When I went back into counseling, I shared with my counselor that I struggled with how I was taught to see the Scriptures. I learned to read the bible through a particular lens, but that lens was no longer working. It was a lens that had developed from patriarchal and racist roots. My counselor said, why don't' you go back to what you did before you knew so much. Listen to the Spirit.

Join me as we discuss hearing God's voice with Tania Harris.

Today we discuss women's voices with Cami Brubaker, Adjunct Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew. Cami is a mom to 4 kids, a professor at a conservative evangelical bible college, and working on her Ph.D. That's a lot.

Cami and I share common angst in what it's like when you don't fit the ideal biblical woman. Today we talk about why women hold back their voices, what's at play, and what external and internal barriers do we think keep us from finding and using our voices? 

Today we are continuing our three-part series on women’s voices. And as I spoke of in my last podcast, the truth is, as girls grow up to be women, they learn to talk less, they discover they are less listened to than their male counterparts. And over the years of pastoring, I’ve noticed that women even self silence.

Women self-silence for various reasons, one being they were taught this is what God expects from them- this is godliness. Stop it!

Recently I was with extended family. We were talking about something, and one of the family members said to me, "We know you'll speak your voice." I can't even remember what he was referencing, and I'm not sure he meant it as a compliment, but I took it as one. I enthusiastically responded, "Yup, I got a voice."

Liminality is the in-between space when the old is no longer, and the new is not clear yet. It’s betwixt and between – where we, by definition – are not in control. It’s this foggy, confusing space.

Sound Familiar?

Start your year with our discussion with Kat Armstrong, author of In The In-Between Place.

It’s Thanksgiving. This year’s a bit strange cause none of us have celebrated Thanksgiving during a pandemic in the middle of a contentious election cycle. 

So I thought, what if this year we got intentional about our time around the table. What if we could mitigate boring or charged conversations by offering an alternative. 

It has been a week since the US Presidential Election. A loooong week. We might need to step away from all the madness and get a word from God. Not a word about the election, the pandemic, or politics --- just a word. Something God might want to say to you personally.

So on today's podcast, I've asked my daughter to read to you, and through that reading, I pray the Spirit speaks.

A word.

A word for you.

Mother Mary for Pres… because I imagine she had to figure out how to bring peace between her and Josephs's family due to their unexpected pregnancy. The guts she had to have to leave behind her home, travel, and live like a refugee.

That woman could teach us a few things about life and leadership, and endurance for the long game.

I'd vote for Mary!

If you've ever asked, why is this happening to me, where are you, God, why are you silent in this??? This podcast is for you.

If you've wondered what God has to say about pertinent issues we're facing in America today, like undocumented immigrants, poverty, women's rights, male power and privilege, discrimination, and injustice, this podcast is for you.

If you've suspected that women are more than damsels in distress looking to be rescued by their knight in shining armor – this podcast is for you.

Today I'm talking to one of my favorite female scholars, Carolyn Custis James, and discussing her rendering of the Book of Ruth. This going to knock your socks off.

This summer, I went back to counseling.

My bodies going through menopause – and I need some help navigating what to do when I feel estrogen angry? I also need help trying to figure out how to deconstruct some conservative evangelical beliefs I inherited while running a ministry. As one of my sage friends tells me, I'm not deconstructing; I'm just learning to change on the job. Working through my faith while speaking to yours is a serious business to me.

I'm aware of the power one holds who holds the bible and declares, "thus says the Lord.” That's a serious business. And I don't want to mess anyone up while I'm figuring out my stuff.

So this summer, I went on a hunt. I needed someone who could understand the unique dynamics of being a pastor. I needed someone who wouldn't talk Christianese to me or give me patten answers. I know my stuff, and I need someone who knew theirs. It took a few months, but I finally found this woman in Chicago. It turns out, one point in her career, she too had been a minister. I love it when Jesus does stuff like that.

She said two profoundly helpful things to me. I paid for them, but you are getting them for free.

Today we are talking with author and professor Kristin DuMez about her book Jesus and John Wayne. If you have been perplexed about how and why our conservative evangelical church leaders have been silent about Donald Trump's sexual exploitation OR his leadership style: of bullying, fear, and intimidation: Well, this is the podcast for you. You will walk away going, OH I GET IT. You may not like it, but you will get it!

Today we’re talking with Georgia Pellegrini. Perhaps you know her from her books, Food Hero’s, Girl Hunter, or Modern Pioneering. Or maybe you’ve seen her on Jimmy Kimmel Live or the cover of Shooting Sportsman Magazine. I met Georgia through mutual friends and thought, Hum, this woman is worth getting to know. Regardless, you will benefit from this conversation with Georgia about women, food, and faith.

On August 26th, 1920, the 19th amendment was officially ratified, giving women the vote. Today is the 100th anniversary of that historic day.

That amendment's fate lay in the hands of a 24-year-old young man.

Often women need men to step up if we are going to enjoy the blessed alliance, which is why we are talking with Dr. Rob Dixon today. We have many listeners who want to know how we get men to support women? Listen to Rob and learn.

God is not a divine rapist, he won’t’ force himself upon you.

He woos. He provides a space and place for us to flourish. This relationship Jesus is offering is unlike any other. His love is without limits, his is a love that informs and transforms us.

Does anyone need that? Ya, me too.

In 2005 I had the privilege of studying in Israel. While there, we hiked out to the place archeologists believe is ground zero for the Biblical Cana. Pretty cool, right?

But I have to tell you, the story of the wedding at Cana has always bugged me. Its place in John’s Gospel just didn’t make sense. If Jesus used events around meals to teach something, then what exactly was he doing here, water in wine? What in the world does that show you and me?

Are you feeling it?

You know the "I" m not sure how I'm going to fix it, feed it, pay for it, heal from it, - at the end of my rope and resources and my ICare button is broken feeling?"

Great, let's pull up to the table. It's a big table. In the story of the feeding of the 5000, Jesus has something to say to those of us who are weary!

We're in a series called the table. You know, the place we sit at and eat with others. Where we eat, when, what we eat, who we eat with, it all says something about us, doesn't it?

Our table reveals a lot about us.

That is true now, and it was true way back when in Jesus' day. And that's why Jesus did it—used meal times to challenge the social and religious exclusion of women.

It’s summer when we think about picnics, picnic tables, corn on the cob, potato salad, and Texas BBQ. The Table. It’s is a place people gather and eat, or noticeably didn’t. The table or the lack thereof communicates something about our family and upbringing; it was around the table that values and social norms imparted and social etiquette requested.

That social upheaval around the table was even more so during Jesus’ day. In antiquity eating around the table established boundaries around who was in and who was out. The seating arrangement enforced those boundaries.

The first-century church- battled the Gnostic teachings that invaded the culture. Gnostics believed that the material world was “not good,” including the body. One of the byproducts of this belief was the thinking that “what I do with my body doesn’t matter” therefore, sexual immorality isn’t relevant; it’s what my spirit does that counts. Paul countered the Gnostic teachings in 1 Corinthians and other places by arguing the created goodness of the body and its functions (including sexuality). We could say Paul had a holistic theology: mind, body, and soul. 

Today we discuss good Christian sex with Rev. Dieula Previlon. 

My kids, raised in the '90s, experienced the purity movement that swept our evangelical churches. Remember the rose? Every time you have sex, you pluck a petal off until you only have a thorny stick to give your husband.

Today we are talking with Kristin Kobes Du Mez about the origins of the Sexual Purity Movement. Kristen holds a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and is a history and gender study professor at Calvin College. Her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics.