Executive Director of TLC, the Rev. Dr. Matthew S.C. Olver, interviews the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Sean Rowe.

Presiding Bishop Sean has been in office now for a few months. We talk about his priorities for his term, and what slimming down some of the structures and programs of the Episcopal church might look like. We also ask what he'd say to Episcopalians who disagree about same-sex marriage, what Christian unity means, and what he most wants the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Church in North America to know about him.

From TREC to the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, this conversation should perk the ears of Episcopalians, but will be of interest to anyone in the Anglican family, or any Christian curious about institutional work and hope in a divided Church.

More about Presiding Bishop Sean

Nairobi-Cairo Proposals and IASCUFO

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For a topic that's truly "on pointe," our guest today reminds us of the joys and rewards of freedom and discipline, just in time for Lent: ballet dancer and choreographer Silas Farley.

We discuss his early journey in discipleship and liturgical dance, holy coincidences that connected him with his Russian ballet hero, how discipline can lead to freedom in the Spirit both in dance and liturgical life, and understanding the meaning of "grace."

We hope you've done your work at the barre, because Silas will stretch our imaginations for worship and discipleship, and even what's possible when it comes to dance in church. Hold on to your leotards. 

Silas is Armstrong Artist in Residence in Ballet in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He's been a teacher and choreographer at places like the New York City Ballet, the Guggenheim, the Washington Ballet, the Met, and all over the world.

More about Silas

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Today we'll be touching down in Kansas, Japan, Africa, China, and the middle east, for some global lessons in leadership.

How are Christians formed as effective leaders, and how do they in turn form effective leaders? How do we learn leadership from beyond our home turf to serve in fearlessly contextualized ways?

My guest today is Dr. Mary Ho. Mary is an expert in strategic leadership, and she is the International Executive Leader of All Nations International, a global Christian missions training and sending organization. She is currently co-teaching a 3-year class on leadership in the global Christian context at Gordon Conwell. Mary is also the author of a number of articles that I'll link today in the show notes including, "When Leaders Drink Tea Together," "The Transcendent Culture of Servant Leadership," and "Growing Global Women Leaders from the Majority World." 

Are there Western leadership models that can be exported elsewhere? When and why?

How do we lead with vision, or even with a charismatic personality, while building nurture rather than going toxic?

What can global north organizational leadership learn from global south Christianity?

And what are some benefits and limits to reading leadership books? 

Take off that leadership cap for just a second. Sit back, relax. Maybe have a cup of tea. We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Check out these articles by Mary Ho:

Global Leadership for Global Missions

The Transcendent Culture of Servant Leadership: Principles for 21st Century Global Missions

When Leaders Drink Tea Together: A Critique of Western Christian Leadership in Light of Global Trends

Growing Global Women Leaders from the Majority World

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Chances are if you're listening to this podcast, you're a reader. And you may have had at some point or another a profound experience with a book, probably with more than one. Books shape our lives, and they shape our spiritual lives. In fact, books have become particularly apt tools in the Christian toolkit for spiritual formation.

What is your relationship to reading and growth in the spiritual life?

Do books have to be great or deep in order to bear spiritual fruit? What makes reading a uniquely powerful avenue for spiritual growth? What are some of its dangers to the spiritual life? What is a Christian way to read, if there is such a thing? Do books and reading make us too "ivory tower" for the "real world"? Can books ever help divides between those with more access to elite education and those with less?

Today we'll hear a really fun conversation I had with the Rev. Dr. Lauren Winner, where we looked at some of these questions. Dr. Winner is a well-known Christian author and Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke. She's also Vicar of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Louisburg, N.C., and self-proclaimed book lover. (Book addict?) Our conversation takes us from childhood to incarcerated communities, to a top 5 of some of the books that have had a spiritual impact on her life.

Some of the books we discuss in the show:

Facing East: A Pilgrim's Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy
At Home in Mitford
Reading Is My Window: Books and the Art of Reading in Women's Prisons
Radical Orthodoxy
The Making of a Sonnet
Pilgrim, You Find the Path by Walking
Gentile Tales: The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews
In This House of Brede
Shakespeare Behind Bars: the Power of Drama in a Women's Prison
Ponder These Things: Praying with Icons of the Virgin
Kristin Lavransdatter (trans. Tiina Nunnally)
Catherine of Siena

Register for the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies conference:
Anti-Racist Ministry for a Global Church

If you're an Episcopalian or Anglican, chances are you've probably heard by now of the release of the landmark project on human sexuality and marriage, Living in Love and Faith. Today, we're going to dive into this project with one of its architects.

