The Middle Way Hannah & Eric

1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most recognizable passages in the New Testament. Used frequently as a wedding text, this seemingly romantic ode is far more far-reaching and complex than your average wedding sermon. While lyrically and aesthetically beautiful, Paul's words weren't affirming a way of life the Corinthians were already living out. It was a call to action. It was an instruction on how the community might disarm discord and move into the future. In this episode, Hannah and Eric reconsider and reclaim Paul's letter and put it in conversation with the recent birth of their son. 

Happy Christmas, Middle Way listeners. God is with us! Host, Eric Rucker, shares his Christmas Eve sermon reminding us that the light of God breaks through the darkness. 

To deprogram our prayer life is to reconsider what we have been taught about prayer and open ourselves to new ways of being in relationship with God. Jesus and scripture are not pushing us to pray more in order to please God, or check a box, or feel righteous. Rather, the idea is to move from seeing prayer as an isolated practice we do five minutes a day (or only on Sundays during a worship service) to seeing it as a way of being that pervades our entire active life.

Formal etiquette tells us we shouldn't talk about sex, politics, or religion in polite company. But here at the Middle Way, those are the things we want to talk about most!This month's conversation features a frank and fun conversation on the intersection between sexuality and spirituality. We invite two remarkable guests to discuss their personal and professional journeys of integrating these things into their life and work. 

The world we inhabit values certainty, answers, and plans. We view uncertainty as weakness. Sometimes, even, we use Jesus to create a fortress that keeps chaos out. We use the Bible and our Christian tradition to uphold an iron curtain of certainty. But what if, as people of faith, the point is not to grow in certainty and surety? What if we are meant to grow into a healthier relationship with uncertainty? This month the Middle Way explores all the things we don't know yet, how to hold our unknowing compassionately, and how uncertainty can lead to generativity.

The Middle Way kicks off Season 2 with special guest Dr. Elizabeth Corrie and a conversation on Jesus' nonviolent campaign, the difference between nonviolence and passivity, and how ordinary people can commit to nonviolent struggle.