City on a Hill City on a Hill

We are happy to introduce you to the six conversations. We used this material in a workshop we did at church. We wanted to help the church have better Thanksgiving dinners after the elections. The best way to do that is to start by having better conversations, period. I hope you enjoy this and pick up the book.



NOTES:



We based our workshop and this podcast on this book:



The Six Conversations: Pathways to Connecting in an Age of Isolation and Incivility by Heather Holleman







RECAP/TAKEAWAYS




Foundation for a Good Conversation.

Be Curious

“It’s hard to be mad and curious at the same time.”





Believe the best



Express concern



Share your life

Use strong verbs.







Conversation Goals

To be encouraging



Help someone grow



Provoke marveling or awe.





Types of Conversations/Questions

Physical: Body/Space/Sense



Emotional: Feelings/Emotions



Volitional: Will/Choice



How did you come to make that choice?



Cognitive: Knowledge/Thinking



Social: Relationships/People

Tell me the story about how…





Spiritual: Biblical/Prayer










GET IN TOUCH:



We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.







MUSIC:



Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

In this encore episode, we encourage Christians to pray for governmental leaders and suggest some ways in which Christians should pray. Our church is highlighting our need to Pray First this summer. We think it is much more important to pray first than it is to worry first, vote first, or fire off a social media opinion first!







Why Should We Pray?



God is sovereign over world leaders and world events. So, it only makes sense that Christians should pray. Isaiah 40:15; Isaiah 40:22-24; Job 12:13-25







How Should We Pray?



Here are Six suggestions about how to pray for our public leaders:




Just Do It! 1 Timothy 2:1-4. Pray that they will govern in a way that will help the church be the church. Pray that we will live peaceful lives, godly, quiet, and dignified in every way.



Pray for Justice. Psalm 9:7-8



Pray God would direct them. Proverbs 21:1



Pray that God's name would be seen as holy among the nations.



Pray for God's kingdom to come and his will be done. Matthew 6:9-10



Pray for them like you would normal people. Pray for their salvation, for wisdom (James 1:3), and for endurance.

You can pray an imprecatory prayer, too. Like Psalm 35:8.










We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com. Or, leave us a voice recording at https://www.speakpipe.com/cityonahillpodcast.



Music:



Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry

The topic of today's encore episode: How did the Great Awakening affect the Revolutionary War? How is something so religious, that appeared other-worldly, stoke the fire of the American Revolution? What if religion was the engine for the rebellion against Britain?







We are delighted to have Dr. Todd Miles on the Podcast with us this week. Dr. Miles teaches theology and church history at Western Seminary. He co-hosts a podcast for the seminary called Food Trucks in Babylon. He is on Twitter at @TL_Miles. And, he is the author of a couple of books, Cannabis and the Christian and Superheroes Can’t Save You.







Dr. Miles recommended a couple of books that you may want to take a look at:



Liberty for All by Andrew Walker



God of LIberty by Thomas Kidd







Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you!



Music:



Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing



Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry

A little over a year ago, we visited with Kaitlyn Schiess for the first time. It was an important conversation talking about spiritual formation and politics. I'm sure you will find it helpful. We will bring it back for round two.







I'm confident you will enjoy our conversation with Kaitlyn Schiess as much as we did! She is our guest for what is our second-anniversary episode! It was a great way to celebrate two years of the City on a Hill podcast. Kaitlyn is a colleague in helping the church represent Jesus in its public life! We are glad she joined us today!







NOTES:



It seems like Kaitlyn is everywhere!



Kaitlyn is a writer, author, and a ThD student at Duke Divinity School studying political theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation. She graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2021 with a ThM in systematic theology.



She is the author of The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor, released with InterVarsity Press in September 2020. She has a book coming out with Brazos Press in August of 2023, The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here.



She has written about theology, politics, and culture at places like Christianity Today, The New York Times, Christ and Pop Culture, CT Women, RELEVANT, Sojourners, Fathom, and the Christian Research Journal. She has also contributed to this New York Times piece and this HuffPost piece. She wrote a chapter about political theology, Augustine, and conspiracy theories for a forthcoming Eerdmans book, QAnon, Chaos, and the Cross, releasing in May 2023.



She is a co-host of the Holy Post podcast. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram, too. She really is everywhere!







RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:




Kaitlyn reminds us that we are formed by what we repeatedly do and what we are repeatedly exposed to.



Christians believe other stories that substitute for the true gospel. Beware!



Different generations experience the intersection of church and politics differently.








GET IN TOUCH:



We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.





MUSIC:



Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

We are so excited to have Dr. David Koyzis, author of Political Visions and Illusions, with us on the podcast today! This is an encore presentation of one of our favorite conversations!







We did a book report on the Political Visions book in the past several episodes and invited Dr. Koyzis to bring the conclusion to the book. I think you will enjoy his perspective on how the ideologies in the book mimic the true gospel. He gives good advice to the church about how to think about our relationship with political entities.







Dr. David Koyzis is an experienced theologian who taught for 30 years at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, and is currently a Global Scholar with Global Scholars Canada. He has attained a Ph.D. in Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s in Political Theory at Toronto’s Institute for Christian Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Koyzis has authored We Answer to Another: Authority, Office, and the Image of God and Political Visions and Illusions: A Survey and Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies.







Dr. Koyzis blogs at http://byzantinecalvinist.blogspot.com.



He records music (!) at https://genevanpsalter.blogspot.com







Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. Spotify recently opened up ratings, so if you are a Spotify listener, please share some love! And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you!



Send Comments or Questions to: podcast@newlifenw.com



Music:



Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing



Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry

It is so ridiculous, I think, to say the last Superbowl was Mahomes vs. Purdy. However, it was commonly billed that way. They are the quarterbacks, sure, but they are not even on the field at the same time. They are technically never in a position where they are actually playing against one another. It is similarly ridiculous to conceive of our government somehow being Trump vs. Biden. We place an inordinate burden on a presidential election because we cannot see beyond an individual contest. We love to oversimplify. We need to reduce the complexity.







In this episode, we address this way of thinking, which I hope will relieve some pressure on your presidential ballot.







GET IN TOUCH:



We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.







MUSIC:



Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing