The Blue Room with MaryAnn McKibben Dana

Well folks… this totally lovely conversation was thwarted by some bad Internet. I’m sharing it with that caveat, because it’s worth a listen for some real gems. It’s such a shame because I’ve known Andrew Plocher for some 15 years and he’s one of my favorites! Kind, thoughtful, and full of integrity. We will have him on for a do-over soon! In the meantime, check out his Substack, called Second Psa...

A sermon preached on Sunday, June 21, 2026 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon as part of our faith250 worship series. Here’s the scripture text. It’s a bit harrowing to try and reflect responsibly on church and state in a sermon, but I think we avoided any obvious trip wires. People seemed to appreciate the chance to reflect on these matters in advance of the United States’s 250th, so I’m get...

In celebration of the publication of Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life , and to explore the themes of the book, our Off-Script series continues! So grateful to Amy Julia Becker for this conversation, and for her ongoing work. Here’s a great overview of her work on belonging. And here’s the episode I mentioned of her podcast, Reimagining the Good Life, about how we can design a mor...

A sermon preached on Sunday, June 7 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon VA. The audio gets a little weird at the very end; sorry about that! Here’s the scripture text. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit maryannmckibbendana.substack.com/subscribe

In celebration of the publication of Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life , and to explore the themes of the book, our Off-Script series continues! I was so excited to chat with Zed Zha, MD (she/her) , creator of the Ask the Patient community and author of Consented: A Doctor’s Call to End Medical Violence and Reclaim Patient Autonomy , which came out on the same day as my book. In a...

A sermon preached on Sunday, May 17 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon VA. Here is the text. Thanks for listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit maryannmckibbendana.substack.com/subscribe

In celebration of the publication of Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life , and to explore the themes of the book, our Off-Script series continues! Joelle Henneman, United Methodist pastor who writes at TransPreacher , was a fantastic conversation partner. Here’s a recent sermon and her website . Thank you Joelle! Thank you for your work of justice and authenticity. This is a public...

In celebration of the publication of Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life , and to explore the themes of the book, I’m excited to launch Off-Script, a series on Substack Live/podcast series. And our first guest was a rockstar! Joseph Yoo is a pastor and writer who went big on social media with his wonderful video about his son . I think it resonated with so many people because he exp...

A sermon preached on Sunday, April 19 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon VA. Here is the text. Thanks for listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit maryannmckibbendana.substack.com/subscribe

Pete Nunnally, pastor of Water and Wilderness Church and mega social media star (at least as far as religious types go) was gracious to invite me to chat on Instagram Live about writing, the spiritual life, our respective books, and how the world can be made new. Just some tiny topics… Here’s the video/audio for your enjoyment! Pete is a great hang. Pete is the author of the upcoming Catching Hope...

This may have been my (MaryAnn’s) favorite episode so far. The Pitt is a hyper-realistic peek into a trauma ED, with lots of wisdom and heart—deserving of its many accolades—and it was awesome to hear from Amy Snow and Christine Vaughan Davies, two chaplains with deep experience, about the work chaplains do in all kinds of hospitals and contexts. As mentioned at the end of our conversation, April...

Amaze amaze amaze! Directors Lord and Miller hit it out of the solar system with this creative and heartfelt adaptation of Andy Weir’s warm-hearted and science-stuffed novel. The conversation explores Ryland’s bravery, the power of friendship, the nature of sacrifice, and more. Articles referenced in our conversation are here and here . The Jamar Tisby book mentioned is called The Spirit of Justic...

This. Was. So. Fun! Three days and counting until we get to see Andy Weir’s charming, funny, optimistic, humanity-affirming book brought to life on the screen. In this conversation we recommend some space fiction and discuss our favorite Project Hail Mary themes, our hopes for the film adaptation, and more. See you March 30 when we take up the movie version of Project Hail Mary. See you at 3 p.m....

