A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Una Cuestión de Fe ha regresado con una conversación sobre la herencia africana dentro de la comunidad latina. Invitado especial: Eliud Serrano, Compositor y músico Eliud Serrano's sitio web For Listening Guides, click here! Got a question for us? Send them to faithpodcast@pcusa.org! A Matter of Faith website

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: Recently, the streaming platform Spotify removed the music of folk-rock singer Neil Young ( at his request ). He asked for his music to be taken down as a protest against what he describes as Spotify allowing its exclusive and top performing podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, to spread misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccination. What do you think about t...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: The recent deaths of two police officers in Harlem, NYC have reignited questions about the best ways to truly improve public safety and reduce gun violence. It also calls attention to the debate between increasing police presence and activity versus more community-driven solutions. As noted in a New York Times story, a Harlem Councilwoman who has supported...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: What makes A Matter of Faith "A Presby Podcast"? What specifically makes your podcast Presbyterian? Is it having lots of Presbyterians on the podcast? Is it because it is produced by offices in the PCUSA? What does it even mean to be Presbyterian? Whenever you start something new there is often the initial "difficulty" period before thin...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: There has been a lot of talk in the news about the current debate in Congress about voting rights laws and changing the use of the filibuster . What is going on with this and why does it matter for people of faith? I know we don't always talk about money and financial investments in the church. But the recent craze about cryptocurrency, bitcoin, and no...

Send us Fan Mail Pregunta de la semana: ¿Qué es la eco-teología? ¿Qué significa ver nuestra relación con la Tierra, entre nosotros y con Dios a través de este lente? Invitada: Rvda. Dra. Neddy Astudillo, Coodinador por la Comunidades Latinas y grupos en Latino America, GreenFaith Recursos: GreenFaith La Historia del agua embotellada The Story of Bottled Wate r GreenFaith/Viviendo el Cambio (en esp...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: There are many examples of major sports stars being stubborn about getting COVID-19 vaccines. As reported over the Christmas holidays, Antonio Brown an NFL player, is being allowed to play again after being discovered to have a fake vaccine card. And in the NBA, the Brooklyn Nets are allowing Kyrie Irving to play on the team despite their policy and the NYC...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: Orlando, up until last year was home to "The Holy Land Experience", a theme park (shocker for Orlando) where people could come and relive the life of Christ and other Biblical stories. HLE has been sold recently and is soon to be demolished, but I still drive by it on the interstate and it still turns my stomach a bit. I know that it's not th...

Send us Fan Mail Over the past several months, we have received many questions about the conflicts in Israel-Palestine. So, we decided to dedicate our Epiphany episode to our Palestinian siblings. This conversation is within the context of our Christian siblings asking for support from churches around the world. Palestinians have been calling for solidarity since 2009 when they issued Kairos Pales...

Send us Fan Mail This is a very special episode!! We are joined by our special guests Rosa Miranda, Edwin  González-Castillo, and Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri to talk about holiday traditions! And we are introducing the SPANISH EDITION to A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast, Una Cuestión de Fe! Join us on the last Thursday of each month for episodes!  Special Guests: Rosa Miranda, Associate for Hispa...

Send us Fan Mail ¡Presentamos un nuevo podcast en español! Invitado especial: Rvdo. Rafael Lemos Viana Pregunta: Sabemos que las personas tienen distintas formas de celebrar la Navidad y en nuestros países tenemos diversas tradiciones. De hecho, en algunas culturas la Navidad no termina ese día. ¿Cómo celebras la Navidad? Permission given by Eliud to use audio.  For Listening Guides, click here! G...

