Rector’s Cupboard Podcast

Special Episode; Towards Justice

Today, April 20, 2021, Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three charges against him in causing the death of George Floyd. We have some brief considerations before the verdict after it had been announced that the verdict was about to be read. This recording includes the judge in the case reading the verdict and some brief prayers by Cole Arthur Riley on her “Black Liturgies” account.
 
God with us, We thank you for being a God of true empathy, leaving status and security to come near to those you love - a nearness marked by healing, solidarity, and sacrifice. We have traded the fierceness of your empathy that might begin with tears but is also enmeshed with proximity to the hurting and the resolute doing of justice and mercy, even if that justice means loss of comfort and status for us. But keep us from being swallowed by the pain of those we love, that we would learn a compassion that has boundaries - a nearness that is not bondage. Let Empathy lay her head down each night on hope itself, rising with the deep knowledge that restoration is coming. We are the hands and feet of a promise. 
Originally published March 26, 2021 @blackliturgies
 
 

Nothing Wasted with David Hayward (NakedPastor)

We welcome David Hayward, known online as the NakedPastor.
David is an artist who formerly was a Pastor of Presbyterian and Vineyard Churches. Over the last 12 years David has been producing art – sketches, watercolours and paintings that have resonated deeply with people questioning their beliefs, deconstructing systems of religion, and looking for hopeful ways of seeing the world.
 
We speak about how deconstruction can be hopeful. David tells us that while he appreciated his time as a leader in the institutional church, he is able now to be more pastoral, not less.
After speaking with David we felt a sense of gratitude and joy, the blessing of accepting that we don’t have to be anxious about making sure to believe the right things. It is even okay if we don’t believe properly. Our call is always to love one another.
 
You can find out more about David and buy some of his wonderful art on his website or check him out on any social media platform.

Inter-Religious Conversations with Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan

We speak with Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan about how religions can grant blessing to one another. In many religious traditions there is a suspicion around engaging with people of other faiths. Rabbi Laura oversees an inter-religious conference each year. We speak also about philosophy and atheism and how we can have a two-dimensional and unhelpful view of not only other faiths, but of non-faith. How can we honour people who believe differently than we do?
 
Books and references in this episode:
Mouth of the Donkey, Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan, 2021
Gaslit Nation Podcast
VST Religion & Thoughtful Activism Conference 
 
Books on philosophy recommended by Rabbi Laura:
Plato’s Symposium
The Spell of the Sensuous - David Abram

Consider the Lilies with Leah Kostamo

On this episode of Rector’s Cupboard we spoke with Leah Kostamo about astonishment, conservation, environmentalism, all things outdoors, and how that connects with people and faith. Jesus often used metaphors from creation in his teachings. He used tangible things like dirt and spit to bring healing. Our awareness of the transcendent is often evoked by engagement with the natural world and planting a garden can be prayer.
 
References in this episode:
Planted, Leah Kostamo
A Rocha Canada 
Ecological Footprint Calculator
 
This episode we enjoyed Evolve Gin from Okanagan Spirits.
 

Poetry, Loss, and Hope with Susan Alexander

The Cupboard welcomes Poet Susan Alexander. Susan has won a number of awards for her writing and sat down with us to talk about the blessings of reading and writing and the power of language. Susan’s poetry invites us to consider what has been lost and what future hope entails.
 
Books and poets referenced in this episode:
Susan Alexander - Nothing You Can Carry, 2020
Susan Alexander - The Dance Floor Tilts, 2017
Lorna Crozier, God of Shadows, 2018
James Wright, Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota, 1990

Spirituality and Mental Health Dr. Sharon Smith

Sharon Smith has done a PhD looking at spirituality and schizophrenia. She founded an organization called Sanctuary that works with religious communities around matters of mental health, education about mental health, and the removing of stigmas about mental illness and struggle. Sharon is now a Vicar at St. Catherine's Church and a part-time instructor at the University of British Columbia.
We talk about mental wellness, about flourishing and languishing and about how to best care for one another.
 
Episode Terminology:
Spiritual Bypassing –Shifting done in conversations when topics become uncomfortable. There is a struggle to be with others in their pain so often spiritual platitudes are offered instead. In the context of mental health this can be seen in how things are framed. This has been done in labelling mental health struggles as evil or demonic so as to offer a spiritual solution.
 
