The Daily Edify

Today's episode is about remembering those who died and bravely served in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. I share a bit about where I was on that tragic day. And then lift up the practice of Rabbi Irwin Kula who listens to some of the voicemails of those who perished - words of husbands to wives and mothers to daughters and parents to children. I end by reflecting on the call to be peace-makers, and what each one of us can do today in the three-feet-around-us at any given time.

Today's' episode is about a brilliant and generative question I first heard from Barbara Brown Taylor several years ago. "What's saving your life right now?" I offer a few answers I'd give today and invite you to do the same.

Good to be back in this podcast space after a long hiatus! Reflecting on a newsletter article I read over the summer about "Ultraprocessed Time." Mentioned the book I read with our older kids, "The Amazing Generation," the challenge to spend more time outside and transition into the fall with generative and healthy spiritual habits. 

Today's episode is about empathic distress. It's what we experience when we feel the pain of others' but feel unable to help alleviate it. Instead, we're invited to let our empathy be a pathway to compassion, an active place where we can acknowledge the suffering of someone, assuring them of our support, and seek to help them.

Today's episode is about being mindful of the preciousness of life and making two-degree shifts toward "eulogy virtues," the things that matter most. I tell the story of downloading the app, "WeCroak," and how it has grounded me in these weighty days. Thanks for listening!

Today's episode is inspired by a question I first heard from Barbara Brown Taylor: "What's saving your life right now?" It's a powerful question that invites us to name concrete things that are helping us stay attuned to what matters most. I answer the question for myself - and it would be different a day from now and certainly a year from now. But that's part of its generativity. I encourage you to answer the question for yourself, tell a loved one and ask them to answer it too.

Today's episode is about how change actually happens: not through outside heroes to swoop in and work on their own, but through small groups of dedicated people who want to heal the world. We hear a few lines from Margaret Mead, Howard Thurman and John Paul Lederach, but then spend a few minutes on the recent TED talk by David Lamotte, "Why Heroes Don't Change the World." How can you be part of realizing God's dream in the three-feet around you right now? Which 2-3 people can you meet with to work on something that breaks your heart right now?

Today's episode is about the cliche, "Life is short." We explore how being fierce with reality can be clarifying and animating for our life. I mention a few recent books: Life Is Short by Dean Nickles and Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkemann. And then we end with words from Henri Frederic-Amiel, "Life is short, so we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk with us. So be swift to love and make haste to be kind." Deep peace to you, friends!

Today's episode is about the practice of "scruffy hospitality," a term coined by Jack King. I learned about it from the recent book by Oliver Burkemann, Meditations for Mortals. The basic idea is that we need to forgo "hospitality with excellence" for the more human and compelling "scruffy hospitality" - a way of living and  inviting others into our presence that reminds us we are human. 

Today's episode is about "joyspan," a new concept I learned about recently. Rather than "lifespan" or "healthspan," "joyspan" focuses on the quality of our life and how we might grow, adapt, give and connect with others, especially in the second half of life. The term was coined by Dr. Kerry Burnright, who served as a professor at UC Irvine for nearly 20 years, and who recently came out with a book, "Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life's Second Half."I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about a conviction of Desmond Tutu, archbishop of South Africa, which later became a hymn. I share a story I learned about from the spiritual autobiography of him I read a couple of years ago, written by this long-time assistant, Michael Battle. In the midst of so much fear and brokenness in the world, it's crucial for me to remember the deepest truths and this story and hymn help me do that. I hope it helps you, too, friends. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the potent theological symbol of the table - a place of gathering, connection and sustenance. We remember who and whose we are. This summer, we've been "eating our way" through the Gospel of Luke with Jesus. His table practice was radical, inspiring the harshest criticism from his opponents (e.g. "a glutton and drunkard...a friend of tax collectors and sinners it"). This focus on the table has been blessing and inspiring me in this tumultuous time we are living through. How can we gather with others around the table to remind ourselves that we belong to one another? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episodes is about "thresholds" - those times of transition in our lives and what they offer to our spiritual lives. Thinking about our kids growing up, the changing seasons and the gift of being present to each moment given to us.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the beatitudes of Jesus - why they still matter and how we can take our cue from them in these tumultuous times. Sorry for the long hiatus! It's good to be back today.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the invitation to "get proximate." It comes from Bryan Stephenson, the celebrated human rights lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. He encourages us to get proximate, get close, to those who are on the margins, disfavored, homeless and incarcerated. That's how we truly see them and find deep connection. I learned a lot more about Stephenson and his work last November, when a group of us from our church went on pilgrimage to Alabama for three days, visiting Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the "reverse golden rule." We've all heard of the Golden Rule, found in all major world religions - in Christianity, we hear Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount, "Do unto others and you would have them do unto you." But the "reverse golden rule" is the opposite of that - treating yourself in the way you reflexively treat others. Sometimes the most difficult person to love is ourselves. This is very similar to the practice of self-compassion, something we've discussed on this podcast before (check out the work of Dr. Kristin Neff to learn more). The point here is not to be self-indulgent, but to love ourselves in such a way that we can bear God's image and live in and for love in the world, which is always God's dream for all of us. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the concept of finite and infinite games. It was developed by religion scholar James Carse, a longtime professor at NYU. He wrote a book of the same title in the mid 1980s and the idea is really generative. In a finite game, there is a clear winner and loser, the rules are static and the game ends. In an infinite game, the purpose is to simply continue the games, the rules change over time and there are no winners or losers. This reframing has helped me understand the work of building the beloved community differently, and given me strength to keep on keeping on. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the changing of seasons and the remembrance of All Saints' last Sunday. We recite Kathleen McTigue's poem, "They Are With Us Still," and wonder about the impact of the saints, the ancestors, those who've gone before us in this life - making our living possible, encouraging us on, modeling for us how to live the way of love.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about a lovely blessing from Julian of Norwich, entitled "God's Love for Us." A friend shared it with me during my sabbatical and reciting it as becoming part of my morning routine. It has helped me relax into the bigness and beauty of God's love.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

