Podcasts about Episcopal

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

Pastor Jake Dell joins the show to talk about how we can revive the Protestant mainline and save historic churches from the Left.    Jake Dell is the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Woodbury, Connecticut, and a former Episcopal priest.   Learn more about Jake Dell's work: https://www.firstchurchwoodbury.org/ https://substack.com/@jwdell https://americanreformer.org/author/jake-dell/   ––––––   Follow American Reformer across Social Media: X / Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/amreformer Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AmericanReformer/ YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanReformer Rumble – https://rumble.com/user/AmReformer Website – https://americanreformer.org/   Promote a vigorous Christian approach to the cultural challenges of our day, by donating to The American Reformer: https://americanreformer.org/donate/   Follow Us on Twitter: Josh Abbotoy – https://twitter.com/Byzness Timon Cline – https://twitter.com/tlloydcline   The American Reformer Podcast is  hosted by Josh Abbotoy and Timon Cline, recorded remotely in the United States, and edited by Jared Cummings.   Subscribe to our Podcast, "The American Reformer" Get our RSS Feed – https://americanreformerpodcast.podbean.com/ Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-reformer-podcast/id1677193347 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/1V2dH5vhfogPIv0X8ux9Gm?si=a19db9dc271c4ce5

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

Send us a textFaith isn't something we own; it's something we steward to others. In Luke 18:1–8, Jesus teaches us about the persistent widow who kept knocking until a weary judge relented. Her courage becomes our template for a faith that endures indifference, resists despair, and stays tender without giving up. We talk about hope as the engine of perseverance, how small acts compound into movements, and why faith gains its richest colors when life runs hot and hard.In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about perseverance. Together, they unpack a countercultural claim: perseverance is community property. When your trust is thin, you can borrow mine; when I'm weary, I may need yours. From singing each other back to courage to telling honest stories that spark imagination, we show how public witness—bold yet gentle—invites others in. This conversation reaches into the public square, naming dignity for every person, resisting dehumanization, and calling for peace with justice that allows neighbors to flourish together. Perseverance becomes a daily posture: steady, hopeful, and communal—rooted in love that refuses hate's heavy load. Listen in for the full conversation. Read For Faith, the companion devotional. Support the show Follow us on IG and FB at Bishop Rob Wright.

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

Today's episode is part of our Christian parenting mini-series we are offering on “Motherhood Taboos” and we are tackling a big taboo of finding out you're pregnant ... and you weren't planning to be. Our guests are both priests who found themselves unexpectedly pregnant and want to narrate the grief and the joy, the surprise and the wonder, and the challenge and hope of a blessing that can leave you limping from a worldview that supports women's autonomy, choice, and freedom. MORE ABOUT OUR GUESTS:Rev. Mia Kano is an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts, where she serves as the part-time Rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Ayer. She lives in Acton, Massachusetts with her husband and two children. Rev. Mia's childhood was shaped by both Catholic and Congregationalist churches. She found her way to the Episcopal Church in her early twenties after exploring secular humanism and Islam. She was ordained as a priest in January 2020. Rev. Reagan Gonzalez was born in Odessa, Texas and raised in Bozeman, Montana. She grew up attending St. James Episcopal Church in Bozeman and later served as its Youth Director and Christian Formation Director before attending seminary. She is a graduate of Montana State University with a degree in Microbiology. After college, Reagan spent a year living in intentional community during a year of service with the Episcopal Service Corps. This experience deepened her faith and confirmed a desire to formally discern a call to ordained ministry. She earned an MDiv from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas and was ordained to the priesthood in 2018. Reagan has a passion for community life that is grounded in inclusivity. She loves to preach, teach, tell Godly Play stories to children, and introduce people to an open-minded Christianity where questions are welcomed, and where we trust that we learn best by struggling together to hear where the Holy Spirit is calling. Reagan is married to Bryan, they have two children, and one on the way. +++Like what you hear? We are an entirely crowd-sourced, you-funded project. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/AndAlsoWithYouPodcastThere's all kinds of perks including un-aired live episodes, Zoom retreats, and mailbag episodes for our Patreons!+++Our Website: https://andalsowithyoupod.comOur Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andalsowithyoupodcast/++++MERCH: https://www.bonfire.com/store/and-also-with-you-the-podcast/++++More about Father Lizzie:BOOK: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/762683/god-didnt-make-us-to-hate-us-by-rev-lizzie-mcmanus-dail/RevLizzie.comhttps://www.instagram.com/rev.lizzie/https://www.tiktok.com/@rev.lizzieJubilee Episcopal Church in Austin, TX - JubileeATX.org ++++More about Mother Laura:https://www.instagram.com/laura.peaches/https://www.tiktok.com/@mother_peachesSt. Paul's Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, PA++++Theme music:"On Our Own Again" by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).New episodes drop Mondays at 7am EST/6am CST! 

In this episode of Hunger for Wholeness, Ilia Delio talks with Episcopal priest and spiritual director Rev. Dr. Hillary Raining about what happens when public life shows up in the parish—how pastors can hold political tension without letting church life collapse into partisanship, and why hope and joy remain non-negotiable in a polarized age. Together they explore a renewed mystical imagination for Christianity: experience that leads to transformation, and transformation that bears fruit in justice.Hillary reflects on leading a large Washington, D.C. congregation where worship must flow into weekday service while also tending the inner life. Along the way, the conversation names the fatigue and anxiety many younger adults carry (economy, climate, AI) and re-centers practices that steady courage: prayer, community, and a lively sense of God's presence. Later, Ilia and Hillary speak candidly about serving as women in systems marked by patriarchy, and what an integrated, humane faith might look like now.ABOUT REV. DR. HILLARY RAINING“The emotional and physical lives of our ancestors… fundamentally affect our emotional and physical lives as well… The practice of gratitude… changes—not only those who practice it—but also the generations that follow.”The Rev. Dr. Hillary Raining is an Episcopal Priest serving as Rector at St. Columba's in Washington, D.C. She is also the founder of The Hive (www.thehiveapiary.com), an online spirituality and wellness community. Actively involved in the Episcopal Church, she served on multiple committees and as a professor and consultant for various Seminaries. She is also a published writer and a sought-after public speaker. With several degrees and certifications in theology, liturgy, psychology, trauma integration, yoga, and forest therapy, she seeks to empower others through healing and spiritual direction while leading innovative ministry projects.Coming up on October 22, at 7 p.m. ET: The Story of the Noosphere with Brian Thomas Swimme and Monica DeRaspe-Bolles—a clear and compelling exploration of Teilhard's vision of a planetary mind and how our attention, creativity, and compassion help shape it. Learn more and register at christogenesis.org/events.Support the showA huge thank you to all of you who subscribe and support our show! Support for A Hunger for Wholeness comes from the Fetzer Institute. Fetzer supports a movement of organizations who are applying spiritual solutions to society's toughest problems. Get involved at fetzer.org. Visit the Center for Christogenesis' website at christogenesis.org/podcast to browse all Hunger for Wholeness episodes and read more from Ilia Delio. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for episode releases and other updates.

