Podcasts about pilgrims

This Epiphany, let us be a people who are pilgrims of hope.

This playlist is 67% vinyl friendly. Poor. ‘In the year 2021, few turntables have captured the essence of that time the way that the Old Future Turntable and Speaker has. The silhouette of the player itself pays homage to ’70s architecture in Seoul. Slanted roofs were common during that era, and when you place the turntable and speaker side-by-side, they look like part of a ’70s city skyline. Some vinyl-lovers may not like this product initially because a flat, horizontal turntable would be preferred for sound quality. For those who care about audio quality over aesthetics, the turntable's legs are adjustable, so you can make the table more even‘. – yankodesign.com Looks like it could more readily blow out hot and cold air than music. Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms tweak/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here. Lyric of Playlist 147 ‘Observational, not sexist‘ noted Jean-Jacques Burnel. 00.00 (Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info. 00.41 NEW ORDER – Face Up – Low-life, LP – Factory – 1985 Face Up? More like Jump up, given the NO audience reaction when the chorus kicks in. 05.25 THE YOUNG GODS – Mes Yeux De Tous – Appear Disappear, 2LP – Two Gentlemen Records – 2025 Given that in the mid ’80s they were initially loosely bandied around in the same ‘industrial’ bag as my ‘charges’ Click Click I’ve heard very little of their lengthy and regular catalogue. This though is a mighty tune. 09.19 BLAWAN – Toast – Dismantled Into Juice, 12″ EP – XL Recordings – 2023 Nicely odd, with a ‘chorus’ that makes me smile. 11.56 BASETANK – Got Some Skills – The New Breed, v/artists promo only CD – Detonation – 1999 If it wasn’t for the 35 year age gap I might have said the vocalist on Got Some Skills and the modern day Microwave Man and his electric dirt bike online ‘Let Me Tell You Something, right?‘ words of wisdom sketches were of the same family. 15.44 9 LAZY 9: Turn Me Loose; UP, BUSTLE & OUT: Nightwalk; DJ FOOD: Klutes Groove; DJ TOOLZ: Rusty Goes GaGa; FUNKI PORCINI: It’s A Long Road – The Morning After The Night Before (one half of a CD free with DJ magazine – 1994 Old skool mixing from Cold Cut. ‘It’s (been) a long road… ‘ indeed. 22.00 HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR (feat HIPS & LIPS) – Someone Else Is Calling, 12″ EP – Stratasonic – 2025 The sort of hypnotic beats that could have fitted in with a Winkles, Bedford set list back in the ’80s… although someone might point a sound or two here didn’t exist back then. 26.12 FUNKY GREEN DOGS – The Way * – 12″ – Twisted – 1997 ‘Anyone who ever liked That Sound from the Murk camp will like this just as much, even if they do whinge that it’s very similar to their previous favourite. The original is the heart-winner with its quivering vocal and acid-meets-funk groove, but the mixes are all attractive in their respective ways – Farley & Heller plod sweetly, Canadian Crash Productions do something along the same lines. Dirty White Boy rock and roll and Club 69 kick up a noisy messy rumpus. The best track of all is possibly the excellent FGD way-out beats. **** Daisy & Havoc, Record Mirror (Music Week), 10.5.97 Tough, liquidy goings on from the Murk camp. I was a fan. 32.51 JOY – Fragile Space – 7″ – DB-Low – 2000 ‘Isaac Hayes meets Led Zeppelin‘ ran the press release for Joy Jones’ one-off (at the time) dip into music, and there’s something sad about a single of substance that didn’t do enough for the artist to build on. 35.52 TALKING HEADS – Listening Wind – Remain In Light, LP – Sire – 1980 Just checked. This is the last in a near complete run of the album’s tracks making it to 41 Rooms. So, that must make Remain In Light a bit of a classic to my ears. 39.36 THE SOULSAVERS – Rumblefish – Beginning To See The Dark 12″ – Ghost Ride Music – 2002 The sort of drifting beats thing that would crop up late night/early morning on KISS FM or maybe Ross Allen radio shows of the time. 43.28 BETHANY & RUFUS – 900 Miles – 900 Miles, CD only – Little Monster Records – 2005 With Bethany being the daughter of ’60s folk group, Peter Paul and Mary’s Pete Yarrow, an ancient tune reworked. And it’s a cello apparently, not a double bass. 46.48 STARGARD – (Theme Song From) Which Way Is Up – 7″ – MCA -1977 As funky now as the day it was delivered. I was 20… and this would have been hitting someone’s decks at Bedford’s Nite Spot, Spectrum, Pilgrims, The Anglers’ Laird bar and elsewhere out of town I went. 51.29 THE STAPLE SINGERS – I’ll Take You There – 7″ – Stax – 1972 They never let on where exactly ‘there’ is but with their gospel background we can maybe guess. Good luck with it. 55.30 CARLA THOMAS – Things Ya Make Me Do (Summer Mix) – 12″ – Ruff Justice – 1994 Not the ’60s Stax label Carla Thomas but it’d be nice to think this CT’s parents had that lady in mind when naming this lady. What might have been tagged ‘street soul’… and possibly out of Manchester, UK. 59.06 THOMAS DYBDAHL – All’s Not Lost – That Great October Sound, CD only – Checkpoint Charlie Audio Productions – 2001 Delicate sounds from Norway. 01.04.06 PURESSENCE – Don’t Know Any Better – 7″ – Reaction Records – 2008 James Mudriczki’s vocal… 01.07.22 DAVID SYLVIAN – Nostalgia – Brilliant Trees, LP – Virgin – 1994 Post Japan, his first solo album making its mark in fine style. It was unlikely to do otherwise. 01.12.57 JOY DIVISION – Insight – The Peel Sessions, 12″EP – Strange Fruit – 1986 Peel sessions sort of mimicked a live gig recording at its crystal clear best… this one included. 01.16.50 SIOUXSIE and THE BANSHEES – Christine (Warner Chappell demo) – Kaleidoscope, CD only – Polydor – 2006 With everyone and everything here ‘battling’ to be the most understated – and with it all quite possibly recorded in a rehearsal room, on the likes of (say) a 4-track Portastudio – this is as demo’ish as a major act’s demo could sound back then. 01.19.32 THE FLAMINGOS – Shone Like The Sun #3 (unreleased demo) – 1984 With Cliff (Peacock) in Scott Walker-mode there were a few versions of this tune and to these ears it sounds even better now than it did back then. In effect the above might have doubled as my 27th birthday party and Shone Like The Sun was very likely on the Flamingos set list. 01.24.12 THE WAKE – Make You Understand – Here Comes Everybody, CD only comp – Factory Benelux – 2015 Recorded for a Feb ’84 BBC Radio 1 session for David/Kid Jensen and played live but the former only ever surfaced on the above. Stephen, Mac, Carolyn and Caesar: Winkles, Bedford, 13.11.83 Photo credit/copyright: Dec Hickey 01.26.33 LITTLE NEMO – Bed In Summer – La Cassette Froide, split cassette (with Rain Culture) – self released – 1986 Not the first European band in the mid to late ’80s to have sounded as if heavily influenced by UK bands of the early ’80s and with a track only to be found on this cassette. I won’t be acquiring one any time soon. 01.30.27 THE STRANGLERS – London Lady – 7″ – United Artists – 1977 Yep, Jean-Jacques Burnel with a lyric or two (well, one in particular) that we youth most probably laughed through back in the day but now would maybe slightly wince at. The times… 01.32.52 ELVIS COSTELLO – (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea – 7″ – Radar – 1978 I had a brief moment with Declan’s singles around this time… and you had to admire the balls of a musician who wanted to strike out as an Elvis. 01.35.53 THE SUB ENSEMBLE – Faster Than The Sun (Domu Remix) – Download only – 2008 Very short-lived crew aided and abetted here by acclaimed Bedford-based (then, anyway) DJ, producer, remixer, Domu. 01.41.01 JAZZ THE GLASS – 16 Seconds – Download only, Soundcloud – 2019 A 41 Rooms regular, with another winner. Dave reminded me it uses a sample from a US boy band. I think it was a white label 12″ with anonymous writing (just initials?), that I took a punt on at no more than 20p. 01.44.47 FPI PROJECT – Come On (And Do It) (TC Funky Mix) – 12″ – Synthetic Records – 1993 ‘Tremendous funky Italian offering as ever from those talented members of Ital’s most consistent band. Chocca full of good alternative mixes, including a wicked guitar ladened TC Funky mix… ‘ – Kenny Grogan, Mixmag Update, 28.4.93 ‘Everything you love/hate about Italian records in double helpings. Very FPI Project but bang on time with its riffing flamenco-style guitar and a bundle of irresistibly funked up mixes firm Mother-man Lee Fisher, which include a wonderful reinvention of the bouncy original into a big booming beast of a track‘. Matthew Cole, Record Mirror (Music Week), 10.7.93 ‘Girl chanted powerful Hamilton Bohannon-ish happy party pounder’s original Gypsy Kings-like guitars strummed 125bpm Official, 125.2bpm Gipsy, TC 1993 wukka-wukked 125.2bpm TC Funky Mixes, new sax squawked jerkily percussive building 124.9bpm Mothers At Work Remix and Dub‘. – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 7.8.93 As mentioned on the show, a one and a bit trick pony but sometimes a funky break and some vocal snippets is all you need for some head nodding bizniz. 01.49.36 CHEZ DAMIER & CO-INSIDE – Give A Little Love (Made In Detroit Mix) – The United States EP, 12″ – t:ime – 1993 ‘Nottingham’s Sine boys have always (worn) worthier US influences on their sleeves. This time they make a more permanent connection with two excellent transatlantic collaborations. Their Made In Detroit Mix of Give A Little Love by Chez Damier & Co-Inside is a supremely cool organ-washed garage groove with the repeated title line drifting in and out of the mix. It becomes less mellow and more dubby as it progresses…‘ – Andy Beevers, Record Mirror (Music Week), 4.9.93 And yet another tune with a minimal use of different lyrics… and here you’re not getting the full nine minutes they’re spread over on the 12″. Still, jaunty US house with a bit of a UK ’90s garage’y feel… and I think I edited out some frogs sounds. 01.53.15 THE REESE PROJECT – The Colour of Love (Groove Corporation Trance Mix) * – 12″ – Network – 1992 ‘Even by his own standards, Kevin Saunderson is having a good year. With Inner City firmly re-established as one of the world’s leading dance acts, he now takes the limelight under his alter-ego for what will be one of the biggest tunes of the year. The Deep Reese mix (featured on the Network ‘Elixir Vitae’ double pack extravaganza that some might say is their apology for KWS) is still the one for me. The coffee table intro soaring into a menacing groove with the hookiest of vocal samples… bliss. But wait, let us not forget Groove (aka Electribe 101) Corporation’s four mixes full of true British grit and trance appeal… ‘ – Dave Seaman ****1/2 Mixmag Update, July 9, ’92. ‘Kevin ‘Master Reese’ Saunderson’s powerful Rachel Kapp wailed Club Chart topper is now out on one single in brilliant swimming bass pulsed wriggly warbling 121.6bpm Magic Juan Atkins Mix, gospelishly started hypnotically chugging (0-)123.4bpm Deep Reese Mix, piano plonked 121.6-121.5bpm Underground Resistance Mix, repetitively stuttered Kym Sims-ish 122-122.1bpm MK Deep Dub, good insistently rolling 114.7-114.8bpm Groove Corporation Trance Mix and bass bubbled blippy 114.9-114.8bpm Groove Corporation Wobble Dub, while the first of the separate promos had its throbbing somehow then steady 115bpm Vocal (Trance Mix) and 115-114.9bpm Acid Revival (Wobble Dub), plus alternative swirlingly chugging 115bpm Plae Blue Mix and Instrumental Groove Corporation 021 Remixes‘. – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 1.8.92 Slinky Saunderson… and albeit it the same theme, a thousand miles from Terry Callier’s What Colour Is Love in every other way. Show 148 should surface here Feb 1. Dec x The post Post Punk Plus Podcast Playlist 147 – Original upload 4.1.26 appeared first on 41Rooms.

