In Times Like These With Dr. Stephanie Varnon-hughes

Where is God? What is God? Is God far away from us? For many today, the spiritual journey has led to the discovery of a divine reality we already inhabit, one that encompasses and animates us all.   How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs captures for a general audience the spiritual shift away from popular notions of a God "up there" and "out there" and toward immanent and inclusive understandings of a God in our very midst.   Sometimes called "panentheism," this relational and participatory vision is rekindling the spiritual journeys of many seekers today. This God is not found in some people and some places, but in everyone and everywhere.   Pantheism: a doctrine that identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God.   Panentheism: the belief or doctrine that God is greater than the universe and includes and interpenetrates it   Learn more about the book and panentheism here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjZOHbY8Kl8   

Spiritual Playdate is on a mission. Not to delivery any ideology, but to share a method for discovery and spiritual growth. In this episode of In Times Like These, founder of Spiritual Playdate Edwina Cowell shares her methods and the movement. Parents and families are looking for hopeful, joyful, robust resources to introduce interfaith ideas and Big Questions to the children and youth in their lives. How do we answer questions about death, heaven, love, evil, or why other religious and ethical traditions are the way they are? Spiritual Playdate provides both a loose, flexible curriculum for parents and teachers, guiding questions and best practices, and fun resources. Behind the materials are a deep-seated commitment to the Golden Rule and positive interfaith engagement. If we play together, we can grow together. When we grow together, our communities are stronger.

Youth Mentoring Action Network (YMAN) is a youth-centered program that works to prepare young people for life, college, and career. It’s co-founder, Torie Weiston-Serdan is a scholar-practitioner with over 13 years of teaching and youth programming experience. She’s the author of Critical Mentoring: A Practical Guide. Her mentoring philosophy values equity, and centers young people as partners, not the recipients of mentoring. YMAN is successful by all measures—not just because their students have a 100% high school graduation rate, 98% of those students go to college, and of the students who go to college, 100% of them stay in. But more importantly, the students are teachers and partners in the program’s outcomes. In this episode of In Times Like These, Weiston-Serdan and board member Rocky Bragg help us understand the power of radical constructivism, why relationship always comes first, and how love has the power to free us.

Maryum Ali, the oldest daughter of the inimitable Muhammad Ali, has always been invested in helping others. And by “helping,” she often means “listening.” Ali has a gift for meeting people where they are and building community through authentic relationship. Her career has included an original album of progressive rap music and works as a comedian. Ali has a keen gift for insight and understanding human nature. Later, as a social worker, she worked in vulnerable neighborhoods in Los Angeles, including with youth and in gang prevention. In this episode of In Times Like These, Ali helps us understand why humility, a love of learning, and a sense of care for others—no matter who they are—are key ingredients for bringing about positive social change.

Our creation story is based on rape and violence. The story of Adam and Eve is much more than we learned in Sunday school. Widening our perspective on this powerful social story changes everything: the way we see marriage, the law, what it means to be a citizen, how we talk about sex and abuse, and how we consider healing. In this episode of In Times Like These, New Testament scholar Dr. Celene Lillie helps us understand her original research on the story of Eve—and what her rape, in early Christian literature, means for us today. Until we begin to learn and unlearn this story, we are doomed to remain caught in patterns of violence and misunderstanding.