After a long hiatus, we're back with a new episode today about home. I share a bit more about my sabbatical during spring/summer and a visit to Holy Wisdom Monastery (Madison, WI) in particular. While there, I learned a beautiful rendition of the Lord's Prayer that I recite and then discuss for a moment. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about grace. We read Denise Levertov's lovely poem, "The Avowal," and reflect on a mantra I've come to cherish recently: "Grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home" (drawn from the  hymn, "Amazing Grace"). Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the juxtaposition yesterday of Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day. I mention a helpful article from the Atlantic written by Esau McCauley, and the book by Brian Doyle, "One Long River of Song." Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Glad to be back after a hiatus, friends! Today's episode is about light and darkness. They are not oppositional, but complementary forces with a symbiotic relationship. It's the Advent theme our church focused on in December and is generative for our spiritual lives, especially in these humdrum days of February. I reference Barbara Brown Taylor's book, "Learning to Walk in the Dark," Simon and Garfunkel's song, "The Sound of Silence," and invite us to consider all the goodness that comes to us in the dark (as well as the light). Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the spiritual practice of blessing - especially with our words. We begin with the most famous blessing in the whole Bible from Numbers 6:24-26 - "The Lord bless you and keep you..." We need to receive this blessing ourselves and then share it with others and with all creation. Our words don't confer, but reveal the blessing that's already there. The late Irish priest and poet John O'Donohue defines blessing another person as “drawing a circle of light around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen them.” What might it look like to do that more intentionally in your life?Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode, in anticipation of the Thanksgiving holiday, features a prayer by Ted Loder, "My Words Can't Carry All the Praise," from his book, Guerrillas of Grace. I hope you have a blessed holiday, friends.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the concept of flow developed by Hungarian-American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. A flow state is when you are so absorbed in what you are doing that you lose all sense of yourself, and time seems to fall away, and you are flowing into the experience itself. He wrote a book in 2008, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, to explain the concept in an accessible way. You can learn more from him in a TED talk he gave back in 2004 here. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about a concept I first heard Arianne preach about several years ago in a sermon at the church we served together in Fort Wayne. The concept is "the cushion of the sea," and it comes from Arthur Pierson. The gist is that there's a layer of the ocean so deep that it remains undisturbed, completely calm, even when the storms and wind are churning the much more shallow waters above it. God's love and light and life are like that. God's peace is like that. It can be an anchor for us, as our lives and the life of the world are facing profound fear, anxiety and violence.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is an invitation to tend to your own pain, as we reel from terror and war in Israel and Gaza in these very difficult days. We talk about what is ours to do, Richard' Rohr's line about pain ("If we don't transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it") and the call to engage in healing of ourselves, so that we can be more fully alive in the world. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the "eight wonders of life" that Dacher Keltner articulates in his new book, "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life." He defines awe as the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world. Fascinating and practical stuff.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about something I've learned from my social worker friends: unconditional positive regard. As my friend and colleague Allison Bengfort writes, "It's an intentional, emotional posture that the best therapists extend to their clients...assum[ing ]the best in the client. It assumes that the client is inherently good, worthy, and worthwhile. It is able to separate misguided choices and challenging behaviors from who the person is deep down." We explore this posture in our lives and how we might cultivate it further. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the spiritual practice of gratitude - in particular, deep gratitude. We touch on a retreat I attended last week, a line from the apostle Paul's letter, 1 Thessalonians ("Give thanks in all circumstances") and Diana Butler Bass' recent book, Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode features a short poem by Dawna Markova, "I Will Not Die an Unlived Life." It reflects on how to inhabit our lives, risk our tender significance, and set aside the voices of fear. It invites us to embrace our lives as they actually are,  receive the seed we've been given and to nourish them to blossom and then fruit. I first heard this poem at a coaching summit for pastors four years ago in Bloomington, Illinois, and it blesses me still to this day. I hope it blesses you too.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the practice of forgiveness - I primarily draw from my experience with the Christian tradition, but the act of forgiving is part and parcel of what it means to be human.  And, in recent years, many other disciplines have taken up the topic of forgiveness, exploring its relevance to their field, from psychology to medical science to philosophy to evolutionary biology.What is human forgiveness and how do we go about it? We talk a bit about the practice, and I mention the book by Desmond and Mpho Tutu, "The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World," citing the path it suggests as a way to approach the difficult, costly and complex work of forgiveness. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about failure, and the invitation to keep doing it in our life, our work, our faith, and our relationship. Failure is human. Failure is healthy. Failure is how we grow. We share stories about James Dyson, Dr. Norm Larsen, the apostle Paul, among others. We end with a mention of the recent book, In Praise of Failure: Four Lessons in Humility. Let's reframe failure as inevitable, as part of life, as an opportunity to grow.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about something neuroscientists are teaching us through their research: negative and critical thoughts are like velcro - they stick and hold. Whereas  positive and joyful thoughts are like teflon - they slide away. These thoughts can come from others or ourselves. This is part of a "negativity bias" we all have. But there's a way to counteract this tendency. We can learn to hold onto the good and loving things or thoughts that come our way. In order for them to imprint in our "implicit memory," scientists tell us we need to consciously savor them for at least 15 seconds. Otherwise, they often slide away. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode features is blessing by the inimitable John O'Donohue, "For the Traveler." It's drawn for his book, "To Bless the Space Between Us," which is one of Arianne and I's all time favorites - chock full of gorgeous and evocative language that offers blessings for various and sundry life moments.As my family prepares to take a trip this week, I'm thinking of this blessing and the gift it invites us into. I hope it blesses you as well!Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the concept of blue minding, first popularized by the marine biologist, Wallace Nichols. The basic idea is that being in or near blue water reduces stress and helps us get grounded in a primal and spiritual way. Since our bodies are 60% water and our brains are 75% water, this makes intuitive sense. I've always found being in or near water to be a "thin place," and I'm grateful to have this term and set of research to make better sense of it. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about Loretta Ross and her courageous and brilliant work that invites us to "call in" instead of "call out." Ross is an activist, public intellectual and professor of women’s studies at Smith College. I find her invitation to be both challenging and helpful, a summons to improve the connection and understanding in our corner of the world. I learned about Ross from an article written three years ago, and it's stayed with me ever since. She also has a website (with a four-week online course) and moving TED talk.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the African concept of "ubuntu," inspired by my reading of the spiritual biography of Desmond Tutu. The basic idea is this: "a person is a person through other persons." The myth of the isolated, self-sufficient individual is not only misleading: it's wrong biologically, psychologically and spiritually. We explore what "ubuntu" might have to offer us as a framework for leading our lives in this time of great challenge and great opportunity.Here are a couple of links to explore "ubuntu" more deeply: here and here.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode reflects on something I'm learning from the recent spiritual biography of Desmond Tutu, written by Michael Battle. "Goodness is given" is something I'm learning from Tutu's life - something that kept him sane and compassionate in his remarkable work to participate in resisting the evil regime of apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s and 90s. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about a simple and funny story that happened to Arianne and Noah the other day. It reminded me of the spiritual practice I've committed to this summer: the practice of paying attention and engaging in joy and laughter.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone! 