Readings: Jeremiah 31:7-14 | Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a | Matthew 2:1-12 | Psalm 84:1-8. Preached for the Second Sunday after Christmas (2026-01-04).

As the Jubilee Year comes to a close, let us heed the words of Pope Leo XIV and remain Pilgrims of Hope in our world.  (Pilgrims of Hope  Francesco Meneghello with  translation by Andrew WadsworthThe homilies of Msgr. Stephen J. AvilaPastor, St. Joseph, Guardian of the Holy Family Parish, Falmouth, MAThanks for listening! May God's Word find a home in you.

Thank you to Displate for sponsoring this episode! For up to 33% off, go to https://displate.com/l/2toramble & use code "2ToRamble" at checkout!⭐️ Exclusive Book Club! Join/Support on Patreon

Hi, I'm John Sorensen, President of Evangelism Explosion International, and you're listening to Share Life Today. “Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah, Pilgrim through a barren land.” The late Dr. D. James Kennedy would say these very words every morning before his feet hit the ground. In this season where we're making resolutions and goals for the next year, we need to ask ourselves...are we relying on the guidance of God? There are many snares, temptations, and difficulties out there. We desperately need Him and His direction! The Bible says in Proverbs, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path." God keeps His promises! All He asks from us is that we trust Him. So before you write down your newest resolution, let me encourage you—pray for God's leading in your life. He will begin to give you opportunities to serve and love Him like never before—and through those, you can have opportunities to trust Him and share the Gospel with others. For more information, visit sharelife.today.

John Bunyan's famous allegory, “Pilgrim's Progress,” described the journey of the believer from the “slough of despond” to “the celestial city.” In less picturesque terms, Paul did the same for the Colossians. We, too, need to know how to get there from here. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/508/29?v=20251111

John Bunyan's famous allegory, “Pilgrim's Progress,” described the journey of the believer from the “slough of despond” to “the celestial city.” In less picturesque terms, Paul did the same for the Colossians. We, too, need to know how to get there from here. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/508/29?v=20251111

After many years of meaning to do it wanted to go out with a bang for our 100th Comic Episode.  We take a look at the Scott Pilgrim Comic, all 6 volumes. We talk all about this comic and dive deep into what makes Scott Pilgrim special. Come hear what we have to say. Starring Mike Albertin, Phoebe Stanton, Joe Butler, Hurricane Colby, and Kyle.  Kyle's Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/73Fwj35UGX7tVhjmQGd7H5 A Gamer Looks at 40 - https://agamerlooksat40.com/ Phoebe's Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/theletsplayprincess Phoebe's Podcast - https://nerdsabroadcast.podbean.com/ Zac's Podcast - https://linktr.ee/absolutelythebest Helena - https://linktr.ee/helhathfury Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/GamesMyMomFound Follow us on Facebook. Instagram - gamesmymomfound_ YouTube  - https://youtube.com/c/GamesMyMomFoundPodcast Discord - https://discord.gg/ Scott Pilgrim Vs The World The Game (Mini 88) - GMMF https://gamesmymomfoundpodcast.podbean.com/e/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world-the-game-mini-88-gmmf Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (TV 18) - GMMF https://gamesmymomfoundpodcast.podbean.com/e/scott-pilgrim-takes-off-tv-18-gmmf Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (Film 39) - GMMF https://gamesmymomfoundpodcast.podbean.com/e/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world-film-39-gmmf

In this conversation, Cher explores the journey of faith and stewardship, emphasizing the importance of obedience to God's calling despite doubts and fears. She shares insights from her own experiences and the allegorical lessons from 'Pilgrim's Progress', encouraging listeners to remain faithful and trust in Christ as the path. The discussion highlights the need for spiritual nourishment, the dangers of confusion, and the significance of daily engagement with scripture and prayer. Cher reassures that God is not the author of confusion and encourages listeners to focus on their relationship with Christ rather than seeking external confirmations.TakeawaysFaith requires action and obedience to God's calling.Doubts and fears are common but can be overcome with trust in God.Spiritual nourishment is essential for maintaining faith.The journey of faith is often not what we expect.We should not seek confirmation from others but trust in Christ.Remaining faithful leads to spiritual growth and rewards.The enemy seeks to distract us from our path with doubts.Daily engagement with scripture is crucial for clarity.God's guidance is found in a relationship with Him.We are called to share the hope of Christ with others.What to do when:Your Faith Journey Won't Look Like You ExpectedTrusting God When Confirmation Never ComesOther things to consider:Don't Seek External Validation, Seek ChristHow to Remain Faithful When the Path Gets UnclearStaying on the Path: Why Doubts Don't Mean You're LostChapters - Timestamps00:00 The Journey of Faith and Obedience02:49 Overcoming Doubts and Fears05:43 Staying on the Path: Lessons from Pilgrim's Progress11:59 The Importance of Daily Bread and Spiritual Nourishment17:54 Navigating Confusion and Seeking Confirmation23:42 The Path is Christ: Trusting in His Guidance29:38 Encouragement to Remain Faithful and SteadfastScriptures referenced: via BibleGatewayEphesians 6:121John 4:1-3John 16:33Proverbs 3:5-6Lamentations 3:22-23Matthew 18:2-4Matthew 12:22-281Corinthians 14:33John 14:6Colossians 1:17Galations 6:9Psalms 119:133-136John 15:7John 15:4-11Hebrews 4:122Corinthians 10:121John 2:1Hebrews 12:2Other Episodes mentioned:Take the Doubts with You Episode 22The Pilgrim's Progress MovieThe Pilgrim's Progress Book The Pilgrim's Progress Modern English Version Website: Style and StewardshipYouTube: Style and Stewardship

