Soul Stirrings

In this fourth installment focused on God Talk: The Manipulative Use of Spiritual Language, Paul and Brandon begin to discuss some possible remedies. Specifically, they note the importance of confronting with questions. By doing so, a means of accountability is engaged that will challenge individuals to be more self reflexive about the experience of “hearing the Lord."

In this third session focused on God Talk:The Manipulative Use of Spiritual Language, Brandon and Paul share about another price tag, or negative effects. Specifically, they discuss the abuse of power that often results from God Talk and wisdom and patience are needed to discern such scenarios.

In this podcast, the second of a new series discussing God Talk and the manipulative uses of spiritual language, Paul and Brandon discuss some of the effects, or “price tags," of this discourse. For example, how does God Talk affect critical analysis and discussion within personal relationships and Christian communities? They suggest that, whether intentional or unintentional, God Talk short circuits critical thinking and, by doing so, can harm relationships and communities.

In this new series of Soul Stirrings, Paul is joined by a co-host, Brandon Knight of William Carey University, to discuss God Talk and the manipulative uses of spiritual language. Many Americans can easily recount some of the historic atrocities committed by Christians in the “name of God." But God Talk is also used in less atrocious, yet still manipulative, ways in everyday communication with family and friends, clients and co-workers. After some basic definitions are offered, several examples of God Talk will be analyzed in hopes of discovering solutions that seek to honor the name of God as well as the agency of our neighbors.

In this final podcast on the “Fruit of the Spirit,” Paul contends that self-control, the ninth “fruit of the Spirit,” is a primary instrument of hope. He offers that hope is the purpose behind persistence toward a “promised land.” Self-control helps to keep us on track in our journey, despite the distractions, discouragement and dismissals that inevitably cross our path.

In this 5-minute podcast, Paul takes a second look at the ninth and final “Fruit of the Spirit,” self-control, suggesting the biblical emphasis is on controlling the narcissistic impulses toward selfish ambition. He also takes a peek at Saint James' emphasis that self-control is predominantly about controlling the words that come out of our mouths when angry or frustrated.

In this podcast, Paul unfolds his metaphor, “push button magic” to attempt to explain the intensifying mass mediated settings that bring the virtue of self-control—the ninth “Fruit of the Spirit”-- to the center of our life's stage as well as the culminating responsibility in our life's garden.

Join Paul as he takes a peek at the Apostle Paul's notion that our “gentleness should be known to all.” Why is gentleness, like agape' love, so essential in our engagement with others?

In this podcast, the second of three brief peeks at the nature of the 8th “Fruit of the Spirit,” gentleness, Paul discusses perhaps the most well-known reference to “gentleness” in the Bible, “A gentle answer turns away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1). What is the nature of this “gentle answer?” Paul suggests that it's more than just a soft tone of voice.

In this podcast, Paul reminds listeners that the eighth “fruit of the Spirit,” gentleness, listed in Galatians 5:22-23 is a way of seeing each person as made in the image of God, of seeing each person in need of God's mercy and grace. Gentleness is a means whereby each soul's deepest yearning can be seen and heard.

In this podcast, Paul further explores various characteristics of the seventh “Fruit of the Spirit,” faithfulness. He concludes by observing that if we're not careful, faithfulness can become something rigidly formulaic and proudly self-justifying. Faithfulness, the 7th “Fruit of the Spirit” is to be characterized by all the other fruit.

In this podcast, Paul continues to talk about Faithfulness, the seventh “Fruit of the Spirit.” He focuses on how all healthy relationships require the natural sacrificial element of faithfulness. Being a faithful friend or family member will certainly not always mean “getting your way.” At times throughout church history, faithfulness cost the life of the faithful.

As forgiveness is how the Lord deals with our past and present, faithfulness is how the Lord stabilizes our present and future. The gift of faithfulness interpersonally makes possible relational health. Please join Paul in this first of several podcasts that explore the Fruit of the Spirit known as Faithfulness.

In this podcast, Paul's emphasis continues to be the sixth “Fruit of the Spirit”—goodness, and the Apostle Paul's message to the Christians in Rome that “all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose,” a letter written seven years before some of those same believers would be thrown to the wild beasts in the Coliseum during Emperor Nero's persecutions.