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

Father Pete Nunally is the founder of Water and Wilderness Church, a Washington DC-based outdoor church and watershed community. You can read more about the model of Water and Wilderness Church here. Father Pete is a passionate and well-spoken advocate on his social media pages and other forums, as in this interview with Creation Justice Ministries.Many thanks to Father Pete and the lovely group of people who welcomed Ron and me to Fletcher's Cove to worship with them last May. Winter? No problem. They worship outside anyway. Father Pete and some very faithful ducks.TRANSCRIPTPete Nunnally And so this expression and experience of worship begins to expand, and I think people are really looking for that. They want the church to tell them and to show them that God is everywhere, and that particularly in the natural world, the theological thumbprint of God is on all of this, and there's not a distinction or separation, but actually there's a union.Debra Rienstra Welcome to the Refugia Podcast. I'm your host, Professor Debra Rienstra. Refugia are habitats in nature where life endures in times of crisis. We're exploring the concept of refugia as a metaphor, discovering how people of faith can become people of refugia: nurturing life-giving spaces in the earth, in our human cultural systems, and in our spiritual communities, even in this time of severe disturbance. This season, we're paying special attention to churches and Christian communities who have figured out how to address the climate crisis together as an essential aspect of their discipleship.Today, I'm talking with Father Pete Nunnally, founder of Water and Wilderness Church. Father Pete is an Episcopal priest with a tender heart and a sense of adventure. The Water and Wilderness community meets outdoors for worship in several locations around the Washington DC area, adapting traditional worship forums in ways that enrich our encounter with God by reconnecting us with the rivers and trees and sky around us. Water and Wilderness is also a dispersed community, connecting anyone anywhere through online book studies, in-person retreats, and more. I talked with Father Pete outdoors, of course, at Fletcher's Cove on the Potomac River, just before joining their outdoor worship service. This interview includes a bonus trivia component. For extra points, see if you can identify the birds that join our conversation in the second half of the episode. Let's get to it.Debra Rienstra Father Pete, thanks so much for being with me today.Pete Nunnally I'm so glad to be here.Debra Rienstra It's great to talk to you. So let's start with what Water and Wilderness Church is right now. You're not a traditional congregation with a building. What are you, exactly?Pete Nunnally We are a church. We're an outdoor worshiping community geographically located in DC, but we are also a watershed community of the heart and worked in a lot of churches, and everything that that church did, wherever I was, was really only for the people at that church. But what's different about Water and Wilderness Church is the concept of watershed community. So the local community here in DC is like a wellspring, and out of that flow tributaries that go all over the country, and we create this watershed. And I use that word to mean both the watershed of a new idea or a new understanding of something, but also, like our physical watersheds are so important to us. And so anybody, anywhere—what I often say is Water and Wilderness Church, what we do is for anybody, anywhere, all the time. So if you are in Indiana, Arizona, California, these are states where we have people that are actively engaged in some of our online formation and things like that. That everything we do is for everyone, and most importantly, for the benefit of the earth.Debra Rienstra I wanted to ask about whether watershed was both literal and metaphorical for you, and it definitely is. You've also described Water and Wilderness Church as a threshold space. So what does that mean to you?Pete Nunnally I am influenced by so many of my friends that don't go to church anymore, and so many folks that label themselves spiritual but not religious. They just aren't going to go into a traditional church building. And I want to take what's beautiful and valuable about our Christian tradition, and I'm Episcopalian, so, you know, the Episcopal version of the mainline expression, and translate that and then bring it out to where people are. My sister, during Covid, said they take walks on Sunday morning with her family in different parks. And she said, “I get more out of that than I do going to church. I don't think we're going to go back to church.” And I thought, man, I get that. And when I tell that to priests and other church people, they nod their head and they say, like, yeah. Some of them are like, “I wish I could take a walk on Sunday morning.” Like, well, how can we receive this reality that people are living into, and they really are searching and seeking deep spiritual connection, but they're forced to take an a la carte approach. Like I walk in the woods and I get peace there, or I read a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, and I get a little bit of peace. I do you know, like a little bit of divinity here, a little bit of divinity there. Nothing that grounds all of that together. So to me, to take what's ancient, holy and divine about our Christian tradition and what we understand about God, and then to bring it out of the doors of the church, but with integrity, into the wild places, engraft our worship onto the worship of God that is creation. And I think that's what I mean when I say a threshold space. Like this is the world. This is the human world, this is the natural world. And then we sometimes just hide all of our really juicy, beautiful stuff about the Christian life as we've understood it for 2000 years, and we kind of lock that up into the church. And so we're trying to bring that out of the church and in a way that has integrity, but is in new spaces and lowering barriers for entry for people.Debra Rienstra Yeah, so you're responding to this kind of pervasive alienation between people and the natural world. One of the things I read on your website, and one of the things that you've said frequently, is, “What's good for the earth is good for the soul.” Yeah. Say a little more about how that phrase is meaningful for you.Pete Nunnally I think we forget that we are part of the community of creation. This is a phrase I got from you.Debra Rienstra Well, I got it from Randy Woodley.Pete Nunnally Randy, what a great writer and theologian. And so for a long time, we've forgotten that. Did you know our Christian tradition is an indigenous tradition, really? And we've scrubbed all of that away. You know the concept of Ubuntu, the African concept of “I am because you are,” and I cannot be a person if you're not a person. So like the sacred in me recognizes the sacred in you. Like we understand that African sort of understanding that Desmond Tutu and others talk about, but what if we looked at creation the same way? That we can't be fully human unless the wild world that God created is free to be itself also. And we do. We've isolated ourselves from this world, like nobody knows—we're eating foods that are out of season all year round, and kids grow up and they think that the food comes from the grocery store. And yet, part of what draws us out into the world—see, part of why I like worshiping here is there's just people around. And you know, like they wanted to come and just be by the river today.Debra Rienstra Explain where we are today.Pete Nunnally We are at a place called Fletcher's Cove and Boathouse. It is a park along the Potomac River in DC proper. And once you get in, kind of the whole place opens up. There's forest that goes right up into the river. And actually, the Potomac River is tidal in this area, believe it or not, we still have tides all the way up here, and it's a beautiful place. All kinds of people come to the edge of the river to enjoy themselves. It's incredibly diverse: people of different nationalities, and celebrating birthdays and graduations and beautiful days. And I like to worship here because you have the combination of people, but also, it really is forest along the river, and so the trees are down and slowly giving themselves back to the earth, and you're interrupted sometimes by, in our worship, by what's going on in the natural world. And of course, that's not an interruption, it's just what God brings us next. So we have migratory birds and