Meditations 4 Misfits

Enjoy this Introduction to the soon-to-be-released audio book, What the Dying have Taught Me about living: The Awful Amazing Grace of God.

This podcast is a lecture Fred gave on February 19, 2025 at Southern Oregon University. It was part of a series for the campus theme of "Unveiling Reality." This presentation was titled, "Peeking Behind the Veil: Some Random Thoughts on How Religion Helps Shape Our Experience of Reality."  

 This is Fred's last Sunday Sermon as interim pastor. The theme is how should we live? "What is your life? You are a mist, a vapor, that appears for a little while and then disappears." - James 4:14 

In this podcast we reflect on the message of John the Baptist as recorded in St. Luke's Gospel, chapter 3:1-6. In our consideration of these words, we run into religion's dirty little secret. "If you have forgiven yourself for being imperfect and falling, you can now do it for just about everybody else." - Richard Rohr  

This reflection explores an apocalyptic saying of Jesus found in St. Luke's Gospel, 21:25-26. Apocalyptic is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE). But as the poet Christian Wiman reminds us, "The revelation we need is not ultimate but intimate.”  

This podcast offers a reflection for the Christian Feast of Christ the King. As we consider what kind of King Jesus is, and what his Kingdom might be like, we are confronted with our concepts of real power. “This is the mystery of love. Power kills. Weakness creates.” – Henri Nouwen  

In this reflection we follow up on a theme introduced in last week's reading from Hebrews 11 and consider what it means to feel like "exiles." Our passage this week is Psalm 137, a very dark psalm, in fact it is a song of lament. “The true Good News is that God works in bad news.” – Robert Farrar Capon

In this meditation based on the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 11, we consider the impact others have on shaping who we are and who we become. When asked what the inspiration for his unique approach to sculpting was, Michelangelo stated that he looked to find the beauty already inside the stone, and he wanted to set it free. His work with chisel and hammer was one of liberation. He didn't create masterpieces—he set them free.  

This meditation is based on the words of Jesus found in the Gospel of Mark 10:35-45, where Jesus shares with his friends the criteria for greatness. “It is standing in the world with head erect, solidly rooted in the knowledge of who we are, facing the reality that surrounds us, and responding to it from our hearts.” - Henri Nouwen 

This podcast offers a reflection on the episode with the rich young ruler recorded in Mark 10:17-31. In this passage Jesus teaches that for us to live a fully engaged and robust life, now, we may have to let go of what currently brings us security in an insecure world. "Die before you die, so that when you die, you won't die." - an Arabic saying    

This podcast offers a reflection on the last question we will explore in our series of The Questions Jesus Asked. This one comes from Matthew 6:27, "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"  In this passage we may even discover an antidote to our preoccupation with worry.  "What worries you, masters you." - John Locke 

This reflection on the question Jesus asked in John 21:15, "Do you love me?" offers an insight into how God works to help us re-write our life-limiting stories. What if God doesn't want to rub it in, but rather, rub it out?

This podcast offers a reflection on the famous story of the woman caught in adultery as recorded in the 8th Chapter of St. John's Gospel. We suggest there is nothing that brings God greater happiness than helping us re-write our life-limiting stories. "Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover, or drunk. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again , come , come, to hope." - Rumi

This podcast offers a reflection on the question Jesus cried out in Matthew 27:46, "My God my God, why have you forsaken me?" Instead of trying to figure out why this happened, maybe it is better to see this question as an aid to answering how we should navigate our own times of suffering. 