A sermon preached at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon VA on March 8, 2026. Text: Mark 6:32-44 Note for context : this reflection was a lead-in to the first of three all-church conversations we’re having as part of our pastoral transition process. Thank you for listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit maryan...

What a joy to talk about Ryan Coogler’s masterpiece with Marlon Weems and Edward Goode ! There’s so much we didn’t have time to cover, but I loved the conversation. Check out Marlon’s Substack; he’s working on an article about the film (we’ll update this post with the link when it comes out). Coming up on PCPH! Mark your calendars for TWO Project Hail Mary conversations ! We’ll take up Andy Weir’s...

A sermon on John 2:11 , preached at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon VA on Sunday, February 22. Water into wine! Thanks for listening. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit maryannmckibbendana.substack.com/subscribe

A sermon preached at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon VA on Sunday, February 8. Here’s the scripture text. AI, the Epstein files, and the Walk for Peace. A little of everything in this one. Thank you for listening. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit maryannmckibbendana.substack.com/subscribe

Pluribus, Season One! It’s the mark of a good show that we talked for almost an hour, going deep on a number of themes in the show, and somehow didn’t get to some major plot points, like how the Others get their sustenance. I’ll just leave it at that. But we did talk about the show as commentary on AI, what makes a human a human, and the appeal of complex characters. Plus: how would we preach this...

We have come to the end of our journey (for now) through Middle Earth! After our first week of “Will it Preach?” and our second week of the “BIG Themes of the Stories” we come to “Category Crowns” - discussing a bit more light-hearted topics like: * Best/Worst change from books to movies * Which “villain” do you like the most, and which “hero” annoys you? * Best music cue * What meal (or scene?) t...

Mae govannen , friends! Haha so… MaryAnn could not see anyone logged in to this conversation due to some quirk of Substack, but they were there! We ran the themes of Lord of the Rings through Ed’s standard signoff on his posts: GPLHJ, or Grace Peace Love Hope Joy. Book recommendation: Everything Is a Story by Kaitlin Curtice And here’s the quote MaryAnn read from Return of the King: But even as ho...

The Oscar nominations are out and Sinners dominated, Pluribus continues to confound and intrigue audiences, and we are… spending three episodes talking about movies that came out 25 years ago. What can we say? The nerdery must flow. And the themes in the Lord of the Rings are RICH. In honor of the LOTR trilogy’s re-release in theaters, we begin our series with a few rounds of “Will It Preach?” in...

Thanks for joining us this afternoon! Before we dive in, here’s the audio of Dr. King reading Letter from Birmingham Jail , as Ed referenced. And there’s a lot of videos of Willie Pearl Mackey King telling the story of putting together the letter from the scraps of paper Dr. King had available while in the jail, and her work for civil rights in general. Here’s one. As for pop culture that was savi...

A sermon from Sunday, January 11, based on Genesis 1, as part of Trinity Presbyterian’s latest worship series based on Michael Adam Beck’s book Never Alone: Sharing the Gift of Community in a Lonely World . The “seven stuff” I mentioned comes from this source . Thanks for listening! If you’re listening on Substack, you can also access the Blue Room from the podcast app of your choice. If you appre...

Thank you to everyone for tuning into today’s Pop Culture Pastors Hour! What a rich film… We went everywhere from Christian Nationalism to Rick Astley, and there was stuff we didn’t even get to! A few items referenced: Christ and Culture (book), H. Richard Niebuhr Disobedient Women (book), Sarah Stankorb The Four Shapes of Transformation , Richard Rohr See you in January, for discussions of Plurib...

Here’s last Sunday’s sermon on Matthew 2:13-23 . Synopsis: Herod was an awful dude who killed lots of people and if anything, the scripture undersold what a brutal paranoid tyrant he was. But all is not lost, because maybe it also undersold the other side? Hat tip to Howard Thurman’s The Work of Christmas , and Carrie Newcomer’s story about Christmas in the bar at 2 a.m . Also my friend Chris Tutt...