Mid-faith Crisis 307: 'Stick two fingers up to the forces of darkness'

Well. It’s been a bit of a week and many people are struggling with disappointment, darkness and fear. So in this podcast we talk about how we can respond in these times. In particular, I wanted to frame joy as a choice – not as a kind of escapism, but as a revolutionary, even insubordinate act. Like Jesus' embodiment of nonviolent protest, choosing joy and laughter and hope in these times can be seen as defiance, not defeat.

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I’m getting mindfulness advice from my marmalade.

Mid-faith Crisis 306: An interview with Martyn Joseph

This week, Joe interviews singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph. He talks about his career, the craft of song-writing, the pressures and joy of touring, and we end, of course, with a song. One of the thing which struck me most is that Martyn emphasises the importance of ‘turning up’ - not just going through the motions but giving the best you can give for whatever audience you have and whatever you are doing.

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I follow the Wordhord Old English word of the day. Today’s word - ‘throsm’ - is wonderful.

Mid-faith Crisis 305: The microphone in my heart

Is God really in charge of the universe? Do prophecies actually happen? Lots of interesting feedback this week, coming out of last week’s chat about prophecy, guidance and generally ‘hearing’ from God. For some years now I’ve been thinking about our life as a collaboration with God, rather than God micro-managing everything. Christians, to me, often drift into a kind of fatalism, where everything is pre-ordained and planned. Such a concept of God seems to me to be more controlling than loving.

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Before you go nuts and indulge in behavior you’ve never seen in yourself before, try to remember this. Nobody in Africa cares. Nobody in Asia cares. Nobody in Lapland cares. Nobody in baseball cares, in golf, in soccer—except maybe if you’re writing about baseball or golf or soccer. But even then they don’t care about you: They care about baseball players and golfers, people who bang balls around.

Carolyn See on putting your work, and your behaviour, into perspective.

Mid-faith Crisis 304: Fetch the prophecy scales!

In this episode we returned to one of the central questions of theology: is it right to pray for a parking space? As I say in the programme, I believe in an interventionist God, but I’m not sure he intervenes in quite the way we think. I was also really touched this week by an email from someone who, in the middle of a sad and difficult time, experienced a moment of mindfulness and grace.

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This talk by Cabel Sasser is not just heartwarming and inspirational, it is, technically, a great piece of storytelling. Stay for the end and obey the instructions he gives.

Cabel Sasser, Panic - XOXO Festival (2024)

I’ve been reading Making a Literary Life, by Carolyn See. You might think, having been a freelance writer for nearly 30 years I would have got this covered, but it’s nice to check out some other advice. (I think the term is ‘life-long learning’. Or it might be status anxiety.) Anyway, it’s a wise, humane and funny book.

I don’t know her or her novels at all, but she sounds lovely. She died in 2016 and I read a couple of blog posts about her. One had this great quote:

The only bad thing that will happen to us is that we’re going to die, and that’s not immediate, so let’s just see if we can have the nicest time possible.1

I needed that, this week.

  1. From Remembering My Dear Friend, Carolyn See — Jo Giese ↩︎

Mid-faith Crisis 303: Mindful Formation with Shaun Lambert

This week Joe interviews an old college friend, Shaun Lambert, about mindfulness, wonder, and the need to ’re-perceive' God. It’s a really great interview, connecting mindfulness with spirituality in a very profound and helpful way. A lot of it is about the need to pay attention to ourselves and the moment we’re in. Attention is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. In fact I led a retreat on the subject the week before lock down happened – an event which caused us all to pay greater attention in a whole new way!

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