Reimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia Becker

I'm more or less ready for Christmas. But am I ready for Jesus? Not really. I'm not ready for Jesus to show up, and perhaps that's exactly as it should be. Today on the podcast we’re talking about how Jesus is ready to enter my life—just as it is. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Today’s reflection comes from a time when our kids were little, our cat was alive, and I was in a hard spot personally. A time when I needed to learn about expecting God to show up not only when our life is in crisis but also in the every day. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Today I look at a passage in the Bible that relates to George Bailey, and to Zechariah, and to me, and to all of us who think we need impressive resumes and accomplishments in order to prove our worth to the world. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

In today’s episode I give you a glimpse of when I was grumpy for a few years. Maybe not every day. But most days. And at the core of my being, deep inside my heart, lay a stone, a slowly growing bitter stone of resentment and self-pity. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

In today’s episode, I look at Mary’s song and an uncomfortable truth about who God is. Yes, God is love. But what God’s love looks like as it enters a world filled with injustice and abuse and oppression isn’t always what we expect. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

What does it take for Mary to have hope? It takes God’s word, sure. But it also takes Elizabeth. It takes another person to affirm God’s work in Mary’s life. Today I look at how we access hope as we speak the truth of God’s promises into one another’s lives. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

In today’s episode I focus on Mary’s humanness. We know Mary was frightened. We know Mary was confused. If Mary could come to God with fear, with confusion, with her real self, well, so can we. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

“I am the Lord’s servant.” Mary said "yes" to both shame and glory, writes poet Luci Shaw. In today’s episode I talk about how in saying yes to God’s invitation to bear love in this world, we are willing to endure misunderstanding at best and abuse at worst. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Mary had good reasons to be “greatly troubled.” She was young, unwed, and about to learn that she would be a teenage mother. I have never had such reason to worry, but worry has plagued me still. Anxiety comes up throughout the Bible, and over and over again God offers peace. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

A baby born of a virgin, a God who became a human being, a promise that the entire world will one day taste the resurrection–I have my own set of questions for each one of those claims. In today’s episode I talk about my questions and the God who keeps showing up. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Today we look at Luke’s story of Jesus. We’re invited to enter this story with our questions, but also with our love. This is a book filled with holy tension between faith and doubt, between love and investigation. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Advent involves the sorrowful expectation that God will indeed bring good news by showing up in our messy, broken lives. In today’s podcast I talk about a new tradition our family has integrated into our Advent practice that I hope has deepened our understanding of the spirit of this season. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks f...

There is nothing trite about this time of year. In today’s podcast we see that Advent is a time of sorrowful expectation, of daring to hope that Immanuel, God-with-us, is still working to make things right in this world. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

At times I want to protest the commercialization of Christmas. In today’s episode we talk about tinsel and tacky decorations and the fact that our son, when he was two years old, thought more highly of Santa than God. Part of me wants to do away with Christmas extravagance altogether. Yet from the beginning of Jesus’ life, people responded with extravagant generosity. We want to hear your thoughts...

A simple statement from our son makes me realize I haven’t talked much about other religions with our children. This episode gives you a chance to eavesdrop on our conversation. Can we honor each religious tradition without pretending they’re all the same?  We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Today we’re reading Matthew 1:22-25, which describes Joseph and Mary’s preparations to welcome Jesus as their son. Preparing room means clearing out space. Cleaning up. Moving the detritus into the basement. How do I prepare room for Jesus on a spiritual level? We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Today we’re reading Matthew 1:18-21, where the angel implies that Joseph is afraid to take Mary home as his wife. I’m grateful we aren’t asked to eliminate fears in order to claim hope. Rather we are invited to bring hope and fear in a mixed up jumble to Jesus. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Today’s podcast comes from Matthew 1:1-17, which might seem boring because it’s a genealogy, but Jesus’ story starts here, and this list of names is important. It reminds us that Jesus—the one who in just a few verses will be named God with us—came to us in a body. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

I’ve written often about Advent and Christmas. A few years ago I gathered many of those thoughts into an ebook so they could accompany the Biblical stories of Jesus’ coming and birth. This year, I am reading that ebook out loud. To you. One day at a time. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Today’s episode gives a sense of our journey together this Advent season. We’re preparing for love to show up on Christmas morning in the form of a baby, but we’re also longing for love to show up in the midst of the everyday stress and joy of the holiday season. We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening! 

Listen now to get a sense of season one of the Love is Stronger than Fear podcast. Amy Julia Becker introduces a series of reflections about God showing up in the midst of the everyday life of eating, drinking, and doing too much, and experiencing love and grace through it all.  We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text! Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!...