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Mid-faith Crisis 382: Decluttering church
We continue our journey unpacking the rooms of faith by looking at ‘church’ – a big word, with so many meanings. But what is it really? Is it just people talking about God? What about things like communion? We discuss the necessity of community, the fundamental practices of faith and, most importantly, reflect on what Christian Gandalf has to say on the matter.
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Mid-faith Crisis 381: Jesus is my drinks package
More on the theme of worship, but this week we focus on the why. Why do we worship? What is the role of gratitude? Is God really that needy, or are there other gods who are a lot more needy than the Divine? Should worship songs be sea shanties? We explore what the Bible actually says about worship, and how it might be more of a choice of direction than just saying nice things about God. Also, keep your diaries free, folks – we’ve got news of an event in 2027.
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Mid-faith Crisis Bonus Episode: A Summer Repeat with Brian McLaren
So, Joe is still away, but here’s a little something from the vaults – an interview with Brian McLaren about his book Life After Doom. Given all the extreme weather we’re experiencing at the moment, this seemed like a good episode to revisit! We’ll be back with you next week. In the meantime, remember, humans are a mess, but the birds are awesome!
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Mid-faith Crisis 380: Decluttering Worship
This week’s episode brings us to worship. How do we define it? Is it just music, or does worshipping God involve more than just warbling? What are our places of worship, and do we still have to sing? Also we talk about death and head injuries, just to cheer everyone up a bit.
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Mid-faith Crisis 379: The Bible might come in handy some day
We’re back in the library as we continue to sort out our house of faith. This time we’re thinking about books we don’t use as much, and why it’s worth keeping old bits of the Bible around, because you never know which bits are going to come in handy. Also, Joe has had some issues with paint, and Nick has been giving martini recipes to medical staff.
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Episode 378: The big MFC bookshelf
As we continue our journey around our house of faith we’ve come to the library. And this week, we’re restocking the shelves with book recommendations from the listeners. There’s a full list on the website.
Last weekend I went to a concert in Oxford of Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil, conducted by Whitacre and performed by the BBC singers. It was one of the most remarkable concerts I’ve ever been to. One of those moments, when, after it has finished, you don’t really want to talk.
Great art is holy ground.
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Mid-faith Crisis 377:Decluttering prayer part 2
We continue our discussion about prayer, this time focusing on our current approach to prayers and praying. We talk about the role of personality, about confession and the need to be ‘meeked’, and about finding simple ways to trigger moments of stillness and prayer. Also, Nick reveals his impressive new technique for avoiding difficult prayer situations.
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Mid-faith Crisis 376: Decluttering prayer
In the first of our sort-of series on decluttering faith, we look at the prayer room. We discuss the mystery of intercession and think about prayer as ‘primary speech’, as an art more than a science. Prayer is crucial in our journey of understanding, both of God and of ourselves. So what needs clearing out? And what do we want to keep? (And keep those book suggestions coming!)
This scene. Genius.