Real Life Christianity with Deacon John Lozano: Recent Episodes
RealLifeChristianity
Real Life Christianity. This podcast is for those who seek a practical application of the Christian message into our everyday relationships, circumstances and daily life. We want to step down out of the clouds, and see how the Gospel speaks to a living faith, alive and vibrant, in our contemporary culture. Deacon John is a business man, husband, father, author, educator, counselor and Deacon. Join him as we invite the power of the Gospel into our lives.
Some of the most consoling words of the Bible involve something that gives God pleasure.
What is our dysfunctional relationship with love? And what is the still point upon which the universe turns?
In a compelling fashion Deacon John reveals three of the main ways where we meet the Risen Jesus today.
Deacon John reflects on the passion and death of Jesus on the cross and the extraordinary good news:"There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not still deeper."
Your father sees what is in secret... The holiness lost by not sharing the content of your heart.
Understanding the meaning of perfection can change everything. A very important message from Deacon John.
Deacon John explores in this Gospel the reality and value hidden within giving when your giving is inadequate...
Christianity promises us persecution. This Gospel promises us the power of perseverance and patient endurance.
Deacon John explores the relationship between Grace and Truth. What is Grace without Truth or Truth without Grace?
Are our talents just things we are good at? Or is there a deeper connection between our talents and the goodness of who we are?
What an odd church we have. Images everywhere of a man being tortured and executed through a means of state sponsored terrorism... And we sing hymns about it.
Life is unfair, and don't we sometimes think it's particularly unfair when injustice and suffering happen to those who have faith?
Deacon John tackles a very difficult gospel reading in which Jesus seemingly is very callous.
On the feast of St Augustine we ask, how is humility truth? How does humility correlate with being full alive?
How do we see each other? What would a community look like if we saw each other the way Jesus saw Nathaniel?
A Gospel passage that Deacon John did not want to preach about... Jesus' cutting words about Greed. For many modern day readers, has Greed become institutionalized? How is Greed linked to fear and what is it's solution?
A Gospel passage that Deacon John did not want to preach about... Jesus' cutting words about Greed. For many modern day readers, has Greed become institutionalized? How is Greed linked to fear and what is it's solution?
Deacon John opens up about his past conceptions of God and how his understanding of God has evolved.
When it comes to Divine mercy, there is nowhere to run, nowhere to escape to and that's a very very good thing.
A Love that is daring, vital and burning is leaving the dock, and yet a straddling between options is behavioral of us all.
Join Deacon John as he explores the intersection between a complete mystery that can be intimately known.
Deacon John reveals a concept that he has had trouble wrapping his mind and heart around for years. A message simple enough for a child and deep enough to drown in.
Where do we meet this Risen Jesus? This fundamental question is as relevant to first century Christians as it is to us today.
A father and his two sons in a story we all know. Deacon John explores this story from an uncommon angle.
How does the role of Grace in Mary's life correlate with the role of Grace in our lives?
Is a pool of water just a pool of water? Or is it a place where a child can wade and an elephant can drown? So too can familiarity look over the depth and dynamism of Christianity.
What do we do when we have something so great "The pearl of great price"?
Stay for the Q&A at the end.
Where and what are the supports that allow us to walk the Christian life instead of barely hang on to it?
The natural next step after meeting someone is to decide on whether or not you will pursue a relationship.
Please take some time to prayerfully reflect on each of these weekly topics. The focus will be on Jesus: Knowing Jesus Christ, Deciding for Jesus Christ, Growing in Jesus Christ, Sharing Jesus Christ. This is a great way to prepare for and celebrate Christmas!
Asking questions, any question, with an open mind and heart is a primary way we encounter Jesus and grow in Faith
A classic homily from Deacon John explores the narratives we develop about ourselves.
This Gospel story gives us a seemingly stupid question from Jesus which actually reveals a deeply profound way that Christ sees us.
Our modern minds often easily dismiss anything beyond our five senses. But is there more to reality than what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch? Is there a spiritual world?
The Messianic question is the turning point in the Gospel of Mark. Deacon John digs into the implications of answers to this question.
Have you ever turned on yourself for feeling bad? What does the incarnation mean for our human-ness? What liberation does it provide?
A shocking Gospel reading. "Eat my body." Really? This shocking passage begs a profound question about how we encounter Jesus.
Who am I that I would do these grand calls from God that we hear of in the bible?
Isn't that for the clergy? They're the professionals aren't they!
Our virtues and our broken parts meet our faith. What is God's relationship with all of these? What is God's relationship with our secrets?
Are we actually chosen? Are we sent? Do these seemingly dated biblical stories only have relevance in the past and not the present?
God has given us external and internal markers to show the right way. How do we cultivate the internal Markers he has provided us?
Have you ever shared with a close friend a personal fear or struggle and all they do is talk about themselves?
What does this mystery actually mean for us in our daily lives? What does this overabundance of love at the core of the Trinity have to do with us?
There is nothing we can do to make God love us more or love us less. Over time, we can only receive.
To be Grafted into Christ... To Abide in Christ... His life becoming our life and ours his. Separate but one.
In this Sunday Homily Deacon John looks at vulnerability, God's enjoyment, and the highest expression of Love.