What if your calendar is preaching a creed you never meant to adopt? We open with gratitude and a candid look at how easily entertainment and sports can drift from gift to god, stealing hours meant for Scripture, prayer, marriage, family, and neighbor. It's not a guilt spiral; it's an invitation to trade noise for nourishment and rebuild life on rock, not sand.Together we walk through Matthew 7 to test teachers and trends by their fruit and to measure our foundations before the storm hits. Psalm 9 meets modern anxiety with a fierce hope: God judges with justice, shelters the oppressed, and never ignores the cries of those who suffer. Proverbs 2 adds street-level wisdom, warning against flattering paths that lead to ruin and commending the hard but good road of integrity. These passages don't float above real life; they direct it—calling us to reorder our time, restore our homes, and strengthen our communities.History joins the conversation with the courage of Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Chester Bennett Bowen and President Truman's VE Day proclamation, a national moment of prayerful gratitude. Their stories remind us that character, sacrifice, and thanksgiving shape both people and nations. We keep it honest about failure and pride, then offer a simple guardrail: follow teachers only as they follow Christ. From there, the practices get practical—small shifts like a weekly media fast, shared prayer at the table, or serving someone in need—tiny hinges that swing big doors in a home.If this speaks to you, share it with a friend who could use a nudge toward solid ground. Subscribe for more Scripture-centered reflections, leave a review to help others find the show, and tell us: what's one hour you'll reclaim this week and give back to God?Support the showThe American Soul Podcasthttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1791934/subscribe Countryside Book Series https://www.amazon.com/Countryside-Book-J-T-Cope-IV-ebook/dp/B00MPIXOB2

Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you can take the time to review your goals and you're welcome to leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? Let me know in the comments. It's always interesting looking back at my goals from a year ago, because I don't even look at them in the months between, so sometimes it's a real surprise how much they've changed! You can read my 2025 goals here and I go through how things went below. In the intro, Written Word Media 2025 Indie Author Survey Results, TikTok deal goes through [BBC]; 2025 review [Wish I'd Known Then; Two Authors], Kickstarter year in review; Plus, Anthropic settlement, the continued rise of AI-narrated audiobooks, and thinking/reasoning models (plus my 2019 AI disruption episode). My Bones of the Deep thriller, pics here, and Business for Authors webinars, coming soon. If you'd like to join my community and support the show every month, you'll get access to my growing list of Patron videos and audio on all aspects of the author business — for the price of a black coffee (or two) a month. Join us at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. J.F. Penn books — Death Valley, The Buried and the Drowned, Blood Vintage Joanna Penn books — Successful Self-Publishing, 4th Edition The Creative Penn Podcast and my community on Patreon/thecreativepenn Unexpected addition: Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester Book marketing. Not quite a fail but definitely lacklustre. Reflections on my 50th year Double down on being human. Travel and health. You can find all my books as J.F. Penn and Joanna Penn on your favourite online store in all the usual formats, or order from your local library or bookstore. You can also buy direct from me at CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com. I'm not really active on social media, but you can always see my photos at Instagram @jfpennauthor. J.F. Penn — Death Valley. A Thriller. This was my ‘desert' book, partially inspired by visiting Death Valley, California in 2024. It's a stand-alone, high stakes survival thriller, with no supernatural elements, although there are ancient bones and a hidden crypt, as it wouldn't be me otherwise! The Kickstarter campaign in April had 231 Backers pledging £10,794 (~US$14,400) and the hardback is a gorgeous foiled edition with custom end papers and research photos as well as a ribbon. As an AI-Assisted Artisan Author, I used AI tools to help with the creative and business processes, including the background image of the cover design, the custom end papers, and the Death Valley book trailer, which I made with Midjourney and Runway ML. The audiobook is also narrated by my J.F. Penn voice clone, which took a while to get used to, but now I love it! You can listen to a sample here. I published Death Valley wide a few months later over the summer, so it is now out on all platforms. J.F. Penn — Blood Vintage. A Folk Horror Novel, and Catacomb audiobook I did a Kickstarter for the hardback edition of Blood Vintage in late 2024, and then in 2025, worked with a US agent to see if we could get a deal for it. That didn't happen, and although there were some nice rejections, mostly it was silence, and the waiting around really was a pain in the proverbial. So, after a year on submission, I published Blood Vintage wide, so it's available everywhere now. My voice clone narrated the audiobook, listen to a sample here. I also finally produced the audiobook for Catacomb, which is a stand-alone thriller inspired by the movie Taken and the legend of Beowulf set in the catacombs under Edinburgh. I used a male voice from ElevenLabs, and you can listen to a sample here. The book is also available everywhere in all formats. J.F. Penn — The Buried and the Drowned Short Story Collection One of my goals for 2025 was to get my existing short stories into print, mainly because they exist only as digital ebook and audiobook files, which in a way, feels like they almost don't exist! Plus, I wanted to write an extra two exclusive stories and launch the special edition collection on Kickstarter Collection and then publish wide. I wrote the two stories, The Black Church, inspired by my Iceland trip in March, and also Between Two Breaths, inspired by an experience scuba diving at the Poor Knights Islands in New Zealand almost two decades ago. There are personal author's notes accompanying every story, so it's part-short story fiction, part-memoir, and I human-narrated the audiobook. I achieved this goal with a Kickstarter in September, 2025, with 206 Backers pledging almost £8000 (~US$10,600) for the various editions. I also did my first patterned sprayed edges and I love the hardback. It has head and tail bands which make the hardback really strong, gorgeous paper, foiling, a ribbon, colour photos, and custom end papers. The Buried and the Drowned is now out everywhere in all editions. As ever, if you enjoy the stories, a review would be much appreciated! Joanna Penn Books for Authors Early in the year, How to Write Non-Fiction Second Edition launched wide as I only sold it through my store in 2024, so it's available everywhere in all formats including a special hardback and workbook at CreativePennBooks.com. While I didn't write it in 2025, I made the money on it this year, which is important! I also unexpectedly wrote the Fourth Edition of Successful Self-Publishing, mainly because I saw so much misinformation and hype around selling direct, and I also wanted to write about how many options there are for indie authors now. The ebook and audiobook (narrated by human me) are free on my store, CreativePennBooks.com and also available in print, in all the usual places. If you haven't revisited options for indie authors for a while, please have a read/listen, as the industry moves fast! All my fiction and non-fiction audiobooks are now on YouTube After an inspiring episode with Derek Slaton, I put all my audiobooks and short stories on YouTube. Firstly, my non-fiction channel is monetised so I get some income from that. It's not much, but it's something. More importantly, it's marketing for my books, and many audiobook listeners go on to buy other editions especially non-fiction listeners who will often buy print as well. I'm one of those listeners! It's also doubling down on being human, since I human narrate most of my audiobooks, including almost all of my non-fiction, as well as the memoir, and short stories. This helps bring people into my ecosystem and they may listen to the podcast as well and end up buying other books or joining the Patreon. Finally, in an age of generative AI assisted search recommendations, I want my books and content inside Gemini, which is Google's AI. I want my books surfaced in recommendations and YouTube is owned by Google, and their AI overviews often point to videos. Only you can decide what you want to do with your audiobooks, but if you want to listen to mine, they are on YouTube @thecreativepenn for non-fiction or YouTube @jfpennauthor for fiction and memoir. The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community It's been another full year of The Creative Penn Podcast and this is episode 842, which is kind of crazy. If you don't know the back story, I started podcasting in March 2009 on a sporadic schedule and then went to weekly about a decade ago in 2015 when I committed to making it a core part of my author business. Thanks to our wonderful corporate sponsors for the year, all services I personally use and recommend — ProWritingAid, Draft2Digital, Kobo Writing Life, Bookfunnel, Written Word Media, Publisher Rocket and Atticus. It's also been a fantastic year inside my Patreon Community at patreon.com/thecreativepenn so thanks to all Patrons! I love the community we have as I am able to share my unfiltered thoughts in a way that I have stopped doing in the wider community. Even a tiny paywall makes a big difference in keeping out the haters. I've done monthly audio Q&As which are extra solo shows answering patron questions. I've also done several live office hours on video, and shared content every week on AI tools, writing and author business tips. Patrons also get discounts on my webinars. I did two webinars on The AI-Assisted Artisan Author, which I am planning to run again sometime in 2026 as they were a lot of fun and so much continues to change. If you get value from the show and you want more, come on over and join us at patreon.com/thecreativepenn We have almost 1400 paying members now which is wonderful. Thanks for being part of the Community! Unexpected goal of the year: Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester During the summer as I did my gothic research, I realised that I was feeling quite jaded about the publishing world and sick of the drama in the author community over AI. My top 5 Clifton Strengths are Learner, Intellection, Strategic, Input, and Futuristic — and I needed more Input and Learning. I usually get that from travel and book research, but I wasn't getting enough of that since Jonathan is busy finishing his MBA. So I decided to lean into the learning and asked ChatGPT to research some courses I could do that would suit me. It found the Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester, which I could do full-time and online. It would be a year of reading quite different things, writing academic essays which is something I haven't done for decades, and hanging out with a new group of people who were just as fascinated with macabre topics as I am. I started in September and have now finished the first term, tackling topics around thanatology and death studies, hell and the afterlife in the Christian tradition, and the ethics of using human remains to inspire fiction, amongst other interesting things. It was a challenge to get back into the style of academic essay writing, but I'm enjoying the rigour of the research and the citations, which is something that the indie author community needs more of, a topic I will revisit in 2026. I have found the topics fascinating, and the degree is a great way to expand my mind in a new direction, and distract me from the dramas of the author community. I'll be back into it in mid-January and will finish in September 2026. Book marketing. Not quite a fail but definitely lacklustre. I said I would “Do a monthly book marketing plan and organise paid ad campaigns per month for revolving first books in series and my main earners.” I didn't do this! I also said I would organise my Shopify stores, CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com into more collections to make it easier for readers to find things they might want to buy. While I did change the theme of CreativePennBooks.com over to Impulse to make it easier to find collections, I haven't done much to reorganise or add new pathways through the books. I'm rolling this part of the goal into 2026. I said I would reinvigorate my content marketing for JFPenn, and make more of BooksAndTravel.page with links back to my stores, and do fiction specific content marketing with the aim of surfacing more in the LLMs as generative search expands. I did a number of episodes on Books and Travel in 2025, but once I started the Masters, I had to leave that aside, and although I have started some extra content on JFPennBooks.com, I am not overly enthusiastic about it! I also said I would “Leverage AI tools to achieve more as a one-person business.” I use AI tools (mainly ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini) every day for different things but as ever, I am pretty scatter gun about what I do. I lean into intuition and I love research so I am more likely to ask the AI tools to do a deep research report on south Pacific merfolk mythology, or how gothic architecture impacted sacred music, or geology and deep time, rather than asking for marketing hooks. I intended to use more AI for book marketing, but as ever, I was too optimistic about the timeline of what might be possible. There's lots you can do with prompting, finessing things and then posting on various platforms, but I'm not interested in spending time doing that. My gold standard for an AI assistant is to feed it the finished book and then say, “Here's a budget. Go market this,” and not have to connect lots of things together into some Frankenstein-workflow. That's not available yet. Maybe in 2026 … Of course, I still do book marketing. I have to in order to sell any books and make money from book sales. We all have to do some kind of book marketing! I have my Kickstarter launches which I put effort into, as well as consistent backlist sales fed by the podcast, and my email newsletter (my combined list is around 60K). I have auto campaigns running on Amazon Ads, and I have used Written Word Media campaigns as well as BookBub throughout the year. This is basically the minimum, so as usual, must do better! I'm pretty sure I'm not the only author saying this! However, my business has multiple streams of income, and I have the podcast sponsorship revenue as well as the Patreon, plus sporadic webinars, which add to my bottom line and don't require paid advertising at all. Reflections on my 50th year I woke up on my 50th birthday in March in Iceland, by the Black Church of Budir out on the Skaefellsnes peninsula. As seals played in the sea and we walked in the snow over the ancient lava field under the gaze of the volcano that inspired Jules Verne Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and my short story, The Black Church, which you can find in my collection, The Buried and the Drowned. On that trip, we also saw the northern lights and had a memorable trip that marked a real shift for me. I've been told by lots of people that 50 is a ‘proper' birthday, as in one of those that makes you stop and reconsider things, and it has indeed been that, although I have also found the last few years of perimenopause to be a large part of the change as well. A big shift is around priorities and not caring so much what other people think, which is a relief in many ways. Also, I don't have the patience to do things that I don't think are worth doing for the longer term, and I am appreciating a quieter life. I'd rather lie in a sunbeam and read with Cashew and Noisette next to me then create marketing assets or spend time on social media. I'd rather go for a walk with Jonathan than go to a conference or networking event. In my Pilgrimage memoir, I quote an anonymous source, “Pilgrim, pass by that which you do not love.” It's a powerful message, and I take it to mean, stop listening to people who tell you what is important. Listen to yourself more and only pay attention to that which you feel drawn to explore. On pilgrimage, it might be turning away from the supposedly important shrine of a saint to go and sit in nature and feel closer to God that way. In our author lives, it might be turning away from the things that just feel wrong for us, and leaning into what is enjoyable, that which feels worthwhile, that which we want to keep doing for the long term. Let's face it, as always, that is the writing, the thinking, the imagination. As ever, I have this mantra on my wall: “Measure your life by what you create.” It's the creation side of things that we love and that's what we need to remember when everything else gets a little much. Many authors left social media in 2025, and while I haven't left it altogether, I don't use it much. I post pictures proving I am human on Instagram @jfpennauthor which automatically post to Facebook. I barely check my pages on Facebook though. I'm also still on X with a carefully curated feed that I mainly use to learn new cool AI things which I share with my Patreon Community. Double down on being human. Travel and health. Yes, I am a human author, and yes, I continue to age! When you've been publishing a while, you need to update your author photos periodically and I finally had a photoshoot I loved with Betty Bhandari Photography, which means I can add the new pics to my websites and the back of my books. Are you up to date with your author photos? (or at least within a decade of the last photoshoot?!) Here are a few of the pictures on Instagram @jfpennauthor. Healthwise, I gave up calisthenics as it was too much on top of the powerlifting and the amount of walking I do. I did another British Powerlifting competition in September in the M2 category (based on age) and 63kgs category (based on weight). Deadlift: 95kgs. Squat: 60kgs. BenchPress: 37.5kgs. While this is less overall than last year, I also weigh less, so I'm actually stronger based on lift to body weight percentage. I have also done a few pull-ups in the last week with no band, which I am thrilled with! On the travel side, Iceland was the big trip, and I also had a weekend in Berlin for the film festival, where I met up with a producer and a director around an adaptation of my Day of the Vikings thriller. That didn't pan out, as most of these things don't, but I certainly learned a lot about the industry — and why it doesn't suit me! Once again, I dipped my toe into screenwriting and then ran away, as has happened multiple times over the years. When will I learn? … Over the summer of 2025, I visited lots of gothic cathedrals including Lichfield, Rochester, Durham, York, and revisiting Canterbury, as part of my book research for the Gothic Cathedral book. I have tens of thousands of words on this project, but it isn't ready yet, so this is carried over into 2026 as it might happen then, depending on the Masters. I spoke at Author Nation in Las Vegas in November 2025, and before it started, I visited (Lower) Antelope Canyon, one of the places on my bucket list, and it did not disappoint. What a special place and no doubt it will appear in a story at some point! How did your 2025 go? I hope your 2025 had some wonderful times as well as no doubt some challenges — and that you have time for reflection as the year turns once more. Let me know in the comments whether you achieved your creative goals and any other reflections you'd like to share.The post Review Of My 2025 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