This podcast offers a reflection of the encounter Jesus had with the Gadarene Demoniac as recorded in Luke chapter 8. Jesus asked him and us, "What is your name?" "The soul wants to tell us the truth about ourselves." - Parker Palmer  

“My idea of God is not a Divine Idea. It has to be shattered time after time. God shatters it Godself. God is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of God's presence?”  - Clive Staples Lewis

This podcast offers a reflection on another question Jesus asked in the 6th Chapter of St. John's Gospel, "Does this offend you?" It is our suggestion that Jesus desires to liberate us from simply becoming spiritual tourists. “Spiritual shopping around is an attempt to find security, an attempt to find a way to always feel good about ourselves.” – Pema Chödrön

This week's podcast offers a reflection on a question Jesus asked in the 6th Chapter of St. John's Gospel, "How shall we feed these people?" “O my soul, be prepared to meet him who knows how to ask questions.” — T.S. Eliot  

This podcast offers a reflection on a question Jesus asked in the 5th Chapter of the Gospel of John, "Do you want to be made whole?" In this reflection, we consider one of the root causes of dis-ease in the modern world - isolation. "We must love one another or die." - W.H. Auden  

As we continue our series on "The Questions Jesus Asked", this podcast offers a reflection on the question recorded in Luke 7:44, "Do you see this woman?" This question is an opportunity to explore how we look at the people in our world.  

This podcast offers a reflection on one of the most profound questions ever asked by a spiritual teacher. In the Gospel of John, chapter 1, Jesus asked some new would-be followers, "What do you want?" The poet / philosopher David Whyte calls this a “beautiful question.” He says a beautiful question shapes a beautiful mind, and that: “...a beautiful question starts to shape your identity as much by asking it, as it does by having it answered.”   

This podcast offers a reflection on the question Jesus asked in the 5th Chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, "Who touched me?" In the sharing, we consider the possibility of healing for our existential fear of being alone. “The capacity to pay attention to an afflicted person is something very rare, very difficult; it is nearly a miracle. It is a miracle.”  - Simone Weil

This podcast offers a reflection on the question Jesus asked in the 4th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, "Why are you so afraid?"  We consider what is the basis of our human existential fear and how might we cope with it? 

This podcast offers an introduction to the series that will follow exploring the questions Jesus asked in the Gospels. This episode considers what Jesus had in mind when he said, "Who are my mother, and my sisters, and my brothers?"  As Eugene Ionesco once wrote, “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”

"Who" or "What" do you trust to lead you into "Truth"? This is the topic for consideration in this Pentecost(al) podcast. In our reflection, we examine what Jesus might have meant by stating that the Spirit will "prove the world wrong about sin, and righteousness, and judgment" (John 16:13). "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." - Julian of Norwich   

This week's podcast offers a reflection on "The Call of Isaiah" as recorded in Isaiah chapter 6. This text gives us an opportunity to consider what is a true prophet - and what distinguishes a true prophet from a false one. “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” - Nietzsche   

This podcast offers a reflection on the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus as recorded in the 17th Chapter of John's Gospel, where Jesus prays that "we all might be one." What are the implications for us as would-be followers of Jesus today, with our hot-button issues? “Preachers err by trying to talk people into belief; better they reveal the radiance of their own discovery.”  - Joesph Campbell

This podcast offers a reflection on the metaphor Jesus offered of himself as "The Good Shepherd" from the Gospel of John chapter ten. In this sharing, we will consider one of the great Christian paradoxes - that Christianity is meant to be personal but not individualistic. 

In this week's podcast we take a look at a Resurrection story as recorded in Luke's Gospel, chapter 24. We consider what it might mean to be a "witness" and wonder what if the "Good News" is really good news. 

In this reflection on the story of Jesus meeting with his followers on the evening of the Resurrection as recorded in John chapter 20, we consider what it might mean to live the resurrected life. “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” – G. K. Chesterton 

This Easter podcast offers a reflection on the Resurrection story of Jesus as recorded in St. John's Gospel. The question being considered is, "What is Resurrection Life?" "I have come that you might have life - and have it to the fullest!" - Jesus (John 10:10)

This podcast offers a reflection on the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on the week he was murdered as recorded in the Gospel of John (12:12-16). In this episode we consider the competing agendas that would lead to Jesus's eventual execution. 

This lecture, The Value of Existential Distress, was delivered at the YOLO Cares Quintessential Care Summit on March 15, 2024, on the campus of Sacramento State University. You can download the slide deck that accompanies the lecture on my website, fredgrewe.com.

This podcast offers a reflection on the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, and suggests what it might mean to "trust in Jesus." 

