Human Together Sarah E. Westfall

We’re wrapping up season one with Steve Bezner, and this episode covers a number of bases. Steve shares about his own pastoral journey, the communities that have formed him as well as the loneliness he can experience within the role. Sarah and Steve also chat about his forthcoming book Your Jesus is Too American (October 2024).

Sarah chats with Linnea Bergstrom about hospitality in the middle of our everyday lives. Linnea shares how she has had to rethink her approach to welcoming people into her home and a few practical ways she is learning to invite others in.

Musician and writer Amanda Held Opelt joins Sarah to talk about what place has to do with the communal life. They cover a little bit of everything: church, creative circles, online life, as well as Amanda’s latest book Holy Unhappiness: God, Goodness, and the Myth of the Blessed Life.

Sarah chats with Brandy Wallner about curiosity and compassion—two ingredients that are essential to being human together, but don’t always come easily. Brandy shares pieces of her own in-process journey of growing up with a strong sense of duty and desire to be right as well as what she is actively learning about finding comfort in questions and embracing with-ness as a way of Jesus.

Poet Grace E. Kelley sits down with Sarah to talk about goodness that grows out of the ground and out of our grief. They chat about Grace’s newfound farm life, navigating wounds and weariness, and her new collection of poetry, as the Sparrow flies.

Gary Morland joins Sarah to talk about what he has learned about the communal life through 51 years of marriage. They talk about the complexities of being committed to another person for the long haul and how small acts of love go a long way in how we relate to one another.