Podcast Archives - Matthew Clark

Meet editor, teacher, mentor, and essayist for "Where the River Goes," Elisabeth Adams. Elisabeth chose song number four from the album called "The Last Enemy" and wrote a courageous essay about navigating many different seasons of loss and grief, faithful lament, and the ways Jesus accompanies us in and through death. The post S6:E28 – Where the River Goes: Elisabeth Adams, “There in...

Meet jazz composer and performer, educator, and essayist for "Where the River Goes," Ruth Naomi Floyd. Ruth chose song number three from the album called "Where the Morning Dawns" and wrote a powerful essay about human dignity, accompaniment in grief, hearing the blues song Jesus sings at the cross, and the astonishing joy that travels with us in the night all the way to the dawn. The post S6:E27...

Meet illustrator, singer/songwriter, mother, teacher and essaysist for "Where the River Goes," Rachel Mosley. Rachel chose song number two from the album called "Today" and wrote a wonderful essay about family life, feelings of being on the outside of things, and the surprising invitation of God to find ourselves delighted-in. Find more of Rachel's work at rachelmosley.com The post S6:E26 –...

Meet professor, scholar, and essayist for "Where the River Goes," Dr. Steven Beebe. Steven chose the first song on the album, "How Long?" and wrote a very honest personal essay exploring, in a world aching for rescue from all kinds of death, the Christian hope for all things to be made new. The post S6:E25 – Where the River Goes: Steven Beebe, “Longing for Home” appeared first on...

This week, please welcome my friend Stefanie Peters. Stefanie is an Editor at Library of America in New York City, where she has worked to preserve the writings of Wendell Berry, Jonathan Edwards, Margaret Fuller, Ernest Gaines, Madeleine L’Engle, and Ursula K. Le Guin, among others. She earned an MA in English from University College London (UK) and a BA in English from The Ohio State University....

The last week or two I’ve been on the road for some work and some visits, which means I’ve been spending more time in my camper van, which is a converted Sprinter called “Vandalf the White.” This week, I’m musing on the child’s impulse to build forts, how our imaginations are populated by the stories and people we grew up with, and the healing offered by creative processes. The post S6:E23 –...

This week, since I was down in Florida for the Mere Christians C.S. Lewis Conference and thinking about stories, I couldn’t help but remember this same time last year when Vandalf the White had a massive breakdown on the way to this same event! Stressful as it was, it turned out to be an occasion for Jesus to kind of overwhelm me with kindness. In the moment, we may not feel like we’re in an inter...

This week, in City Walls, Part 2, I’m exploring the ways we try to manage our fear of vulnerability by mitigating risk through simulated life, whether it’s by hiding behind the wall of a screen, or shaping our lives around the idol of self-protection. How might God be inviting us outside our walls to join him in a riskier, but real, loving relationality? The post S6:E21 – City Walls, pt 2 ap...

...But wait, there's more! It's still Easter, or Easter-tide, all the way till Pentecost on May 24th! So, today I'm sharing two interrelated readings on the theme of Easter Joy. One from Alexander Schmemann that I'll read, and one from Lewis's "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" read beautifully and joyfully by Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson. We may weep, yes, but since Christ has come we have a "sec...

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Well, friends, thank so much for walking through this week with me. I've really needed it, personally. In this last Holy Week episode, Amy Baik Lee will read her piece "In the space of a single word", Son of Laughter (Chris Slaten) will sing "The Gardener", Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson will read John Updike's poem "Seven Stanzas at Easter", and...

What do we do with this strange, suspended Saturday? This in-between time, this "Nondum" or "not-yet" time, after Jesus's death but before his Resurrection? For his first followers there was no certainty of what was to come. Surely, this silent Saturday is a part of Jesus's gift to us, too, right along with Friday and Sunday? I'll talk a little about that, read a poem, Taylor Leonhardt will share...

This is Crucifixion Day, Good Friday. This is a hard day, because Jesus’s brutalized face, faces us with the truth about ourselves - asking us to face him with our true faces, and discover that an unexpected new life is possible in Him. Amy Lee will share "The Blood-bought gift of loneliness", I'll sing a song, and Brian Brown will read T.S. Eliot's "East Coker IV" and close us in prayer. Join us...

