Snarky Faith

“Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness. (Messy Spirituality)” ― Michael Yaconelli In Luke 14, Jesus tells a story about a wedding banquet where everyone was invited and welcome. It gives us a glimpse into the heart of the Kingdom of God. Imagine a God that has love and grace at the center of everything. How would that change the church and community if everyone was loved and treated with dignity? What if love and grace were as common as the air that we breathe? Jesus said that there was a big table, big enough for everyone. It is a place where you are loved and accepted where you are. Grace is the currency and love like gravity. If they are constants in the Kingdom of God, why are treated like rare elements here on Earth? Faith is messy because people are messy, but faith is also simple. Love God, love others, and live out grace. That is the Kingdom of God in a nutshell, yet we have made it complicated and perverted it. Though the road back is to where we should be is often seen as too simple and direct, so we stay where we are and remain. Change happens when we embrace who and what we are. If we can accept ourselves, then hopefully we can accept others. If I am messy and you are also messy, then hopefully we can help each other to be less messy. Thus is progress. Thus is life. If we want to change, we can. It requires a willingness to leave safety and journey into something new and unknown. That is the nature of change. It doesn't ask you to embrace it, but it's there waiting to be embraced if you're willing to do it. Change is only a decision away. Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SnarkyFaith.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One of the great sins of the American church has been its ability to normalize a myriad of sins. In a certain way, these sins have become part of an unstated and unwritten theology of practice. For too long has the faith system based on Jesus Christ has been associated with misogyny, ignorance, racism, abuse, and hate. If your remove love from Christianity, you also remove Jesus from Christianity. If that happens, what is left? For the church to rectify itself and return to its roots, we must call out all that is opposed to love. For a faith-centered in the love of God and love of others, it has been perverted and mutated into something vastly different. Following Jesus was never about political power, control, and influence, it was about making a tangible difference in humanity. If we're not loving more, then the Kingdom of God is not being advanced. If we're not loving others, the Kingdom of God is nothing more than a platform and talking points. If we don't see the humanity and image of God in others, we have forgotten who we are. If any or all of this happens, what are we left holding? The power of Jesus is in its ability to give up power. It exists in how it usurps influence from the mighty and gives voice to the lowly. Brokenness and injustice don't have to be normalized. They should be opposed. If you hold up things that are counter to Jesus, they should be castaway. It may sound overly simplistic, but the ways of Jesus aren't that hard. They aren't that complicated. Just don't be shitty to other people and try to make the world a better place for everyone. Is that too much to ask for? It's orthodoxy, but that hasn't been orthopraxy in a long time. Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SNARKYFAITH.COM Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cults and conspiracy theories are both founded on lies, but they also play heavily against people's fears and insecurities. You could say that cult leaders use misinformation and paranoia to manipulate others to follow blindly after them. It almost sounds like a lot of pastors too. This isn't a new occurrence, a Ponzi scheme as old as time. There are always swindlers and suckers. And every time, the swindler makes the sucker believe that everyone else is the true idiot. Christianity has a lot of willing idiots who have traded the simple message of the Gospel for complicated conspiracy theories about Satan hiding around every corner waiting to deceive you. The truth of this story is that we are our own Satan's deceiving ourselves. Yes, I said it and stand by it. Christians that believe in conspiracy theories or other nonsense like end times do it because doing the work of the Gospel is too hard and requires too much. If we can delude and deceive ourselves that we're righteous, then we can live our lives unchecked and judge everyone else. It's Jesus that disrupts this lie. Life is better when we don't get our own way. When we learn to live as people called to help and heal, that's a vastly different reality than one lived in fear of sin. One way is the freedom to live and love as Jesus did. The other one is to look at God's creation as dirty, evil, and broken. One way sees glory while the other sees desolation. Conspiracy theories require mental gymnastics to fit into reality. They require us to suspend our disbelief and embrace paranoia and fear. The way of Jesus sees the face of God in others and calls us to love. Which do you want to follow? Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SnarkyFaith.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The past few weeks on the show, we've been talking through the book, Tug of War by Wilmer Villacorta. This several-week discussion has centered around leadership in the vein of Jesus.  We've talked about what biblical leadership should look like in juxtaposition to the modern church. We've seen how modern leadership is capitalistic, caustic, and antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus. The church today wields power through narrow systems of hierarchy that look more like corporations than communities. These systems narrowly allow certain people in positions of power, while others are overtly left outside.  The power of community is the power of Christianity. There is great value in owning our personal selves and stories, but we must also be blended and woven within the stories of others. A family of faith should be diverse. Its beauty is in its uniqueness and diversity. The movement from 'me' to 'we' is not one of losing power, but one much to the contrary. The process opening up to others is a road of vulnerability and humility, but ultimately one of great power as we collectively move together to make a better tomorrow that includes all people.  To craft a better tomorrow means that we must work together. We can't do this alone, Jesus calls us to be better together. Our stories will never be complete without others. There is no me without we... and that's a good thing.  Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.Snarkyfaith.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are living in the glorious time of the cancel culture. Yes, most call it an overreaction to civil, cultural, and political events happening now, but I think it's a beautiful thing. Conservative Evangelicals created a cancel culture against anything deemed counter to the faith, and the tactics of public shaming and boycott are now coming back to haunt them. After Louie Giglio's "white blessing" remarks, Christianity is in a downward spiral seeking to grab on to some semblance of relevancy in a time when so many stalwart institutions, voices, and symbols of faith are falling like Confederate statues. Instead of seeing cancel culture as a problem, we should see it as an opportunity to change, repent, and distance our faith from systems of hatred and intolerance. Jesus calls us to a new way of dealing with power structures, where everyone is valued and has a voice. In the kingdom of God, everyone matters in culture and society. All are made in the image of God and are equal. All matter equally. This is the vision of the kingdom of God. Any other system that devalues humans isn't of Jesus and has nothing to do with the creator of the universe. Good builds up all. Good gives all a voice. God is good. Sin operates on hierarchical systems of inequality. Sin is selfish. Sin oppresses. Sin doesn't care about tomorrow. What system do you want to be part of? Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SNARKYFAITH.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"The person who accepts his own suffering and does not try to repress it or push it away shows the power of hope." - Jurgen Moltmann As we continue in our series of reframing what power looks like in the mold of Jesus, we must begin at the beginning. There is no power outside of us owning our narratives. If we don't understand our story, how can we comprehend someone else's story?  Owning your failures and successes, your achievements, and missteps make us human. We live in a culture that pushes us towards perfection, but perfection isn't a human attribute. We learn through failure. We grow through trials. There is no way to know who and what we are unless it's tested and tried.  I have tried more than I have succeeded, but I have learned more from the trials than the successes. Being real. Being flawed. Being fully human is a new form of power. It scares people that aren't in touch with themselves. It doesn't operate under human systems of currency. It's not owned by cartels or politicians. You own it. It's yours given to you at birth.  The real question is, will you use your story for good and wield it or will you forget it and live in the shadows of others? Jesus calls us to be uniquely ourselves. Owning your story is truly a different type of power. Go out, be fabulous, be yourself, and change the world.  Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SNARKYFAITH.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

" Our use of power will always be disoriented and destructive - will result in idolatry and injustice - unless we find a way to a restored relationship with the Giver of power". - Andy Crouch On, June 3, 2020, the President of the United States ordered militarized police to teargas and remove peaceful protesters who were hosting a "Solidarity Prayer Vigil" near St. John's Church in Lafayette Square. He did this as a show of strength to have a photo-op with a Bible in front of the church. It was excessive use of force and brutality that played like a love letter to his religious base. This authoritarian-lite stunt is like a Russian-hooker-threeway of Trump's worst impulses; his hubris, stupidity, and small-dick-energy.  It's an interesting snapshot to examine. The President is using the church as a backdrop and Bible as a prop. It's the perfect example of what Christianity in America has become. Hollow images and symbols that should echo the ways of Jesus, but they don't. They've just become tools of a corrupt empire.  To look at leadership through the lens of Jesus, we see a very different approach to power and greatness. His selfless death on the cross is a stark contrast to someone who teargasses a peaceful crowd of volunteers and clergy. Where Jesus would say, "Black Lives Matter," but to Trump, only his life matters. It's sad to see how the faithful have been willingly duped. Are we tired of winning yet?  It's time to wake up and see the hypocrisy, lies, and empty promises. Christ calls us to engage with the world differently. Through his lens of love, humility, compassion, and vulnerability, leadership and power begin to look very different. Through walking in his example, we can begin to heal the wounds in our nation as we elevate diverse voices to seats at the collective table. We are better together than we are apart.  Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SNARKYFAITH.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The world is on fire and my opinion doesn't matter right now. This isn't time for that. As a white person in America, this is the time for me to be silent and listen to those that are hurting. This is not a time to critique protesting or to offer alternative ways to seek justice and reform. This is not the time to assume I understand what it's like to live within systems of racism where I fear for my life and fear the police. This is time for me to listen. When I listen, I can mourn, weep, and grieve with my brothers and sisters. When I listen, I am reminded that the drumbeats of hate, ignorance, and bigotry still beat loudly. When I listen, I am able to realize that there are not enough seats at the table and some of us need to step back to make room for others to speak, lead, create, and dream. Change begins with listening. I am listening. Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.Snarkyfaith.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Time moves forward. Life changes constantly. We'll never be what we were before. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed us all. Some are frantically trying to go back in time, while others are looking towards an uncertain future. We can't go back. We can only go forward. And that is not bad news. Change is part of life. We either adapt to it or we don't. When we don't adapt, we become out of sync with reality and seek to idealize the past. We put on rose-colored glasses and look backward to the past that is only fantasy. But we can't change the past. We can only accept it and learn from it as we move forward. Things won't be the same anymore and that's exciting. New stories to tell. New adventures to embark upon. New dreams to realize. As we seek a reprieve from the quarantine monotony and uncertainty, remember that the world is changing and you can be a part of that cultivating change if you keep looking forward bravely. Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SnarkyFaith.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Power is overrated. Yet, if you look around you, you see a world scrounging for it. We want to be leaders and influencers. We want to be successful and renowned. So we spend our lives seeking power and ultimately, what we see as power becomes our God. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a different type of leader. He didn't see prestige or care about titles. He lowered himself. He sacrificed himself for others. He was the opposite of Christian leaders today. Today, we'll dive into a discussion on the downward ascent into the ways and power of Jesus where vulnerability, humility, and suffering are part of the journey. We need to rethink power and power structures to live a faithful existence. Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.snarkyfaith.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.