This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. It’s been an interesting several days at my parish this week. At 1am early Saturday morning (or late Friday night, depending on how you think of these things) two young women stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the front door of our church. While one of them held up ...
Aug 16, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Today is an odd and somewhat unsettling confluence of events. It is the 80th Anniversary of the day our country dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, bringing World War II to an end. At the same time, August 6 is also one of the major feasts of the church—the Feast of th...
Aug 07, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Last week I told you a bit about the book my parish read last month as a part of our summer book group: The New Asceticism: Sexuality, Gender, and the Quest for God by Anglican priest and renowned theologian Sarah Coakley. As I told you, Dr. Coakley’s goal in the book i...
Jul 22, 2025•5 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. I’ve talked before about the summer book group I lead at my church, with us taking a different book each month that has been on my “to read” list and diving into it. The book we read for this month’s book study was a theological doozy: The New Asceticism: Sexuality, Gen...
Jul 16, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. I thought last week was my last Pride-themed edition of Christian Mythbusters. Not so much. Last week the local county Republican party published an article denouncing our local Pride festival, calling it adult-entertainment, suggesting it was dangerous to children, and...
Jul 02, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Well, it’s the last Wednesday in Pride Month, so I have one more edition of Christian Mythbusters during which I’d like to break the myths surrounding the far-too-often hostile relationship between those who claim to follow Jesus and the LGBTQIA+ community. The Grand Ha...
Jun 24, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Welcome to week two of Pride Month! Each year June is dedicated to celebrating the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (or Questioning), Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals who make up our society and their long fight for equality, respect, and freedom. As I ...
Jun 10, 2025•5 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Welcome to Pride Month! Each year June is dedicated to celebrating the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (or Questioning), Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals who make up our society and their long fight for equality, respect, and freedom. And though, give ...
Jun 03, 2025•5 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Each summer, I pick a different book each month to read with members of my parish. It’s a great way for me to get through some texts I’ve been meaning to pick up and I enjoy it each year. This year’s first book is The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality within the Biblic...
May 28, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. I’ve been gone the past couple weeks enjoying some Eastertide rest, relaxation, and travel, but it’s a delight to be back with you this week for another edition of Christan Mythbusters. I’m particularly excited because I get to tell you about yet ANOTHER way Christians ...
May 20, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. In my last episode we were in the midst of Holy Week and I talked about all the various ways we can understand the meaning of what Christians believe Christ did on the cross, something called the theory of the atonement. I talked about what’s known as the “satisfaction”...
Apr 29, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. For many Christians, we are currently in the midst of Holy Week, a sacred period of time from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday where we walk the way of the cross and meditate on Jesus’ final days before his passion, death, and resurrection. There are a lot of ways to unders...
Apr 15, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. If your household is anything like mine, there is a song that inevitably seems to be playing at some point during the day: Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan. Given that her songs often explore themes of same-sex relationships and queer identity, along with her openness ab...
Apr 08, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Welcome to the one hundredth episode of Christian Mythbusters! We have tackled a lot of topics in our time together—everything from gender to sexuality to immigration and divorce and the proper application of concepts like the “Order of Love” in the writings of St. Thom...
Apr 02, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Last week I talked about how I don’t think anyone who says they believe in what’s known as the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy truly holds that belief. I shared my experience of a fundamentalist Christian who, when presented with two texts from Scripture that treat the d...
Mar 27, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. I’ve had some conversations over the last couple of weeks that have led to this week’s episode, where I’m going to try to break some of the myths about how Christians do (and should) read the Bible. Last week I was talking with someone who was questioning the more affir...
Mar 19, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. There’s been a lot of talk about Sanctuary Cities, both nationally and right here in Grand Haven lately. A lot of that talk is filled with fear, anxiety, and a desire to close doors and build walls. So, I thought I’d use this week’s Christian Mythbusters to unpack some ...
Mar 11, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Last week I talked about the proposed SAVE Act, legislation being proposed in the House of Representatives that purports to safeguard our elections but, in actuality, increase significantly the burden to register to vote for women, minorities, and the poor. I talked las...
Mar 04, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Speaking of playing whackamole with attacks on marginalized groups, we got a new one out of left field this past week. Republicans in the House of Representatives have reintroduced the SAVE Act, legislation originally drafted last year that purports to “Safeguard Americ...
Feb 24, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. It feels a little bit like we’re all playing whack-a-mole right now, what with all the attacks on marginalized groups along with the promotion of hateful and harmful rhetoric. In this week’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, I’d like to take a hot moment to stand with m...
Feb 20, 2025•3 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Last week I tried to break some of the myths that have been cropping up about the “Order of Love” in Christian theology and ethics, particularly the way that Vice-President JD Vance and his supporters have used that concept to insist that Americans should take care of t...
Feb 14, 2025•3 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. Well, it’s not every day that the latest in politics gets people debating about Augustinian theology or the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, but we do indeed live in strange times. Last Thursday Vice-President J.D. Vance gave an interview where he claimed that th...
Feb 04, 2025•3 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. In my last segment, I unpacked some of the history behind our current immigration laws, pointing how they were developed in service of white supremacy and that their current manifestation still is predicated upon a preference for one group of people over another. So, te...
Jan 28, 2025•3 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. A friend of mine recently reached out to me because he is deeply concerned about the commitments Trump has made with regard to immigration. He wanted to create an open letter and get area pastors to sign it. He sent it to the pastors of twenty-seven churches here in Gra...
Jan 15, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. I am excited to be back with you for this series. I originally started airing these short segments in 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic and they continued through 2022. After taking a couple years off—and hearing so much kind feedback from many of you regular listeners...
Jan 06, 2025•4 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. The local PAC, “Ottawa Impact” which is currently trying to take over our school boards, has listed as one of their core values, “A boy is a boy. A girl is a girl.” On its face, this might seem to be an innocuous statement. But it is not. It carries with it an agenda. A...
Nov 01, 2022•5 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. One of the realities of being a priest, similar to being a teacher or in other professions where you are constantly planning ahead, is that you live your life in two different times. On one side, it is the middle of October. The leaves are beginning to fall and the conc...
Oct 18, 2022•5 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. We are at challenging point in the life of our country, in the experience of the church in America, and in many local communities, including mine here in Grand Haven, Michigan. It seems as though for the past several years we've been caught in an endless downward spiral...
Oct 12, 2022•5 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. The mourning and funeral for Queen Elizabeth II last month was watched around the globe. The longest-serving monarch that England has ever known, the preparations for marking her death and committing her to God were carefully done far in advance and likely touched even ...
Sep 27, 2022•5 min
This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. One of the most potent images in Scripture and the church for our relationship with God is the metaphor of a parent and a child. It lies at the heart of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray, as we address God in that prayer as Our Father. At the same time, no m...
Sep 13, 2022•5 min
