Creation praises because it exists, because it was created. Creation praises in the ways it can, because it can. What songs and sounds of praise do you hear in creation? // Psalm 148 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at...
Sep 19, 2019•9 min
"Imagination enables us to find potentiality and to picture a new vision.” How might imagination change the way you approach environmental justice and all of its intersections? // There is no scarcity. There is no shortage. No lack of love, of compassion, of joy in the world. There is enough. There is more than enough. Only fear and greed make us think otherwise. No one need starve. There is enough land and enough food. No one need die of thirst. There is enough water. No one need live without m...
Sep 18, 2019•7 min
Tortoises preach to me, in their own wordless way, of how life should be and can be, if we don’t let ourselves be defined by human social constructions and instead re-situate ourselves in the original evolutionary construction or unfolding that we call creation. What does it mean for you to live ecologically? // This episode was written and recorded by Brian McLaren. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Trundle by Podington Bear and Mountain by Stephen Keech. Visit www.trc...
Sep 17, 2019•7 min
Dirt matters. Shit matters. When we bring an eternal perspective to our temporal home, we can see that resurrection is a reality, even on earth. What does the end of the world look like? // 1 Corinthians 15:55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” // This episode was written and recorded by Amanda Meisenheimer. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Trundle by Podington Bear and Ghost Suite by YEYEY. Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to ...
Sep 16, 2019•8 min
Don’t ever believe that the fire inside you is something you should grow out of. What kind of adult did you need when you were seven and seventeen? // Isaiah 11:6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them // This episode was written and recorded by David Black. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Trundle by Podington Bear, Calico and Desert Hiatus by Young ...
Sep 15, 2019•9 min
"What if we recognized that climate change is not just an environmental justice issue but also a spiritual issue? The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The way we treat the planet impacts our soul. For God so loved the world - the whole world, the entire cosmos - and so what if we did too?" In your opinion, what is the connection between climate change and spirituality? // Romans 8:21-22 [We wait] in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain...
Sep 05, 2019•4 min
“Easter is about starting again when all we can see around us is devastation. It’s about changing laws that allow violence to proliferate. It’s about welcoming the marginalized into the mainstream. It’s about apologizing for wrongs long unaccounted for. It’s about owning up to the possibility that systems from which we benefit are crushing the souls of our neighbors. It’s about making amends that move us towards new realities." What does it look like to live into the hope of Easter in your life ...
Apr 21, 2019•5 min
“God is still speaking in the chaos. God is still speaking in spite of us. And God is still speaking in the created world around us." Where do you hear God in the world around you? // This episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear. Soundscape locations include East Harlem, Union Square, Times Square, and Central Park. Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all three seasons of Be Still and...
Apr 20, 2019•9 min
“At what point in our suffering do we question the presence of God? And at what point in our suffering do we acknowledge that our questioning of God is a natural response to such agony. Perhaps we need to question God more." When was a time you questioned the presence of God? // Matthew 27:46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” // This episode was written and recorded by Lawrence Richardson. It ...
Apr 19, 2019•7 min
“Suffering and death do not have the last word. Jesus has and is the last word and these are words of faith, agency, courage, and resistance." What does it mean to that God has the last word? // Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. // This episode was written and recorded by Alex Da Silva Souto. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Samples include Love and Hate by Michael Kiwanuka. Background tr...
Apr 19, 2019•10 min
“God takes God’s seat right next to us.” What does it look like for you to join at the table of the story of God and us? // Luke 22:14-20 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that...
Apr 18, 2019•6 min
“God is here in the endings. God is here in the liminal spaces. And God is here waiting for us in the beginnings that we cannot even imagine yet. It is finished and it isn’t over." How can this Holy Week, with its endings and its beginnings and its in between, transform us? Can we recognize all of these as holy in our own lives, even when we don’t know what comes next? // John 19:30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. // Thi...
Apr 17, 2019•7 min
“God stands up to hatred and bigotry. God stands up to homophobia, racism, islamophobia, sexism, abolish, and all of the -isms we are yet to name. God is incapable of bowing to the false gods of this world." What injustices is God inviting you to stand up against? // Psalm 21:9-13 You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in her wrath, and fire will consume them. You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind....
Apr 16, 2019•8 min
“This is why we need the season of Lent, to see more clearly one’s self and one’s community, to feel more deeply our limits and our need, and to join in solidarity with our suffering neighbors and our planet." Why do you need the season of Lent? // Isaiah 50:4-9 The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebelli...
