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
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Today we ponder life after death and our experiences of people showing up at their own funeral or wake and the ministry of the dead.
Thursday Jan 25, 2024
Thursday Jan 25, 2024
Today Mark draws from his Druidic roots to talk about the power and life-giving force of trees and how they feed and nurture the planet and the lessons they can give us in how to live.
As Maggy's Kabbalah work is based on the Tree of Life (Genesis and Revelation) there's much to discuss both about real trees and the symbolism of the Tree.
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
That old legend of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden is still trying to teach us about the dangers of making one thing 'right' and another thing 'wrong.' Fundamentalists of any kind always fall over this one - needing to be right and viewing any opposition as something to be condemned.
But true faith (in any tradition) is about embracing the paradoxes of life and being willing to hold the tension of all sides of an issue. It's simple but it's not easy. Today, we talk about our own experiences of trying to hold the paradox, about being introverts and one-upmanship. It's a good one!
Wednesday Jan 10, 2024
Wednesday Jan 10, 2024
Did you know, we all have a happiness set point? It's the level of contentment that our brains can handle and despite our outer - or physical - circumstances we will re-set ourselves there. Maggy refers to Marci Shimoff's 2009 book Happy for No Reason to examine how and why this set point is so powerful - and how we CAN raise it to give ourselves a happier life. The work is quite simple but it's certainly not easy as our brains themselves resist it. So that's why you may find it hard to meditate, exercise or even manage a day out - your basic wiring resists!
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Happy New Year! Today's podcast focuses on the Christmas story and how we have misunderstood 'no room at the inn' through lack of knowledge of the social mores and the purity laws of Jesus' time. And (sorry!) there is no mention whatsoever of the traditional ox and ass.
However the depths to the story continue to amaze us both so this is our veneration of the birth of Christ through the Divine Feminine itself.
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Parthenogenesis IS. Many species on Earth can reproduce with a female alone, including the amazing Komodo Dragon. But the story of the Virgin Mary being impregnated by the Holy Spirit is not meant to be a historical fact. It's far more important than that because it is a MYTH - a story that carries a deep inner truth. Not only is it a call to inclusivity - a return to the ancient Hebrew belief of a balance of masculine and feminine within the Divine, it's a call for us to understand that the Holy One can - and will - fill us all with Grace and new life if - IF - we will allow it.
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
Today we are talking about Advent ... that time of waiting and wondering before the return of the Sun/Son. Traditionally it's a time of fasting (though you'd certainly never know nowadays!) and its message is to wait and hold the tension before resolution. They say the darkest hour is just before dawn and the world is in a very dark hour right now. We grieve ... and we hope.
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
We're taking 'happy are those who mourn' as the text for discussion this week, including Spanish philosopher George Santayana's quotation, 'The young man who has not wept is a savage and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.'
To weep for the world is a sacrament. It takes us beyond the rage and the blame that is thrown around so much and into the heart of the Holy One. Mark tells us of his experience of this in the Men's Rite of Passage work he has done with Fr. Richard Rohr.
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Today Mark muses on the cycle of life, prompted by the breaking of his favourite coffee mug. It's really about the importance of understanding that in the flow of life we are all one; some atoms from that mug may end up in the bones of someone yet to be born, complete with atoms that once made up the physical body of some great spirit or some distant star. In all life there is loss; in all loss there is the possibility of the new.
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Following on from last week, we're looking at Steven Pressfield's book 'The War of Art' all about the power of resistance.
Resistance is the inner demon which stops us doing the creative work we love; prevents our happiness and scuppers our dreams. Resistance is very, very real and it will drive us into madness, sickness and despair if we don't identify and deal with at least some of it. Resistance also includes distraction - binge-watching, binge-eating, drink, scrolling, busy-work; they are all parts of resistance. Today we are owning up to our own resistance and have a couple of very simple tips to offer to help start the return to sanity.