At Sea with Justin McRoberts

On March 25, 2018, women, men and children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador began walking north toward the US border. As weeks passed, their numbers grew… and their story began to move toward the stoplight of major American News sources. Of course, the tint of that spotlight varied in shade depending on its source. For instance, the sitting administration warned of the potential threat thi...

Earlier this month, John Allen Chau was killed by members of one of the most isolated peoples on earth. According to his own journal, Chau was committed to sharing what he knew of Jesus with the Sentinelese people…  and even after being forcefully deterred several times prior, returned the island of North Sentinel on Nov 14, in some form of faith and hope that he would be received, along with his...

In her landmark book “Caring For Words in a Culture of Lies” Marylin McEntyre writes… “If language is to retain its power to nourish and sustain our common life, we have to care for it in something like the way good farmers care for the life of the soil, knowing nothing worth eating can be grown in soil that has been used up, fertilized or exposed too many toxic chemicals.” — There may not be a cu...

This is part two of my interview with visual artist and storyteller Scott Erickson. If you haven’t had the chance to check out part one, it’s not necessary to hear it first .. but… it might be helpful.. and it’s a great conversation. The second half of our conversation turns more specifically to the role of art in personal life and well as communal and religious life. We also dig a bit into the di...

My guest on this episode is long-time friend and co-creator Scott Erickson. He and I created and released the book “Prayer: 40 Days of Practice” a few years ago and his partnership has been not only enjoyable but enriching and transformative. Scott’s work as a visual artist and storyteller comes from and carves out what I consider a vital and sincerely unique place in American Religious culture. U...

Jan 1 2018 was a landmark day for marijuana legalization in CA. For many, the moment was another stumbling misstep towards even more compromised societal norms. For others, including my guest, it was a hard-fought-for moment emblematic of a culture coming to its senses and embracing a kind of inevitable tide. Either way, It was a divisive moment, charged with the energy that often comes from socia...

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. – Amos 8:11 You may have noticed a bit of a lag between episodes of this podcast. If you’ll allow… that lag as been rather intentional. I’ve not known what to say, what to this shared cultural moment of ours… I d...

You may have heard the rumor or legend or sorts that certain cultures throughout history have been at least suspicious or cautious about photography in fear that something of the soul was captured in the process. The other side of that coin is that, to many purveyors of the arts, a great portrait actually has to do just that. I came across Jeremy Cowart’s work in the weeks and months after a horri...

The question “What do you do?” or “What do you do for a living?” it’s not so much a question about work as it is a way to figure out who someone is; a question of identity. And that relationship between who I am and what I do can be tricky,… even confusing. Too closely tying my identity to my work can lead towards a dehumanized, utilitarian view of my own humanity… while drawing a thick black line...

The ways we move into and out of one another’s lives… the modality of relationship, is a matter of art. In fact, I resonate with Seth Godin’s definition of art as anything that facilitates human connection… including, in my own iteration of the definition, a relationship with one’s self. For nearly two decades Sandra McCracken has been making music that not only facilitates human connection, but h...

Welcome to episode 1 of season 3 of the @ Sea Podcast. My guest is Dominique DuBois Gilliard . Dominique is the director of racial righteousness and reconciliation for the Love Mercy Do Justice Initiative of Evangelical Covenant Church . He is also the author of Rethinking Incarceration , which is the focus of my conversation with him. We pick up as I’m finishing setup (full disclosure: we were bo...

in 1981, in Yorkshire, England, Peter William Sutcliffe was convicted of the murder of 13 women over a span of about 5 years. Police were criticized for there slowness of the investigation, the pace of which which appeared to pick up only after one of Suttcliffe’s victims turn out *not* to be a prostitute. Among those leveling criticism was Julie Bindel, who is my guest on this episode of the podc...

I’m going go out on a limb and suggest that almost every music listener, even more casual fans, has been privy a conversation revolving around the idea of “selling out.” A conversation focused on what is happening or might happen to a band who is suddenly faced with the seemingly intractable dilemma…  of making money. A conversation often highlighted by expressions and declarations of how much we...