This podcast offers a reflection on the episode of Jesus turning over the money-changers tables as recorded in the Gospel of John, Chapter 2. We consider Jesus's declaration that The Beloved's house is to be a house a prayer for ALL nations (referencing Isaiah 56:7).   

This podcast offers a reflection on the story of Jesus's transfiguration as recorded in Mark's Gospel 9:2-9.  This reading invites us to consider how we might connect with the God who helps us get un-stuck. "God, you know that if we don't change the direction we're going, we're likely to end up where we're headed. Show us a better way. Show us your way." - Vicki Kemper

This podcast offers a reflection on the temptations that Jesus encountered in the wilderness (as recorded in the Gospel of Mark, chapter one). Instead of considering "Who we are?" a better question might be, "Who do we want to become?" “The men and women who are truly filled with light are those who have gazed deeply into the darkness of their own imperfect existence.” – Brennan Manning  

In this reflection on the story of Zacchaeus found in Luke's Gospel (chapter 19), we consider what it might have meant to have been "saved" by Jesus. "At the still point of the turning world, neither flesh nor fleshless; neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is ... " - T.S. Eliot 

This podcast offers a reflection on the healing ministry of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Mark Chapter 1. Was the idea of healing then different than it is today? "I suggest you can be healed without being cured." - Fred

This podcast is a recording of a lecture I presented as part of the Gillespie Lecture series at the Rogue Valley Manor in January of 2024. The title is "What's Your Story: A Narrative Approach to Meaning-Making." If you would like a copy of the slide deck that went with the lecture, you can download a copy from my webpage, www.fredgrewe.com.  

In this podcast we explore how Jesus did and did not use power in his ministry. “New life is born in a state of total vulnerability – this is the mystery of love.  Power kills.  Weakness creates.”  - Henri Nouwen

This podcast offers a reflection of the first proclamation made by Jesus in Mark's Gospel, "Repent, and trust in the Good News." And as Archimedes famously said, "Give me a firm place upon which to stand and I can move the world."  

In this podcast, Fred offers a reflection on how our search for a "Why" can actually make becoming free more difficult. Don't let "Why" distract you from "Now." 

This podcast offers a reflection on Genesis 1:2, where we are told that in the beginning God's Spirit vibrated over the chaos. “In the Bible we learn that God is a verb (Eh-heh-yeh - Exodus 3:14) … whenever you make a noun of God, you are making an idol.” – Rabbi Rami Shaprio 

In this podcast, Fred simply offers a prayer for you as we begin 2024. "I asked for courage and the Beloved gave me dangers to overcome." - Hazrat Inayat Khan  

We learn from a famous African proverb, "We are not made of flesh and blood and bone - we are made of stories." In this reflection, we consider how the God of the Bible has a history of interrupting our stories.

This week we offer some random thoughts on the two readings for the Third Week of Advent 2023 (Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 and Luke 1:46-55). Both readings speak to the modus operandi of the God of the Bible - who like to use ordinary things and people to accomplish the extra-ordinary. "For when I am weak, then I am strong." - Paul of Tarsus   

What does it mean to be "baptized with the Holy Spirit?"  This reflection on the 40th Chapter of Isaiah and the First Chapter of St. Mark suggests it means to have your world rocked. "Baptizo" means to be overwhelmed, repeatedly.

In this reflection on Mark 13:24-37, we consider not only Jesus's prophetic warning of dark days ahead, but also his wisdom on how to navigate those dark days. "We are distracted from distraction by distractions." - T.S. Eliot 

This week's podcast offers a reflection on the parable of "The Sheep and the Goats" recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25.  We consider how this story may give us a glimpse on the motivation Jesus expects from those who will be his followers.    "Neither the sheep nor the goats knew what they were doing. Do you finally see? Nobody knows anything. What did the sheep trust? That God is the Love that will not let us go.” - Robert Farrar Capon 

In this podcast we reflect on the words of the ancient Hebrew prophet Micah and the rabbi from Nazareth named Jesus, to discover wisdom that will help us navigate the turmoil and chaos that surrounds our lives. "Remember to build your life as a work of art." - Abraham Joshua Heschel