blue herons, and the shad run is just about over, but shad and herring come up the river to spawn, and that brings fishermen out along the river, including myself. And so you get to experience a fuller version of what happens in the world when you're in a wild place, and when you worship in that same space over and over again, you get to know it through the seasons, and it gets to know you. So we become known to the trees and the river when we continue to come back over and over.Debra Rienstra Yeah. So you do outdoor worship, but you have other things going on too. So describe some of the other things that you do.Pete Nunnally Well, we do Zoom book studies. Our very first one was Refugia Faith.Debra Rienstra Oh, I've heard that's good.Pete Nunnally It's really well written, insightful, highly recommend to everyone. And that's exciting, because we have 20 to 30 people from all over the country who join and it really is a community of the heart, like, “Oh, I believe that I see God in nature.” And a lot of these folks come from a Christian background, but their traditional worship, it's not doing it for them anymore. And they want to be validated, because you feel so alone when you're like, “I love Jesus. I grew up with church, but I don't think it's responding to the times that we're in,” and when the world is on fire and our planet needs us so much, so often the church is silent or has trouble finding out what to do. So to me, the natural world is going to show us what to do, and the more we come out here together and graft our worship onto—take the wisdom that we have and add it to the wisdom of nature and the ecology of God, then we're going to know what to do and cultivate a love of something, then you can really do something. So just to add one more thing on top of that, we do in-person retreats. And those are really, really fun. Next week, we're going to the Chincoteague Bay Field Stations, an educational marine lab, and they take us into the field, and they teach us about the marine environment. So we're learning about how barrier islands are formed, or, you know, dropping a net down and bringing up sea urchins and sea sponges. And we really get to experience and see what's underneath the surface of the water. And then we apply that to our spiritual life and see, not only is God amazing and all these things like—there's just the granularity of what God has has brought into this world, but then we can see where our faith can grow and our understanding of God can grow by encountering things we haven't seen before.Debra Rienstra Yeah. So I often ask people about their spark point, so the moment when you began to realize the urgency of the climate crisis. What was that point for you?Pete Nunnally I'm a fisherman, and fishing populations have been going down. I read a really wonderful book called Beautiful Swimmers by Warren Wilson; it won the Pulitzer Prize in the 70s about the Chesapeake Bay and the waterman. Even then he was talking about how the watermen were saying that the bay is sick. And I grew up here in the Delmarva area, seeing the sign “Save the Bay” and things like that, but it wasn't personal to me until I started spending more time there and and you can see like the effects of hardened barriers versus living shorelines at the end of the people's property. And that the fish population is leaving, like they're moving. And some of the charter captains that I know talk about like there are no stripers in the river, in the bay anymore. I mean, there are some, but the water is too warm, so they go north and they don't come back south. And then when I started doing Water and Wilderness Church, that was really an important entry point for me as well.Debra Rienstra How did you get other people involved in water and wilderness church? When was the moment where you said we need to worship outside and I need to gather people? How did that all work?Pete Nunnally Well, it started because we were at the end of Covid. We were kind of inside, kind of not. And I'm an old camp counselor, and I said, “I think...I think we can do this outside. And I'm pretty sure it all used to be outside.” And so many stories of Jesus: he's talking to people at the edge of the Sea of Galilee. He's talking to them, they're hiking up a mountain. Like these are things that we can actually do. And so these are rituals. And we walked and talked during Water and Wilderness Church. And so I just started it and said, “Hey, does anybody want to do this?” And some people came out of necessity, because we didn't really have a lot of church stuff going on.Debra Rienstra Yeah, this is at your parish?Pete Nunnally My church, yeah, St. Mary's in Arlington. And every Sunday we did it. We did twice a month. I thought, this is the Sunday no one's going to come. And people just kept coming. 23 people came in a snowstorm. Well, not a snow storm, but it was snowing. And the weather was bad, and people would bring hot cider. And when the weather was hot, they'd bring cold lemonade. And, you know, kids started bringing their instruments. So then we had this little homegrown, intergenerational band that started leading the music, and all I did was just keep showing up and saying, “I think this is good.” And then, you know, a beaver comes in the middle of our homily one day, and now all the attention is on this beaver that, Ron, is the size of you. It's a humongous beaver, and it slaps his tail like you see in the cartoons. And so this expression and experience of worship begins to expand. And I think people are really looking for that. They want the church to tell them and to show them that God is everywhere, and that particularly in the natural world, the theological thumbprint of God is on all of this. And there's not a distinction or separation, but actually there's a union. I grew up on four acres and a semi rural area right across from the Potomac, further up river. So I grew up playing in the creeks and the rivers, and spent a long time away from that, and during Covid, kind of came back to it. And as a priest, everything looked different after my seminary training. And I'm like, “Wow, this whole thing is magic. This whole thing is a miracle.” I mean, the river, it's the same river, and it's never the same river. We're here, and y'all can see this, but we just had major flooding in DC, and hundreds and hundreds of massive logs have washed up so far up, no one has seen it this far up and it's closed the road down here. And there's this immense redistribution of what used to be. And I think there's a spiritual biomimicry that we're trying to get at when we worship out here as well.Debra RienstraHi, it's me, Debra. If you are enjoying this podcast episode, go ahead and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. If you have a minute, leave a review. Good reviews help more listeners discover this podcast. To keep up with all the Refugia news, I invite you to subscribe to the Refugia newsletter on Substack. This is my fortnightly newsletter for people of faith who care about the climate crisis and want to go deeper. Every two weeks, I feature climate news, deeper dives, refugia sightings and much more. Join our community at refugianewsletter.substack.com. For even more goodies, including transcripts and show notes for this podcast, check out my website at debrarienstra.com. D-E-B-R-A-R-I-E-N-S-T-R-A dot com. Thanks so much for listening. We're glad you're part of this community. And now back to the interview.Debra Rienstra So you served as a rector for a long time, and now you're serving as the wilderness priest. So what has that dialectic been for you between traditional congregational life and what you're doing now? And maybe there's people in your community who are still doing normal church, so to speak, and also part of this. So talk about that dialectic a little bit.Pete Nunnally Yeah, when we began Water and Wilderness Church, I talked a lot about it being a good compliment, and that is—for anybody trying to do something new, it's a great way to position your new idea relative to the traditional authorities. And it is. People that are formed traditionally can see and understand what we're trying to do out here. And people say that they're like, I see the Episcopal, the mainline underpinnings of what's going on. On the other side, for people who are spiritual but not religious—and just so many good reasons to be that—I really want to affirm the journey that the church needs to take in order to repent and to worship God with integrity and consistency. But the deeper roots that we have as an ancient tradition, and as we were saying earlier, as