It's Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" means mandate or command, and this is the day Jesus washes his disciples' feet and mandates that they love as he has loved them. The Last Supper takes place today, after which Jesus prays at Gethsemane in anguish as his disciples fall asleep. Then he is betrayed with a kiss and arrested. Today, Chris Slaten (Son of Laughter) will sing for us, we'll hear from Amy Baik...

On this Wednesday of Holy Week, I wonder how lonely Jesus felt? No one really gets what he's doing. But then Mary breaks the jar of costly perfume. She gets it somehow, and is promptly attacked by the others for her "foolishness". Today, we'll look at Mary's beautiful act, Taylor Leonhardt will sing a Mission House song, my friend Grace Craddock will read George Herbert, and Brian Brown will close...

On this Tuesday of Holy Week, I'm trying something different. I'm sharing a fictional imagining of Jesus as he camps outside Jerusalem, remembering the promises made to Abraham so long ago and how they are about to be fulfilled, finally in himself. I'll also share a song, Malcolm Guite will read a sonnet, and Brian Brown will close us in prayer. Join us every day this week as we walk our story tog...

This Monday of Holy Week, we continue walking with Jesus to the cross. So far he's wept over Jerusalem, entered to short-lived praise, and now he makes his way to the City's broken heart, the Temple. I'll share a reflection and a song, Malcolm Guite will recite a sonnet, and Brian Brown of the Anselm Society will close us in prayer. Join us every day this week. The post S6:E14 – Holy Week: M...

This is Palm Sunday. Our Story begins today with Jesus, having resolutely turned his face toward Jerusalem, entering that City to shouts of praise that he knows will quickly change to shouts of condemnation. But He knows exactly what he is doing; he has come to die. I'll read a passage from Frederick Buechner and sing a song, Malcolm Guite will read one of his sonnets, and Brian Brown will pray fr...

This week, I’m looking at a contrast the folks at Bible Project brought up between God providing Adam with an Ezer (strong delivering ally) in Eve against Cain who, in fear of vulnerability, built a wall (city) around himself. Will I trust God’s way of relationality (which requires vulnerability)? Or wall myself off like Cain? The post S6:E12 – City Walls, pt 1 appeared first on Matthew Clar...

This week, my phone randomly started playing a section of Boethius’ “The Consolation of Philosophy” (I have a very philosophical phone), and I ran across a little line about the richness of music that sent me down rabbit hole about patterns of reality and what makes for a truly rich life. Also, some fun etymology about patterns, patrons, and pater (father) showed up along the way. The post S6:E11...

This week, I’m looking at the idea that, to some degree, we all have to deal with a little storyteller that lives in our head–a storyteller who doesn’t always read the situation accurately for one reason or another. And I’m looking at a great little book about unreliable narrators: Katherine Paterson’s “Jacob have I loved.” The post S6:E10 – Unreliable Narrators appeared first on Matthew Cla...

This week, I’m sharing some thoughts that emerged from a conversation I had on a walk with an old friend last week about a phrase from C.S. Lewis’ sci-fi book Perelandra, and how we’re called to pull back the veil on things that claim to give life but are really offering us the “sweet poison of a false infinite.” The post S6:E9 – The sweet poison of a false infinite appeared first on Matthew...

This week, I’ve been looking at the big ways our lives are affected by small choices. There’s a whole field of research in Network Dynamics, in fact, that shows how deeply interconnected humans are, and how our choices—kind or cruel—make more of an impact on others than we could ever imagine. The post S6:E8 – Please, don’t mind your own business appeared first on Matthew Clark .

This week, a few conversations reminded me of a family story that my Grandmother used to tell about my sister talking to God when she was a little girl. That made me think of some Chestertonian ideas about childhood and what real maturity might look like, if good childlikeness were treasured as Jesus seems to have treasured it. The post S6:E7 – Growing up wise and innocent appeared first on...

This morning my friend, his son, and I got up before dawn to go help do a little work with some other guys at the church. Just before I left, I was looking at chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, where Paul assures us that our labor is not in vain, precisely because a literal return to physical life after death, a la Christ’s resurrection, is very much a real thing. I needed that little boost to remind me...

I’ve always had a bit of a wanderlust, and that, alongside a variety of maybe weird life circumstances, has meant that God has given me the great gift of friendships all over the country. So, today I’m thinking about how much we need good friends, how we can be creative with our lives and connections, and how it’s never too late to start a new tradition. The post S6:E5 – Come live in my driv...