Apr 15, 2019•9 min
“Jesus, riding the colt, passes by. Your eyes meet. The colt slows down. What do you do? What do you feel?" What do you think it would have been like to be in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? // Luke 19:29-38 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are yo...
Apr 14, 2019•10 min
“We are called to go and to untie, to set free and not to exclude. This story reminds us that the lowly, even those that society and the church ties down, will be used to do the work of God in our world today.” How have you seen churches and our society constrain and tie people down? What does it look like for you to work to help set these people free? // Luke 19:29-36 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go ...
Apr 13, 2019•10 min
“To give of your best, even when death is staring you in the face, is an act of rebellion against death’s vicious sting." What does it look like for you to give of your best? // John 12:1-8 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her h...
Apr 12, 2019•7 min
“We often skip to the resurrection, we often skip to butterfly Jesus all the way past caterpillar Jesus. But a life spent with Jesus is a life of wilderness and suffering, a life on the margins.” Where are the margins in our world today and who is pushed into them? // Philippians 3:4b-14 If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee...
Apr 11, 2019•9 min
“There aren’t two sides to this story — the wilderness of Lent and the joy of Easter — it’s one story, one narrative." What pain in your life do you tend to avoid? What might change if you acknowledge or face it? // Matthew 26:36-46 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even...
Apr 10, 2019•11 min
“Christianity has a God who knows exactly what it means to be human." In your own words, what does it mean to be human? // John 19:28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” // This episode was written and recorded by Rev. Rachel Johnson. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Samples include What If God Was One of Us by Joan Osborn (cover by Jessica Bassett), The Good Place, and Doubting Thomas by Nickel Creek. Background tr...
Apr 09, 2019•12 min
“Our first temptation is to look at what new thing God is doing now rather than to look hard at the history, both ancient and contemporary, to face down the evil which we might not have created but from which we certainly benefit.” In your opinion, what is the evil that needs to be faced down from our ancient and contemporary history? // Isaiah 43:16-21 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, ...
Apr 08, 2019•9 min
“No one of us can solve the conflicts raging unabated across the globe. But I can refuse to buy or use plastic. What’s a few more dishes to wash? It’s not an ultimate answer. It’s a small fast for a season and maybe a new beginning.” What steps can you take towards a new beginning for our world? // Romans 14:10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. // This episode was written a...
Apr 07, 2019•9 min
You hear the lambs a-cryin' hear the lambs a-cryin', hear the lambs a-cryin'; O Shepherd, feed my sheep. Where do you hear the lambs crying in your midst? // My Saviour spoke these words so sweet, O shepherd, feed my sheep. Saying 'Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep.' O shepherd, feed my sheep. O Lord, my love you see and know; O shepherd, feed my sheep. Then give me grace to love you more; O shepherd, feed my sheep. O wasn't it an awful shame? O shepherd, feed my sheep. He hung three days in ...
Apr 06, 2019•5 min
“Loosen our grasp on the things we own and the things we do so that we might once again see the love, the family, and the blessings of the table that God has set for us." What does it mean for you to accept the love, family, and blessings that God has for you? // Luke 15:11-32 Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the ...
Apr 05, 2019•7 min
"You are not a human doing. You are a human being. Selah." When was the last time you pushed pause on the chaos around you and inside of you? // Psalm 32:3-5, 7 While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliveran...
Apr 04, 2019•9 min
“We are sacred possibilities, the image of God always ready to manifest in our skin.” What does it look like for the image of God to manifest in your skin? // Matthew 27:46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” // This episode was written and recorded by Rev. M. Barclay. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms, Chimera, and Burned by Podington Bear and Wanderlu...
Apr 03, 2019•9 min
“Every moment, every challenge, every person has the potential to become new." What needs to be made new in your life? // 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has g...
Apr 02, 2019•5 min
“Let’s write new chapters and create new stories together." What are the new chapters and new stories that God is inviting you to write? // Joshua 5:9-12 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of...
Apr 01, 2019•7 min
“You gotta wade through those troubled waters, take hold of your life, put your feet into the messy places, and trust that you will move through the troubled waters to that place, that peace which passes all understanding." What are the troubled waters that you need to step into? // John 5:1-9 Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, par...
Mar 31, 2019•14 min
“We are called to see our life work for justice and peace as preparation for resurrection." What are you doing to prepare for and practice resurrection? // “We resist. We refuse to let hatred in. We rise up. We won’t back down. We’re in this til the end. Pray for your enemies. Welcome the stranger. Show love to your neighbor. We’re in this til the end.” – Mark Miller // This episode was written and recorded by Rev. Bruce Lamb. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Samples include We Resist by Mark M...
Mar 30, 2019•12 min
