Erin shares her “word” for 2019, as well as the story and metaphors behind it that mean so much to her. We also have some news about Tend Podcast and Yet Untold toward the end.

Episode 11: The Eagle and the Arrow

This is the third episode in our series for Advent, The Advent of Justice, which is about some of the types of justice we are waiting for Christ to bring to earth. In this episode we are looking into ourselves, paying attention to the justice that we are waiting for, and at the same time, acknowledging that we are fallen human beings who are need of forgiveness.

Episode 10: The Advent of Justice for Us

This week we turn more inward. As we look at the plight of the poor among us, let’s turn the tables on ourselves, and ask how those without many possessions might be more rich than us. Let’s also ask ourselves how we are being called to help, especially in this season.

Episode 9: The Advent of Justice for the Poor Among Us

As we await the coming of the Lord during the season of Advent, we are also acknowledging all that is broken in this world now. This episode is a contemplative exercise, a prayerful exploration of a particular place of injustice, and an invitation for Jesus to come into it. Particularly, we are looking at justice for the stranger, the refugee, the foreigner, the immigrant, and the sojourner.

Episode 8: The Advent of Justice for the Stranger

Preparing for Advent is kind of like preparing to prepare for Christ’s birth, but we’re going with it! In this episode, Jess and Erin discuss cultural differences in regards to this season, metaphors, practices, and the hopeful kind of waiting.

Episode 7: Preparing for Advent

To-may-to, to-mah-to…. Jess and I might not agree on how to say the name of that delicious fruit-vegetable, but we do agree that we should consider it a little more deeply than how good it tastes. In this episode, we are talking about the theology of food, how eating should be a conversation of gratefulness to God, how death brings us life, and what practical things we can do to eat and shop a little more intentionally. 




  
    With every bite we put in our mouth, we are making a political and theological statement. With our approach to food and eating, we proclaim what we believe: about God, our bodies, the care of the earth and those who harvest food from it, and the poor. 
  
  — Lane M. Arnold and Valerie E. Hess, The Life of the Body: Physical Well-Being and Spiritual Formation


  
    Man must eat in order to live; he must take the world into his body and transform it into himself, into flesh and blood. He is indeed that which he eats, and the whole world is presented as one all-embracing banquet table for man. And this image of the banquet remains throughout the whole Bible, the central image of life. It is the image of life at its creation and also the image of life at its end and fulfillment.
  
  — Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World

Psalm 10414 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock    and plants for man to cultivate,that he may bring forth food from the earth15     and wine to gladden the heart of man,oil to make his face shine    and bread to strengthen man's heart. (ESV)
  
    All that exists is God’s gift to man, and it all exists to make God known to man, to make man’s life communion with God. It is divine love made food, made life for man. God blesses everything He creates, and, in biblical language, this means that He makes all creation the sign and means of His presence and wisdom, love and revelation....
  
  — Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World

PRACTICEShare it! Practice hospitality and invite some folks over to share food with. Grow your own food (even if it’s just herbs in a pot!) Try and buy even just a couple of things organic or from a farmer’s market.Do a bit of reading and research to start thinking in the right direction. Easy way to do this: watch a documentary on Netflix, like Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food or Food, Inc.Attempt to make some change, not all the change. You’ll find that good choices are made easier by practice, attentiveness, and time.

Episode 6: The Sacramental Nature of an Heirloom Tomato

As we draw near to the holiday season, you might be thinking a lot about inviting people into your home, which is a wonderful thing to do! But that’s not all there is to the spiritual practice of hospitality. In this episode, Erin talks about what true hospitality looks like and the reason we should focusing on it during this season of the year especially.

Episode 5: Practicing Hospitality (Even on Facebook)

This podcast is about the things we do and why they matter, and there are few things that we do more often than get dressed, but also, for a lot of us, few things that we think less about, at least in a mindful and theological way.

Episode 4: Clothe Yourself

The spiritual discipline of simplicity is often tied up with money or belongings,  and specifically the idea that, if we are to follow Christ, then we have to give up everything we own (at least the good stuff!) In this episode we talk about how that is not really it. It's far deeper and much more simple.

Episode 3: Simplicity

This week we are talking about the idea of "place," specifically how the place we live our lives influences us, whether we are aware of it or not. Jess and Erin share how moving away from their respective homes helped them to understand better how those places influenced their ways of thinking and their identities. Reading the words of Wendell Berry, we learn about really being in a place, investing in the place and getting to know the place.

Episode 2: Place

Hello, I'm Erin, and I'm the worst at having discipline, thus I'm obsessed with learning about how to become more disciplined. In this episode, I share a bit of my story and why you might want to begin the think about the things you do daily that either hinder or help your relationships with God and others.

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