Disappointing Stories 3 (Campmeeting 2014)

This week is the discussion portion of our Disappointing Stories presentation.  Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to this discussion.  As much as you may be here to listen to Dale and I, hearing other voices is equally important.  As we say, the point is not for us to talk a lot, but for everyone to start talking and sharing.  That's how we live together. 

Next week we begin the last day of our Campmeeting 2014 presentations.

Enjoy!

Disappointing Stories 3 (Discussion)

Disappointing Stories 2 (Campmeeting 2014)

Continuing our discussion of disappointment, this week we explore what happens after disappointment--the significance of the choices we make in response to overwhelming events, in response to the experience of being lost.  We talk about Rwanda, religious polarization in our society, music, heaven and what this has to do with God, faith and love.

Next week, we open the discussion further as we spend time discussing various stories that audience members share.

Enjoy!

Disappointing Stories 2

Disappointing Stories 1 (Campmeeting 2014)

Hello again.  This week we begin Thursday's discussion, picking up some questions from our discussion of the Great Controversy and exploring history.  Our main question is: how do we live after disappointment?  After loss?  After evil?  How we answer this question matter immensely.

This week we talk about the Israelites, Jesus, 1844 and Louis Riel as well as the relationship between our stories and the story God is telling.  Thanks again for listening.

Please send us your questions and comments.  We love expanding the conversation.

Enjoy!

Disappointing Stories 1

The Great Controversy Story 3 (Campmeeting 2014)

Well, it's not the end of our campmeeting presentations yet, but it is the final part of my favourite discussion.  Thanks to everyone who participated.

This week, I share my understanding of the Great Controversy and what difference that makes to our understanding of God, life and the world.  My discussion begins with the question someone asked about our freedom to choose and how that relates to God's power.  For me, the center of all of this is "God with us"--where relationships matter more than power and/or "authority."  Power can never fix a broken relationship.  Thus God has to employ other methods to reconnect with humanity.

Next week we start exploring Adventist history and how the stories we tell about our past matter to our present.

Enjoy!


The Great Controversy Story 3

The Great Controversy Story 2 (Campmeeting 2014)

In planning this presentation, Dale and I realized we couldn't tell one definitive version of "The Great Controversy."  Rather, each of us tells a slightly different story, sharing common themes and developments, but emphasizing different aspects according to our particular personalities, histories and values.  This week, Dale tells his version of events, as written in a Reddit discussion.  In addition, we hear from some of our audience members about their own versions of the story and the themes that matter to them.  I had forgotten just how awesome this discussion was.  I hope you enjoy it.

The central question Dale takes up is "if there is a God, why is there evil?"  After that, the question also arises, "are we merely pawns in a divine game?"  Join us for this stimulating discussion and please, share your thoughts.  This is, for both of us, the core of our understanding of God.

Next week, I share my best understanding of the story.

Enjoy!

The Great Controversy Story 2

The Great Controversy Story 1 (Campmeeting 2014)

I must begin by apologizing for the late posting.  I had the podcast ready to go on Thursday and simply forgot to post it yesterday.

Today we get to one of my favourite stories: The Great Controversy.  This isn't simply a book, this is a narrative of God's ongoing involvement with humanity and the universe, the rise of evil and the vindication of God's character (which is to say the investigation by created beings of whether or not God is worthy of our love and devotion).  The Adventist answer is that God is worthy, but this is not without some serious investigation yet to come.  Questions remain.

After all that, we don't begin with the story.  We begin with our own stories.  In this episode, interspersed with relevant discussion, we briefly share our personals stories of learning about God and why we appreciate the Great Controversy understanding.  Next week we get more into specifics of the story itself, but this week lays the groundwork for that discussion.

Enjoy!

The Great Controversy Story 1

Foundational Stories 3 (Campmeeting 2014)

This is the final piece of the discussion.  We finally got an audience mic, so this discussion features a number of voices other than our own.  They make some great contributions.  Among other things, we explore the difference between the Greek "Being" and the Hebrew "walking"--in terms of how God relates to humanity; the need for personal involvement; and the relationship between our evangelism and our picture of God.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  We're planning to present a new series at Campmeeting 2016, featuring more great discussion and shared exploration.  In the meantime, enjoy!

Foundational Stories 3

PS: There won't be a podcast next week because it will be Christmas.  In the new year, we'll continue with the next presentation.

Foundational Stories 2 (Campmeeting 2014)

We're back.  This week is part 2 of 3 from our second day presenting.  I managed to clean up the sound quite a bit, so I'll be updating last weeks podcast, as well.

As the discussion continues, we spend some time in discussion and exploring the significance of Sabbath, the Second Coming and what all this has to do with language learning.  Among other things, we talk more about context and how language and belief without context leaves us without the ability to speak and act in a way that reflects our "knowledge."

Thanks again for listening.

Enjoy!

Foundational Stories 2

Foundational Stories 1 (Campmeeting 2014)

We're back!  I (David) apologize for the lack of a podcast last weekend.  I was preaching at my local church and forgot about the podcast entirely.  If you're interested, let me know and I can post a link to it.

This week begins the second session from our Story presentations at Campmeeting 2014.  We entitled it "Foundational Stories."  Underlying the small stories we tell are larger stories about what stories are and how we should relate to them.  Technically, this can be termed "foundational philosophy."  To begin the presentation, Dale and I talked about how each of us began to grapple with foundational stories through our own (academic) experiences.  This is one of my favourite presentations because we lay out many of the guiding ideas that have shaped the rest of our thought.  It's great listening to it again and being reminded of these things.