originally, the followers of Jesus were following an indigenous tradition, and the people of Israel as well. But what the experience of worship is, we do Eucharist, but I tell the story of salvation in a way that's, I think, right size for people and personalized for people. The language in our Book of Common Prayer as Episcopalians is exquisite in some places. Also still has some language that can be interpreted as penal substitutionary atonement. And we wonder why people have that view, and it's kind of baked in in some of our stuff. So how can we focus on the story of Jesus to somebody who has never heard of Jesus, that's what I'm thinking. You're a spiritual person, or you love nature, and somebody invites you and says, “Hey, there's this church. I know you've been looking for more community, so you can't be spiritual in isolation. And maybe you could come here. It's kind of a church, but it's more relatable.” But we're not gonna get rid of Jesus. You know? So what does Jesus mean to somebody? Why do we need the Eucharist, for example?Debra Rienstra So talk about ritual, especially because one of the things I've been thinking about is the importance of ritual, and the way that people of faith are stewards of ritual. We have the sacraments, our sort of central rituals, but we also have other rituals, and you're adapting an Episcopalian flavored Eucharist in particular, maybe baptism too. Is it different when you do those outdoors? What do you do that's the same? What do you do that's a little different? How does it feel different when you're doing those rituals outdoors?Pete Nunnally When I was in my liturgy class, our professor—I fought with him a lot. Praying shapes believing was like the thing. And just to talk about the Episcopal thing, this is a mainline, this is for everybody, like the church needs to break down the barriers of denominations and all the rest. So this is really for everybody, but I'm an Episcopal priest. But I think the rituals become alive to me when they're done out here, and they are changed and translated sometimes. So when I tell the story of salvation, like typically we hold the bread and wine up at the end and say, “These are the gifts of God.” And when I started doing it outside, I said, “Well, hell. Like all of this is a gift from God.” And when you're inside, it's still all of this, but it's different when you say, “Look at the river, look at the sky.” This is all—and they say, “look at one another,” like you are all gifts of God. But I never would have come to that point without doing it outside. And then we say, “Take them and remember that Christ died for you and feed on him in your hearts by faith.” And I've never really liked that, because there's this sort of like, “Remember that Christ died, you know, and you should feel a little bit bad about it.” Christ died for you—and I thought, that's not what the Eucharist is really about. The Eucharist is about Christ living for us. And so I said, “Take this and remember that Christ lives for you, that love and justice and mercy and forgiveness, they live for you, with you and in you. And that is what these things are.” That's what we're about.Debra Rienstra So the way I've learned about the Eucharist is it's remembrance, communion, and hope. So it is remembrance of sacrifice, but it's also right now, communion with Christ, communion with each other, and then this kind of eschatological hope. But we do often in various traditions tend to get stuck in the remembrance part, and we miss the communion and the hope part. The hope for the feast to come, right? The heavenly feast to come, the ultimate telos. So even just doing it outdoors triggers that a little bit.Pete Nunnally Yeah, and this river is at least a million years old. And so when you're in an ancient place, in a regenerative place, all these logs are eventually going to become soil somewhere and feed on itself and to sustain the next thing—that's the communion of saints that we are part of. It's not just the people we read about in the Bible. It's us too, no different than the disciples, the women that supported Jesus's ministry.Debra Rienstra Have you ever seen the Cathedral of the Angels in Los Angeles? It has these beautiful murals on both sides of the nave, and it's depictions of famous saints, but then mixed in are regular Angelenos. The artists—just so that sense that we're all a part of this community is amazing.Pete Nunnally One more thing on ritual is that we we've had rituals pop up here—Debra Rienstra —That was my next question!Pete Nunnally —that we do now. Somebody, about a year in, somebody came and said, “Hey, Father Pete, there's always different groups of people here. It's like some come pretty regularly, and we have some new people. And how about every time, every beginning, we introduce ourselves and say one thing we're grateful for.” And I was like, “Lucinda, that's a great idea.”Debra Rienstra So simple.Pete Nunnally It's so simple, but can you imagine going to your priest or pastor at home and being like, “I have an idea for how we should start the service now”? Like, it's impossible to do. But so we do that every single time, and we circle up so the shape of us changes. When we gather, we're individuals, kind of a mob, and then we circle up so you see somebody says at traditional church—which, by the way, I love traditional church. But they say, “I go to church, I sit in a pew and I see the back of people's heads,” but at Water and Wilderness Church, we're circled up. I see your face. But yeah, so that's a tradition or a ritual here of offering ourselves up to God by speaking our name and beginning with gratitude.Debra Rienstra Yeah. Do you see a role for the church in—I don't want to say inventing, because that can make people nervous—but in, let's call it stewarding ritual, not just the sacraments, but other kinds of ritual that people really need in a moment of crisis, maybe rituals of lament, thanksgiving, as you suggest, other sorts of threshold type rituals that we really need as we deal with this moment of crisis?Pete Nunnally Do I see the church being able to do that?Debra Rienstra Yeah. Is what you're doing a kind of experiment in thinking about what what my husband Ron Rienstra would call liturgical shenanigans?Pete Nunnally Yeah, I think so. And I think that—again, like I'm from a highly liturgical tradition. We're just not able to change that much, you know? We'll have a season of creation, which we did last year, my traditional church, you know, I love those resources. They're great, but everything else is exactly the same, and so we save different words. But what I like to think that we're inviting people into is an alternative way of being in the world based on Jesus's radical love. And one way to do that is to do this outside and let our worship be informed by something that's been here a lot longer than we have.Debra Rienstra Yeah, yeah. So I wonder if there's something about these sort of experimental spaces that effectively can jar traditional churches, which I also love, but jar us into being a little more inventive, a little more attentive to the moment, by doing something so different, you know, we can learn from your example in more traditional churches and congregations and say, “You know, it's not so scary to try stuff.” We tried stuff during the pandemic too. And honestly, I really miss being outside and hearing the birds worship with us, essentially. You know, I feel like worship is not complete without birdies! But we, I think churches so often just say, “Well, let's just do things how we always do them,” because it's already hard, but to have experimental spaces like yours, where you're just trying stuff and it's fine and you're actually discovering riches and richness that you wouldn't have discovered otherwise. Okay, but true confession time. What do you miss about traditional worship in a sanctuary, high Episcopal sort of traditional worship, if anything?Pete Nunnally What we're still working on is how to build lament in every time. And I like the confession of sin and the absolution. It's important to me, and it's important for everybody. Again, you know, our spiritual-but-not-religious brothers and sisters, I'm with you. I totally get it. I'm first in line to criticize the church. But if our spirituality is just what feels good to us, then we're never brought into that place of pain, and in reality, the reality of ourselves in our lives, and then the reality of God's forgiveness and sustenance and redemption. And confession is a big piece of that, particularly in the natural world, we have done so much and continue to do things to