In this podcast, Paul's emphasis continues to be the sixth “Fruit of the Spirit”—goodness, and Saint Peter's focus on this particular virtue as a foundational fruit in the process of human flourishing. Paul asks why Saint Peter asserted that “goodness” is essentially the first virtue springing from faith in Christ, even preceding further knowledge about God's saving works. The podcast explores the relationship of knowledge and goodness, noting that knowledge from a biblical perspective is never to be seen as an end in and of itself.

In this podcast, Paul talks about the sixth fruit of the Spirit, goodness, and how it is distinguished, in particular from “kindness.” He also discusses how our English use of the term “good” doesn't always imply the virtuous “goodness” that makes thriving relationships and healthy community possible.

In this podcast, Paul talks about the natural mental springboards to acts and words of kindness—compassion and empathy. The podcast references some implications from Jesus' story of the “Good Samaritan” and takes a brief look at one of the late 20th century's most inspiring moments of interpersonal reconciliation.

In this podcast, Paul continues to explore kindness as a fruit of the Spirit in the garden called our life. Specifically, he ponders the inherent power of kindness to inspire, elevate, and renew redemptive vision. Typically, stories about kindness spur us to more than we've been and more than we are—even as we're experiencing anxiety in these uncertain times.

This is my second podcast on the fifth “Fruit of the Spirit,” Kindness. In my first podcast on kindness, I considered how every unkind act or unkind word is a momentary forgetting of the kindness of God. In this podcast, I want to emphasize that the Apostle Paul preached, essentially, that kindness was the first characteristic of God that he wanted his missionary audiences to discover.

In this podcast, Paul talks about the fifth “Fruit of the Spirit,” “kindness.” As a virtue with eternal significance, he reminds us that any act of unkindness or any unkind word is a momentary forgetting of the kindness of God.

In this podcast, Paul talks about how the mandate and virtue of patience is designed to confront our human habits of judging others prematurely, and of finding convenient excuses for a lack of empathy and caring love. He draws from Jesus' parable of the “Fig Tree in the Vineyard,” found in Luke 13:1-9.

In this podcast, Paul talks about the fourth “fruit of the Spirit”—patience. He comments on Proverb's 19:11 observation that patience comes from a person's wisdom. It is a sign of wisdom when patience is a portion of the grid through which one engages with everyone else, remembering the Apostle Paul's admonition to be “patient with everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5: 14).

In this third podcast on “peace,” Dr. Patton explores the idea of “peace,” the third “fruit of the Spirit,” as not just a state of mind, but also an ability to achieve that state with a steady and intentional assertiveness that provides an eternal, heavenly context for all of life's uncertainties, griefs, and pains. He explores the Apostle Paul's mini-workshop on the cultivation of “peace” in Philippians 4: 4-7.

In this podcast, Paul talks about envy as an obstacle to internal and communal well-being, and an enemy of the third Fruit of the Spirit, peace. In the cultivation of peace in the garden of our life, Patton asserts that the awareness of our own patterns of envy—weeds that can choke the precious plant of peace—should be acknowledged, monitored, and confronted.

In this podcast, Paul talks about the third “Fruit of the Spirit,” peace, and how the “peace of Christ” is to rule or “umpire” in our heart. As “umpire of the heart” (Colossians 3: 15), such peace—or lack thereof—tells us if our word or action is in keeping with the love and wisdom of Christ. A lack of peace in our heart or conscience would tell us that “something is wrong” and needs to be made right. Paul also addresses the healthy and unhealthy role of a “guilty conscience,” especially as it relates to experiencing the “peace of Christ” as an umpire of the heart.

I've devoted the last several podcasts to a new series focused the Apostle Paul's listing of the “Fruit of the Spirit” found in Galatians 5:22 and 23. These nine fruit include: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I have suggested that these nine are the most significant fruit to be cultivated in our life's garden, the Garden of God. In my first podcast I focused on Agape love. My last two podcasts focused on joy. My first podcast on joy discussed how a biblical understanding of joy is not just about putting on a happy face. My second joy podcast explored how joy is often understood as a paradox, that you can experience joy and grief at the same time; Now, in this third podcast on joy, I'd like to briefly ponder with you how joy by its very nature is intimately tied to and connected with hope.

In this podcast, Paul continues with his focus on the “Fruit of the Spirit” with a second look at the God-given virtue of “joy.” He suggests that biblically informed joy is by its very nature “paradoxical,” that is, joy and grief can be experienced simultaneously. He concludes by looking at the grief and depression of Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet,” as an example of the paradoxical nature of joy. Paul points to the prophet's mental demonstration in Lamentations, Chapter 3, of “calling to mind” an over-arching truth that gives meaning in times of despair.

