Academy Podcast

The following episode draws from Marjorie Thompson's teaching at a Five-Day Academy in 2009 in Florida. Centering on the topics of prayer, listening, and God’s infinite love for us, Marjorie offers insight, wisdom, and encouragement for all who long to be prayer-full people, deeply connected to God.

This month’s episode draws from Trevor Hudson's teaching at a Five-Day Academy in October 2014 in Oklahoma. Touching on the topics of loneliness, longing, and friendship, Trevor offers insight, wisdom, and hope for all who long for deep connection with the Divine.

Our episode this month focuses on the spiritual practice of being present to your own life - especially in moments or seasons where we are tempted to find solace in avoiding or numbing our difficult feelings. Mary Earle and Roger Owens guide us toward awareness through their wisdom and personal stories that see opportunity in our fear, anger and mourning.

According to a recent study, the current U.S. presidential election has created high levels of stress and anxiety among people. Many feel polarized and desperate. As Ray Buckley and Rabbi David Horowitz explain in this month’s Academy podcast, we’ve lost sight of the fact that what we have in common is far greater than what we don’t. At the same time, they remind us that we do not have to sit passively, watching our communities in conflict. Instead, God calls us to take responsibility for the pain and tension, to get involved, and to point toward the Light. While this may seem difficult and overwhelming, we can begin to take responsibility by engaging the simple practices of silence and hospitality.

As our communities and media sources are growing increasingly polarized, it is easy to find false comfort in feeling smarter, better or more right than those with whom we disagree. This episode, featuring speakers Reverend Jerry Haas and Rabbi Chava Bahle, asks us to step outside of spaces that confirm what we think we already know and engage with the stories, questions and voices of others. We challenge you to let go of needing to be right and lean into faith and spiritual practices more concerned with creating a conversation where we all can be heard.

In Part II of this episode on Christian pilgrimage, we look at the challenge of returning from pilgrimage. Particularly during this time of Easter, how do we integrate our journey with Christ into our everyday lives? How do we share the gifts we have received with others? Dr. Loyd Allen and Reverend Jane Vennard help us consider how we can use spiritual practices such as prayer, journaling, worship, etc. to maintain our awareness of God’s transforming presence in our lives, so that together we can live into the joy of the Resurrection.

What do Valentine’s Day, the Lenten season, and the presidential primaries have in common? They all happen in the month of February, but they also have something to tell us about the need for God’s love. In this episode, we hear from Dr. Roberta Bondi and Dr. Loyd Allen. Together, they guide us in exploring the idea of pilgrimage as spiritual discipline, a way of helping us move closer to God’s image of love with us. Lent is an opportunity to take such a pilgrimage, so that we may be transformed and ultimately, transform our nation and the world.

It seems we cannot get away from choosing between who’s in and who’s out – who gets quality healthcare and education and who doesn’t. Who gets quality drinking water, and who doesn’t. Who is treated with equality and respect, and who isn’t. Who is given opportunities to thrive, and who isn’t. In this episode, we draw on talks from Trevor Hudson and Safiyah Fosua to explore how Christ calls us to follow another way. This is the way of radical friendship – God’s friendship – that encompasses a relationship with ALL people including, and especially, those who are not like us.

After a brief hiatus, The Academy’s podcast, From the Well, is back with a new host, Kristen Vincent. Our original host, Rachel Kinney, is focusing on a new career in non-profit leadership. We are grateful to her for launching this podcast and wish her well. Thanks Rachel! With episode 9, we welcome our new host, Kristen Vincent. Kristen is a graduate of Two-Year Academy 34 and an award-winning Upper Room author. You can learn more about Kristen and her work with prayer beads on her Upper Room Books author’s page: http://books.upperroom.org/book-author/kristen-vincent/. In this Advent episode of From the Well, we consider how the season reveals the depth of pain and sin in the world. Mass shootings and global issues of violence point to our continuing need for Christ’s presence here on earth. Drawing on a blog post from Johnny Sears (http://academy.upperroom.org/blog/2015/11/paris), and a talk by Robert Benson, we explore how we reached this point – by denying our worth as human beings. As we prepare for

In this episode, we examine the dynamic, winding and sometimes messy process of spiritual growth. Drawing on talks from Robert Morris and Bob Mullholland, we focus on the fluid and challenging action of believing. By shifting our attention from having the right beliefs to living in the dimension of believing, we find ourselves living in the creativity and movement of the Spirit.

Faced with recent tragedy and violence against African Americans and their places of worship, some have attempted to make sense of these events by forcing them to fit into belief systems of stock answers and certainty. In this episode, we offer an alternative to that approach by exploring the practice of lament as a creative and hopeful response to hurt and injustice featuring segments from Luther Smith and Dale Clem. Join us as we ask - how can our wails of grief and songs of mourning build the Kingdom of God?

In this episode of From The Well, we have been inspired by the Academy's upcoming Celtic Pilgrimage to Iona and Lindisfarne. In order to send them off in style, we have delved into the talks of Mary Earle and Loyd Allen from the 2014 Alabama Five Day Academy on Celtic Spirituality. Join us as we explore the engaging, enchanted and adventurous nature of Celtic pilgrimage and the prayers of blessing and protection that surround those who journey. Feel free to comment and share!

What is God's Name? What is your name in the eyes of God? On this episode of From The Well – we use stories from Ray Buckley and Rabbi David Horowitz to explore these questions and look at the power behind names. We invite you to listen and wonder with us at the God who names and the God beyond our naming. Feel free to comment and share!

The Passion Story and The Easter Celebration show us a God who journeys with us in pain and celebration. This promise of presence--embodied, incarnational, and holy--is the grace and glue of all types of spiritual journeys. Using clips from Elaine Heath and Roger Owens, this episode follows Julian of Norwich and Jacob as they find God as their companion on the road. May their wanderings and wonderings accompany you on your way. Feel free to comment and share!

We hear again and again that the Church is dying and that faith is becoming irrelevant. Taking a page from Robert Benson and Kathryn Damiano, Episode 3 of From The Well casts our changing spiritual landscape as a time of transformation and revelation. How can our community and individual faith lives shed what no longer serves them in order to find life and movement on new paths forged by Spirit? Feel free to comment and share!

Episode 2 of From The Well focuses on Lenten practices inspired by Desert Abba Dorotheus of Gaza's image of God as a Wheel of Love. Sampling segments from Amy Oden and Roberta Bondi, this episode encourages an interdependent view of God that may challenge and enhance our typical Lenten intentions.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, this pilot episode of From the Well centers around the concept of The Beloved Community. Drawing from talks by Kathryn Damiano, Luther Smith, and Jane Vennard, we focus on the role of deep listening in the work of personal and community transformation. Feel free to comment and share!