Coffeepot Fellowship Podcast

Sarah Arthur returns to the podcast as "A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L'Engle, Author of A Wrinkle in Time" is arriving in stores. We laugh our way through episode #140 and back at episode #59. Sarah is the author of numerous books and resources on the intersection of faith and great stories. Her first book was the best-selling youth devotional, "Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey through The Lord of the Rings," followed by the award-winning "Walking with Bilbo: A Devotional Adventure through The Hobbit." She's also the editor of the literary guides to prayer series by Paraclete Press, including "Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide" (Jan. 2016). Sarah is a graduate of Wheaton Collegeand Duke University Divinity School, she speaks around the country on the role of stories and imagination in spiritual formation. She lives in Lansing, Michigan, with her young sons, Micah and Sam, and her husband, Tom, pastor of Sycamore Creek Church. A Light So Lovelyincludes interviews with people who knew Madeleine, including movie producer Catherine Hand and Madeleine's granddaughter, Charlotte Jones Voiklis, who wrote the book's foreword. Sarah also interviewed other writers/thought leaders including Phillip Yancey, Jana Riess, Sarah Bessey and Madeleine’s longtime housemate Barbara Braver. Be sure to look into Sarah's website for fall 2018 activities, including a podcast, in honor of Madeleine's would-be 100th birthday. Use the hashtag #mymadeleinemoment to share your favorite Madeleine moments on social media. Also keep Sarah in the loop with @holydreaming #alightsolovely! Lastly, Sarah has just finished her first novel which she has been working on for 15 years! She is currently shopping it to publishers, so look for that in the future. LINKS: Sponsor: United Faith Leaders alightsolovely.com #121 Coffee with Deanna Thompson #136 Coffee with Patrick Beaulier Madcap Coffee Michigan State University Books by Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle In Time The Glorious Impossible The Crosswicks Journals: A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, The Irrational Season, and Two-Part Invention Books by Sarah Arthur: Coffee with God: 365 Devotions to Perk Up Your Day Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey through The Lord of the Rings Walking with Bilbo: A Devotional Adventure through The Hobbit Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L'Engle, Author of A Wrinkle in Time

LINKS: Sponsor: United Faith Leaders Cohere Chicago Rabbi Riffs Open Dor Project ELI Talk: "Community IS Everything" Honi the Circle Maker Hebrew Union College Baltimore Hebrew University Indiana University InterfaithFamily/Chicago MORE: Founder of Cohere Chicago, Rabbi Ari Poster Moffic was ordained in 2007 from Hebrew Union College. She has an undergraduate degree from Indiana Universityin Religious Studies, a time when, she says, she got "slightly obsessed with Buddhism." She then went on to Baltimore to complete a Masters Degree in Jewish Education from Baltimore Hebrew University. She has been the Director of InterfaithFamily/Chicagoand spends her full-time rabbinate focused on supporting interfaith couples and families who are exploring Jewish life. Her husband is also a Reform Rabbi and they are the proud parents of a 8 year old and 10 year old. She is open to mall walking or meeting for a coffee and discussing how it is someone from Boston now lives in Chicago with no ocean. Rabbi Ari is usually giving people a multitude of options to try out Judaism. Here, though, she challenges us with a dynamic new way to understand Jewish community, obligation, and belonging. Watch her ELI Talkon the Coffeepot Fellowship show notes page. "Synagogues can't have the monopoly on what it means to be affiliated and what constitutes Jewish community. Synogogue is a vehicle for community for so many people. But the model isn't working for the majority of American Jews.  And so we're going to need new models and new ways to think about Jewish community, not as opposed to or against, but in addition to.  And we can tell people, We can encourage people to call their friendship groups and the people they meet up with to do Jewish things "community." - Rabbi Ari Moffic Like Ari, I (Jay McNeal) deeply appreciate the sacred spiritual moments in Starbucks with engaged couples, sharing the journey into their married lives. The opportunity to support and assist wandering souls in love through a sacred, confusing and critical time is precious. This is, of course, the story of being a pastor, helping people through sacred times. And, indeed, what time in life is not sacred? You can catch more of Ari in Rabbi Riffs!

Rev. Eric Jackson's quote from the Freedom New Hampshirewebsite jumped out at me. Perhaps it should not be outstanding that a pastor is firmly standing up for transgender people. As humans we shouldn't be surprised anymore that God surprises us with naturally occurring phenomena. It makes sense to be surprised at what the surprise isbut decreasingly so that there is a surprise at all. God has got us beat, hands down, in the creation department.  Now can we stop hurting the souls, transgender and everyone else, who are blessings in God's beautifully diverse Creation? This pastor and Hartford Seminarydoctoral student is helping all of us understand that God's love is for everyone. "I believe in the radically inclusive love of God. This love extends to all of creation--including our transgender brothers and sisters-and calls me to support transgender equality in New Hampshire. At Smith Memorial UCC we are proud to welcome ALL of God's children to our congregation." -Rev. Eric Jackson Eric Jackson received his Master of Divinity from Drew Theological Seminaryand is clergy in the United Church of Christ. Eric is currently the senior pastor at Brookside Congregational Church. When asked he said he'd apply the following hashtags to describe himself: #coffeefiend #pastor and #activist. If you or your congregation want any resources or assistance for making your faith community more multi-cultural or more multi-racial then you can contact Eric at pastor@brooksidecc.org. LINKS: Sponsor: United Faith Leaders Freedom New Hampshire Drew Theological Seminary Hartford Seminary Brookside Congregational Church

Minister Lyvonne “Proverbs” Picou is a preacher, speaker, poet, educator, creative social entrepreneur, and an Emmy-award-winning media producer. A New York City native, Lyvonne is currently a part of the inaugural cohort for the Do Good X Startup Accelerator. Do Good X nurtures Christian social entrepreneurs who wish to do good in the world. She was also recently profiled as a Millennial Womanist to Watch by The Millennial Womanism Project. Through her organization, beautiful scars, Lyvonne promotes healthy and safe conversations around religion, sex, and Blackness in order to, ultimately, address the silence in the Black Church on sexual abuse. Lyvonne graduated from Seton Hall University with a Bachelor of Arts in English Honors, Yale Divinity School with a Master of Divinity, and Columbia Theological Seminary with a Master of Theology. At Columbia, she published her thesis, The Problem with 'Father' God: Incest as a Silent Killer in the Black Church, an exploration of the praxis of using poetry to preach about sexual abuse from the pulpit. Lyvonne is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She currently resides in Oakland, CA with her husband, Brandon, and can be found on the instructor bike teaching classes at RiDE Oakland and on Facebook and Medium, as well as Twitter and Instagram (@LyvonneP). Lyvonne was kind and courageous enough to be our first podcast guest to be interviewed in front of a live audience inside of the Clergypreneursprivate Facebook group. It was awesome for me, as the host, to be able to share - in real time - the conversation as it unfolded and receive live responses with Facebook Live. Faith leaders are welcome to join at clergypreneurs.com. Members of Clergypreneurs Congregate get to give feedback and ask questions for future interviews in the extended, full interview inside the group. And, in this case, hear the very best part of the whole interview, was an original poem of Lyvonne's read by Lyvonne. All I can keep thinking is that I almost didn't ask her if she'd share a second poem with us before we said good-bye. Lyvonne, T-H-A-N-K--Y-O-U-! The poem was amazing! Thank you for speaking so much truth: here, in pulpits, everywhere. Links: Sponsor: United Faith Leaders Sponsor: Clergypreneurs Congregate beautiful scars RiDE Oakland Do Good X Twitter: @LyvonneP Instagram: @LyvonneP Squarespace Psychology Today 2-1-1