Episode 18: Benediction
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Show Notes
Co-hosts
Jeff Chu
Find Jeff online: @byJeffChu on Instagram or @JeffChu on Twitter. You can also subscribe to Jeff’s newsletter, Notes of a Make-Believer Farmer on Substack.
Sarah Bessey
Find Sarah online: @SarahBessey on Instagram or @SarahBessey on Twitter. You can also subscribe to Sarah’s newsletter, Field Notes on Substack. Explore Sarah’s recent books on her website.
“Friends, as you are and as you will be in the full and complex richness of your beautiful humanity, you are loved in the name of the Creator, the Son, and the Spirit, one God and Mother of us all.”
— Jeff Chu
Thanks to our producer, SueAnn Shiah, who also provided the music for this episode, you can listen to her album A Liturgy for the Perseverance of the Saints on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, or Bandcamp and find her at @sueannshiah on Instagram and @sueannshiah on Twitter.
Transcript
[AD] Wholehearted Faith, from my friends and Evolving Faith co-founders, Rachel Held Evans and Jeff Chu, is for the doubter and the dreamer, the seeker and the sojourner, and those who long for a sense of spiritual wholeness. Through a combination of original writings and personal reflections gathered after Rachel’s passing, this New York Times bestselling book explores the universal experiences of becoming and belonging and asks candid questions about the stories we’ve been told—and the stories we tell—about our faith, ourselves, and our world. Don’t miss Wholehearted Faith in paperback this fall or start listening now to the audiobook read by 13 of Rachel’s friends and fellow writers, many of whom you have heard on this podcast, paying tribute to this beloved friend and author. To learn more, go to wholeheartedfaith.com.
[ Instrumental Music: It Is Well With My Soul by SueAnn Shiah ]
JEFF: Hello, everyone. I'm Jeff Chu.
Sarah: And I'm Sarah Bessey. Welcome back to The Evolving Faith Podcast. We're on Twitter and Instagram as @EvolvFaith and on Facebook as Evolving Faith.
Thank you so much for joining us today. We are incredibly glad that you're here and not the least of which because today is actually the last episode of season 2. We are going to be taking a break as Jeff and I and our teams are preparing for the conference, which is coming up in just a few weeks as we're recording this. And we will hopefully be back with a season 3 sooner or later, knowing us. Which reminds me that if you have not bought your tickets yet, it is time. We have a lot of scholarships still available as well as group rates and watch party ideas, and there's tons of bonus content and community already waiting for you. And for those of you who are wondering, yes, this is not a one-and-done weekend. With your ticket purchase right now, you not only have access to the whole community but to the conference itself right up until the new year. And so I am really looking forward to that weekend with you all. It's going to feel like an oasis. The dates again are October 14 to 15 in 2022. And we're going to be hearing from folks like Bishop Michael Curry, Barbara Brown Taylor, Brian McLaren, Chanequa Walker-Barnes, Cole Arthur Riley, R. Eric Thomas, and so, so, so many more. And so for the full lineup of incredible speakers, as well as all the info and links to get registered, you’re going to head over to evolvingfaith.com.
JEFF: It has become our tradition, thanks to Sarah, to end each Evolving Faith gathering and therefore each podcast season with a benediction, a blessing for you beautiful oddballs and misfits who have chosen to spend some time with us, returning to some of the words and the lessons from the guides whom we've had along the way. We don't take your presence and your attention for granted, and we hope that we've been able somehow to meet you where you are. So beloveds, receive this blessing.
SARAH: May Creator of the waters and the earth never be far from your hearts. The one who makes the rivers flow is the one who wonderfully and wondrously gave you life too. Our good and gracious God promises to meet you wherever you are and also sometimes to take you where you didn't want to go. Even when you feel the things of death ominously near, remember that the Maker has placed the seeds of new life within you and the living water to grow them is never far away.
JEFF: May Jesus the Redeemer overwhelm you with endless grace. Find affirmation for all your questions in the contagious curiosity of the Master Question Asker. See people according to that holy example, with kindness and clarity and care. Listen to stories, likewise, with gentleness and candor and warmth. Upend the norms of society and expand your embrace as wide as Jesus did with empathy and generosity and resolve. Follow Christ into the wilderness when you need rest. Cling to the radical truth that the welcome is wide at the Lord's table. There is always a place for you.
SARAH: May you feel the sustained earth's presence, feel her divine breath in your lungs and her holy strength in your bones and her sacred courage in your soul. Let the Spirit propel you to pursue justice and goodness, mercy and flourishing for yourself and for your neighbors and for the world. Let her turn you toward warmth when you feel cold. Let her lift your heart when it sinks. Let her open you up when you just want to shut down, and let her kindle your hope any time it fades.
JEFF: May you know the empowerment and support of deep community, community that God has called you into, community that God has given you, community that not just welcomes you but also wants you and indeed needs you to help create that sense of beloved community for others. You are never alone. Find solidarity among all the creatures of the earth, all the living things that sing of God's creativity, all that summons you back to love.
