Poema Podcast

Poema S5 017 | Alia Joy on Glorious Weakness

Author Alia Joy joins me on the podcast today, to share her powerful story. It's a story of grief, loss, illness, mental health and weakness - but also a story of love, joy and transformation.
It's a story of how things don't always work out how we want, they don't always end well, and life isn't always easy - but of how these experiences and stories don't take us away from the divine, but actually draw us closer. 
Alia shares her story with great courage and honesty, and it's truly inspirational. It's a story of glorious weakness. 

Poema S5 016 | Maria Francesca French on Spiritual Community, Fundamentalism & Transcendence

Today I'm joined by Maria Francesca French, teacher of things Christian and post Christian and faith futurist. Maria is director of Hatchery LA and runs the No More Circles project. 
In this episode we explore how what spiritual community looks like needs to change and evolve in the 21st century, the problems with the very concept of belief, as well as the issue of fundamentalism in both conservative and progressive Christianity. We discuss how we can find healthy spiritual community and how we need to not just change the how of belief, but ditch the idea of belief itself, and adopt what Maria calls a 'transcendent' approach. 
Maria has so much wisdom, insight, knowledge and personal experience of these topics, and hers is a voice worth paying attention to. Take a listen!

Poema S5 015 | Marc Alan Schelske on The Wisdom of Your Heart

Today I'm joined by author and pastor Marc Alan Schelske, to discuss the purpose and and power of our emotions. 
We discuss how emotions are a God given gift, a source of wisdom and guidance - not something to be avoided. We explore examples of Jesus demonstrating emotions, both positive and negative, and what they can teach us about leaning into our emotions.
We also explore what recent research into our how brains work tells us about our emotions, and their purpose and meaning.
And finally we examine how we can pay more attention to our emotions, our behaviour and our bodies to understand what's really going in inside of us, and take practical action. 
 

Poema S5 014 | Becky Castle Miller on Jesus' Emotional Health

Becky Castle Miller returns to the show today, and we discuss, in essence, the basic humanity of Jesus. We explore the journey of Jesus through the lens of his own emotional and mental health. 
Becky and I explore several stories of Jesus where he experiences grief, loss, trauma, doubt and fear. The loss of Lazarus, the loss of his earthly father, the social stigma he likely faced growing up, even from members of his own family - and how this impacted Jesus. We look at the human side of familiar stories, and find that as we do, it completely switches them on their head and brings them alive.
As Becky and I explore discuss the human Jesus, we find that it's his essential humanity which makes him divine.

Poema S5 013 | Rachel Held Evans, Woman Of Valor - In Remembrance & Grief

Last weekend author, speaker, advocate, and prophet Rachel Held Evans, passed away. Rachel's life had an immense impact on so many lives, in so many ways, and her passing has left a hole in so many of our lives. 
Today, Becky Castle Miller, whose own journey into writing and pastoral ministry was directly down to Rachel, and who became one of my friends indirectly because of Rachel, joins me on the show. We each reflect on our own memories of Rachel, how she impacted our journey, and consider her wider impact on the world and her legacy.
We also explore the process of grieving, the hopeful and encouraging messages which have come in this process, how we can grieve in a healthy way - and we end on sharing our own #becauseofRHE stories - talking about how Rachel's life and legacy will impact our own lives and work going forward. 
This episode is intended as a tribute, to honour Rachel's life and work, to celebrate her accomplishments, and reflect on what we can learn from her tragically short life, as we go forward with our own, and move through grief.

Poema S5 012 | Charles Stone on Holy Noticing

Today I'm joined by pastor and author Charles Stone, and we discuss the practice of mindfulness, from both a neurological and a spiritual perspective - a practice Charles calls 'Holy Noticing'. 
Charles shares his own story into exploring the neuroscience of mindfulness and it's benefits both to our daily lives and our spiritual journey, and how the practice of 'Holy noticing' can make us more compassionate, Jesus-like people, as well as aid our physical and mental health.
Finally, he shares with us an example of his 'Breathe' technique for more helpful mindfulness meditation, and what the real practical and spiritual benefits of 'Holy Noticing' can be. 

Poema S5 011 | Lisa Mickey on Purity Culture & Sexual Identity

**Trigger warning: Sexual abuse, purity culture**
My friend Lisa Mickey joins me on the show today, and we explore and discuss purity culture - the idea of sexual abstinence before marriage - and sexual ethics within the evangelical Christian church.
We explore the hugely damaging emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual consequences of this culture over  the last two decades, and the damage it's done to each of us and others, and what it means to explore our sexuality in a healthy way, how to deconstruct and reconstruct our sexuality, and have a healthy sexual identity which walks hand in hand with our spiritual journey. 
 

Poema S5 010 | Jayla Damaris Tells Her Exvangelical Story

**Trigger Warning - Emotional, Physical, Sexual & Spiritual Abuse**
I'm delighted to welcome my friend Jayla Damaris to the show this week. Jayla shares her powerful, traumatic, painful story of growing up in conservative evangelical Christianity, abuse she suffered as a child, breaking free to build a new life. And then, finding herself rejected and abused spiritually, emotionally and physically by her husband - and recovering from this and beginning life again.
This is a story of courage, a story about breaking free from an abusive past and the worst of patriarchy and evangelical Christianity. It's a long but much needed story, with a lot of lessons for all of us. 
You can support Jayla as she tries to raise funds to go back to Canada, at her Go Fund Me here: 
https://www.gofundme.com/gh8ge-get-jayla-back-to-toronto
 
 
 

Poema S5 009 | Brandon Carelton on Deconstructing & Reconstructing Church

Pastor & author Brandon Carleton joins me today, and shares his powerful story of deconstruction and reconstruction - with a very unique perspective. Brandon left traditional church, but still felt a call to explore spiritual community. So he  planted a church with his wife, but a church with a difference. 
Unlike other pastors, Brandon actually tells his members not to come if it's not for them. He puts no obligation, no guilt, no commitment on people to attend - instead of prioritising the good of the church, he prioritises people's individual journey, their needs, their welfare, over that of the church itself. The church exists to serve its members, not the other way around. 
Brandon and I discuss our own experiences of traditional evangelical Christianity and church, and find shared lessons from our respective journeys of deconstruction and reconstruction, and facing mental illness. We also discuss the humanity of Jesus, and what that tells us about his divine nature - and we find that there may well be hope yet for spiritual community. 
Brandan's memoir "Meaningful Again" is available on Amazon now.

Poema S5 008 | Steve Doran on Being LGBTQ in the Evangelical Church

Today my dear friend, LGBTQ activist and blogger Steve Doran, appears on the show. He shares the story of his experiences as an LGBTQ Christian in the evangelical church. 
We hear how he moved from a more traditional perspective even as an LGBTQ man himself, to becoming an advocate for more LGBTQ inclusion both in the church and in our wider culture. Steve courageously shares his coming out story, the painful experiences he has in parts of the church. We discuss how it affected his emotional and mental health, and how he came to find a new, inclusive faith community which accepts him as he is. 
Steve is now doing great advocate work and writes regularly on LGBTQ inclusion, and has a powerful story.