LLF is a suite of resources just put out by the Church of England — it includes videos, a book, study and teaching materials — and what does it do? It does a lot. It shares the massive results of research, history, storytelling — theological, anecdotal, traditional, scientific, sociological — and it begins to really closely analyze the sources of convergence and divergence between people who have differently formed consciences and viewpoints on marriage and sexuality to try to come to a truly new place of communal discernment.

LLF is not a project intended to give answers. And that may be frustrating to some folks.

So what is the goal of the project? And what's the end game? How do the people who directed the project hope it will serve the Church? How might it likely relate to Lambeth 2022? Is it really new, or is it just a bunch of old news packaged in a new way? What has it uncovered exactly? And how can people, from dioceses to local congregations, use it?

Today we get to hear from the Rev. Canon Dr. Andrew Goddard, who was part of the team who built LLF, interviewed by the Rev. Canon Dr. Jordan Hylden.

"There are no five easy steps to trusting God in darkness."

Let's go back in time a little. Let's not talk about 2020 for a second. Let's talk about 2017. I don't know how things were for you in 2017, but in 2017, the Rev. Tish Harrison Warren had a terrible year. And it inspired a beautiful book.

The book is called Prayer in the Night: for Those Who Work or Watch or Weep; and it takes up the subjects of pain and grief, in all their opaqueness, in all their dailyness, and our vulnerability in the face of them. It also takes up the way pain can shut down the very things we need most when pain comes: prayer, and a sense of God's presence. And yet, it's also a book about "average suffering" and "common heartache" -- it's not about a pandemic; and it's not a memoir. It's about the things most if not all of us will go through in our lifetimes, whatever the state of the world around us: the loss of people we love, loneliness, tragedies that don't space themselves out politely but come in a quick succession. And it's a book shaped around the practice of Compline. How do the prayers of Compline face and pray through the darkness and dangers of the night?

Tish joins us today to talk about her book, and about her story. She is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. Along with Prayer in the Night, she is the author of Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life, which was Christianity Today's 2018 Book of the Year. She has worked in a variety of ministries: as a campus minister, an associate rector, in ministries to those in addiction and poverty, and has most recently served as writer-in-residence at Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh, PA. She is a monthly columnist with Christianity Today, and her articles and essays have appeared in many places including the New York Times.

She interviewed here by the Rev. Dr. Wesley Hill, Associate professor of New Testament at Trinity School for Ministry.

Purchase Tish Harrison Warren's new book, Prayer in the Night.

Register for the free Lenten course, Grace in the Wilderness.

There are basically four options. When you meet someone you disagree with, you can either kill them, create a system to coerce them, run away, or do politics."

That is one of several quotable quotes in our conversation today on democracy, socialism, and Christianity. Even if you're not Political with a big P, meaning maybe you simply don't want to get into it with Uncle Terry on Facebook, both our guests today would probably venture to say it's not easy to avoid being political with a little p. That is, if being political just means finding ways to negotiate our common life together.

Historically speaking, Christianity is in the very root systems of democracy and socialism. What philosophies, and what Christian ideals, are at the heart of both of these systems of organizing common civic life? How have they actually played out?

Our guests today approach democracy and socialism, not as buzz words, but as ways of enhancing and guiding how we think of each other and how we approach citizenship in the communities and countries in which we find ourselves. And they uncover some fascinating history, like:

Why and when did established churches make the turn toward supporting democracy, a system that sought to de-establish them as nationally governing bodies?

Why were some of the great socialist figures in earlier generations also Anglicans?

What does this mean as we make decisions for how to live in our times?

Listen and find out.

Our guests today include:

Dr. Luke Bretherton, Robert E. Cushman Professor of Moral and Political Theology and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke Divinity School, and the author of Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy.

Dr. John Orens, who is the Professor of European History at George Mason University and author of Stewart Headlam’s Radical Anglicanism: The Mass, the Masses, and the Music Hall. (Gotta love that title.)

Our conversation is moderated today by Covenant blog author Dr. Stewart Clem, assistant professor of moral theology and director of the Ashley-O’Rourke Center for Health Ministry Leadership at Aquinas Institute of Theology.

In time for Superbowl season, the presiding bishop and two Texans talk about the enjoyment and ethics of American football.

Books, coziness, and Anglophilia: what die-hard Anglicans love about Christmas can also teach us about Advent. We talk with novelist H.S. Cross about her books, English boarding schools, suffering, and nostalgia as "edenic longing."

