A Thin Place: Recent Episodes
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A Thin Place Podcast is an opportunity for us to rediscover the deeply spiritual and artful preaching of Dr. Larry Taylor. Each week will feature a sermon and, on occasion, some conversation about it. Our hope is that this space might become A Thin Place all it's own. Grace and peace.
Sometimes, we get so caught up in the routine, in the everyday norms of our lives, we can miss things. Things that might very well change our lives. This episode is about stopping long enough to see.
There are many different narratives or stories we tell ourselves as we make our way through our day to day lives and routines. This episode looks at the narratives of scarcity and abundance.
We love certainty. And we often claim it when we actually don’t really know. What do we do with that in these times of extreme uncertainty? Dr. Taylor’s meditations on the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Mark is a wonderful place to begin such a response.
It these very strange and troubling times, it seems as though we are all in exile in some strange land. Singing the Lord’s song during these days has been difficult, to say the least. But there is a place of sanctuary during these times. This episode is about that.
New Years is a time people often think about resolutions…things they would like to change or add to their lives in the coming year. It seems 2021 has been eagerly anticipated by all of us. This meditation by Dr, Larry Taylor provided me with some rich soil in which to plant some seeds for this coming year.
Advent 2020 has come and gone. The gifts have been opened. Christmas meals have been eaten. Zoom calls to family and friends have all occurred. And now we begin to move into a new year. What is your response to Advent? This meditation gave me some new maps to negotiate the time being.
Larry Taylor reminds us that it will be wonder that finally leads us to Christmas. Wonder is often something we leave to the children. Maybe it's not that we leave it to them, but that they are the ones who fully embrace it. One of my very favorite Christmas meditations! Enjoy!
As the winter solstice approaches, days are shorter and colder, the darkness lingers. These days are ones that open us to spiritual experiences that might not be really available in the bright summery lights of the rest of the year. Our third Advent episode on our journey toward home.
Mary's cradle song is one of the most revolutionary announcements our world has known. And it is a woman's story. And it resonates deeply in our times.
"Advent is for pilgrims and sojourners. It holds little attraction for those who are sedentary in their faith, content with where they already dwell. Advent is a summons to take a journey, a journey that will eventually take us home...Are you going home for Christmas?"
— Dr. Larry Taylor
We seem to rush through the holidays, even though we begin to be inundated with ads encouraging us to start shopping before Halloween even arrives. For the next 4 weeks, A Thin Place will journey through the season of Advent anticipating the arrival of The Christ.
Faith and culture and how they relate to each other have always been a struggle. Larry Taylor provides some very thought-provoking insight on this dilemma in this edition of the podcast.
Where is God in these challenging days? Where is humanity? This sermon left me with a lot of hope.
From an ancient story about kings and kingdoms and transitions, we get to hear very clearly the story we are all living at this very moment. I timely word for all of us in these days.
When Paul writes in his letter to those Jesus followers at Galatia, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus," he had written a revolutionary and liberating sentence. How did Paul arrive at the place that allowed him to write that?
Where is your God? That is a question that might arouse one's defenses in the social climate of our day. But, what if we ask it of ourselves in contemplation? When I consider "God", where IS my God? There is much to think about in this week's edition of A Thin Place with Dr. Larry Taylor.
Larry Taylor opens this sermon by noting how the Hebrew prophets often have what seems to be conflicting accounts of God. One says, "surely, God is hidden." Another says, "seek God and you'll find God". In these confusing days, God can seem elusive at best. This sermon moved me in a profound way and I'm excited to share it here.
Dr. Larry Taylor explores the community that bloomed as a result of people with needs and people with gifts finding each other. "Community is born when someone's need becomes everyone's concern." That seems to me to be something we might all aspire to right now.
This sermon is our podcast's namesake. The Thin Place is based on the story of the woman at the well in the Gospel of John, chapter 4. It's a favorite of mine and a great place for us to begin.
The Celts spoke of "thin places" — places where the veil between our world and God was very thin. This is a podcast presenting the deeply spiritual and artful sermons of Dr. Larry Taylor. These have been such thin places for me over the years. I hope this might become a thin place for people to gather as rediscover these words. These are the places I need in times like we are all experiencing.