The Liturgists Podcast

Ruthie Lindsey talks with Dr. Hillary McBride and Michael Gungor about her experience with pain and trauma. They also discuss some things we can do during the COVID-19 crisis. Ruthie's new book, There I Am: The Journey from Hopelessness to Healing, will be released on April 21, 2020. At seventeen years old, Ruthie Lindsey was hit by an ambulance near her home in rural Louisiana. She was given a fi...

Most of us are cooped up inside our homes and are social distancing in response to COVID-19. If we live with people, this marathon of close proximity may engage our feelings and heighten both the good and bad elements in our relationships. In this episode, Lisa Gungor joins Michael to talk about fighting, communication, and how they have grown over the years. To put your event on the calendar for...

Dr. Hillary McBride, Science Mike, William Matthews, and Michael Gungor talk about COVID-19 and its impact on our health, culture, and economy. Many news sources are discussing the pandemic using the titles "Coronavirus" or "COVID-19." Here are some quick facts and terminology to help you understand what it all means: This virus is a "novel coronavirus," meaning it is a new coronavirus that humans...

Deconstruction is a common experience for people in The Liturgists Community. We all have stories of how we grew up, memories of what we were taught, and key ideas that still influence us. We may use many words to describe our deconstruction: freeing, scary, lonely, or exciting. The social cost of deconstruction can also be very high. We may feel like our social circles alienated us, or that our f...

While pleasure is usually positive and suffering usually negative, Christian culture often celebrates suffering while denigrating pleasure. Phrases like "dying to the flesh" highlight how we learn to internalize martyrdom in order to please God. Unfortunately, when we suppress our personal needs to conform to this social norm, the result can often lead to a loss of identity. In this episode, Linda...

In this episode, we highlight two poets: James Baldwin and Maya Angelou. Both were best selling authors and world-renown poets. We highlight their words as they relate to art, the creative process, and the moral responsibility the artist carries to humanity and society. James Baldwin wrestles with that tension in his speech at the University of Chicago in 1963. Maya Angelou discusses her love for...

In this episode, we focus on the words of two men who early on had two very different opinions, but at the end of their lives they were much closer together — closer than you may think. These two men were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Pay attention and hear the nuance in their words. Envision yourself transported back to the 1960's and be mindful to really hear their perspectives. Let'...

Womanism doesn't position itself in relation to masculinity, whereas black feminism and feminism specifically seek to elevate women to the status of men socially, politically, and economically; and also overcome patriarchy, sexism, and oppression. Black feminism asserts that the experience of black women places them in a unique position as they relate to patriarchy, sexism, and oppression. There i...

There is a God shaped hole in your heart, or at least that's what a white Jesus texted his friend in the tract you read as a kid. We were told we need Jesus because total depravity — our inherent defect — has separated us from God. As well, the idea of hell is a strong incentive to share the story of Jesus with others, because if we don't share those people will be tormented forever. In many commu...

An American lawyer, social justice activist, founder/executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and a clinical professor at New York University School of Law. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, he has challenged bias against the poor and minorities in the criminal justice system, especially children. He has argued multiple cases in front of the Supreme Court and helped achieve decisions that p...

An American political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. Ideologically a Marxist, she was a member of Communist Party USA until 1991 after which she joined the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. She is the author of over 10 books on class, feminism, and the US prison system. She involved herself in a range of leftist causes, including the second-wave feminist movem...

An American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist. As a poet, she is best known for technical mastery and emotional expression, as well as her poems that express anger and outrage at civil and social injustices she observed throughout her life. Her poems, and prose largely deal with civil rights, feminism, lesbianism, illness, disability, and the exploration of black fem...

An African-American professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist. Born as Cassius Marcellus Clay, he changed his name in the early sixties after converting to Islam. He won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston at a major upset in 1964 at age 22. He later refused to be drafted into the military during the Vietnam War, and was then arrested, found guilty of draft evasion, and str...

An American theologian. Best known for his black theology and black liberation theology. His 1969 book Black Theology and Black Power provided a new way to comprehensively define the distinctiveness of theology in the black church. His message was that black power — defined as black people asserting the humanity that white supremacy denied — was the gospel in America. He argued that Jesus came to...

An American activist and revolutionary socialist. He rose quickly in the Black Panthers based on his organizing skills, substantial oratorical gifts, and personal charisma. He took chairmanship of the Illinois state Black Panther Party after the party split. Because of his strong leadership, in 1967 the FBI identified him as a radical threat and began to subvert his activities in Chicago. In Decem...

Scapegoating is a common human response to difficult situations. We have a tendency to point to another group of people as the source of our world's woes. But is the solution simply saying "they" are the problem? What happens when "they" scapegoat "us" in response? In this episode, Peter Rollins and Michael Gungor talk about how we can engage in productive conflict in a world where technological a...

An American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights advocate. She published seven autobiographies, many books of essays, many books of poetry, and is credited with plays, movies, and television shows. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. In 1969, her first autobiography "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" brought her into national recognition. She worked with Dr. Martin...

An American novelist, playwright, and activist. His essays explore intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in western societies. He frequently appeared on television and delivered speeches on college campuses. His church experience significantly shaped his worldview and his writing. He accused American Christianity of reinforcing the system of American slavery by lessening the pains...

An American actor, famous for his roles throughout the 50s and 60s. In 1958, he received the nomination for best actor for his role in "The Defiant Ones" which was the first time a black actor had received such a nomination. In 1964, he won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for best actor for his role in "Lillies of the Field." In 1967 he performed in several break out films like "Guess Who's...

An American, Muslim minister and human rights activist. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925. He was sent to prison for 10 years in 1946 for larceny and breaking and entering. In prison, he joined the Nation of Islam and adopted the name "Malcolm X" because "Little" was the name of the white slave master. After being paroled, he became one of the most influential leaders in the Nation of...

An American lawyer who served as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-American justice. Before joining the court, Marshall successfully argued several cases before the Supreme Court including Brown v. Board of Education. In 1987, Marshall gave a controversial speech stating "The government [the Founding Fathers]...

An American, Christian minister and activist. He became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King is best known for advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. J. Edgar Hoover considered King a radical and made him an ob...

An American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. On December 1, 1955, she rejected an order to relinquish her seat in the colored section of a bus to a white passenger after the "whites only" section was full. Her act of defiance became an important symbol of the civil rights movement. Although widely honored for her act, she also was fired f...

Many of us feel like something is wrong with us if we are single. Some times we don't feel loved or feel unlovable. But what does it mean to be "single?" And what does it mean to be "loved?" Those don't have to be related. The way we receive love or feel love for ourselves is often tied up in how other people view us and the cultural norms we experience everyday. What if we separated those? In thi...

In 1955, at only 14 years old, Emmett Till was abducted and lynched by two white men. Till was accused of offending Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, in her family's grocery store. Regardless, in September 1955 an all-white jury found the killers not guilty of Till's kidnapping and murder. A few months after the trial, the two killers spoke publicly with Look Magazine and admitted they had murdered T...