Neotopia, the podcast

Short sermon on the lectionary text 1 Peter 2:1-10 that compares spiritual formation to the dependence of a newborn baby and a stone waiting to be placed. The sermon draws from photography by Peter Hijra and architecture by Luis Barragan, and evaluates the distinction between personal growth and spiritual formation.

A short sermon on The Good Shepherd passage John 10:1-10. With so many voices vying for our attention, how can we recognize our own intuition?

A sermon on Acts 2:14a, 36-41;A critique—and reframing—of evangelism. Including a personal story of someone trying to evangelize to me, and a reference from HBO’s Euphoria.

A short sermon on Luke 24:13-25, The Road to Emmaus. The sermon argues that what we have is a vision problem: when we fail to see the sacred in our midst, we mis-read reality. With references to HBO’s Couples Therapy and everyday interactions, the sermon traces what happens when we rush to meaning too quickly, and how those interpretations quietly shape everything.

Holy Saturday is the day we don’t talk about.We remember Good Friday.We celebrate Easter Sunday.But what about the space in between—when nothing makes sense, nothing moves, and there’s no clear ending?This sermon explores that in-between space.Drawing from Joan Didion, a moment with my two-year-old son, and music from James Blake’s Trying Times, we look at what it means to live when the story has fallen apart—and how the ancient practice of Sabbath offers a way forward when we don’t know what comes next.

In this episode, we discuss the Serenity Prayer and addiction mindsets. This is a continuation from the previous episode about the Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven. Once we're liberated from our addictive mindsets, we are free to experience the "Kingdom of God" within. With help from the Amazon Original movie, Sound of Metal.

In this video, we identify an interesting detail in the main stories throughout the Bible: that the narrative unfolds through the lens of the youngest son. This reveals the Bible as going against the intensely patriarchal culture of its times, and also leads us into a vision of the leveling of society included in the "Kingdom of God." We also carefully evaluate the Lord's Prayer, line by line, and talk about what it means to forgive so that we may be forgiven.

Are we all living in our false selves? What are the tools to identify when we're acting out of our false selves and how do we discover our true selves so that we can live more freely, joyfully and peacefully? Religion, psychology, philosophy and art all have something to say about that. With help from Thomas Merton, Richard Rohr, David Lynch, Bhagavad Gita, and The Wizard of Oz.

In episode 8 of Neotopia, the podcast: a new place to learn about theology, we discuss the meaning of Jesus’ death and the ways his life and image has been misused for political agendas today.We also look at some words and their true meaning, like the word: WORD (as in Word of God).“When we want to point to a verse in the Bible to support our own agenda for violence, hate, dehumanization… we’ll be able to find one. But it’s likely that we’ll be following the laws of an archaic land that was in pre-pubescent stages of evolution.”

In this episode, we round out the series of the evolution of human consciousness in the biblical narrative with Jesus of Nazareth who demonstrated an evolutionary leap in human consciousness and lived as a human in full maturity. We’ll evaluate the life of the historical Jesus and why he was killed by the most powerful people in the world. Also, how does his life relate to the rest of the Bible and to us today? And how has his image and purpose been dangerously watered down and co-opted to fit any agenda?

In part 3 of our series evaluating the evolution of human consciousness in the biblical narrative, we see Moses' relationship with God as one that operates face to face. Moses sees God in the burning bush and as a result becomes inspired with a new vision for a righteous life that leads to true liberation. We also dissect the 10 commandments.

In this episode, we evaluate the relationship between Abraham and God - one that operates ear to ear (command and response). This represents an early level of human consciousness: Obedience and reward. A different interpretation of the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac (c/o Dr. Roy Heller) shines light on the rest of the biblical narrative. Plus, a scene from Succession.

In this episode, we begin to evaluate the evolution of human consciousness in the biblical narrative, starting with Adam and Eve. A different interpretation of the story in the Garden of Eden helps us understand the entire truth of that story in a new way--a truth that relates to every human who ever lived.

In this episode, we discuss the problem of evil in the neoclassical understanding of God and reality. Using illustrations from German film, Wings of Desire, and David Foster Wallace's speech This is Water, we'll unpack difficult theological concepts like: Can there be a God while evil exists? and What does it mean to worship God versus worship power, money, beauty?

In this episode, we evaluate distinctions between Eastern and Western philosophy and use the 3rd season of The White Lotus and current events as examples. We also offer a new, literal definition of God that may transform how we understand God in the world and how we treat one another.

Join us as we deconstruct preconditioned notions about God and reconstruct for human flourishing. In this episode, we’ll learn about axial periods (did you know we’re currently living through the second axial period in human history RIGHT NOW?!), unitive and dualistic thought, and more.