Music, Hope, Word, Prayer

A Conversation (18:57) on Addiction and Supporting those who have lost individuals to overdose. International Overdose Awareness Day at East Brentwood Presbyterian Church (8/31/2025). GraceTable @EBPC. ebpctn.org . To listen and watch this conversation on our YouTube Channel. 

Lent is a season that invites us to be intentional.  How will you grow closer to God and your neighbor? It is a time of strength training: what will you do to strengthen your faith? In this special  Ash Wednesday episode we look at the space in our lives between our good intentions and our actions. This 24 minute episode includes scripture, liturgy around the imposition of ashes and a contemplativ...

In today’s podcast, Pastor John brings in Becky and Noah Walton as conversation partners, who, when asked what people who are struggling need to hear, responded with, “I SEE YOU.” Here’s what else Becky shared: “My son is an addict—the hardest words I’ve ever spoken. I want to take this opportunity to speak to caregivers and anyone who feels lost and invisible, to say ‘I see you.’ I feel your pain...

For today’s podcast, we will listen in on a conversation between Rev. John Hilley and Chris Peterson, the new youth director at East Brentwood Presbyterian Church. This conversation took place on Epiphany Sunday when we once again heard the timeless tale of the Magi from Matthew 2:1-12. Chris’s journey in faith in some ways is similar to the story of the Magi. These wise travelers from the East di...

Rev. John Hilley focuses on the text from Ruth 1 and Ecclesiastes Chapter 4: 9-12. These texts are more frequently read at wedding occasions than in the lead-up to Christmas but their message is relevant: the daring belief that our lives are better intertwined. In today’s message Pastor John looks at the lives of one Tennessee family against the backdrop of the story of Ruth and events currently h...

Today we have a special edition of the podcast for you as we bring you inside the sanctuary of East Brentwood Presbyterian Church from last Sunday’s service  remembering. Charlie Strobel, founder of the Room in the Inn.  Room in the inn is a terrific program that gives churches the opportunity to provide the homeless men of Nashville with a hot meal and a place to sleep. East Brentwood is one of m...

Are you a parent struggling with a youth or young adult who is suffering from substance addiction? This episode features Yarnell Beatty, a Tennessee parent who lost his oldest son, 24-year old  Alex, to a drug overdose in 2016.  Yarnell discusses the dos and don’ts for parents wishing to pierce the anger that  substance use disorder and mental health challenges can impose on families and how to pr...

Would you cast your net again if you had already been fishing for hours with nothing to show? That’s a question that might make one think deeply about the habits in our everyday lives. This week John brings us into the story of Peter, who continued to cast his net though he had caught nothing all night long. John acknowledges in this week’s episode that much like Peter, we also encounter moments w...

If you could give your faith life a “tune up,” what would you focus on? What would you hope to strengthen or improve? Ash Wednesday has historically been seen as the beginning of 40 days of deprivation - of giving up - chocolate, wine, choice words, social media. In today's episode, Pastor John Hilley asks what you might take on rather than give up this Lenten season. Music director Nate Stra...

It’s a new year so it’s fitting that today Pastor John is discussing what rituals and habits we hope to establish in 2024. Rituals mark sacred turning points in our lives. They can help us make meaning of celebrations, losses, and transitions.  So let's evaluate our lives, make plans and goals, and live this new year with biblical diligence, remembering that, "The plans of the diligent l...

When was the last time you were truly amazed? Amazement and awe are often precursors for joy. Pastor John has been thinking about how we can incite more joy in our lives and what are the needed practices. For starters, it helps to pay attention, which he wasn’t doing when Pastor John first met Major General (Ret. Marines) Charles F. Bolden , former astronaut and NASA Administrator. In this episode...

In this brief podcast the week before Christmas, Nate and John point you to a couple of treasured moments that will help you make room for joy this week. Here are links to the treasures they mention: Nate’s 12/17 Holiday Concert ; Winter Solstice Night Reflection (Liturgy for the Weary); Mary’s Magnificat ; Christmas Eve at our Barn, 3:30 p.m.; Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, 5:00 p.m.

How easy is it for us to seek our isolation or seclusion in response to the presence of an event that makes us feel weary? No need to worry,  Luke 1:24-45 provides a clear picture of what that looked like for Elizabeth, as she had been unable to bring forth a child into the world. Check out this week’s episode of Music, Hope, Word, and Prayer with John Hilley as he dives into seclusion as a respon...

“Can joy and pain coexist?” Is the question asked as we approach the 2nd Sunday in Advent.  On this week’s episode of Music, Hope, Word, & Prayer, John Hilley invites Coordinator of Faith Formation, Ajené Holmes, into discussion surrounding the coexistence of joy with pain.  As the 2nd Sunday in Advent approaches during a season characterized by joy but also pain for many, how do we maintain o...

“Jesus in a new light,” is how some might describe the representation of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46 .  On this week’s episode of Music, Hope, Word, & Prayer, John Hilley invites Coordinator of Faith Formation, Ajené Holmes, into a discussion around Jesus’ requirement of us to do unto the ‘least’ of us as we would do unto him. As the first Sunday in Advent approaches during a season characterize...

the eye within the eye” was advice given to John Muir, famous naturalist and early advocate for wilderness preservation upon hearing the news of his temporary blindness at the age of 28. Thanks to my friend Ken Kovacs for pointing me to James Hunt’s book on John Muir ( Restless Fires) and for making a connection between young Muir’s religious experience and All Saints Day which the church celebrat...

Music, Word, Hope and Prayer welcomes The Rev. Dr. Mike Gregg to talk about generosity. Mike is a pastor in the Baptist Alliance and now a therapist at The Pastoral Center for Healing on the campus of East Brentwood. This episode is a broadcast of his talk “Rich Towards God” based on Luke 12:13-21 about the man who tore down his barns to build bigger barns. We know how to build bigger and bigger s...

Every once in a while we come across terrible stories in Scripture. Matthew 22:1-14 is one such story. Jesus tells a story about a wedding banquet that went awry and of a King who has hardened his heart with violence and expulsion. All too often, we hear traumatic stories of humans causing tremendous violence. In this episode Pastor John visits this hard to stomach passage from Matthew’s Gospel an...

In this podcast, Rev. John Hilley explores Luke 24:13-27. It is there in verse 20 when the disciples said: “we had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel.”  There’s a crucial line in there that’s easy to miss. Will Willimon pointed it out. “We had hoped.”  In this passage, Jesus seems to be coming at the disciples. We had hoped. Is Jesus anti-hope? No, but in the exchange the risen Jesus has w...

We would like to think that the church can be a safe space. Many want, and with good reason, call into question whether it can be such a place – a place that is safe. After all, its history is uneven. It has a history of the gifts and leadership of some being celebrated denying others. Such as women. This episode affirms there should be no gender bias in the church when it comes to recognizing the...

We’ve been thinking a lot about this space we call “Church” and what makes it a welcoming place; an interesting place; a safe space. And that has meant asking ourselves can it be ? Because it seems a lot of our church cousins are more interested in being anti- than pro- in their dialing up anger against the LGBTQIA+ community. That has been an extremely hard and painful pill to swallow for people...