, the Gospel of John sits unto itself. There is nothing else quite like it in the Christian Scriptures. Its most unique feature is its focus. From John 6:29: “This is the only work God wants from you:...
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Starfish
This is my motivational talk for 2026. “You cannot possibly make a difference,” will be whispered into your year, shouted at your face, and felt within the deepest part of your heart this coming year. But you can make a difference for "one little starfish." For one little classroom of school...
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In A World Where You Can Be Anything
In A World Where You Can Be Anything...Be Kind. This is Ronnie's take on the Bethlehem Innkeeper, with assistance from Frederick Buechner.
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 9
In this conclusion to Ronnie's 9-Part series on The Serenity Prayer, the last word is happiness. "So that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with him forever and ever in the next:" Is the last line of the prayer. And this prayer shows us this way, if we are willing to...
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 8
"I really thought I had come up with something a few years ago. But it wasn’t me. It wasn’t John Lennon either, no matter what you read on the Internet. It was Brazilian writer and journalist Fernando Sabino: 'Everything will be okay in the end; and if it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.' "This...
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 7
Here is the world as it is: There are those tortured by evil and injustice; there are those desperate for help and answers; there are those without the will or ability to be a part of any solution; and there are those who callously point their fingers, write the suffering and desperate masses…
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 6
Part 6: "...Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace..." If I could take you back to the moment you first drew air into your lungs; if I could take you back to the swaddled little baby that you were and reveal to you all that was going to happen to you over the decades to come, you would have...
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 5
The Serenity Prayer, Part 5: "'God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.' But the prayer continues. The next line: 'Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time.' There is acceptance -...
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 4
Part 4 of Ronnie's series on The Serenity Prayer: "God grant me wisdom." Ronnie says, "Optimism is a false hope. Pessimism is as suicide pact. Idealism is a fool’s errand - as a recovering idealist, it pains me to say that. This world can only be navigated by realists; realists who feel the…
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 3
In this third installment of Ronnie's current series, he picks up the theme of courage: "Having the courage to change the things we can." Ronnie says, "We all have internal insecurities, negative voices that shout out from the basement of our hearts to keep us afraid. We all have challenges that...
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 2
"Oh, God, grant me there serenity to accept the things I cannot change." And by acceptance, what is meant? It means you cannot deny reality. You cannot successfully resist the facts of your situation. Take people and things as they are. The longer you resist reality, frankly, the more desperate…
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The Serenity Prayer, Part 1: Introduction
Reinhold Niebuhr, a legendary ethicist and theologian from the previous century, may have produced the greatest single slice of spirituality in the history of North America when he penned a profound prayer in 1932. That prayer begins: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot...
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"Why Can't I Be Baptized?"
"Why would someone wish or ask to be baptized in the first place? Well, that depends upon who you ask. And then, of course, there is the question of how we baptize properly? Do we pour, sprinkle, immerse, dip, spray, squirt, squeegee, soak or flush? Again, it depends upon who you ask. Modes and...
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Welcome to the Table
"So, it's true after all: God is out to get you! Just like the sandwich-board evangelists have always said...But it’s not with the closed fist of anger and punishment. God arrives with an invitation in hand. God invites you to the party. God welcomes you to the table. At least that’s the kind of...
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Parties...Pride...and Peacocks
"Have you ever seen a peacock? It's a strutting parade. He's popping his feathers...all territorial...marking their boundaries. He makes noise, trying to get attention. And they might shine, but he mostly makes a mess and disturbs the neighbors. A peacock is so noisy because it can’t sing. It…
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Push The Sky Away
"If I lose hope – I have lost the very vitality of my present life and given up on the possibility of a more loving future – for myself, and all who will come after me. Without hope, I can only leave my children, my grandchildren, and their children nothing but despair. This I refuse to do. I...
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Set The World On Fire
“How can we regain the ability to form Christian disciples who will actually be guided by Jesus, instead of politics or economics or the fashionable? Can we infuse those in our congregations with such courage, that they will be able stand for what is right and true and virtuous - even if it means...
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Yesterday
There are some puzzles that simply cannot be solved. We don’t have the ability. We don’t have the time. So, we twist and writhe, losing sleep and years in the process, trying to find answers. The better part of wisdom might be to put such puzzles down and get on with living the life we have…
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To Uphold the World
“The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of just a few people.” That quote from James Baldwin captures the idea of the "Tzadikim" from Jewish mysticism. Tzadikim means, “the righteous ones." Based on Genesis 18, the Talmud elaborates: “There are no…
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The Essentialist
"My wife calls me a minimalist. But a new word has been introduced into my vocabulary: Essentialism. As I am learning, a minimalist is concerned with having less stuff; fewer possessions; buying less. I like all that for sure. "But an essentialist is one who seeks to untangle from the…
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The Examined Life
"People behave the way they behave because they are driven by what is within them. That’s simply how the human heart works. If it’s all garbage and rubbish on the inside of a person, then garbage and rubbish is the only possible outcome, and you need not expect anything different. The only way to...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
This is the podcast of author, speaker, pastor, and spiritual teacher Ronnie McBrayer. This is his collection of talks, interviews, insights from the Enneagram, and conversations with friends on the ever-changing, ever-evolving nature of faith. It is especially for those who are “burned out on religion” - to quote Eugene Peterson’s marvelous paraphrase; for spiritual exiles; and those whose faith is in transition.
HOSTED BY
Ronnie McBrayer
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Ronnie McBrayer currently has 336 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Ronnie McBrayer about?
This is the podcast of author, speaker, pastor, and spiritual teacher Ronnie McBrayer. This is his collection of talks, interviews, insights from the Enneagram, and conversations with friends on the ever-changing, ever-evolving nature of faith. It is especially for those who are “burned out on...
How often does Ronnie McBrayer release new episodes?
Ronnie McBrayer publishes regularly with 336 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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Ronnie McBrayer is created and hosted by Ronnie McBrayer.
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