A Pilgrim's Progress versus a Pirate's Plunder 2025 by Bishop Joaquin G. Molina

On today's Flyover Conservatives Show, we sat down with historian Bill Federer for a two-part Christmas holiday special unpacking the true history of St. Nicholas and the origins of many beloved Christmas traditions. In Part 1, we trace St. Nicholas from real-life ministry and persecution to stockings, “Xmas,” December 25th, and how Christmas customs formed across Europe. In Part 2, we explore why the Pilgrims and Puritans rejected Christmas, how Dutch “Sinterklaas” shaped modern Santa, and how culture, literature, and advertising reshaped the story over time.On today's Flyover Conservatives Show, we sat down with historian Bill Federer for a two-part Christmas holiday special unpacking the true history of St. Nicholas and the origins of many beloved Christmas traditions. In Part 1, we trace St. Nicholas from real-life ministry and persecution to stockings, “Xmas,” December 25th, and how Christmas customs formed across Europe. In Part 2, we explore why the Pilgrims and Puritans rejected Christmas, how Dutch “Sinterklaas” shaped modern Santa, and how culture, literature, and advertising reshaped the story over time.TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: www.theflyoverapp.com TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: www.theflyoverapp.com Follow and Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFlyoverConservativesShow Follow and Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFlyoverConservativesShow To Schedule A Time To Talk To Dr. Dr. Kirk Elliott Go To To Schedule A Time To Talk To Dr. Dr. Kirk Elliott Go To ▶ https://flyovergold.com▶ https://flyovergold.comOr Call 720-605-3900 Or Call 720-605-3900 ► Receive your FREE 52 Date Night Ideas Playbook to make date night more exciting, go to www.prosperousmarriage.com► Receive your FREE 52 Date Night Ideas Playbook to make date night more exciting, go to www.prosperousmarriage.comBill Federer is a nationally known historian, speaker, and bestselling author who documents America's historical and faith foundations through his American Minute work. He has written numerous books on U.S. history, culture, and worldview, and is recognized for connecting overlooked historical events and primary-source references to present-day issues. Federer is also the author of There Really Is a Santa Claus: The History of Saint Nicholas and Christmas Holiday Traditions and other works available through AmericanMinute.com.Bill Federer is a nationally known historian, speaker, and bestselling author who documents America's historical and faith foundations through his American Minute work. He has written numerous books on U.S. history, culture, and worldview, and is recognized for connecting overlooked historical events and primary-source references to present-day issues. Federer is also the author of There Really Is a Santa Claus: The History of Saint Nicholas and Christmas Holiday TrSend us a message... we can't reply, but we read them all!Support the show► ReAwaken America- text the word FLYOVER to 918-851-0102 (Message and data rates may apply. Terms/privacy: 40509-info.com) ► Kirk Elliott PHD - http://FlyoverGold.com ► My Pillow - https://MyPillow.com/Flyover ► ALL LINKS: https://sociatap.com/FlyoverConservatives

