We're in the midst of a conversation with Steve and Brian McLaren, talking about the four beautiful heart stages and phases that all of us go through in life.
This episode is our 100th! And to celebrate we will have a giveaway of Steve’s NEW book “30 Days with the Potter.” Head on over to our Potter’s Inn Facebook page and look for a post celebrating our 100th episode - it will be up later today!
You are the reason we do this podcast, and we are so grateful you have been here, with us, for this soul care journey.
Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is a faculty member of The Living School and podcaster with Learning How to See, which are part of the Center for Action and Contemplation. He is also an Auburn Senior Fellow and is a co-host of Southern Lights. His newest book is Faith After Doubt, and his next release, Do I Stay Christian? (May 2022) can be preordered now.
Brian is married to Grace, and they have four adult children and five grandchildren. His personal interests include wildlife and ecology, fly fishing and kayaking, music and songwriting, and literature.
To some, God is the transcendent power waiting for us in everything;
To others, God is an oppressive power used to bind and blind the wretched of the earth.
To some, God is the creator who breathes the breath of life into our bodies;
To others, God is the creation of an infantile humanity, superstitious and scared to grow up.
To some, God is a motherly parent, birthing creation and holding her people to her breast;
To others, God is tyrannical father, never pleased enough, loathed and feared as he traps us in dependence.
To some, God is a liberator, hearing the cries of the oppressed and moving to help them;
To others, God is a collaborator, deaf to the cries of the oppressed and siding with the powers that be.
To some, God's hands were split open by violence in suffering love for women and men;
To others, God's hands are stained with the blood of the countless atrocities and needless human suffering.
To some, the praises of the church rise like incense to be breathed in by the God of love;
To others, the smoke of Auschwitz and Hiroshima rises like a finger accusing God, like smoke which blinds God's eyes.
Some of us find all our hope and sense of meaning in God;
Others have lost all faith in God.
We are here because God means something to us,
to our worship or our doubt,
to our trust or our fear,
as lover or as tyrant,
as ultimate reality or grand illusion.
We are here to face up to what we do and don't believe about God.
We depend on your support to carry on the ministry of Potter's Inn. Each of our ministry staff also raise their own financial support for salaries to serve with our team.
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