Today's episode is aptly titled "today." I share about one of my favorite yard signs in our neighborhood that I walk by a couple of days a week (it simply says "today!"), how often Jesus focuses our attention on "today," and a story from Greg Boyle about how this one-word meditation (on the word "today") has been an ancient spiritual practice in the Christian tradition (as it has been in many faith traditions) for centuries. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone! 

Today's episode is me riffing on the "odd and wondrous calling" I'm privileged to live out. Here I'm referring to the work of being a pastor, but I would argue it applies to whatever your calling is - it may include what you do for a paycheck, but it may not. This is the work you have been put on this earth to do - your purpose, what puts you in the flow, the healing love you have to offer this world. Listen in as I share a recent series of things I had the opportunity to be part of. Like you, some days I'm exhausted and wonder if anything I'm doing is helping anyone at all. And in other season I'm blown away with gratitude. Right now is the latter and I want to tell you about it as we enter the downshift of summer routines.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone! 

Today's episode is about finding a summer mantra, a way to set an intention and deeply experience all that this season has to offer. We read one of favorite poems by Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day," and then I reflect on the mantra I've settled on this summer: paying attention. The idea is to look and listen, bear witness to the beauty and brokenness I see in myself, in others and in creation. I encourage you to land on a mantra for these warm and winsome days as you seek to be fully alive to the love that is your ever-present companion.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone! 

Today's episode is about the work of Tricia Hersey, founder of the Nap Ministry (in 2016). I first learned of her work in the fall of 2022 that featured her new book coming out, "Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto." (More recently, she has published the highly practical collection, "The Nap Ministry's Rest Deck: 50 Practices to Resist Grind Culture.")Tricia views rest as an issue of racial and social justice, a connection to her enslaved ancestors and a way to resist white supremacy and capitalism. She runs a "Nap Chapel" in a little-used Presbyterian church down in Atlanta, where she lives with her husband and son. Her Instagram account, thenapministry, is the easiest way to connect with her inspiring work. I'm pondering how to engage in deep and frequent rest this summer, as I take a break from the podcast and daydream about the next season that will begin in the fall. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone! 

Today's episode is about a story, "The Birthday of the World," that Rachel Naomi Remen received as a gift on her 4th birthday from her grandfather, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi. Last fall, she published the story, beautifully illustrated by Rachel Sumpter, as a children's book. It's a powerful and moving story about the creation of the world and our call to engage in healing the world with the unique light we've been given. We've read it with our kids a number of times and they love it!Remen is trained as a pediatrician and for many years has taught medical students at UC San Francisco, focused on the art of healing. She has published two award-winning books, "Kitchen Table Wisdom" and "My Grandfather's Blessing." For more from Remen, listen to this interview with Krista Tippett or check our her website here.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about epistemic humility, an idea that goes all the way to Socrates in Plato's "Apology." The basic idea is that we should be humble about anything that we know because it might be revised someday - with new knowledge, new language, new perspective. I was inspired to share after reading a recent article from the U of Chicago's "Center for Practical Wisdom" - which was founded 7-8 years ago to study how we might apply wisdom to our personal and communal lives. Needless to say, our world is sorely lacking in epistemic humility, with the most outlandish rage-fueled pronouncements garnering the most attention and the most clicks. How might you embody epistemic humility in your life, your work, in your home, family and neighborhood? It may seem trivial, but this posture can change the world. Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about a poem by Padraig O'Tuama, "The Facts of Life" (drawn from his collection of poetry published in 2018, "Sorry for Your Troubles"). I first heard this poem about a year ago and it's been working on me ever since. It's moving and tender and piercing in its realism and wisdom.After reading the poem, we reflect on a few of its lines and how they speak to the depth and rhythm of our spiritual journey. Here's a video of Padraig reciting the poem and explaining a bit more of its context.Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the "myth of closure," a phrase I've borrowed from the recent book by family therapist, researcher and author, Pauline Boss (The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change). The basic idea is that, when it comes to grief, "closure" is an unhelpful and unattainable idea. In many ways, "closure" is a made-up media word that fails to capture the complexity of the grieving process. It's more helpful to speak about grief in terms of learning to live it or finding meaning in it or beginning to carry it differently. Boss is most well known, however, for a term she coined in the 1970s as a graduate student: "ambiguous loss." This type of loss as a graduate student in the 1970s to articulate the type of grief that doesn't have official verification or immediate resolution (e.g. the death of a loved one when the body is not recovered; a loved one with Alzheimer's).Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about two German words and how to cultivate one instead of the other. Schadenfreude has entered the cultural lexicon here in the U.S. and can be defined as our tendency to take a cruel pleasure in the misfortune of others. Freudenfreude, however, is the something we can cultivate in its place - it means  to take joy and happiness from the success of others.  I read an article about Freudenfreude a few months ago and have been chewing on it ever since. How might we practice this today? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!