Explore titles by H.S. Cross.

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The Rev. Gayle Fisher-Stewart and the Rt. Rev. José McLoughlin are seasoned law enforcement officers. Now, as Episcopal clergy, they share their uniquely insightful perspectives on current policing practices as well as hope for change.

Learn more about The Living Word Plus.

Learn more about the Center for the Study of Faith in Justice.

In a time of fear and pandemic, how do we face the reality of our own mental health and others' while continuing to share the hope of Jesus? Join us in this honest and powerful conversation with the Rev. Rob Merchant.

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What does it look like to approach spiritual perfection? Writer and laywoman Sarah Cornwell reads excerpts from the "Seventh Mansion" of St. Teresa of Ávila's classic, The Interior Castle.

Click here to subscribe to Daily Devotionals.

Register for Reading Augustine in a Time of   Crisis with James K.A. Smith.

In part 3 of our “Multicultural Anglicanism” series, we talk to the Rev. Canon Anthony Guillén about being Latino and Episcopalian, shared leadership, and the joys and gifts that often go unseen.

Two bishops in Bermuda give us a glimpse at a gesture of Christian unity that's making a difference in a diverse community.

We'll hear today how the Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops of the island both found their call into island ministry, how their friendship started, and some of the fruit it's bearing in their dioceses in sweet and surprising collaborations. We'll also hear some advice on how to make friends with other Christian leaders in your own community, across divides of history and tradition.

The Rt. Rev. Nicholas Dill has been the Anglican Bishop of Bermuda since 2013. Bishop Nick started as a barrister in London, then became a priest, before accepting a call as bishop of his home island of Bermuda. He is looking to see where God is leading the Church, but knows it includes a greater emphasis on work with Christian brothers and sisters of every denomination.

The Most Rev. Wiesław Śpiewak has been the Roman Catholic Bishop of Bermuda since 2015. A native of Poland, Bishop Wes first served there at a seminary, before teaching and serving in Rome, then serving as Provincial of the Polish Province before coming, unexpectedly, to Bermuda. 

Hang on to your mitres and your mai tais. We hope you enjoy the conversation. 

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Videos of Bishop Nick and Bishop Wes:

(20+) Video | Facebook , (20+) Facebook, (20+) Facebook

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, interviews author Marilynne Robinson about her newest novel in the Gilead series.

Download a free group study guide & book review.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, interviews author Marilynne Robinson about her newest novel in the Gilead series.

Read the transcript.

Download a free group study guide & book review.

Amber Noel interviews Wesley Hill about his current projects and why he's been so captivated by the Lord's Prayer lately — especially by the words, "Our Father."

Click here for information on Hill's book, The Lord's Prayer: A Guide to Praying to Our Father.

Enjoy these classic musical texts introduced and played by theologian Ephraim Radner. Violin "readings" from his home are interspersed with reflections on discipleship and prayer.

Songs played in this episode: "Brother James' Air," "Praise to the Lord," "O Food to Pilgrims Given," "Modeh Ani," "Is There Anybody Here," Telemann's "Fantasia," Biber's "Passacaglia," "Come Down O Love Divine."

Why and how do we pray every day? Bp. John Bauerschmidt of the Diocese of Tennessee offers both a history and a "how-to" of the Daily Office.

Music opens us to God. But what can we do if it's dangerous to sing or play? Dr. Marty Wheeler Burnett, president of the Association of Anglican Musicians, joins us to talk about current best practices and new normals. More research can be found at NFHS.org.

Click here to renew or subscribe to the Episcopal Musician's Handbook.

Bishops Carol Gallagher (Cherokee Nation) and Michael Smith (Potawatomi Nation) join us to talk about what it means to be Native American and Anglican, with its insights, tensions, and joys. This continues our series on Multicultural Anglicanism.

For more resources, see Bishop Gallagher's books, Coming Full Circle: Constructing Native Christian Theology and Reweaving the Sacred.

Acedia ("sloth") is a tricky vice. Most of us face it daily. Does it really mean "laziness"? Dr. Stefana Dan Laing invites us to stay spiritually alert (and stay still) with the help of St. Evagrius.

Click here for more resources on acedia.

How are we caring right now for our youngest siblings in Christ? Dr. Robin Floch Turner joins us to talk about loving children well and adapting children's ministry to current challenging contexts.

Click here to find further children's ministry resources for both parents and pastors.