This episode we enjoyed the Salted Lime Lager and Horchata Porter from La Cerveceria Astilleros in the brewery district of North Vancouver.

"Probably Not a Real Christian" with Curt Allison

Our guest Curt Allison has faced this accusation repeatedly in his life of faith. Curt is Minister of Outreach at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in Vancouver. He directs the Gospel Choir and leads an LGBTQ spirituality discussion group called, The Word is OUT.
We loved speaking with Curt and continue to be compelled by his appreciation of a faith background that often told him he was unacceptable. In our current culture that can be so polarized, Curt demonstrates a love for all people. Curt tells us about his journey from Oklahoma to Vancouver, from “the fundamental fundamentalist” to a much more welcoming faith and a journey through the dark night of the soul to acceptance and hope.
 
Episode Terminology: 
Dark Night of the Soul - 16th Century Spanish Christian mystic John of the Cross used this term to describe the feeling of being cut off from God, from a sense of being alive, from prayers being heard. Dark Night of the Soul has come to refer to a part of the spiritual life that is experienced as barrenness. In more recent times it has been discussed alongside concepts such as depression. In theological terms, the Dark Night of the Soul spoke to the idea that God is unknowable and sovereign and may remove from us the sense of divine presence resulting in a feeling of lifelessness. Similar concepts can be found in the 14th Century work called “The Cloud of Unknowing”.
 
Exodus Ministry - Exodus ministry (using the metaphor of freedom from slavery in Egypt from the Biblical Book of Exodus) was one manifestation of “ministry” to people who did not fit the culturally and religiously accepted norms in regards to sexuality. These ministries often included a kind of conversion therapy that cast healing as either not being gay anymore or as being able to control and deny such an identity in terms of behaviour. In this episode Curt speaks of his experience in Exodus as actually contributing to his self-acceptance and even as contributing to the awareness that he was not alone in his experience. Many of the leaders of Exodus disavowed the programme including the president of the organization in 2012. The ministry closed in 2013.

Words Without Spin with Pádraig Ó Tuama

This episode was recorded in December 2020, before the events of early 2021 in the United States. Those events offer a clear example of the problem of spin and how words can be used to heal or to harm. All insurrections begin with words. All reconciliations start with the hopeful language of healing.
 
It was a tremendous privilege to speak with Pádraig Ó Tuama. We spoke about words and language and religion. Padraig read a couple of his poems for us and reminded us of the redemptive and reconciling possibility in words. Religious language can be edifying or destructive. Too often words within religious circles have divided people from one another rather than bringing them together. Hope can come in a poem. A small, but powerful refrain can change your day or your life.
 
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet and theologian. He is the host of Poetry Unbound, part of the On Being Project, author of Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community.
 
If you're interested in starting to read poetry but don't know where to start Pádraig suggests beginning with the following anthologies from Bloodaxe Books: Being Alive, Staying Alive, and Staying Human. 
 
Episode Terminology:
Pedagogy – referring to method or means of teaching, communicating knowledge.

So Long 2020

Cupboard hosts review the year that was.
Did we learn anything about humanity this year?
The terrible news was obvious and everywhere in 2020. We talk about what was hopeful, about what was disappointing, about how to see the humanity of the other.
And, remember the priest in Italy who conducted a Facebook live service not knowing that the happy, silly face filters were on? We talk about that too. 
Goodbye 2020. Welcome 2021.
Happy New Year from Rector's Cupboard!
 
Books, articles, and links discussed in this episode:
Italian Priest on Facebook live, YouTube Video, March 25, 2020 
New Yorker Cover, December 7, 2020 
The Rise and Fall of Carl Lentz, New York Times, December 5, 2020 
Our Divided Times are an Opportunity for Empathy. Really. – The Washington Post, December 29, 2020 

Christmas Special 2020

Not really gathered and really very distanced.Our second annual Christmas Special.This year we look at the Rankin Bass Christmas TV Special called, “The Year Without a Santa Claus”.How could it be Christmas without Santa? What if Santa got sick and sniffly and could not deliver presents?How could it be Christmas if we can’t gather with friends and family?
 
We’re about to find out.
 
Cupboard Master Ken Bell makes a lovely “snowball” cocktail for the crew.
Merry Christmas to all!
 
Referenced in this episode:
Mall Santas – The Washington Post, November 25, 2020