Send us Fan Mail SIMON AND LEE want to wish each one of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Sending love and joy to you and yours! Questions for the Week:  What is your favorite part of advent and why? Everyone has different memories of Christmas. Some memories we cherish and others maybe were difficult. What are some of your most memorable Christmas memories? Special Guest: SANTA!!! Santa&a...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: When people think of church, they probably think of a traditional sanctuary with pews facing the pulpit and a cross at the front of the room. But there are other interesting and creative arrangements and settings for church. What are some of the other arrangements that you have experienced and what did you think of them? Let's talk about people in cust...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: We live in an age where reviews, scores and ratings are really important to measure success and engagement with a product. For entertainment such as movies, games or even music, there are sites such as rotten tomatoes, metacritic, and open critic which aggregate review scores from across other individual review-oriented outlets to help provide an "over...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: Some people refer to Presbyterians as "the frozen chosen." What does this mean? The archbishop of the U.S. military has said that Catholic troops shouldn't be forced to receive the Covid-19 vaccine if they feel it violates their conscience . What are your thoughts on this? Further, do you think this is any different from a religious exemption...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Day: Everyone has their own Thanksgiving traditions. Of course, there are classics like eating Turkey, but there are other traditions unique to each family. How do you usually celebrate Thanksgiving? As Thanksgiving rolls around, we've got to talk about Black Friday. Some people really like it as an opportunity to buy stuff at a discount, while others really...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: A recent article came out in The Atlantic titled "My Church Doesn’t Know What to Do Anymore" outlining the challenges of churches trying to "return to normal". The author, a rector at an Episcopal Church states that it is actually harder to do church now in 2021 than it was in 2020, in the heart of the pandemic in the US. I find her expe...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee have a conversation with the Rev. Dr. Erin Swenson. In 1996 Erin became the first known mainstream minister (Presbyterian, PCUSA) to change sex and remain in ordained office. Special Guest: Rev. Dr. Erin Swenson Guest Question: What was your experience like maintaining your ordination credentials in the PCUSA while requesting a name change per your gender transition?...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: We've all heard the term "guilty pleasure," meaning you like something a cultural consensus says you shouldn't, like Nickelback. The older I get, the less I see the term in that definition, and the more I see it in terms of things I know are problematic, but I still enjoy them. James Bond movies and football leap to mind. The 007 franchi...

Send us Fan Mail CORRECTION: “Descended into hell” not Lord’s Prayer - but Apostles Creed. Questions for the Week: Do you believe in ghosts? Halloween is an interesting subject in the church. Some churches and faith communities swear that Christians should not celebrate or participate in Halloween. Other churches love Halloween festivities and actively hold events for it. Why do you think this is...

Send us Fan Mail **This is a special episode of A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast** Rev. Dr. Margaret E. Towner is known to many as the first woman ordained Presbyterian minister.  Margaret was ordained on Oct. 24, 1956. This month she will celebrate the 65th anniversary of her ordination. Join Simon and Lee as they have an amazing conversation with Marg. Guest Question: What was your experience...

Send us Fan Mail Question for the Week: In the past year, we’ve read alarming news on the rise of violence against women, especially during the pandemic. Reading the news about two particular femicides that occurred in Puerto Rico in the spring and news reports shared about protests happening and organizations asking for concrete actions from the government, not much was heard in the continental U...

Send us Fan Mail Pregunta de la semana: En el pasado año, hemos leído noticias alarmantes sobre el aumento de la violencia contra las mujeres, especialmente durante la pandemia. Al leer las noticias sobre dos feminicidios ocurridos en Puerto Rico en el mes de mayo y las noticias que salieron en la prensa sobre las protestas de organizaciones que pedían acciones concretas del gobierno, no se escuch...

Send us Fan Mail Questions for the Week: Language is used to shame and guilt people in modern culture. Whether it’s an app or a message, people are shamed for doing one thing or not doing enough of another. This happens in church too. How could this be changed? What do you think is the ideal length of a worship service? Personally, I like shorter services. But that's just me. Further, do you...

Send us Fan Mail **Content Warning: Contains discussion about sexual abuse & violence** Questions for the Week: So the Emmy Awards were presented this past weekend, and a record number of people of color being nominated for awards, white actors swept all 12 major acting awards. I remember a few years ago the Oscars were given flack for not having diverse nominees or winners (remember #OscarsSo...