harm your planet.Debra Rienstra I guess I would not have guessed that your first thing would be confession. But it suggests that there are these theological wisdoms that come from practice and reflection over centuries of the church, and you're in a place now where you're thinking through where our emphasis needs to go, and maybe lean away from, so maybe leaning away from our sort of focus on buildings and programs. And leaning into some of these deeper things. There's certainly advantages to buildings and programs, right? But what sort of theological ideas, or even—I don't know practice is the right word—but what sort of theological ideas or practices do you feel we need to really lean into right now, at this moment?Pete Nunnally Obviously, I think we need to go outside, like do it outside.Debra Rienstra Maybe lean into that kinship with all creation. That's part of the tradition, but...Pete Nunnally We're not on top of it. We're supposed to be within it. And the body of Christ is not just humans, it is the natural world as well. I look out, the river is—we're water people, and I did a river baptism last week.Debra Rienstra Did you?Pete Nunnally Yeah, down in Petersburg, Virginia, and it was amazing—to have everybody on the bank, and we walked out into the river and took this little baby, Rixie, and dunked her in three times. And it's hard not to feel there's the intimacy of God in that moment, because it is a flowing river that's connected then, to the James River, which goes to the bay, which goes to the ocean. There again, with the communion of saints and this interconnectedness, I think we just run away from God in so many different ways. And one way is that we hide away from this natural world.Debra Rienstra Yeah, and people are so hungry for embodiment. So to me, connecting embodied ritual with the world is a deeply incarnational response, right? If we really believe, as you say, that Christ is incarnate, then we can't forget that we are bodies on a planet. So that, to me, is where you know something like a river baptism just—sorry about this, but overflows with the resonance of our embodiment and with incarnational theology. So two final questions: where is Water and Wilderness Church headed? Your goal is not growth. You don't have a building to deal with or programs to continue. So what is the goal for you? Where are you envisioning the future for Water and Wilderness Church?Pete Nunnally I do want to grow, but one of the goals is to show—when I was younger, and people would say like, “Oh, you know, understand your life, and then like, you'll find what you really want to do.” And Buechner talks about your vocation is where the “world's deep hunger and your deep gladness meet.” And it was about a year into doing this before I realized, like, oh, my whole life makes sense. So I grew up outside. Fished a lot. I've loved church. I went to church camp, and was always confused by the gap between this embodied reality of God in community at camp and then we go to church, very sacred space, but very, very different and not as embodied to me, and... what was the question?Debra Rienstra The question is, what do you envision the future of Water and Wilderness Church to be?Pete Nunnally I have always kind of felt like I'm on the outside of things, but that situates me very well to do something like this. And I think the future is that we continue to offer this, and this is a church community, so we're going to build a community of people, and our building will draw, you know, 20 or 30 people here today to worship in this way, and draw people in who've been waiting for something like this. Henry Ford said, if he'd asked people, they would have said they wanted a faster horse. Nobody knew they wanted a car until they got that opportunity to have one. And so that's a little bit of what this: “Hey, you can do it like this,” and it's not just all woo, woo, making up stuff. It's true woo. It's true, but it has these ancient roots. We're not getting rid of the central reason why we're here. We're just opening it up and letting God speak to us through nature. And I see tributaries all over the place. I see this as a movement. So we hopefully will keep a monthly service in Delaware. I want to have a monthly service in Maryland, in DC, obviously, weekly here in Virginia, and so that for people on our border from North Carolina, they're like, “I want to be on a board so that I can help this come to us in North Carolina.” Yeah, it's particularly people with neurodivergent kids. Like worshiping in nature is an incredible way for them to encounter God. It's so hard to sit still and pay attention to a traditional service. So I want to see wherever you go, you know, in six or seven months...wherever you go in the country...Debra Rienstra Hmm, six or seven months, huh?Pete Nunnally No, but eventually that there will be churches like this all over. And there are some. I think what's different about us versus some of the other expressions, is that we are faithful and have integrity to our Christian tradition, but it's really an act of recovery. We're not making anything up. We're just remembering what our spiritual forebears used to know about the wisdom of creation as it relates to God's ecology and our own personal lives. So I want to see churches like this in every state, in different places. We do it in DC, and people are always like, “Oh my gosh, you should do it in this very remote, beautiful place. “And I'll be like, “Well, I'd love to do that...” The highly populated areas, cities like DC and New York and Boston...the need is so great for people to be pulled off of the hamster wheel, because everybody wants to climb a ladder, you're going to realize it's leaning against the wrong wall. You get to the top, and you're like, “This isn't what I wanted.” All that work and effort. So my vision of the future is that there are multiple Water and Wilderness Churches. That's not a new concept. Evangelical churches and multisite churches all over the place, and it wouldn't be like that at all.Debra Rienstra Yeah, you're just prototyping, and people can find an expression.Pete Nunnally Somebody has to show other people that you can do it this way, and you can get it funded and make it self-sustaining. The watershed community is part of how we keep that self-sustaining, because you can encounter and you have touch points with our Zoom book studies, or with the videos that I do, or the blog or other resources. It's this gathering movement, this rising of the tide of spirituality that really is, like it's going to happen, because people—I talk to so many people and they're like, “Yeah, I don't go to church anymore, but I would go to that church.”Debra Rienstra That's something.Pete Nunnally They're like, “I would do that. I can't do this because it reminds me of past harm or hypocrisy or whatever, but I would do something like that.”Debra Rienstra It answers a deep, deep need that people don't always have the words for. But, as you say, when they see the possibility, something in them says, “Yes, that's what I'm looking for.”Pete Nunnally Yeah, Debra, and like me too. I still don't have the right words to express what happens to me when we do this. All I know is that I have to do this, and it's not easy. It'd be a lot easier to take a nice-paying, traditional church job with a staff, and you know, this regular stuff, but it's not what God wants me to do.Debra Rienstra Well, thank you so much for talking to me today. I have one final question: favorite fish, favorite fishing spot?Pete Nunnally My favorite fish would be, I mean, I sure love fishing for catfish, but that's a lot of hanging around. I would say redfish, and I like to fish down in the Northern Neck, which is where the Potomac and the Rappahannock and the York rivers go into the Chesapeake Bay. So the bottom end of those rivers are all salt water and they're just exquisite. So it's just so beautiful. And I love chasing down those redfish. Tastes delicious.Debra Rienstra Well, happy fishing. And thank you again so much for talking to me today.Pete Nunnally Thank you. Thanks, Debra.Debra Rienstra Thanks for joining us for show notes and full transcripts, please visit debrarienstra.com and click on the Refugia Podcast tab. This season of the Refugia Podcast is produced with generous funding from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Colin Hoogerwerf is our awesome audio producer. Thanks to Ron Rienstra for content consultation as well as technical and travel support. Till next time, be well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit refugianewsletter.substack.com