Healing can be a tricky topic to navigate — especially in times of great suffering. Fr. Sean Charles Martin of the Aquinas Institute joins us to talk about research around healing in the Old and New Testaments and how it relates to our current situation.

What or who are angels? Why does it matter? 

Some of you may be coming to today's episode with some skepticism or at least curiosity. Why are we talking about angels and demons? Should we bother thinking or talking about invisible creatures? Is it possibly to not be scary or weird about it?

As we'll discover today, Christians have always been concerned with angels, because angels are deeply concerned with us — with our wellbeing and our journey toward — or away from — the love and likeness of Christ.

Fear not: today will not include impressive or spooky stories, or anecdotes of spiritual experiences. Instead, we focus on the goodness of God, the hospitality of heaven, and how the holy angels help us along the way. And little about how the naughty angels try to trip us up, how we can catch them at it, and the gifts God gives us to resist their tricks. No campfire stories. Just some good doctrine, simple advice, and a lot of Thomas Aquinas.

Our guest today is the Rev. James Dominic Brent, OP. Fr. James is a Dominican Friar who lives and teaches at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. He is the author of The Father’s House: Discovering Our Home in the Trinity. He frequently lectures for the Thomistic Institute, and appears on their YouTube series Aquinas 101 as well as on the Dominican podcast Contemplata, A Podcast for Contemplative Souls.You can find more of his work on Soundcloud. 

Now forget your harps and halos for just a second. From the Desert Fathers to alcoholic's anonymous, we're going to find out about those blessed creatures who were made to be busy for God on our behalf. We hope you enjoy the conversation.

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Josh Larsen, co-host of the Filmspotting podcast, joins us to talk about how to be a better movie-watcher, the vocation of a film critic, and a "Top 4" list of films to engage the spiritual life. We encourage you to check out his new book, Movies Are Prayers (Intervarsity Press). SPOILER ALERT: for those who listen on the go, here's that the "Top 4" list: 12 Years a Slave (2013, Steve McQueen), Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick), Star Wars: A New Hope (1977, George Lucas), and My Neighbor, Totoro (1988, Hayao Miyazaki).

How do we learn to suffer? How is God with a world that suffers? How do the sufferings of Jesus redeem us? A gentle yet bracing word of comfort and hope from Fr. Vincent McNabb, O.P.

Today we address some of the most pressing financial questions for churches, getting into the nitty-gritty of planning, budgets, PPP, and more with Bill Campbell of the ECF and business analyst/church treasurer Seth Cutter.

Click here to view a sample cash forecast document prepared by Seth Cutter. Other resources mentioned can be found at episcopalfoundation.org and presbyterianfoundation.org.

From wilderness to farms, cities, and households, Scripture has a powerful word to speak to our current ecological crisis. Fr. Will Brown interviews Dr. Ellen Davis on land, climate change, biblical wisdom, and hope.

How do you keep your Christian life from getting “stuck”? Mockingbird Ministries founder Paul Zahl has written a new book for Boomers, but his surprising and inspiring stories and insights apply to any stage of life.

What happens when your cultural or racial identity feels at odds with your religious identity? Is Anglicanism truly "multicultural" because it's global? Esau McCaulley, Mark Clavier, and Christopher Wells discuss the future possibilities of multicultural Anglicanism.

What does the gospel have to do with animals? Prof. David Clough, author of the systematic theology, On Animals, calls for more Christian reflection — especially in our time — on the way humans use, eat, raise, and relate to non-human neighbors.

In 1373, a little book was written which would deeply impact 20th- and 21st-century Christian spiritual literature and devotion. An anonymous reader gives a beautiful rendition of excerpts from St. Julian's "homely" visions.

The Rev. Jeff MacDonald, journalist and UCC pastor, shares what he's learned in his in-depth research of mainline parishes with part-time clergy and shares why vitality doesn't depend on a full-time payroll.

Prison chaplain Hannah Bowman shares about her work, digs into theological and practical frameworks behind prison conditions in the U.S., and presents Christian presence in prisons as a way to meet Jesus.

With election season heating up in the U.S., many Christian leaders feel the extra strain. With churches and nations dealing with painful divisions, how might Christians — and anyone else — learn to enjoy and share life together? What does that take?

Today it takes us to the virtues, ways to live at peace with ourselves and others through the exercise of certain habits.

The cardinal virtues are four specific means and wisdoms for flourishing that God makes available to humans universally, to discern "the good" and experience some of that goodness in our social and material lives.

