Pastor Carolyn's Podcast: Voices from the Mainline: Recent Episodes
Carolyn
Pastor Carolyn Mowchan interviews people from mainline denominations about their faith stories and encounters with God.
Craig is a seasoned veteran in the Church. Listen to the way his awareness and practice of the presence of God filters into everyday life. This sort of openness to God's Spirit makes what we might call "miracles" possible. Opening the channels to the realms beyond us, you never know when guidance, spirits, visions and dreams won't break in to our awareness. We used to be afraid to talk about these "encounters" with the Holy. Now I think they encourage us. We know something is beyond us, around us, perhaps parallel to us, but we don't always know "what". Craig's story isn't a ghost story....it's a God story. A story about the way God seeks out those who seek.
There was a time before all institutions were mistrusted, and the world seemed so much larger, with other religions far away, and no cultural permission really to admit doubts and questions, when the church universal thought you could grow little Christians by just plopping them down in the pews. We know now that that isn't how faith is passed on. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't...that is sometimes it was "caught" and people had true belief over time. It has never been the case that everyone who sat in pews on Sundays came to trust God. But Lucy did. She's a matriarch at Pilgrim Lutheran and an inspiration to all of us with her quiet, steadfast commitment to God.
Bishop Tom Aiken of the Northeast Minnesota Lutheran Synod, ELCA joins Pastor Carolyn to discuss how mainline Christians approach using the Scripture and finding grace, joy, and wisdom in our Holy Book. Demystifying what it is, and what it isn't, is a good place to start.
Lutherans view Christ, as the" Word" which means all scripture should be read through the lens of Christ's life and work.
After discussing the general approach to Bible reading, the Duluth Bishop and Pastor Carolyn use that approach to talk about the ELCA process for determining a faithful approach to the ordination of homosexual Pastors. Applying these principles to everyday life takes a theological framework for questions that never came up in the ancient world.
Sam describes his preparation for Spiritual Discplines growing up in the Catholic church and the way his practices help him feel connected to the Holy Spirit and God's love, now as an adult. Because Sam is an artist, his art...church music and worship, is his Icon for prayer.
Meditation, in the tradition of the ancients, helps him find peace without words. Reading Scripture helps him let God's heart into his heart. Talking to God, reviewing his relationship interaction with others...all the common marks of a contemplative show up in Sam's conversation. His passion for God shows up in his music and the choirs he directs.
A young professional musician describes his journey, first in the Catholic church, and then in the Lutheran church and his ability to connect with God through beauty, music and prayer. Sam's story is a strong example of what caring adults can model in churches when they let children really be a part of things.
In the Old Testament when Esther was approached with a dangerous task, her Uncle said "God has put you in this place for just such a time as this". Matt finds himself in a place that prepares him to respond to a call to ministry, even if he's not paid a living wage. Few people have that luxury. He talks about his mid-life decision to enter the seminary, and the nudges he's been feeling since he was a little boy.
New voices join us in this episode. Matt and Jenny, with Pastor Carolyn, reflect on their upbringing and foundation in the Lutheran Church. (ELCA) Both describe themselves as surrounded by people of faith, supported by solid tradition and theology, but then unexpectedly on the road to ministry. What were the clues that God was whispering to them from an early age? What were the gifts God saw in them?
Jenny, a successful lawyer in a large law firm realizes that her love for Justice aligned with her sense of God's love for justice and started to ask questions about her faith, career, and place in the church. It's not easy in your mid-fifties to quit your job (and livelihood) and head off to the seminary. But the ministry is taking different shapes and forms these days as the church adjusts to a new place and time in cultural thinking. Jenny finds that she doesn't have to do one or the other, but can find a way to both continue her law practice and serve as a pastor in her home church. Times are certainly changing...the Spirit is doing a new thing!
Andrea and Pastor Carolyn explore one of the places God often meets us: grief and suffering. In her search to understand her sister's childhood death Andrea finally glimpses a gentle god, not the one she grew up with. This God invited her into a whole new life of faith and understanding through her medical career and the courage and determination to pursue a path she never dreamed would be open to her.
Andrea and Bridget look over their autobiography now for places where they can see that God was assisting, nudging, healing, strengthening or calling them gently in one direction or another. God is so much gentler with us than we are with ourselves! Pastor Carolyn encourages some informed reflection on the Holy Spirit.
How do we look for God in our life stories? If you trace God's priorities in scripture it becomes easier to see the traces of God in our lives. Bridget and Andrea share their instincts about how God has helped, called, or strengthened them in their lives. Bridget does a nice job of looking at the differences in mainline theology and fundamentalist theology. Andrea has classic experiences of finding God in the midst of her suffering.
Two young women share their story of growing up in the church and finding themselves nudged to attend the Lutheran seminary, much to their surprise. One, Bridget, is now an ordained pastor in her first year serving an ELCA church. The other, Andrea, is a hospice nurse who is attending Lay School of Theology after breaking away from a very conservative denomination where women had no voice or vote.
Episode One is a brief explanation of what motivated us to start this project, the Biblical foundation for it, and an introduction to the voices of people you will hear in various episodes. Voices of the Mainline is a series of conversation with people participating in church and why they do. The people in the first ten episodes are "younger" and range from 28 to 55. They are both Presbyterians and Lutherans. Welcome again!
This first episode is only Pastor Carolyn Mowchan introducing herself and the scope of her project. She is a pastor currently serving in Duluth, Minnesota.