What the Hell is a Pastor?

In which Ian joins Ethan and Jo to discuss what the General Conference might do now that they've had to delay this year's General Conference, which had been scheduled for May, and then laugh a lot together.  Have thoughts about what we said or want to send us a reading list? Email us at wtheckisapastor@gmail.com.   Like Twitter? We do too, we guess. Find us under the handle @wthisapastor...

In this episode, you will hear the voices of people who lived in another time, a distant time, a quainter time: last Thursday.  Think of it as a time capsule. Ethan and Jo share their thoughts, frustrations, and aspirations for life in the time of COVID-19.  Have thoughts about what we said or want to send us a reading list? Email us at wtheckisapastor@gmail.com.   Like Twitter? We...

In which Ethan and Jo continue their discussion about the Bible, wrestle with truth claims, and breathe a sigh of relief (which is only momentary-- there's another minisode to come out of this conversation).  Have thoughts about what we said or want to send us a reading list? Email us at wtheckisapastor@gmail.com. Like Twitter? We do too, we guess. Find us under the handle @wthisapastor. And...

In which Jo and Ethan talk through their weeks and cover some difficult ground about oppression, harm, and safety in churches.  Have thoughts about what we said or want to send us a reading list? Email us at wtheckisapastor@gmail.com.   Like Twitter? We do too, we guess. Find us under the handle @wthisapastor.   And follow us and our larger network, Disruptive Disciples, on facebook...

In which Ethan and Jo begin a multi-part mini about the Bible and its implications. 

In which Jo and Ethan discuss the difficulties of being pastors who fuck up, like, a lot. Or at least, so their brains tell them.  The piece of writing that Jo was stretching for that inspired John Wesley's strangely warmed heart is the Preface to Romans by Martin Luther. You can read it for yourself and see if it sparks a fire in your heart: https://ccel.org/l/luther/romans/pref_romans.html

In which Ethan and Jo talk about all the nuanced problems with Christianity and money. The books Ethan and Jo recommend are Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism by Kathyrn Tanner, Being Consumed by William Cavanaugh, and On Social Justice: St. Basil the Great from the Popular Patristics series . 

In which Ethan and Jo, after some substantial internet difficulties, settle in to talk about their weeks, about Wesley's three simple rules, and the practicality of transcendentals. 

In which we include a discussion that didn't make it into the full episode on purity culture, plus some post-recording discussion. Content warning: we joke a lot about sex but also have a serious discussion about masturbation, porn, and what it means to view yourself as a person worthy of good sexual attention. If those topics don't put you in a healthy headspace, feel free to skip. You are a beau...

'Tis the season of Saint Valentine, listeners, which means an episode about purity culture! Content warning: we do talk about sex. And make sex jokes. Because in the face of an oppressive paradigm, you gotta laugh a little.  You can find The Liturgists' episode about purity culture here: https://theliturgists.com/podcast/2020/1/23/am-i-impure You can find You are Your Own by Jamie Lee Finch h...

In with Ethan and Jo talk about their understandings of worship and also their code names for minisodes. It's a delight. 

In which Jo and Ethan meander through their weeks and find themselves in a discussion about Wesley, worship, and the United Methodist Church. 

In which Ethan and Jo talk about whether God suffers, process theism, and liberation theology. 

In which Jo and Ethan talk about their relationships with nearby pastors. Also, Jo shares a story about dogs and we again discuss the culture of the UMC. The dog story is more fun. 

In which Ethan and Jo talk about their theological pet peeves. 

In which Ethan and Jo discuss what it means to call someone evil and how complicated the idea can be. A warning for our listeners who might not need to hear about suicide or homophobia right now, this episode gets into those topics. Feel free to come back when you're ready (or just listen to the first 15 minutes and then peace out).  Editor's note: M Barclay's prounouns are they/them and we a...

In which Ethan and Jo discuss their weeks, which both involved administrative council meetings and other interactions with congregants.  Correction corner: The Bonhoeffer essay that Ethan references towards the end of the podcast is The Church and the Jewish Question , not The Church and the Jewish Problem as Jo guessed. PDFs are out there for those who don't want to buy a collection of Bonho...

In which Ian joins Ethan and Jo to continue their conversations about the Protocol. Check out The Protocol, Part 1, if you haven't already! 

In which Ethan and Jo start by talking about their weeks, but are quickly taken in by a discussion about the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation (you can see a quick and dirty infographic about it that Jo helped create here ). Things get heated and we earn our E for Explicit rating. 

In which Ethan and Jo talk about the Christmas season, their resolutions for the New Year, and the pitfalls of dealing with past congregational trauma. 

In which Ethan and Jo discuss yearly Christmas pageants and how to decide whether a ministry is vital or not.  In this week after yet another anti-Semitic attack has ravaged our Jewish siblings, we'd like to supplement our Anti-Semitism Warning with a twitter thread by the Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg: https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1211624621591666689?s=20. Give her a follow on the social medi...

Come for the Guy Fieri story, stay for the twitter recs.  Jo is @aj_schwlf, Ethan is @PastorEShearer, and the podcast is @wthisapastor. Check out who we're following for our recommendations.  Here's the article that Ethan is referencing at the beginning. It's worth the read.  https://catapult.co/stories/love-peace-and-taco-grease-how-i-left-my-abusive-husband-and-found-guy-fieri-by-...

Settle in, friends. In this episode, Ethan and Jo talk about their weeks (weddings galore!) and then get into it, taking some theological side roads in order to land on the minefield that is a pastor's mental health. Listen, if it wasn't important, we wouldn't give our time and attention to it. As you listen to this, again, longer-than-usual episode, see if you can find the one grammatical mistake...

In which Ethan and Jo have a longer-than-usual conversation from the long-distant days of November about why Ethan thinks being a pastor is first and foremost a job and what it means to worship and tend to our spiritual selves. 

In which Ethan, Jo, and special guest Ian discuss Romans, blog posts, boundaries, and their favorite sweaty seminary professor, with a touch of anti-capitalism thrown in for spice.