Register for classes with Dope Yogi!Nicole Gheorghe is one of the best yoga teachers I know, and an all-around gift of a human. She and her husband Jeremy have started an incredible online yoga studio called Dope Yogi that is all about authenticity over perfection.Nicole’s classes at Dope Yogi are approachable, flexible, and transformative, and are perfect for all levels of experience. Your membership will include over 90 on-demand classes, as well as weekly live zoom yoga.Follow the new Chic...
Jan 08, 2021•1 hr 17 min
Based on the following passage from today's daily office lectionary from the Book of Common Prayer:James 1:1-15 NIVJames, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:Greetings.Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lac...
Nov 12, 2020•19 min
Today’s guest is Julia Brown, an artist, entrepreneur, recovering fundamentalist Christian, and a living example of the mystical wisdom of the artist. Julia drops wisdom left and right in this conversation as she shares how she’s learned to navigate capitalism as an artist, and how her faith directs and influences her creative work. We talk about the limits of language, embracing mystery, and choosing compassion instead of judgement for ourselves and others. Julia has her own pottery business...
Oct 02, 2020•1 hr 5 min
A homily based on the following reading from the daily office lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer:Luke 4: 14-30 (NIV)Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrol...
Sep 26, 2020•11 min
Professor Betsy Coughlin is back for the first episode of "Heather and Betsy talk about sex," where Heather and Betsy talk about talking about sex.In this conversation we talk about the history of the Church, how we understand the Bible, and, spoiler alert: the patriarchal values that shaped both.Please, please reach out to Heather via Instagram or the Chickmonks website, or connect with Betsy if you'd like to respond directly to her.
Sep 18, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Did you hear? I'm offering Individual spiritual guidance/coaching sessions. If you're craving a more meaningful path and a more fulfilling spiritual journey, consider working with me to discern next steps to clear the path for your bright future. It is truly the most life-giving part of my life to work with you as you discover your direction. Contact me to find out more.A homily based on the following Daily Office reading from the Book of Common Prayer:John 11:1-16Now a man named Lazarus was ...
Sep 10, 2020•14 min
This episode is a beautiful and vulnerable interview with my friend Valerie Hernandez-Sigamani. We cover big, important injustices in our experiences of Christianity and our hopes for what the future could be like for communities of people following Jesus, but doing it differently--especially making the church better for women and people of color.Connect with ValerieValerie's work: Wild Faith Co.Connect with Heather{NEW} Chickmonks website!Did you hear? I'm offering Individual spiritual guida...
Aug 21, 2020•1 hr 10 min
There is a love that is so strong, it is present even in the most isolating and agonizing darkness. This love has been represented in the feminine form for millennia across spiritual traditions, so it’s no surprise that the love that accompanied Jesus into his agony is represented by these three women.Referenced:Christena Cleveland, author, theologian, activistA homily preached from the following daily office reading of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer:Matthew 27:55-66 (NRSV)Many women wer...
Jul 30, 2020•15 min
Rev. Emily Hook and I grew up in Richmond, VA, both in Southern Baptist churches, and both had our own adult journeys into a contemplative, liturgical tradition. Emily tells her story on that path, and spoiler alert: she is now ordained to ministry in the Presbyterian Church. We scratched the surface on perfectionism, the community aspect of liturgy in worship, and the path of personal, contemplative faith through it all.And I especially hope you enjoy hearing Emily reflect on the unique...
Jul 22, 2020•1 hr 11 min
Shannon Hillenmeyer, LCSW is a counselor at Rooted Counseling Center in Nashville, TN, a powerful and gentle spiritual leader, and is one of the most formative yoga teachers I’ve ever experienced, so I can’t wait for you all to hear from her todayOur conversation was thwarted by internet connection issues, which means we sometimes talk over each other and the flow is a bit unnatural—but honestly if that isn’t your new normal right now, I don’t know if we’re living in the same reality. I...
Jul 06, 2020•43 min
This conversation with Rachel Zolensky, and this will stir up all the things in you. Rachel is a social justice activist by trade and by conviction, but she’s also one of the most thoughtful, introspective people I’ve crossed paths with, and she has a gift for seeing and understanding the way things work and then explaining it to the rest of us.Rachel and I talk about change and transformation. Societal Transformation is only a hopeful ideal until it takes root at an individual level. One wor...
