The Weight Oxford University United Methodist Church

The Weight might be on a brief summer break, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to listen to! We’ve got five seasons of excellent conversations, and Eddie and Chris offer their recommendations for re-listening to a few from this season. (They also share some life updates and a little advice at the end.)We hope y’all have a wonderful summer, and we’ll see you in August with all new episodes of The Weight. Resources:All of our episodes can be found at theweightpodcast.com, on Sp...

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”--1 Corinthians 13.13This well-known, often quoted Bible verse is probably one you’re familiar with. But today’s guest, Dr. Luther Smith, wants to mix things up a little and get us to think like this: The greatest of these is hope.Dr. Luther Smith is Professor Emeritus of Church and Community at Candler University (and one of Chris’s former professors). He earned his Ph.D. from Saint Lewis University and his...

No matter what your age is, you’re probably caught up in the 24-hour news cycle, the internet, social media, and doom scrolling. You probably spend a lot of your day with a screen in front of you, and that affects us socially, emotionally, and mentally. Today’s guest gives Eddie and Chris some insight into what the church can offer in our media-saturated world.Dr. Angela Patterson is media psychologist, writer, and researcher with Springtide Research Institute, nonpartisan nonprofit organizat...

Dr. Scott Morris is a medical school graduate and an ordained United Methodist minister who believes that healing the sick is a vital part of the Christian faith, and he lives that belief out in a very real way in Memphis, Tennessee through Church Health. Church Health is a faith-based, not-for-profit healthcare organization that offers whole person, comprehensive health care to people facing social and economic difficulties. No one should go without critical healthcare because they can’t aff...

Dr. Corneilus Plantinga has a few words to say about gratitude, and it may just change your life--physically, spiritually, and emotionally. A habit of gratitude can lower your blood pressure and help you sleep better. But the habit of gratitude also ties us together collectively, in community and in church. When there is genuine appreciation of an act of kindness or a loving word, the memory of that “thank you” is a cushion when disagreement tries to divide us. Gratitude for God’s gifts remin...

Dana Trent is an author, professor, and preschool drug dealer, and now she’s part of the three-timers club on The Weight. She talks to Eddie and Chris about her new book, Between Two Trailers, how to live in the present with a past that continues to live with you, what it means to go home when you feel like you can’t, and how important personal connections are when you’re trying to work through trauma.Dana is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and an assistant professor in the Humanities Depa...