SARAH: And as Barbara said, Jesus didn't try to protect anybody from the wilderness. Instead, he led them into it, dragged them into it, sometimes, at every opportunity. Those are the places God changes us. May we not resist this. We know we will enter heavy and emerge light. May we make peace with pain.
And as Eric said, God is in the business of drawing us together to break down walls and bring about justice. May we join God in that work.
And as Jasper said, there is a better story being told, one that is deeply rooted in freedom, stories where we can see that God is actively seeking our liberation. May the Spirit retell that story in your life.
And as Pete said, may you remember that the Spirit of God is not beholden to a system. Or, as Danielle said, may you let God love you. Don't try to justify it. Don't try to reject it. Let God love you.
Or, as Kaitlin said, may we remember we are a dust-to-dust thing. We share in our dust to dustness. We share that we're lovable still.
As B.T. said, as you work through your pain, may you leave some room for gratitude. May we boldly confront broken systems while holding to our fierce belief that God will, good will, triumph in the end. And as Cece said, may we reclaim our refrain. May we find the places where we don't need an exodus but an exfoliation. May we remember that what God requires requires God, even as we are a people on the move.
JEFF: As Jennifer said, we are not peculiar. We are particular. So may we remember that we are loved in particular. As Tanya said, it takes a certain humility to be able to say that my view of the world and my view of God is not the same as God. Our lens is limited. Open our eyes, Mother God, to see beyond a single story, to see the ones for whom the fairytales aren't true. May we be as honest as the Bible is about suffering.
As William said, may we learn the narratives of Black and Indigenous people in order to be made perfect in love. May we, like Mary, anoint one another for the tragedies yet to come and be prepared to die.
As Chanequa said, who told us we had to fit? May we embrace our fitless-ness. May we reclaim the edges of ourselves that had to be shaved off in an effort to fit. And may we join in the work of the prophets by calling bullshit when we see it.
SARAH: Or, as Jeff said, it's not real flourishing if only a few flourish. May we remember that our deconstruction is not just for ourselves.
And as Lisa said, may there be good between us and the entire community of creation. May we remember that we all bear the icon of God and that the brown Jesus, the colonized Jesus, is here to set the image of God free. We pray to be a people who participate in that. May you always remember you are loved. You are loved with a love that endures all, overcomes all, redeems all. Believer and doubter, sinner and saint, you are loved. You are loved in your insufficiency and in your plenty. When you laugh and when you cry. When you praise and when you lament. When you feel broken and when you feel whole.
JEFF: May we be continually blessed with wonder and curiosity about you, God. May we be a people who cultivate hope and love in the wilderness, pointing fellow wanderers and misfits to you as we embody resurrection for the sake of the world. May we be a people who belong, who listen, who hope. May the ones who were thirsty become the ones who carry water. May the people who have been hungry be not only fed but make bread for others. May the ones who were wounded become our healers. May the misfits become friends, and may the wanderers find home. May we welcome how you are faithful to create beauty out of diverse and disparate pieces, redemption out of remnants and wholeness out of scraps. Friends, as you are and as you will be in the full and complex richness of your beautiful humanity, you are loved in the name of the Creator, the Son, and the Spirit, one God and Mother of us all. We seal the work that has been done in us. Amen.
[ Instrumental Music: It Is Well With My Soul by SueAnn Shiah ]
JEFF: You can find a full transcript of this episode in our show notes over at evolvingfaith.com/podcast. If you have been listening to and loving the podcast, then just take a few minutes to rate and review us on your podcast app as well as on Apple Podcasts. It is a small, free way to support us and the show, but it also will help other wanderers in the wilderness to find all of us. We are grateful for your feedback, especially if it comes in the form of five stars. Now that we’re at the end of season 2 of the podcast, I’m just going to scuttle back to my introvert cave and regather my strength. Who knew that this podcasting thing would require so much talking? Anyway, if you want to find me somewhere sometime, please sign up for my newsletter at jeffchu.substack.com.
SARAH: And you can always find me mostly at my newsletter, Field Notes. You can find the link for that at SarahBessey.com as well as info for all of my social media and books and all that sort of thing. The Evolving Faith Podcast is produced by us, Sarah Bessey and Jeff Chu, along with our wonderful colleague, SueAnn Shiah. SueAnn also wrote and recorded our music. Thank you so much for listening to this season of The Evolving Faith Podcast. And until next time, whenever that may be, remember that you are loved.
[ Instrumental music: It Is Well With My Soul by SueAnn Shiah ]
JEFF: [AD] It was through Bishop Michael Curry, who is speaking at Evolving Faith 2022, that I learned about the Reverend Absalom Jones Fund. Did you know that historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, make up 3 percent of all American institutions of higher education but produce 20 percent of all African American college graduates? HBCUs are engines of justice, equity, and social mobility. Through the Reverend Absalom Jones Fund, you can show your support for future Black leaders by making a gift to their two HBCUs, Voorhees University and Saint Augustine's University, and help provide an excellent education to hundreds of students from diverse backgrounds each year. Give today at iam.ec/ajf or text giveHBCU to 41444. Thank you. The Absalom Jones Fund: May we be inspired by the past to make a difference to the future.