Jun 19, 2020•1 hr 3 min
A homily based on the daily office lectionary reading from the Book of Common Prayer:1 John 3:9-18The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deed...
Jun 06, 2020•7 min
This conversation with Allie Utley (PhD candidate in homiletics and liturgy at Vanderbilt University, professor at Presbyterian Theological Seminary) is very much about the Church as a whole—you’ll probably even learn some new vocabulary. But this conversation is also about what we do as members of the Church—or any worshipping community, for that matter—when we can’t gather.Spoiler alert: it hurts. It calls for grief. And it calls for something new and creative from Christian circles.Allie a...
May 22, 2020•1 hr 5 min
A homily based on the following daily office reading from the Book of Common Prayer:Matthew 7:1-12“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of you...
May 15, 2020•6 min
Delaney McBride is a massage therapist, registered yoga teacher, and personal cook, and has combined her skills and passions in an instagram account called Hand to Heart Wellness, where she promotes a balanced approach to health and wellness through connecting your mind, body, and gut. Definitely give her a follow—@handtoheartwellness.We talk about creative work, our relationships with food and exercise, and really, all of life as a way of knowing ourselves and being freed from our egos into ...
May 08, 2020•51 min
A homily based on the following reading from the daily office lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer:John 15:1-12 (HCSB)“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine...
Apr 26, 2020•9 min
Betsy Coughlin is an adjunct faculty member in the department of theology and religion at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, where she also earned her Bachelors in English and Religion, and received her M.Div from Boston University. In this conversation Betsy and I talk about her evolving faith and religious practice, pain and healing associated with growing up in the conservative church of the South, and the role emotions play in our faith and understanding of God. There are so many g...
Apr 07, 2020•1 hr 1 min
A homily based on the following daily office reading from the Book of Common Prayer:Mark 9:30-41 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.Then they came to Cap...
Mar 31, 2020•12 min
A homily preached from the following reading from the daily office lectionary from the Book of Common Prayer:Mark 1:1-13 (NRSV)The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaim...
Mar 04, 2020•11 min
Grace or judgment, you get to choose.A homily preached from the following reading from the daily office lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer:John 7:53-8:20, NRSVThen each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teache...
Feb 16, 2020•9 min
A homily preached from the following Daily Office lectionary reading from the Book of Common Prayer:John 3:16-21 (NRSV)“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not ...
Jan 19, 2020•6 min
At Christmas we encounter a lot of "shoulds" and disappointments. This is one of the reasons the idea of Advent is so powerful to me. The church calendar includes a 4-week period of longing. While the world around us hosts Christmas parties and celebrates the season, the church steps into a season where all we have is our desire that things were different.Advent speaks to our longing. It gives room to be in the darkness. It gives us a season to grieve that things don’t seem to be as they shou...
Dec 05, 2019•13 min
A homily on the following Scriptures from the daily office lectionary In the Book of Common Prayer:Matthew 17:14-20 (NRSV)When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? Ho...
Nov 21, 2019•6 min
A homily based on the following Scripture from the daily office lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer:John 9:18-41 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is th...
Nov 13, 2019•6 min
A homily based on the following Book of Common Prayer daily office lectionary reading:Matthew 13:44-52 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a ne...
Nov 06, 2019•6 min
A homily based on the following Book of Common Prayer daily office reading:Matthew 13:1-9 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on r...
Oct 31, 2019•6 min
A homily based on the Book of Common Prayer daily office reading:Matthew 11:25-30 (NRSV)At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to ...
Oct 23, 2019•7 min
One of my old favorite homilies from the (pre-podcast) Lenten season, based on BCP daily office readings:Jeremiah 2:1-13 (NRSV)The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord:I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride,how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.All who ate of it were held guilty; ...
Oct 17, 2019•5 min
A homily based on the following daily office reading from the Book of Common Prayer:Matthew 9:1-8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town.And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why ...
Oct 09, 2019•6 min
Homily preached from the following Book of Common Prayer daily office reading:Matthew 7:1-12“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own ...
Oct 02, 2019•6 min