How do humans share life across divides? How do we make the life of grace visible, and how does God make it visible through us, and accessible to others, even in tricky times? And how are the cardinal virtues a time-tested paradigm for knowing and sharing, through prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, God's goodness in our life together?

Dr. Elisabeth Rain Kincaid is our guest today. She is the Director of the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University, where she also serves as associate professor of ethics, faith, and culture. Her first book, Law From Below, was recently published with Georgetown University Press. Her research interests include questions at the intersection of theology, business, and law, as well as natural law theory, virtue ethics, socially responsible investment, Anglican and Catholic Social Teaching, and questions of human flourishing.

We hope you enjoy the conversation. 

Read Elisabeth's book.

Register for The Human Pilgrimage conference, where Dr. Elisabeth Kincaid will be one of our keynotes.

Pamela Lewis, an Episcopal lay leader in NYC, reflects on the new poignancy of Jesus' words in the garden in light of social distancing, and then on her own experience of the pandemic and what finding a "new normal" might mean.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams joins us to talk about his new book, The Way of St. Benedict, and what the implications of the saint's Rule might be for our current questions and crises.

How does a priest slice an onion? No, it’s not the start of a joke. It's the beginning of a surprising contemplation. Fr. Zac Koons gives a superb and leisurely reading from Robert Farrar Capon’s Supper of the Lamb.

Dr. Elisabeth Kincaid and Fr. Stewart Clem discuss the moral questions that have been brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 crisis — including the hidden ethical groundwork guiding current debates and decisions.

How have Christians conducted themselves in times of crisis? How does that work today in a parish context? Fr. Jonathan Bailes talks history and discipleship with TLC.

"Son of David" — those needing desperate help in the gospels tend to give this name to Jesus. Fr. Mark Michael reflects on a timely prayer in the BCP   that uses this name in a cry for mercy that can often lead to a revival of faith.

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde joins us to discuss how she's looking toward a post-COVID future. We talk about how she's negotiating the safety of all in her diocese in conversation with health experts and local officials.

"You can't always get what you want. But sometimes…" Fr. Ron Rolheiser (author of The Loneliness Factor, among many others) knows about digging deep when you can't change your circumstances. He talks with Abigail Woolley Cutter about maintaining and growing in spiritual health in the middle of loneliness.

Chris Domig, founder and director of Sea Dog Theater in New York City, talks about the state of the arts in the time of COVID-19 — specifically, how theatre folks are suffering, coping, and finding their way — and how the Church can be supporting the arts and artists right now.

How can poetry teach us to read Scripture?

Everything within creation

Speaks of Jesus’ Incarnation.

Likewise too, his saving Passion

Is shown forth in all that’s fashioned.

The Word God spoke before all ages

Can be traced in Scripture’s pages.

The Bible tells one vast narration

from Genesis to Revelation.

So begins "Figural Graffiti," a delightful instructional poem by theology professor Joe Mangina. "Figural Graffiti" is sincere and playful, and it's a little ditty on the method and gift of reading scripture figurally. We discuss today this ancient and lively method of reading Scripture, what we lose when we lose the knack of figural reading, and what freedom figural reading gives us as disciples and Christian leaders.

Dr. Joseph Mangina is professor of theology at Wycliffe College, Toronto. His scholarly interests include ecclesiology, ecumenism, sacramental theology, and theological interpretation of Scripture. For several years in the 2000s he served on the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue commission for Canada. Among other books, he's written two on Karl Barth, the Revelation commentary for the Brazos Theological Commentary series, and most recently, he's co-edited a book called Figural Reading and the Fleshly God: The Theology of Ephraim Radner.

Read "Figural Graffiti" on the Living Church's free online journal, Covenant.

Check out Joe's new book.

Register for the Living Church's upcoming conference.

Think the von Trapps meet 21st century Anglicanism. This is how one family (the Flanigans) pray Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer (1979). This prayer guide/mini-concert features songs from their music project Liturgical Folk, including Psalm 100, Song of the Three Young Men (Canticle 13), the Apostles' Creed, and The Lord's Prayer.

These are anxious times. Dr. Monique Reynolds breaks down for us the phenomenon of anxiety — how it feels, what causes it — and practical approaches to dealing with it while continuing to care well for others and yourself.

What are some of the benefits and dangers of being alone? How can solitude build up love? Fr. Mac Stewart presents and reflects on an excerpt from a chapter in Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation: “Solitude Is Not Separation."