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

Send us a textA man turns back to say thank you—and discovers a deeper kind of healing. That small pivot in Luke 17:11-19 launches a wide‑open conversation about gratitude as action, the difference between being cured and being made whole, and why a daily practice of thanks can change your chemistry, your relationships, and your resilience.In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about gratitude. They discuss starting prayer with thanksgiving, naming three to ten blessings a day, and turning down the noise long enough to notice the quiet mercies that keep us afloat. Listen in for the full conversation.Read For Faith, the companion devotional. Support the show Follow us on IG and FB at Bishop Rob Wright.

Listen to Bishop Doyle's sermon, "Give Us Faith" (Spoken in Spanish) held at San Romero Episcopal Church, Houston, TX More at www.texasbishop.com

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

In this episode of Personally Speaking Msgr. Jim Lisante is joined again by Reverend Russell Levenson. Reverend Levenson has been an ordained Episcopal priest for over thirty years. He officiated and preached at the state funeral for President George H.W. Bush and he also officiated and preached at the funeral for First Lady Barbara Bush. His latest book is titled, “Witness to Belief: Conversations on Faith and Meaning” which includes interviews with twelve renowned people of various Christian faiths including, Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Ambassador Nikki Haley, actor Denzel Washington and Dr. Jane Goodall.Support the show

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

Exploring Christianity's Denominations like never before with a complete world map that charts Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant Baptist, and pretty much all Christian denominations in stunning 4K Ultra HD.This full story traces the history and growth of denominations in a documentary style, supported by maps, history, and biblical preaching. Explore how Christianity spread across the entire world, and what does each denomination actually believe including Pentecostal church, Presbyterian, Methodist, Reformed, Coptic, Lutheran, Episcopal, Church or Latter Day Saints (mormons) and many, many more.Explained by Christian preacher Joe Kirby from Off the Kirb Ministries in 20 minutes!

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

Episcopal Formation Initiative Mandatum by Bishop Gary Janak by USCCB Clips

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

Send us a textSorrow doesn't mean you've lost faith; it means you've loved deeply enough to tell the truth. Naming our losses can be both spiritual and practical. Psalm 137 shows what happens when a community refuses euphemism, resists denial, and chooses to face reality with courage. That choice isn't about wallowing; it's about setting the stage for healing, responsibility, and real hope.In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about what we learn from Psalm 137. They discuss the tension between emotional performance and emotional honesty, and why the psalms offer a vocabulary for the full range of human experience: doubt, trust, anger, and gratitude. They unpack how the power of a single voice can serve the entire community by helping others see afresh. Listen in for the full conversation.Read For Faith, the companion devotional.Support the show Follow us on IG and FB at Bishop Rob Wright.

