Tripp Fuller Tripp Fuller

Welcome to the Surviving the Bible podcast. This is a lectionary podcast not just for pastors or preachers, but for Bible nerds everywhere. Each week Christian and Amy Piatt (from the Homebrewed CultureCast) and Tripp Fuller (from the Homebrewed Christianity podcast) explore the bible readings for the week. You’ll get three different perspectives on three different texts to help you survive reading the Bible.

This week is Trinity Sunday.

Christian takes a look at Isaiah 6:1-8, John 3:1-17, and Romans 8:12-17. He explains why he hears more of a Pentecost message in these texts, gives us an overview of the themes in this Sunday’s texts, how we are similar to Isaiah and what Isaiah can teach us today, not second-guessing God, leaving the ways we have viewed ourselves and others behind to make room for new life, the rebirth of Isaiah into a spiritual calling, Jesus inviting people into a similar calling, Paul’s explanation of the need to transcend the cycle of inheritance, and the breaking down of divisions and hierarchy.

Plus, the connection to the Pentecost message, being mindful of our role as path-forgers, not gate-keepers, and tearing down barriers between humanity and the divine.

Amy tackles John 3:1-17 and shares what Michaelangelo’s process for sculpting has to do with Nicodemus, the important context for John 3 which a lot of people overlook, what it means to be born of the Spirit, the uncertainty of God’s Spirit, and the shame that prevents us from being reborn.

Welcome to the Surviving the Bible podcast. This is a lectionary podcast not just for pastors or preachers, but for Bible nerds everywhere. Each week Christian and Amy Piatt (from the Homebrewed CultureCast) and Tripp Fuller (from the Homebrewed Christianity podcast) explore the bible readings for the week. You’ll get three different perspectives on three different texts to help you survive reading the Bible.

This week is Pentecost.

Tripp kicks of with a look at Acts 2:1-21. First, he gives some context for the text (just in case you haven’t been using the Acts texts the past few weeks), then explains how the Kingdom of God has always been the agenda of the Spirit in Luke-Acts, the ongoing investment of the Spirit in the world, how easy it is to get distracted by what Pentecost has come to mean, and our responsibility to the Spirit’s mission. Plus Tripp helps us not to get too freaked out about speaking in tongues by giving us 4 observations about glossolalia that help us in these divisive times.

Christian takes a different look at the Pentecost moment. He shows the similarities between Pentecost and the Last Supper, the openness of the disciples to something from God happening to them, the commissioning of reconciliation, and Christian shares his own Pentecost moment.

Amy is focusing on the Holy Spirit in John 15:26-27 and 16:4b-15. She draws upon 4 of her favorite sources for articulating the experience of and relationship to the Holy Spirit: Romans 8, her daughter Zoe, Richard Rohr, and Frederick Buechner, and asks – will we allow ourselves to be moved by the Spirit, or not? will we allow it to become a part of who we are?

Welcome to the Surviving the Bible podcast. This is a lectionary podcast not just for pastors or preachers, but for Bible nerds everywhere. Each week Christian and Amy Piatt (from the Homebrewed CultureCast) and Tripp Fuller (from the Homebrewed Christianity podcast) explore the bible readings for the week. You’ll get three different perspectives on three different texts to help you survive reading the Bible.

This week is the seventh Sunday of Easter.

Both Amy and Christian take a look at John 17:6-19 this week, but from very different angles.

Christian focuses on the moment when Jesus asks the gospel messengers to be sanctified and asks: what’s so special about this moment? He talks about the challenge to dualistic thinking, the inseparability of the physical and the divine, where we seek wisdom, meaning, and purpose, accepting our divine role, and what happens when we treat morality like the spoon in the Matrix.

Amy focuses on the very human experience of longing for wholeness. She talks about our desire of being one with God, the struggle we all have for wholeness, living out our unity with God, the highest calling for followers of Jesus, and the obstacles to unity and wholeness. What will make us whole? How do we grow into belonging?

Welcome to the Surviving the Bible podcast. This is a lectionary podcast not just for pastors or preachers, but for Bible nerds everywhere. Each week Christian and Amy Piatt (from the Homebrewed CultureCast) and Tripp Fuller (from the Homebrewed Christianity podcast) explore the bible readings for the week. You’ll get three different perspectives on three different texts to help you survive reading the Bible.