John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress is widely regarded as one of the most significant works of Protestant literature. It's been translated into over 200 languages and was once only second to the Bible in popularity. Ed Stetzer talks with Andy Draycott about his book, Into the Pilgrimverse, that has transformed this 17th century classic into a modern-day journey delving into issues like biblical fidelity, missions, gender, race and sexuality in this spiritual classic on Ed Stetzer Live. Ed Stetzer Live is a listener supported program. To donate, click here. To learn more about Ed Stetzer, click here. To learn more about Ed Stetzer Live, click here.Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/edstetzerliveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12-26-25 - Jason Schwartzman - Scott Pilgrim - call in - 2010 - BOSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today's Flyover Conservatives Show, we sat down with historian Bill Federer for a two-part Christmas holiday special unpacking the true history of St. Nicholas and the origins of many beloved Christmas traditions. In Part 1, we trace St. Nicholas from real-life ministry and persecution to stockings, “Xmas,” December 25th, and how Christmas customs formed across Europe. In Part 2, we explore why the Pilgrims and Puritans rejected Christmas, how Dutch “Sinterklaas” shaped modern Santa, and how culture, literature, and advertising reshaped the story over time.On today's Flyover Conservatives Show, we sat down with historian Bill Federer for a two-part Christmas holiday special unpacking the true history of St. Nicholas and the origins of many beloved Christmas traditions. In Part 1, we trace St. Nicholas from real-life ministry and persecution to stockings, “Xmas,” December 25th, and how Christmas customs formed across Europe. In Part 2, we explore why the Pilgrims and Puritans rejected Christmas, how Dutch “Sinterklaas” shaped modern Santa, and how culture, literature, and advertising reshaped the story over time.TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: www.theflyoverapp.com TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: www.theflyoverapp.com Follow and Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFlyoverConservativesShow Follow and Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFlyoverConservativesShow To Schedule A Time To Talk To Dr. Dr. Kirk Elliott Go To To Schedule A Time To Talk To Dr. Dr. Kirk Elliott Go To ▶ https://flyovergold.com▶ https://flyovergold.comOr Call 720-605-3900 Or Call 720-605-3900 ► Receive your FREE 52 Date Night Ideas Playbook to make date night more exciting, go to www.prosperousmarriage.com► Receive your FREE 52 Date Night Ideas Playbook to make date night more exciting, go to www.prosperousmarriage.comBill Federer is a nationally known historian, speaker, and bestselling author who documents America's historical and faith foundations through his American Minute work. He has written numerous books on U.S. history, culture, and worldview, and is recognized for connecting overlooked historical events and primary-source references to present-day issues. Federer is also the author of There Really Is a Santa Claus: The History of Saint Nicholas and Christmas Holiday Traditions and other works available through AmericanMinute.com.Bill Federer is a nationally known historian, speaker, and bestselling author who documents America's historical and faith foundations through his American Minute work. He has written numerous books on U.S. history, culture, and worldview, and is recognized for connecting overlooked historical events and primary-source references to present-day issues. Federer is also the author of There Really Is a Santa Claus: The History of Saint Nicholas and Christmas Holiday TrSend us a message... we can't reply, but we read them all!Support the show► ReAwaken America- text the word FLYOVER to 918-851-0102 (Message and data rates may apply. Terms/privacy: 40509-info.com) ► Kirk Elliott PHD - http://FlyoverGold.com ► My Pillow - https://MyPillow.com/Flyover ► ALL LINKS: https://sociatap.com/FlyoverConservatives

12-26-25 - Jason Schwartzman - Scott Pilgrim - call in - 2010 - BOSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fluent Fiction - Hindi: Kumbh Chronicles: Feast of Trust in the Heart of Pilgrims Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/hi/episode/2025-12-26-08-38-20-hi Story Transcript:Hi: कुम्भ मेले की धूम-धाम चारों ओर फैली हुई थी।En: The hustle and bustle of the Kumbh fair had spread all around.Hi: तंबुओं की कतारों के बीच से होकर तीर्थयात्री आवाजाही कर रहे थे।En: Pilgrims were moving to and fro through the rows of tents.Hi: चारों तरफ मंत्रों की गूंज और धूप की सुगंध वातावरण में समाई हुई थी।En: The echo of prayers and the fragrance of incense filled the atmosphere.Hi: हर कोई इस महोत्सव का हिस्सा बनकर प्रफुल्लित हो रहा था।En: Everyone was delighted to be part of this grand festival.Hi: इसी मेले के केंद्र में, एक विशेष आयोजन की तैयारी चल रही थी - एक सामुदायिक भोज।En: At the center of this fair, preparations for a special event were underway - a community feast.Hi: विरें बहुत ही मेहनती और जिम्मेदार इंसान था।En: Virendra was a very hardworking and responsible person.Hi: वह इस भोज का आयोजन कर रहा था।En: He was organizing this feast.Hi: उसकी एक ही चाहत थी, कि सब कुछ सुचारू रूप से चले और हर तीर्थयात्री को भोजन मिले।En: His only desire was for everything to run smoothly and for every pilgrim to receive food.Hi: उसके बगल में मीरा थी, एक समर्पित स्वयंसेवक।En: Beside him was Meera, a dedicated volunteer.Hi: उसका काम लोगों में सहयोग और समझ को बढ़ाना था।En: Her job was to foster cooperation and understanding among the people.Hi: वहीं तुझ, एक कुशल रसोइया, अपने व्यंजन कौशल को दिखाने के लिए उत्सुक था।En: Nearby was Tush, a skilled cook, eager to showcase his culinary skills.Hi: "हर काम को समय पर करना है," विरें ने कहा।En: "Everything has to be done on time," Virendra said.Hi: उसकी आवाज़ में चिंता साफ झलक रही थी।En: The concern was evident in his voice.Hi: "हमारे पास हजारों लोग होंगे।En: "We will have thousands of people.Hi: सब कुछ ठीक से होना चाहिए।En: Everything must be perfect."Hi: "मेरे मुस्कान के साथ बोली, "हम सभी मिलकर काम करेंगे, तो सब कुछ ठीक होगा।En: Meera replied with a smile, "If we all work together, everything will be fine."Hi: "तुझ ने अपने रसोईघर में झाड़ू लगाते हुए कहा, "मैं हर किसी के लिए लज़ीज़ भोजन तैयार करूंगा।En: Tush, sweeping his kitchen, said, "I will prepare delicious food for everyone."Hi: "लेकिन समस्या यह थी कि तीर्थयात्रियों की संख्या लगातार बढ़ रही थी।En: But the problem was that the number of pilgrims was continuously increasing.Hi: भोजन और समय की व्यवस्था करना कठिन होता जा रहा था।En: Managing the food and schedule was becoming more challenging.Hi: तभी, मेंले में घटनाएँ अचानक से घबराहट में बदल गईं।En: Suddenly, the calm of the fair turned into anxiety.Hi: भीड़ अचानक नौबत पर आने लगी।En: The crowd started overwhelming the situation.Hi: विरें बहुत तनाव में आ गया।En: Virendra became very tense.Hi: उसने सोचा, "अब हमें दूसरों की मदद लेनी होगी।En: He thought, "Now we will need help from others."Hi: " उसने अपनी सोच बदली और आसपास के तत्पर स्वयंसेवकों की मदद स्वीकार कर ली।En: He changed his mindset and accepted help from the ready volunteers around.Hi: जल्द ही, मीरा और तुझ ने तीव्रता से काम करना शुरू कर दिया।En: Soon, Meera and Tush began working with urgency.Hi: मीरा ने समूहों को व्यवस्थित किया और सभी को दिशा-निर्देश दिए।En: Meera organized groups and gave directions to everyone.Hi: तुझ ने अपनी रसोई के पेशेवर तरीके से भोजन तैयार करने के लिए अतिरिक्त हाथों की मदद ली।En: Tush took the help of extra hands to prepare the meals professionally.Hi: तमाम चुनौतियों के बावजूद, प्रत्येक व्यक्ति ने एकजुट होकर स्थिति को संभाल लिया।En: Despite all challenges, everyone came together to handle the situation.Hi: तीर्थयात्रियों का दिल से स्वागत हुआ, और सभी को प्रेमपूर्वक भोजन परोसा गया।En: The pilgrims were welcomed wholeheartedly, and everyone was served food with love.Hi: अंततः, सफलता का श्रेय सभी को मिलता है।En: Ultimately, the credit for the success went to everyone.Hi: विरें ने सीखा कि दूसरों पर विश्वास करना और टीमवर्क क्या मायने रखता है।En: Virendra learned what it means to trust others and the importance of teamwork.Hi: यह सामुदायिक भोज वास्तव में हर एक के लिए अद्वितीय अनुभव रहा।En: This community feast was truly a unique experience for everyone.Hi: सबके चेहरे मुस्कुराहट में थे, जब विरें ने संतोष की सांस ली।En: Everyone's faces were lit with smiles as Virendra sighed with relief.Hi: कुम्भ के इस नज़ारे में, आयोजन की सफलता ने सबके दिलों को खुशी से भर दिया था।En: Amidst the scenic view of the Kumbh, the success of the event filled everyone's hearts with joy.Hi: और यहीं, उनके दिलों में एक नई शुरुआत और विश्वास का दीपक जल उठा।En: And there, in their hearts, a new beginning and a lamp of trust was lit. Vocabulary Words:hustle and bustle: धूम-धामpilgrims: तीर्थयात्रीtents: तंबुओंfragrance: सुगंधunderway: चल रही थीdedicated: समर्पितvolunteer: स्वयंसेवकfoster: बढ़ानाcooperation: सहयोगculinary: व्यंजनconcern: चिंताevident: स्पष्टurgency: तीव्रताoverwhelming: नौबत पर आने लगीtense: तनावmindset: सोचaccept: स्वीकार करनाdirections: दिशा-निर्देशprofessionally: पेशेवर तरीके सेwholeheartedly: दिल सेultimately: अंततःtrust: विश्वासcommunity: सामुदायिकfeast: भोजunique: अद्वितीयsatisfaction: संतोषscenic: नज़ारेjoy: खुशीlamp: दीपकbeginning: शुरुआत