In this second part of our interview with Coalition Chaplain Debbie Royals, we continue our discussion of colonized/colonizing worship and the need for spiritual care in our work. This is a work in progress, as we together seek to realign ourselves with the Creator and Creation through worship. Debbie is Pascua Yaqui from Tucson, AZ, a sister, mother to two wonderful young men and grandmother to four. She is an Episcopal priest, author, retreat leader and educator. Debbie earned a diploma in Nursing, a B.A. in Native American Spirituality and Theology from Prescott College, an M.Div. from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and a M.A. in Religion and Society from the Graduate Theological Union. She serves as the Canon for Native American Ministry in the Diocese of Arizona and is developing a“new church community called Four Winds serving Indigenous people. Debbie led the Indigenous Theological Training Institute for 10 years and published several journals with Indigenous theologians. She has published in books on prayer and daily meditations. Debbie has navigated the divide by forming a bridge as a Native American spiritual leader and Episcopal priest. Her passion for restorative justice and binding community is evident in every aspect of her life. Watch video recordings of this and other episodes from Season 4 of the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Podcast on our YouTube Channel. Show Notes: Decolonizing Worship happens the last Friday of every month at 1:00 p.m. PT / 4:00 p.m. ET. Register for the Zoom link Sarah and Sheri's book: So That We and Our Children May Live: Following Jesus in Confronting the Climate Crisis Sarah and Sheri's Substack: So That We and Our Children May Live You can follow the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery on Instagram (@coalitiontodismantle) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/dismantlediscovery).

Top headlines for Friday, October 3, 2025A U.S. immigration judge upholds the deportation of an alleged Salvadoran gang member, a federal court rules in favor of a Christian photographer challenging same-sex wedding requirements, and the Philippines faces mounting tragedy as an earthquake death toll climbs while Tropical Storm Paolo approaches. Plus, hear how one professional football star is giving glory to God after a big win.00:11 Judge upholds order to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia01:00 Episcopal bishop accused of LGBT discrimination won't be punished01:50 Christian photographer can't be forced to work gay weddings02:39 After 72 killed in earthquake, Philippines faces typhoon threat03:27 Christians pray for Jewish community after Manchester attack04:13 Attendee's ticket for Peter Thiel's 'Antichrist' lecture pulled05:02 Miami Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa credits Jesus after winSubscribe to this PodcastApple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsOvercastFollow Us on Social Media@ChristianPost on TwitterChristian Post on Facebook@ChristianPostIntl on InstagramSubscribe on YouTubeGet the Edifi AppDownload for iPhoneDownload for AndroidSubscribe to Our NewsletterSubscribe to the Freedom Post, delivered every Monday and ThursdayClick here to get the top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning!Links to the NewsJudge upholds order to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia | PoliticsEpiscopal bishop accused of LGBT discrimination won't be punished | Church & MinistriesChristian photographer can't be forced to work gay weddings | PoliticsAfter 72 killed in earthquake, Philippines faces typhoon threat | WorldChristians pray for Jewish community after Manchester attack | WorldAttendee's ticket for Peter Thiel's 'Antichrist' lecture pulled | U.S.Miami Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa credits Jesus after win | Sports

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

October 2025 meditations are written by Amy Morehous and recorded by Rebekah Hatch. Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠forwardmovement.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠. Amy Morehous is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, mental health advocate, fiber artist, and native east Tennessean. 

An Interview with The Reverend Benjamin Wyatt This year marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, a turning point in Christian history. In this episode, Rev. Benjamin Wyatt, Episcopal priest and author of Christ and the Council, joins Shirley Paulson to explore the controversies that led to the Nicene Creed, Constantine's role in enforcing unity, and why debates about Christ's divinity mattered so deeply. Their conversation sheds light on the messy, human realities behind doctrines still shaping Christianity today. The Reverend Benjamin Wyatt is an Episcopal priest, serving as the Priest-in-Charge at the Church of the Nativity in Indianapolis. He has run two podcasts on ancient Christianity, “The Road to Nicaea” and “In Simeon's Wake.” Just in time for Nicaea's 1700th anniversary celebration, Ben's new book, titled Christ and the Council, published by Wipf and Stock, is forthcoming. He holds an M.Div. and S.T.M. from Yale Divinity School. Visit the podcast show notes page on the Early Christian Texts website for a complete transcript. https://earlychristiantexts.com/council-of-nicaea/

What does ministry look like beyond the walls of traditional institutions? In this episode, Loren Richmond Jr. talks with Father Cathie Caimano—Episcopal priest, writer, coach, and founder of Free Range Priest. For nearly a decade, Caimano has been helping churches and leaders reimagine ministry for the 21st century, blending ancient practices with agile, entrepreneurial models. Caimano shares her own journey from traditional parish priest to “free range” ministry, reflecting on what she learned serving small churches, working alongside Bishop Michael Curry, and navigating the disruption of the COVID era. She makes a bold case for new containers of church—lean, sustainable, and faithful—while still deeply rooted in the gospel. Caimano insists that the church is not dying—the institution is. And in that collapse lies the opportunity to reimagine ministry with freedom, joy, and faithfulness. Key points from the conversation: How spiritual practices can function like a “gym for your soul” Why institutions resist technology and why that must change The difference between innovation within old systems and creating new ones Why small congregations can thrive by embracing sustainability, not size How the church can learn from entrepreneurship, social enterprise, and start-up culture Cathie Caimano, ʻFr. Cathie', and is an Episcopal priest, ordained for 25 years. Since 2016, She's been a  Free Range Priest - her own ministry/business with a mission to help reimagine ministry in the 21st century. She serves a small congregation in a 'cage free' way, and she writes, coaches, teaches and consults about practical ways of being and doing church in sustainable, faithful, joyful ways. She lives near Charlotte, NC with her wonderful husband and adorable Great Dane. When she's not thinking about God and church, you can find her taking photos of the sunrise, or out running somewhere!   Mentioned Resources:

Listen to Bishop Doyle's sermon, "Rich in Deeds" held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Waco, TX. More at www.texasbishop.com

Maggie Schaumleffel, director of ministries for Barth House Episcopal Center, joins host Eric Barnes. They discuss the center's outreach to the colleges and universites in the area, as well as how it supports students of all backgrounds and religions with problems they face today.

