Train Wrecks for Jesus

Revs. Mark Townsend and Maggy Whitehouse are both ordained vicars ... and self-confessed f**k ups for Jesus. From spoonerisms at weddings, through breakdowns, divorce, failed emigration, shark attack (truly!) and back down to everyday stupidity and forgetfulness, we’ve lived and worked with the humiliation of failure for most of our lives. But every time we have fallen short, Grace and goodness have been the result even if it has only been the justified reduction of our egos. And this is our message - that it’s okay to be a Christian catastrophe (or any other kind of catastrophe for that matter). In fact, it’s pretty much essential in order to understand what Jesus was all about. Today we share some of our stories, have some laughs and we hope you will join us in future sessions by sharing your own f**k ups for Jesus (or Buddha or Krishna or ... or ... or). Remember, the cracks are where the light can get in. PLEASE NOTE: ABUNDANT USE OF THE F-WORD.

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Episodes

5 days ago

Perfectionism ... that cunning mindset that halts creativity in its path. Today we talk about the willingness to be imperfect and embrace our whole, messy selves, rather than becoming paralysed because we can't be good enough. Jesus celebrated the imperfect so why, then, did he say, 'Be perfect just as your Father in Heaven is perfect?' Lots to unpack here!

Wednesday Oct 16, 2024

Today we discuss Lucifer, 'the light-bringer.' Not the devil as such but the myth of the tempter who disguises himself within light and glamour. Let's face it, we aren't tempted by anything that actually looks evil are we? So it dresses itself up as 'good.' We humans are mired in both light and glamour ... and it is doing us great harm under the guise of beauty.

Wednesday Oct 02, 2024

Today Mark and Maggy discuss celebrities who go from new hearts in spirit to dyed-in-the-wool conspiracy theorists and hardline fundamentalists. And those who start out trying to make a relevant point but end up demonising.
Why is it that these people need to let go of the love and integrity at the start of their journey in order to take the hard line of condemnation and hate? Do they jump or were they pushed?

Friday Sep 20, 2024

Holy Communion transubstantiates bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Discuss!
That's exactly what we are doing, looking at the scandal of a man in a culture that rejected blood as unclean into one who asks us to drink his own blood. We take in the myth, the practicality, the beliefs of those times and tease out the heart of the meaning of communion for us and hopefully for you too.

Wednesday Sep 04, 2024

In a change from our usual routine, this is a 50-minute talk which Maggy gave in Cornwall last week, all about the origins of Christianity and how it basically lost the plot after it went 'corporate.' Yes, there have been many amazing mystics, but the hand of Imperial Rome changed everything...
 

Wednesday Aug 21, 2024

A while back, on Facebook, we had a disagreement. Luckily, being us, it was easy to agree to disagree and nobody got offended or blocked, but Mark really wanted to bring the topic of positive thinking into the podcast because, like magic, it can be so very seriously misused.
So today is Maggy talking about what she has learnt about the power of the mind. We can't change the world but we can change what we think about the world and in doing so we can project peace and love into the world rather than negativity. And, as Maggy tells, we can improve our own lives as well, simply by learning to choose our thoughts and to seek out good whenever we can.
In a nutshell, we have choice. Do we use that choice to add negativity to the world by droning on about what's wrong or do we use it to acknowledge the bad and yet to turn towards the good? Whichever way we turn adds energy. If we want more joy, then we have to import the software of the positive into our brains so that they can learn to accept it. if we don't, we'll just see more and more of the dross.

Wednesday Aug 07, 2024

Today we talk about Mark the Magician, how he became one, what magic is to him and the shamanic origins of magic in healing. Mark uses magic to lift hearts and reassure.
We do also look at the negative side to magic - when it is used to manipulate people and for personal power. However, magic and the placebo effect can work together for great good. Maggy thinks this episode is brilliant. :-)

Wednesday Jul 24, 2024

Today Mark talks more of his journey through both Christianity and Paganism and how the Celtic Christian tradition and Druidic teachings work in beautiful harmony together.

Wednesday Jul 10, 2024

Maggy's Mum's vicar told her that Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) was devil worship. Oddly, it isn't... Today we discuss this ancient perennial wisdom tradition and how it helped Maggy regain her lost faith - and ironically led to her becoming a vicar. It's a system which offers a basic structure for faith and it works in harmony with all other faiths - if they'll let it!
 

Wednesday Jun 26, 2024

This is one of Maggy's bugbears - and she wrote a whole book about it, 'The Marriage of Jesus' (O Books). But to find out her conclusions from decades of research, I'm afraid you'll have to listen. We also look at why culture wants Mary Magdalene to be Jesus' wife and the legends of Mary and Joseph of Arimathea, the Merovingians and Glastonbury.

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