What will happen with Christian now that he has met Mr Worldly Wiseman? Will he stray off the path to the Wicket Gate?Scriptures we will cover today:Ezra 1:3Ezra 9:9Nehemiah 1:6Nehemiah 2:5Nehemiah 8:10Esther 4:14Esther 8:17Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Greetings All!We are excited to have you listen to the Pilgrim's Progress. This is an introduction to what is to come. See you later for now!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Thanks for tuning in! It's December 1st, and Christian will now begin his adventure.Listen for these words - "What shall I do to be saved?"Today you will open day 1 on your calendar when instructed.Here are the scriptures we will cover today:Genesis 3:15Exodus 12:5-7Leviticus 16:21-22Numbers 21:8-9Deuteronomy 18:15Deuteronomy 30:6Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Some of the townsmen come after Christian. Will he turn back and go to the City of Destruction? We shall see.Scriptures we are looking at today:Joshua 1:13, 15Judges 2:16Judges 13:5Ruth 3:9Ruth 4:14Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Day 3 of our journey finds Christian needing Help.Scripture we will cover today.1 Samuel 2:10 2 Samuel 7:12–14, 161 Kings 9:5 2 Kings 11:1–3 1 Chronicles 17:11–142 Chronicles 13:5 2 Chronicles 21:7Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Christian is back on track and on the way to The Interpreter's house. What will happen next?Here are the scriptures we will cover today. Have you memorized one yet?Ecclesiastes 1:2Ecclesiastes 3:11Ecclesiastes 12:13–14Isaiah 7:14  Isaiah 9:6–7Isaiah 11:1–2Isaiah 40:3–5Isaiah 53:4–6Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Christian has strayed off the path because he listened to Mr Worldly Wiseman. What will happen next? Who will he meet on his journey? Will he get to the Wicket Gate?Scriptures we are looking at today:Job 9:33Job 19:25–27Psalm 2:7Psalm 22:1, 16–18Psalm 72:11, 17Proverbs 8:22–31Proverbs 30:4Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

What will happen with Faithful today with his trial? will he be able to get away?Scriptures we are looking at today:Romans 1:1–4Romans 3:23–24Romans 5:8–10Romans 6:23Romans 8:3–4Luke 1 : 68-80 Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

What a journey we have been on!Today we will be looking back on that journey together and remembering all of the twists and turns we met along the way. We will also be getting a little bit of a behind the scenes look at the cast of this production of The Pilgrim's Progress.Thank you all for listening!Here are the scripture we will be looking at today:Jude 1:24–25Jude 1:1Revelation 5:5–6Revelation 12:5Revelation 21:6-7and, pretty much the whole first and second chapters of Luke, and the second chapter of Matthew.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

How will the story conclude today? Let's find out.Scriptures we will be reading today:1 John 4:9–101 John 5:11–122 John 1:3–43 John 1:11 1 John 1:71 John 3:8Matthew 2:16-23Luke 2:40 Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Will Christian and Hopeful listen to Atheist? Let's find out today!Scriptures we will be looking at today:1 Peter 1:18–202 Peter 1:10–111 Peter 1:3–52 Peter 3:181 Peter 2:21–242 Peter 1:3Matthew 2:8-15 Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Christian and Hopeful are on their way! What will they encounter today?Scriptures we will be reading today:Philemon 1:15–16Philemon 1:18–19Hebrews 2:14–15Hebrews 4:14–16Hebrews 9:12–14James 1:18James 4:7–8James 5:15–16Matthew 2:1-7 Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Where will this adventure take Christian and Hopeful next? Let's find out today!Scriptures we are looking at today:Titus 2:11–141 Timothy 1:152 Timothy 3:16–171 Timothy 2:5–62 Timothy 1:9–10Titus 3:4–6Luke 2:22-38Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Christian and Hopeful are in a very hard place. Will they be able to get out? Let's find out today.Scripture we will be looking at today:1 Thessalonians 1:9–101 Thessalonians 5:9–102 Thessalonians 2:16–171 Thessalonians 4:16–172 Thessalonians 1:11–12,1 Thessalonians 5:23–24Luke 2:11-21Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Did Christian and Hopeful get themselves into something they cannot get out of? I can't wait to find out.Scriptures we will be looking at today:Galatians 4:4–5Galatians 2:20Ephesians 2:14–16Ephesians 1:7Philippians 2:5–7Philippians 2:9–11Colossians 1:15–16Colossians 1:19–20Luke 2: 1-10Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Where are Faithful and Christian going? Let's find out today!Scripture we will be looking at today:1 Corinthians 1:302 Corinthians 5:18–192 Corinthians 5:171 Corinthians 15:222 Corinthians 4:61 Corinthians 2:7–8Matthew 1:18-25 Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

What is Vanity Fair? Listen for the description after the scripture reading. There is a lot to unpack there!Scriptures we are reading today:Acts 4:12Acts 13:23Acts 2:29–36Acts 3:18–26Acts 10:36–37Acts 4:33Luke 1:57-67Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Now that Christian is Faithful how will the story continue? Let's find out!Scripture we will be looking at today:John 1:1–3 & 14John 1:4–5John 1:9 & 29John 3:16–17Luke 1:49-56 Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

What a scary fight Christian had with Apollyon yesterday. Will Christian's journey get easier today? Let's find out!Scriptures we will be looking at today:Matthew 2:2Matthew 2:6Luke 1:39-48Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Now that Christian has his armor will he need to use it? Let's find out today!Here are the scriptures we will be looking at today:We've made it to the New Testament!Matthew 1:21Matthew 1:22–23Mark 1:1Mark 1:2–3Mark 10:45Luke 1:26-38Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Christian may finally get some rest. Let's see what happens next!Scriptures we will be looking at today:Zephaniah 3:14–15Zephaniah 3:17Haggai 2:6–7Haggai 2:9Malachi 3:1Malachi 4:2Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Christian is on his way! Glad he found the parchment. What will happen next?Scriptures we will be looking at today:Micah 5:2Micah 5:4–5Micah 7:18–19Nahum 1:7Nahum 1:15Habakkuk 2:4Habakkuk 3:17–18  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

Christian reaches Hill Difficulty. How will he handle this hill? Let's find out!Scriptures we will be looking at today:Amos 9:11–12Amos 9:13–15Obadiah 1:17Obadiah 1:21Jonah 1:17Jonah 2:9Jonah 3:10Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

The 2 people from the town of Vainglory seem like trouble. Let's see what happens next!Scriptures we are looking at Today:Daniel 2:44Daniel 7:13–14Daniel 9:24–26Hosea 11:1Hosea 2:19–20Hosea 13:14Joel 2:28–32Joel 3:16  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

What will happen now with Christian? He is coming upon the wall of Salvation and the cross.Here are the scriptures we will be looking at today:Jeremiah 23:5–6Jeremiah 31:15Jeremiah 31:31–34Lamentations 3:22–23Lamentations 5:21Ezekiel 34:23–24Ezekiel 36:26–27Ezekiel 37:26–27  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-truth-talks-podcast/exclusive-content

WANT TO HAVE THE CAMINO ALL TO YOURSELF? If you've been contemplating a winter pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, this episode is for you. But even if you haven't been thinking about walking in the winter, this episode may still be for you – especially if you are worried about getting blisters or becoming injured and not being able to finish. In this episode, you are going to meet Sarah from Seattle who is going to tell you all about her first winter Camino on the Francés route. She also shares about her second winter pilgrimage, which will be on the Camino Mozárabe. You may discover a winter pilgrimage is exactly what you've been longing for. READY FOR SOME SHORT ANSWERS TO YOUR CAMINO QUESTIONS? Here's where to find me on social media in video format: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nancyreynolds-CaminoExperience/shorts  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCaminoExperience  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecaminoexperience/  Tik Tok: Nancy @ the Camino Experience   #youonthecamino #caminodesantiago #firsttimepilgrim #thecaminoexperience #caminopodcast

The Fourth week of Advent is here! This episode Amy, Vicky, and Br. Travis will journey with the Magi from Matthew 2:1-12. Thank you for joining us this Advent season, it has been a great gift! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas season and a blessed New Year! We'll be back soon! If you'd like to read the Strenna Introduction, use this link to read with us https://archive.sdb.org/Documenti/Rettor_Maggiore/strenna/2026/Strenna_2026_Presentazione_en.pdf Thanks for being here with us! If you want more episodes likes this one, subscribe to join in on the fun! For more information about the Salesian Family please visit: https://salesians.org https://salesiansisters.org https://www.instagram.com/sym_bosco/ https://www.youtube.com/c/SalesiansofDonBosco https://www.facebook.com/salesianym https://www.salesianlaymissioners.org https://www.tiktok.com/@salesiansofdonbosco?lang=en  