The Rev. Robert Fruehwirth preaches on the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

A Journey of Faith and Calling in Today's Church: A Conversation with the Reverend Gloria Carpeneto Join hosts Lynn Shematek, Jon Shematek, and Lauren Welch as they sit down with Reverend Gloria Carpeneto, a Roman Catholic woman priest, to discuss spiritual journeys, the evolving role of women in the church, community, mercy, and the impact of Pope Leo's Augustinian background. Gloria shares personal stories, insights on synodality, and wisdom for anyone navigating faith and community in today's world.⏰ TIMESTAMPS:00:00 – Introduction & Welcome00:29 – Reverend Gloria Returns: Reflections and Greetings01:06 – The Influence of Pope Leo and St. Augustine02:33 – Augustine's Journey and Community04:31 – The City of God vs. The City of Earth05:46 – Pope Leo's Approach: Peace, Mercy, and Justice08:23 – Leo's Time in Peru and Lessons Learned09:59 – The Augustinian Way: Journey and Community11:16 – The Synod Process and the Church's Journey13:57 – Women's Ordination and Excommunication18:03 – Community, Family, and Belonging20:09 – Listening, Synodality, and Local Church Challenges23:01 – The Labyrinth as a Metaphor for Spiritual Journey27:02 – Words of Wisdom: Mercy, Compassion, and Community29:30 – Closing Remarks & Farewell Website Living Water Inclusive Catholic Community: https://www.thelivingwatercommunity.orgFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/p/Living-Water-Inclusive-Catholic-Community-100064750924188/

Send us a textWhat does it mean when we have proximity without fellowship? Through Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31, we get a glimpse. This parable reveals two men sharing the same address—one living in luxury while the other suffers at his gate—yet separated by an unbridgeable social gulf that continues even after death. In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the parable and how the rich man's sin wasn't wealth but indifference to human suffering. Rather than being "Washington-minded and locally neglectful," Wright urges us to start by interrogating our own hearts. Listen in for the full conversation. Read For Faith, the companion devotional.Support the show Follow us on IG and FB at Bishop Rob Wright.

Welcome to the Common Good Podcast. In this episode, Doug Pagitt sits down with Father Pete Nunnally, an Episcopal priest, writer, and visionary leader behind the new Water and Wilderness Church. Together they dive into Pete's forthcoming book, Catching Hope, which offers a fresh vision of faith rooted in renewal, resilience, and community. Their conversation explores not only Pete's personal journey and the inspiration behind his work, but also the larger state of Christian faith in America today. Doug and Pete wrestle with some of the biggest questions facing the church: How do we remain faithful in an age of division? What does it look like to embody Christ's love when MAGA Christianity and Christian Nationalism threaten to distort the gospel? And how can communities of faith nurture hope and courage in these turbulent times? This episode is a heartfelt, honest, and hopeful dialogue—inviting listeners to imagine a Christianity that resists fear, rejects authoritarianism, and returns again and again to love as the way forward.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Rev. Hunt Priest, an Episcopal priest who openly shares how psilocybin (magic mushrooms) transformed his faith and ministry. Hunt took part in a groundbreaking Johns Hopkins/NYU study where clergy explored psychedelics, and the experience reshaped and reinvigorated his spiritual life. In our conversation, Hunt shares how partaking in the study expanded his understanding of Christianity, deepened his relationship with God, and challenged him to rethink how the church approaches healing. For Hunt, psychedelics became not just an altered state of consciousness, but a doorway into mystical experience, emotional wholeness, and spiritual renewal. Out of that calling, he founded Ligare - a Christian Psychedelic Society. Through education, retreats, and spiritual direction, Hunt and his team are creating supportive communities for Christians to wrestle with big questions: How can psychedelics help us heal? What role do they play in faith today? And what does it mean for the church to reclaim its historic role in health and wholeness? I invite you to listen to this fascinating conversation, where we explore theological history, modern science, and the intersections of mental health, psychedelics and spirituality. And now I give you, Hunt Priest.   Connect with Brian: YouTube: @BrianBeckcomPodcast Instagram: @lessonsfromleaderswithbb Facebook: @LessonsWithBB X: @BrianBeckcom TikTok: @BrianBeckcomLawyer  

Guest homilist the Rev. Wesley Spears-Newsome, associate pastor of Greenwood Forest Baptist Church in Cary, preaches on the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

Welcome to Saint Mary's Episcopal church. this video is a hearing from our 15th Sunday after Pentecost service as well as our sermon from Rev. Michael Burke on September 21st, 2025. Saint Mary's Episcopal Church is delighted to have you Listening thank you and God bless!

Weekly Update: Exploring the Ministry of the Diocese in the Dominican Republic | September 20, 2025 In this week's update for the Diocese of the Rio Grande, dated September 20, 2025, we highlight the upcoming Diocesan Convention in November and encourage members to serve in various diocesan roles. The video also covers the recent House of Bishops meeting in the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, showcasing the impactful ministry activities amidst a 20% poverty rate. Special attention is given to the unique liturgical practices and cultural expressions of the local Episcopal Church. A call for prayers for the newly consecrated Bishop of Cuba and other countries in Latin America is also included. Join us in celebrating the spirit and service of our global Anglican community. 00:00 Weekly Update Introduction 00:23 Upcoming Diocesan Convention 01:10 House of Bishops in the Dominican Republic 04:11 Cultural and Liturgical Highlights 13:53 Special Offerings and Celebrations 16:38 Final Greetings and Reflections 19:06 Encouragement to Visit the Dominican Republic

Listen to Bishop Doyle's sermon, "We Are Not Powerless" held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Houston, TX. More at www.texasbishop.com

Send us a textWhat does it really mean to be a sinner? When stripped to its Greek roots, sin simply means "missing the mark." In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about sin and what Jesus' approach. The religious elite's biggest complaint against Jesus? That he dined with and welcomed those who missed the mark. "Now that's my kind of God," Bishop Wright reflects. This divine comfort with imperfect people creates a powerful invitation for all of us to bring our whole selves to faith.Read For Faith, the companion devotional.Support the show Follow us on IG and FB at Bishop Rob Wright.

This week Frank and Dan take a long, hard look at the legacy of James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and one of the most influential figures of the Religious Right. He spent decades pushing child abuse as “discipline,” spreading anti-LGBTQ hate, and shaping the culture wars that still drag us down today. With his passing, we're not exactly breaking out the hymns… We also dive into: Mormon women going wild over new, shoulder-baring garments An Episcopal priest who turned psychedelics into his new ministry A Catholic money man trying to steer investments away from LGBTQ rights and Planned Parenthood Bible verse sneakers making their way into the Museum of the Bible Mormon leaders panicking as church members turn to AI to write their sacrament talks