Let's first consider how often we attach a "But" to love... "I love you BUT"... "He/She loves me BUT". From this consideration we can begin to see the gulf between conditional love and unconditional love.
How do we encounter the risen Jesus today? The story on the road to Emmaus unlocks three ways.
"Checking out" or "Stepping back" How strong and often is the desire to do this with following God? Especially when you do not feel God's presence?
Jesus loved Judas, in doing so he allowed his heart to suffer because he allowed himself to love. The suffering of the human heart is the deepest of all sufferings.
A reading to the early Christians who faced deadly persecution. This community, with God in them, found themselves doing infinitely more than they or we could imagine.
Jesus is not always nice. Some portraits of Jesus have him with fair skin, shampooed hair and an emotionless expression. But in the gospels at times he is insulting, particularly against religious leaders.
There are healthy and unhealthy expectations. The Christian life calls us to a healthy and practical expectation of things that are coming to us all whether we want them to or not.
Good things and challenging things come to us. God's love and grace comes to us. It is best to be found awake, rather than asleep, when it all comes.
In this story, religious scholars test Jesus, try to out think him, trap him and play mind games with him.
God waits, chooses, and calls people to himself. Often, unremarkable people are chosen. These people are the actual building materials of his kingdom. Who are they?
A day in the life of Jesus... The people try to "keep" Jesus and why this can not work.
Look with the eyes that want to see him. Deacon John shares a personal story about one of his earliest encounters with the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we feel inadequate, that we don't have enough for what is asked of us. The practical response is to send off these requests of ourselves. After all, we actually ARE inadequate to give sometimes.
What and how does God gives to us and what does God want to gives through us?
Grace is not controlled by us but we can walk and wait upon it. We receive in a variety of ways, sometimes, dramatically.
The bible's primacy of grace. When is it we or God who pursues and seeks?
Is it possible that the best prayer is when we're not doing the praying?
An acquaintance of Deacon John was sentenced to a long prison term for a terrible crime. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 Jesus tells us where to find him, in the distressing disguise of the poor. In this story, Deacon John goes to his most distressing setting for ministry... prison.
In this passage in the gospel of Luke, Jesus is asked how to pray. Deacon John walks us through an exercise that uses our imagination to put us in this Gospel scene.
Explore the dual nature of what is coming. How we are to receive it and how bad it is to miss it.
"This is getting the best of me" ...This is a common statement Deacon John has encountered in 2020.
In 2020, how is God revealed to us as that which does not change nor is contingent on the times or any other being? Rather, God is revealed as being itself.
St Teresa of Avila, "Let nothing disturb you, let nothing make you afraid, all things are passing. God alone never changes. Patience gains all things. If you have God you will want for nothing. God alone suffices."
"Life is ______" How would you answer this question? The true story of a child's honest answer demands that we find a solution to one of life's fundamental challenges.
Where does the unredeemed ego get it's power?
How is the unhealthy ego tamed?
How do we loosen this grip on SELF?
"A practical guide to hearing God". Deacon John digs into a chapter from his book, "Becoming a fervent disciple". In this chapter Deacon John shares many pragmatic tools for listening to God.
We have been given the Holy Spirit and it is our job to "stir into flame the Spirit you have received". Deacon John reveals some practical steps to make this happen in our lives.
The feast of the Holy Spirit - Deacon John revisits the location of his proposal to his wife to deliver a personal message about the challenges and mysteries of the Holy Spirit.
Deacon John tackles the current tragic times in our world.
What does a God of peace and love have to say to us frightened Disciples when the endemic nature of sin is so presently visible all around us?
A peculiar line of scripture in the Gospel of John reveals the irrational love of God. Deacon John touches something that does not make sense, why would Jesus pray for us? In exploring it further, he finds himself confronting a crazy God.
In this powerful episode we look at loss and the surprisingly intimate dwelling place of God.
The "farewell discourse" is the longest speech of Jesus in the bible.
The seeming contradiction that Jesus would need to pray every morning reveals one of many profound messages about the value of persistence.
Deacon John looks at the seeming contradiction of God's inactivity during times of suffering. Sourcing from Stephen Colbert, Anderson Cooper, J.R.R. Tolkien and the frequent use of storms as symbolism in the bible.
Deacon John reflects on the joy his grandchildren have in playing a game where they always LOSE... and always WANT to lose.
A meditation on being found by God.
An epidemic of Anxiety. All Anxiety comes from a single, inescapable source which afflicts all of humanity.
HOW do we allow God's grace to enter into our lives to move forward out of the trap of anxious victimhood?
The Paradigm shift: Have you MET him?
In this Easter homily Deacon John shares the story of a chance encounter with a former seminarian turned Athiest and successful engineer.
We look at the Gospels and consider what it was like to encounter the empty tomb of Jesus.
Lately people have turned to Deacon John with a consistent question, "What is God doing during this time of crisis?"
Deacon John tackles this question while the coronavirus quarantines our Easter Sunday celebration.
Despite the limitations on us in these times, opportunity is at hand!
Holy Thursday is a celebration of communion with God and each other. This year we celebrate during a time of separation.
Broadcasted from quarantine in his home office, Deacon John addresses the crisis felt around the world.
"Do you believe what you see or do you see what you believe?"
During a chance encounter a waitress offered Deacon John a statement about prayer which challenged him profoundly. He offers the same challenge to us.