Episode 87 Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold Mark McGuinness reads and discusses ‘Dover Beach' by Matthew Arnold. https://media.blubrry.com/amouthfulofair/media.blubrry.com/amouthfulofair/content.blubrry.com/amouthfulofair/87_Dover_Beach_by_Matthew_Arnold.mp3 Poet Matthew Arnold Reading and commentary by Mark McGuinness Dover Beach By Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits; on the French coast the lightGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!Only, from the long line of sprayWhere the sea meets the moon-blanched land,Listen! you hear the grating roarOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,At their return, up the high strand,Begin, and cease, and then again begin,With tremulous cadence slow, and bringThe eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long agoHeard it on the Aegean, and it broughtInto his mind the turbid ebb and flowOf human misery; weFind also in the sound a thought,Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.But now I only hearIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,Retreating, to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drearAnd naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;And we are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night. Podcast Transcript This is a magnificent and haunting poem by Matthew Arnold, an eminent Victorian poet. Written and published at the mid-point of the nineteenth century – it was probably written around 1851 and published in 1867 – it is not only a shining example of Victorian poetry at its best, but it also, and not coincidentally, embodies some of the central preoccupations of the Victorian age. The basic scenario is very simple: a man is looking out at the sea at night and thinking deep thoughts. It's something that we've all done, isn't it? The two tend to go hand-in-hand. When you're looking out into the darkness, listening to the sound of the sea, it's hard not to be thinking deep thoughts. If you've been a long time listener to this podcast, it may remind you of another poet who wrote about standing on the shore thinking deep thoughts, looking at the sea, Shakespeare, in his Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,So do our minutes hasten to their end; Arnold's poem is not a sonnet but a poem in four verse paragraphs. They're not stanzas, because they're not regular, but if you look at the text on the website, you can clearly see it's divided into four sections. The first part is a description of the sea, as seen from Dover Beach, which is on the shore of the narrowest part of the English channel, making it the closest part of England to France: The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits; – on the French coast the lightGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. And as you can hear, the poem has a pretty regular and conventional rhythm, based on iambic metre, ti TUM, with the second syllable taking the stress in every metrical unit. But what's slightly unusual is that the lines have varying lengths. By the time we get to the third line: Upon the straits; – on the French coast the light There are five beats. There's a bit of variation in the middle of the line, but it's very recognisable as classic iambic pentameter, which has a baseline pattern going ti TUM, ti TUM, ti TUM, ti TUM, ti TUM. But before we get to the pentameter, we get two short lines: The sea is calm tonight.Only three beats; andThe tide is full, the moon lies fair – four beats. We also start to notice the rhymes: ‘tonight' and ‘light'. And we have an absolutely delightful enjambment, where a phrase spills over the end of one line into the next one: On the French coast the light,Gleams and is gone. Isn't that just fantastic? The light flashes out like a little surprise at the start of the line, just as it's a little surprise for the speaker looking out to sea. OK, once he's set the scene, he makes an invitation: Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! So if there's a window, he must be in a room. There's somebody in the room with him, and given that it's night it could well be a bedroom. So this person could be a lover. It's quite likely that this poem was written on Arnold's honeymoon, which would obviously fit this scenario. But anyway, he's inviting this person to come to the window and listen. And what does this person hear? Well, helpfully, the speaker tells us: Listen! you hear the grating roarOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,At their return, up the high strand,Begin, and cease, and then again begin,With tremulous cadence slow, and bringThe eternal note of sadness in. Isn't that just great? The iambic metre is continuing with some more variations, which we needn't go into. And the rhyme is coming more and more to the fore. Just about every line in this section rhymes with another line, but it doesn't have a regular pattern. Some of the rhymes are close together, some are further apart. There's only one line in this paragraph that doesn't rhyme, and that's ‘Listen! You hear the grating roar'. If this kind of shifting rhyme pattern reminds you of something you've heard before, you may be thinking all the way back to Episode 34 where we looked at Coleridge's use of floating rhymes in his magical poem ‘Kubla Khan'. And it's pretty evident that Arnold is also casting a spell, in this case to mimic the rhythm of the waves coming in and going out, as they ‘Begin, and cease, and then again begin,'. And then the wonderful last line of the paragraph, as the waves ‘bring / The eternal note of sadness in'. You know, in the heart of the Victorian Age, when the Romantics were still within living memory, poets were still allowed to do that kind of thing. Try it nowadays of course, and the Poetry Police will be round to kick your front door in at 5am and arrest you. Anyway. The next paragraph is a bit of a jump cut: Sophocles long agoHeard it on the Aegean, and it broughtInto his mind the turbid ebb and flowOf human misery; So Arnold, a classical scholar, is letting us know he knows who Sophocles, the ancient Greek playwright was. And he's establishing a continuity across time of people looking out at the sea and thinking these deep thoughts. At this point, Arnold explicitly links the sea and the thinking:                                     weFind also in the sound a thought,Hearing it by this distant northern sea. And the thought that we hear when we listen to the waves is what Arnold announces in the next verse paragraph, and he announces it with capital letters: The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. And for a modern reader, I think this is the point of greatest peril for Arnold, where he's most at risk of losing us. We may be okay with ‘the eternal note of sadness', but as soon as he starts giving us the Sea of Faith, we start to brace ourselves. Is this going to turn into a horrible religious allegory, like The Pilgrim's Progress? I mean, it's a short step from the Sea of Faith to the Slough of Despond and the City of Destruction. And it doesn't help that Arnold uses the awkwardly rhyming phrase ‘a bright girdle furled' – that's not going to get past the Poetry Police, is it? But fear not; Arnold doesn't go there. What comes next is, I think, the best bit of the poem. So he says the Sea of Faith ‘was once, too, at the full', and then: But now I only hearIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,Retreating, to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drearAnd naked shingles of the world. Well, if you thought the eternal note of sadness was great, this tops it! It's absolutely fantastic. That line, ‘Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,' where the ‘it' is faith, the Sea of Faith. And the significance of the line is underlined by the fact that the word ‘roar' is a repetition – remember, that one line in the first section that didn't rhyme? Listen! you hear the grating roar See what Arnold did there? He left that sound hovering at the back of the mind, without a rhyme, until it came back in this section, a subtle but unmistakeable link between the ‘grating roar' of the actual sea at Dover Beach, and the ‘withdrawing roar' of the Sea of Faith: Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Isn't that the most Victorian line ever? It encapsulates the despair that accompanied the crisis of faith in 19th century England. This crisis was triggered by the advance of modern science – including the discoveries of fossils, evidence of mass extinction of previous species, and the theory of evolution, with Darwin's Origin of Species published in 1859, in between the writing and publication of ‘Dover Beach'. Richard Holmes, in his wonderful new biography of the young Tennyson, compares this growing awareness of the nature of life on Earth to the modern anxiety over climate change. For the Victorians, he writes, it created a ‘deep and existential terror'. One thing that makes this passage so effective is that Arnold has already cast the spell in the first verse paragraph, hypnotising us with the rhythm and rhyme, and linking it to the movement of the waves. In the second paragraph, he says, ‘we find also in the sound a thought'. And then in the third paragraph, he tells us the thought. And the thought that he attaches to this movement, which we are by now emotionally invested in, is a thought of such horror and profundity – certainly for his Victorian readers – that the retreat of the sea of faith really does feel devastating. It leaves us gazing down at the naked shingles of the world. The speaker is now imaginatively out of the bedroom and down on the beach. This is very relatable; we've all stood on the beach and watched the waves withdrawing beneath our feet and the shingle being left there. It's an incredibly vivid evocation of a pretty abstract concept. Then, in the fourth and final verse paragraph, comes a bit of a surprise: Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! Well, I for one was not expecting that! From existential despair to an appeal to his beloved. What a delightful, romantic (with a small ‘r') response to the big-picture, existential catastrophe. And for me, it's another little echo of Shakespeare's Sonnet 60, which opens with a poet contemplating the sea and the passing of time and feeling the temptation to despair, yet also ends with an appeal to the consolation of love: And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,blockquotePraising thy worth, despite his cruel hand. Turning back to Arnold. He says ‘let us be true / To one another'. And then he links their situation to the existential catastrophe, and says this is precisely why they should be true to each other: for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; It sounds, on the face of it, a pretty unlikely justification for being true to one another in a romantic sense. But actually, this is a very modern stance towards romantic love. It's like the gleam of light that just flashed across the Channel from France – the idea of you and me against an unfeeling world, of love as redemption, or at least consolation, in a meaningless universe. In a world with ‘neither joy, nor love, nor light,' our love becomes all the more poignant and important. Of course, we could easily object that, regardless of religious faith, the world does have joy and love and light. His very declaration of love is evidence of this. But let's face it, we don't always come to poets for logical consistency, do we? And we don't have to agree with Matthew Arnold to find this passage moving; most of us have felt like this at some time when we've looked at the world in what feels like the cold light of reality. He evokes it so vividly and dramatically that I, for one, am quite prepared to go with him on this. Then we get the final three lines of the poem:We are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night. I don't know about you, but I find this a little jarring in the light of what we've just heard. We've had the magnificent description of the sea and its effect on human thought, extending that into the idea of faith receding into illusion, and settling on human love as some kind of consolation for the loss of faith. So why do we need to be transported to a windswept plain where armies are clashing and struggling? It turns out to be another classical reference, to the Greek historian Thucydides' account of the night battle of Epipolae, where the two armies were running around in the dark and some of them ended up fighting their own side in the confusion. I mean, fine, he's a classical scholar. And obviously, it's deeply meaningful to him. But to me, this feels a little bit bolted on. A lot of people love that ending, but to me, it's is not as good as some of the earlier bits, or at least it doesn't quite feel all of a piece with the imagery of the sea. But overall, it is a magnificent poem, and this is a small quibble. Stepping back, I want to have another look at the poem's form, specifically the meter, and even more specifically, the irregularity of the meter, which is quite unusual and actually quite innovative for its time. As I've said, it's in iambic meter, but it's not strictly iambic pentameter. You may recall I did a mini series on the podcast a while ago looking at the evolution of blank verse, unrhymed iambic pentameter, from Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare's dramatic verse, then Milton's Paradise Lost and finally Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey. ‘Dover Beach' is rhymed, so it's not blank verse, but most of the techniques Arnold uses here are familiar from those other poets, with variations on the basic rhythm, sometimes switching the beats around, and using enjambment and caesura (a break or pause in the middle of the line). But, and – this is quite a big but – not every line has five beats. The lines get longer and shorter in an irregular pattern, apparently according to Arnold's instinct. And this is pretty unusual, certainly for 1851. It's not unique, we could point to bits of Tennyson or Arthur Hugh Clough for metrical experiments in a similar vein, but it's certainly not common practice. And I looked into this, to see what the critics have said about it. And it turns out the scholars are divided. In one camp, the critics say that what Arnold is doing is firmly in the iambic pentameter tradition – it's just one more variation on the pattern. But in the other camp are people who say, ‘No, this is something new; this is freer verse,' and it is anticipating free verse, the non-metrical poetry with no set line lengths that came to be the dominant verse form of the 20th century. Personally, I think you can look back to Wordsworth and see a continuity with his poetic practice. But you could equally look forward, to a link with T. S. Eliot's innovations in ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' and The Waste Land. Eliot is often described as an innovator in free verse, which is true up to a point, but a lot of his writing in that early period isn't strictly free verse; it's a kind of broken up metrical verse, where he often uses an iambic metre with long and short lines, which he varies with great intuitive skill – in a similar manner to Arnold's ‘Dover Beach'. Interestingly, when ‘Dover Beach' was first published, the reviews didn't really talk about the metre, which is ammunition for the people who say, ‘Well, this is just a kind of iambic pentameter'. Personally, I think what we have here is something like the well-known Duck-Rabbit illusion, where you can look at the same drawing and either see a duck or a rabbit, depending how you look at it. So from one angle, ‘Dover Beach' is clearly continuing the iambic pentameter tradition; from another angle, it anticipates the innovations of free verse. We can draw a line from the regular iambic pentameter of Wordsworth (writing at the turn of the 18th and 19th century) to the fractured iambic verse of Eliot at the start of the 20th century. ‘Dover Beach' is pretty well halfway between them, historically and poetically. And I don't think this is just a dry technical development. There is something going on here in terms of the poet's sense of order and disorder, faith and doubt. Wordsworth, in the regular unfolding of his blank verse, conveys his basic trust in an ordered and meaningful universe. Matthew Arnold is writing very explicitly about the breakup of faith, and we can start to see it in the breakup of the ordered iambic pentameter. By the time we get to the existential despair of Eliot's Waste Land, the meter is really falling apart, like the Waste Land Eliot describes. So overall, I think we can appreciate what a finely balanced poem Arnold has written. It's hard to categorise. You read it the first time and think, ‘Oh, right, another conventional Victorian melancholy lament'. But just when we think he's about to go overboard with the Sea of Faith, he surprises us and with that magnificent central passage. And just as he's about to give in to despair, we get that glimmering spark of love lighting up, and we think, ‘Well, maybe this is a romantic poem after all'. And maybe Arnold might look at me over his spectacles and patiently explain that actually, this is why that final metaphor of the clashing armies is exactly right. Friend and foe are running in first one direction, then another, inadvertently killing the people on the wrong side. So the simile gives us that sense of being caught in the cross-currents of a larger sweep of history. With all of that hovering in our mind, let's go over to the window once more and heed his call to listen to the sound of the Victorian sea at Dover Beach. Dover Beach By Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits; on the French coast the lightGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!Only, from the long line of sprayWhere the sea meets the moon-blanched land,Listen! you hear the grating roarOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,At their return, up the high strand,Begin, and cease, and then again begin,With tremulous cadence slow, and bringThe eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long agoHeard it on the Aegean, and it broughtInto his mind the turbid ebb and flowOf human misery; weFind also in the sound a thought,Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.But now I only hearIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,Retreating, to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drearAnd naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;And we are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night. Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold was a British poet, critic, and public intellectual who was born in 1822 and died in 1888. His father was Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School. Arnold studied Classics at Oxford and first became known for lyrical, melancholic poems such as ‘Dover Beach', ‘The Scholar-Gipsy', and ‘Thyrsis', that explore the loss of faith in the modern world. Appointed an inspector of schools, he travelled widely and developed strong views on culture, education, and society. His critical essays, especially Culture and Anarchy, shaped debates about the role of culture in public life. Arnold remains a central figure bridging Romanticism and early modern thought. A Mouthful of Air – the podcast This is a transcript of an episode of A Mouthful of Air – a poetry podcast hosted by Mark McGuinness. New episodes are released every other Tuesday. You can hear every episode of the podcast via Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favourite app. You can have a full transcript of every new episode sent to you via email. The music and soundscapes for the show are created by Javier Weyler. Sound production is by Breaking Waves and visual identity by Irene Hoffman. A Mouthful of Air is produced by The 21st Century Creative, with support from Arts Council England via a National Lottery Project Grant. Listen to the show You can listen and subscribe to A Mouthful of Air on all the main podcast platforms Related Episodes Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold Episode 87 Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold Mark McGuinness reads and discusses ‘Dover Beach' by Matthew Arnold.Poet Matthew ArnoldReading and commentary by Mark McGuinnessDover Beach By Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies... Recalling Brigid by Orna Ross Orna Ross reads and discusses ‘Recalling Brigid’ from Poet Town. From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Episode 85 From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Mark McGuinness reads and discusses a passage from ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.Poet Samuel Taylor ColeridgeReading and commentary by Mark McGuinnessFrom...