Artists and critics have a famously contentious relationship. It can seem, at least, that the discipline of critiquing stands at odds  to the discipline of creating it. Yet, I can’t think of really any professional artist who doesn’t hold some very pointed opinions about the work they consume (as well as their own. And I’ve yet to meet a professional critic whose attention to an art form didn’t at...

Some of my guests make national news. They win Grammys or national book awards. But this will never be a podcast about what’s most popular or what’s trending, per se. My interest is in connecting you with great culture makers, because I believe what they do deepens and enriches our lives. My guest on this episode is Civil Rights professor and cultural curator Dr. Todd Allen. Since 2002, Dr. Todd h...

This Friday, June 16, the Tupac Shakur Biopic “All Eyez on Me” hits theaters. The film is  named after the rapper’s remarkable 1996 release “All Eyes On Me.” Since his death in September of that same year, conversation around and engagement with Tupac and his work has never really gone away. He’s one of those artists whose impact on his genre and culture is so deep that it still bears noting, two...

My guest on this episode of the podcast is actually my first 2-time guest, Michael Wear.  During season 1, Michael shared his unique angle on not just the idea of politics, but the human practice of politics.  As someone who has lived and worked in Washington DC with the women and men who often end up characterized as either heroes or demons, Micheal sees the human interplay and the redemptive arc...

My guest on this episode is Mark Labberton. Mark is the author of three deeply insightful books and is most likely better known as the President of Fuller Theological Seminary . Mark’s work and friendship have often been, for me, a lifeline to hope when it comes to the communal, institutional practice of faith. When it comes to a particular group of human beings, practicing religious faith togethe...

A few nights ago, I took my newborn daughter, who was crying, into the small office space where I do most of my work, including recording and editing this podcast. I deftly navigated my laptop while holding her in the other arm… and started playing through some of my favorite songs. We listened to… Sigur Ros Jonsi and Alex Josh Ritter Kendrick Lamar and some older stuff from Tribe Called Quest. I...

My guest on this episode of the podcast is hip hop artist Propaganda. I have a somewhat poignant recollection of my fist real experience with hip-hop. On April 18, 1992, I was standing in the outfield of the Oakland Coliseum with thousands of other people like me.  It was about 1 hr before Bono and U2 took the stage for a Bay Area stop of the Zoo tour and on the mic was an MC named Chuck D,. He wa...

The line between what is sacred and what some may call “secular” or “profane” is a famously difficult line to navigate. Volumes have been written and argued over regarding where that line is, how to recognize it and how to communicate that line to others. My guest on episode 11 is songwriter and advocate,  Audrey Assad . Her work suggests that the real task might not be so much finding, navigating...

My guest on Episode 10 of the @ Sea Podcast is author David Dark .  I call him an “author,” perhaps because that’s what he may be best known for. But David is also a professor at Bellmont University in Tennessee, a huge music nerd, a collector of insights and wisdom and a kind of translator between the world as it is and the world we might expect/want it to be. Rather than living in or pointing to...

Welcome to Season 2 of The @ Sea Podcast ! Before we get into the actual interviews and guests that will make up Season 2, I thought it appropriate to look back at a few of the highlights from Season 1; moments that defined the season and helped see me what the podcast was actually about. We are learning to navigate the turbulent waters in which the practice and expression of faith finds itself.  ...

My guest on episode 8 is author and journalist Katelyn Beaty . Christianity Today made Katelyn the first female managing editor in the magazine’s 60-year history. She also happened to be the youngest managing editor during that same time span.   Earlier this year, she released her first book, Entitled “ A Woman’s Place: A Christian Vision for your Calling in The Office, The Home and the World .” M...

Songwriter and artist David Bazan is my guest on Episode 7 of the @ Sea Podcast. David has been making music professionally since 1995, most notably, As the frontman for Pedro The Lion, the mind behind Headphones and most pertinent to the purposes of this podcast, as a solo artist. Among the many things I enjoy about David is that he is not a brand, nor does he aspire to be. He is an artist. He is...