This week is the sixth Sunday of Easter.

Tripp looks at Acts 10:44-48 and explains why this is such an important turning point in the life of the church. First, he helps to set the stage for this text by looking at Peter and Cornelius – the first conversion of a gentile who didn’t have to convert to Judaism first. Then, he gives us some historical context for the inclusion of gentiles and how it disrupted the life of the church, discusses how the Spirit of God moves against tradition and the assumptions of the community (including privileged assumptions about who is included), and what Peter’s courage can teach leaders today.

Christian gets psychological this week. The theme? Growing up and living into the fullness of what we are made to be. Jesus is modeling and inviting us into this life.



* what defines being a grown-up?

* why are we pursuing an obedience to God in the first place?

* what is our motivation?



Christian also talks about the shift from from focusing on bettering ourselves to improving others and the world, self-actualization, meta-cognition, and learning to introspect.

Amy asks if it is possible to be a true friend and not also a servant. In John 15:9-17, Jesus calls his disciples friends. Amy looks at what is significant about this, the both/and of friendship and service, the challenge of true friendship in our society today, the covenant of love, and the consequences of choosing to live a life of love.

 

 

Welcome to the Surviving the Bible podcast. This is a lectionary podcast not just for pastors or preachers, but for Bible nerds everywhere. Each week Christian and Amy Piatt (from the Homebrewed CultureCast) and Tripp Fuller (from the Homebrewed Christianity podcast) explore the bible readings for the week. You’ll get three different perspectives on three different texts to help you survive reading the Bible.

This week is the fifth Sunday of Easter.

Tripp takes a look at Acts 8:26-40 – the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. This is the first salvation story of a Gentile and demonstrates to us that the very heart of the gospel reorganizes our relationship to organized religion and tradition and pushes us into a more life-affirming stance. Tripp also offers some context for this story in the larger biblical narrative, the ways we justify excluding people, what this encounter is demonstrating, and how we sometimes serve the text before we serve the spirit.

Christian addresses 1 John 4:7-21. Love, life, Jesus, and God are all intertwined in this passage. Christian draws out some connections between this text and the gospel text, the symbols of the grape vine and branches, and the vulnerability of God and God’s dependence on us, the importance of not just saying we love, but living it out, and helps us understand what perfect love might really mean (and a brief lesson in Greek).

Last week Amy talked about sheep, and this week she’s talking about grapes and wine in John 15:1-8. Amy tells us about the importance of pruning for good fruit, how new vines are planted, and why that is important for reading this passage. Plus, she shares about times in her life when she’s been pruned, what happens when we focus on just one grape instead of the whole vine, and what it means to abide in God.

Welcome to the first episode of the Surviving the Bible podcast. This is a lectionary podcast not just for pastors or preachers, but for Bible nerds everywhere. Each week Christian and Amy Piatt (from the Homebrewed CultureCast) and Tripp Fuller (from the Homebrewed Christianity podcast) explore the bible readings for the week. You’ll get three different perspectives on three different texts to help you survive reading the Bible.

This week is the fourth Sunday of Easter.

Tripp looks at the Acts 4:5-12 story of Peter healing the lame man. He suggests that if you pay attention to the Acts passage from last week, this story becomes so much larger than how the last verse is usually understood. When understood in its context, it asks some pretty powerful questions, like, what does the word “saved” mean in this text?

It brings to the surface the problems of empire Christianity, how the healing itself confronts ritual purity laws, the sociological category of “sinners,” and challenging to the content of faith, not the form of it.

Christian gives us an overview of this week’s texts and points at some larger themes found therein. We just got through Easter – after a long slog through Lent – and yet here we are, already getting texts about death and darkness. He talks about the shift of leadership and how the sheep have now become the shepherds, disciples performing miracles and deemed a threat to the state, and how there’s so much more to Psalm 23 than just feeling comforted.

 

Amy tackles John 10:11-18. She gives us a quick lesson about sheep, explores social science about kids on playgrounds, and explains why that’s relevant. Plus, how challenging the boundaries is different than having them removed altogether, why having fewer choices might not be what we need, dismissing people as sheep, and the boundaries of the church (both the good and the bad).