ShownotesIn the Finale episode of Season 5, Andrea and Jennifer share their own journeys of hope. Through personal pilgrimages and reflecting on the jubilee year, the ladies share new hopes for Christmas, lessons from grief and ways they're moving into 2026. Watch the video of this episode on WCAT TV presents the Mourning Glory S5 E15 Pilgrims of Hope with Andrea Bear and Jennifer ThomasPrayer from St. Teresa of Calcutta“The fruit of silence is prayer.The fruit of prayer is faith.The fruit of faith is love.The fruit of love is service.The fruit of service is peace.”ScriptureThe Prophecy of Simeon, Luke 2:25-35Jesus Presented in the Temple, Luke 2:22-38 John 15:4-5 Links5 Minute Prayers Around the Advent Wreath by Lisa M. HendeyThe Christmas Star From AfarThe Giving Manger (mentioned by Andrea)Word of the Year EpisodesS4 E19 While We WaitS4 E1 Picking Up the PiecesS2 E20 Where Do We Go From Here?WCAT RadioJubilee Year of HopeSt. Thérèse of Lisieux Relics Tour 2025Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of LisieuxMeđugorjeThe Seven Sorrows of Mary RosaryS4 E15 A Near-Death Encounter with Joelle MarynSt. Simeon's Church, Zadar, CroatiaJournaling QuestionsWhat “pilgrimages” have you been on this year, or in other words, what journeys have you taken where you have grown closer to God?Why do you think God has us travel to seek him? What is he trying to show us in the journey?Jennifer talked about several destinations where she could find St. Therese. Has there been a Saint that has been showing themselves to you? What can we learn from their example that we can apply to our life?How can grief also be a pilgrimage of hope? What is God trying to show us in our journey through grief? As you prepare for Our Lord's coming and the closing of this jubilee year of hope, what ways has God shown you not to give up hope? If you are new to the podcast, to be sure to follow us on Instagram or Facebook @mourningglorypodcast or check out our website, www.mourningglorypodcast.com where you'll find links to all of our episodes with shownotes, links to resources like books and articles, even prayers. We'd also love for you to check out our private online community, which you'll find linked on our website.

Join Rosalynde Welch for an interview with Dr. Kristian Heal. Reading scripture is one of the fundamental spiritual practices of Latter-day Saints. Dr. Heal shows how scholarship on the Bible can enrich our understanding of the ancient book that connects us to other faith traditions across the globe. We talk about what biblical studies is and is not; its gifts and its challenges for believing readers of the Bible; and what Latter-day Saints scholars, with our understanding of the Book of Mormon and modern scripture, can add to the discussion. These are the kinds of questions we hope to advance in coming years with the Institute's Bible initiative.