In this podcast, Paul talks about the second “Fruit of the Spirit,” joy. He asserts that biblically-informed joy is not to be confused with just “putting on a happy face” or easier for the up-beat personality to experience. Paul offers that the “joy of the Lord” is associated with re-asserting an over-arching truth that even informs times of difficulty and tribulation. As the second “Fruit of the Spirit,” it is an informed empowering context that is cultivated in the garden called our lives.

In this podcast, Paul offers the “fruit of the Spirit” as the cultivated objectives in the garden called our lives. He briefly discusses the first of the nine virtures, “agape love.” He asserts that “agape love” is operationally defined as “caring about the best interests of the object of love, regardless of their response.” He further suggests that “agape love” provides an operationalizing purpose for our existence, a central “why” for our journey—to cultivate our capacity to love sacrificially. In times of cultural, community and individual distress, such biblically-informed “purposes” help us stay focused and motivated in life's journey.

In this podcast, Paul begins to offer an interlude of reflections during these challenging, uncertain times provoked by the threat of the coronavirus. His first is to emphasize the over-arching significance of biblically-informed metanarratives that help us understand our story, especially in the midst of struggle. What are the ways we understand our journey, stories worth repeating, regularly to remind us of the “whys” of our existence and the purpose behind our faithful day-to-day persistence?

In this podcast, Paul gives an autobiographic glimpse into his life-long struggle with balancing “entertain me” binges with mass media and the over-arching challenge to redeem the time. He ends the program by sharing the “junk food” fantasy scenario. This is the second of his introductory podcasts setting up his emphasis in developing “sacred intentionality,” “sacred interiority,” and “sacred identity” in our dance with pop culture.

In this podcast, Paul introduces his new series on wise engagement with the 24-7 invitation of pop culture. The series employs the metaphor of pop culture as an unrelenting, always available “dance partner” and posits the question of moral and spiritual significance, “Who's leading whom in the dance?”

In this podcast, Paul talks about the importance of building an alphabetized index while engaged in Bible reading. In focusing, especially, on reading a chapter of Proverbs associated with the calendar date (i.e. reading the 20th chapter on the 20th day of the month).

In the final podcast in his series, "Stewarding the Stirrings of the Soul," Paul offers more biblical examples and stories from church history surrounding the mind-building exercise of memorizing central confessions and soul-stirring inspirations.

In this episode, Paul offers suggestions for developing a daily habit of Bible reading, including plans to help remember content. Emotional patterns that keep us from developing the holy habit of Scripture engagement are considered.

Paul continues with encouragement in identifying a central confession, a "shema." In so doing, Paul suggests, we begin the intentional process of strengthening our sacred interiority. Patton gives examples of how to choose a central confession worth memorizing and re-stating daily. He concludes by sharing a central confession for the church, British philosopher and pastor, John Peck's "I Have a Vision."

In the third episode of the series “Stewarding the Stirrings of One's Soul,” Paul reflects on what is meant to be an ultimate “soul stirring,” a dominant truth that serves as the hub of our cognitive wheel, what the ancient Jews called a “Shema.” He offers that our Shema prioritizes our truth assertions and is meant to be memorized, even recited aloud twice each day, consistent with the practice of the recited Shema in ancient Israel. What is your “Shema?” What truth assertion is so central that it is the hub of your cognitive wheel? Learn more about Dr. Patton here: www.theccsn.com/paul-patton/

(Series 1, Episode 2). In the second episode of the series "Stewarding the Stirrings of One's Soul," Dr. Paul Patton continues to explore what it means to "steward the stirrings of one's soul," and how it contributes to a growing sense of "sacred interiority." When was the last time you were inspired? What does it mean to be inspired and why does living in a digital culture make it difficult to recall such moments of inspiration? Examples from Jesus and the Apostle Peter are considered. Learn more about Dr. Patton here: www.theccsn.com/paul-patton/

In the first episode of the first series, Dr. Paul Patton explores what it means to "steward the stirrings of one's soul," and how it contributes to spiritual growth. How do you determine what is worth remembering, and then once you remember it, how do you move closer toward retrieving it on command? Learn more about Dr. Patton here: https://www.theccsn.com/paul-patton/