I hope you enjoy listening.


Foundational Stories 1

Getting Lost In Our Stories Discussion (Campmeeting 2014)

Another week, another recording.  This is the continuation of last week's recording with the activity and discussion that followed our presentation.  Unfortunately the audio had some problems and many comments were not miked, so I had to cut a few really great sections that ended up unintelligible.  Most interestingly, one audience member rebuked Dale and I for continually interrupting each other.  Given that this was our first real presentation together, we had a lot to learn.  I think we improved as the week went on.

As for the activity, if you'd like to participate, sit down with some paper and writing implements (or a computer) and draw or describe the space in which you find yourself.  If you'd like, share the outcome in the comments.  Otherwise, enjoy the discussion. 

If you were part of the original discussion, thanks for your participation.  You made that week memorable.

Thanks for listening!

Getting Lost in Our Stories Discussion

Getting Lost In Our Stories (Campmeeting 2014)

In today's podcast, we explore some different ways we can relate to our stories and how that impacts on our lives.  Although we've covered these ideas in previous podcasts, this presentation allowed us to put a number of ideas together in an interactive venue.  We wonder through Gonzales, Alford and the Great Controversy asking questions like:

Why do we get lost?
What happens when we get lost?
How can we get lost in our everyday life?
How can we get lost in our stories?
What does it mean to live in a "found" way?

We're looking for our other set of recordings which hopefully have the various audience questions, but in the meantime, I cleaned up the audio as best I could.  Thanks again for listening and enjoy!  Part 2, the audience participation portion, should be available next week.

Getting Lost in Our Stories

Living with Different Stories (Campmeeting 2014)

Great news!  Over a year later, I've finally found the recordings of our "Story" series of presentations from Campmeeting 2014.  The format is quite a bit different from our usual discussions--we had a plan for what we wanted to say, rather than simply discussing questions, and we had some good audience involvement.  Although we've covered much of the content elsewhere, these recordings are very different because we're trying to connect a lot of our ideas together into a more coherent series of presentations.  I'm working on cleaning the recordings up for posting over the coming weeks.

To begin with, I was finally able to track down the recording of our Sabbath morning presentation at The Wave from Campmeeting 2014.  We had a lot of fun with this presentation.  This episode, we talk about the difficulties we face when we start with different stories, and how that has impacted Dale and I on a personal level as we have worked and traveled together.

Thanks for joining us.  Enjoy!

Living with Different Stories

PS: If you have trouble keeping up with us on Facebook, you can subscribe for email notification of new podcasts via the box to the right of this post.

Also, if you've enjoyed our podcasts, please check out our new blog How Shall We Read?  We've decided to spend some time studying and discussing the question of Biblical hermeneutics (interpretation) while our church is doing so at a global level.  This is a question of importance for all Christians and Adventists--not just academics--so we will be reading and writing easy-to-understand (hopefully) summaries and analyses of relevant material.

Whose Community? Which Story? (WO) (Campmeeting 2015)

Today is the final episode we recorded at Campmeeting this summer.  It sounds a little different because we recorded at the bottom of half ledge after spending about ninety minutes rock climbing.  There are occasionally people passing by and background noise, as well as a few guests.  Don't worry, though, the mic picked us up loud and clear.

This time we focused on a major issue in contemporary Adventism--the vote about Women's Ordination at the 2015 General Conference.  While this is the main topic, our thematic focus is the question of "who decides which story to tell about our community?"  In turn, what does that story mean?  And, how is that decided?  These questions of community narrative and identity have much larger resonances than a single vote about how to include women in our community and impact on how we view our own relationships to the community in light of various stories being told.  The discussion is by no means finished within Adventism.

Thanks for listening and enjoy!

Whose Community? Which Story?

Community Stories (Campmeeting 2015)

In this session, recorded on the Thursday of Campmeeting, we explore the difficulty and necessity of telling community stories--stories about who we are together.  This begins with a brief summary of Derrida's discussion of hospitality and the competing needs for clear boundaries and for open boundaries.  This is the difficulty of telling our stories and sharing them with others, without become bound to them in unhealthy ways.  Of course, the discussion is much more interesting than this brief synopsis.  And yet again, we have a few guests sitting in on the recording.  Please join us.

Thank you for listening.

Community Stories

In other news, Dale and I are putting together a new blog project.  In the aftermath of the 2015 San Antonio General Conference, our Adventist world church has committed to an in-depth study of hermeneutics (basically rules and methods of interpreting the Bible).  Our interpretations of the Bible profoundly impact our picture of God and the way we live as Christians.  Our plan is to provide a series of concise summaries of relevant Adventist materials for those who may not be so inclined to academic studies.  Stay tuned for more information.

Community Discussion (Campmeeting 2015 Bonus)

Hey everybody.  I had the privilege of speaking in Comox Valley this weekend about loving our neighbours.  Unfortunately, in my focus on preparation, I forgot about posting another podcast.  Then Monday came, and I realized there were far more interesting things happening, at least in Canada.  So, I'm saving that podcast for this Friday.  In it, we talk about the conflict at the heart of community between telling a coherent narrative of our lives and identities and opening that narrative to change.

In the meantime, here's a recording I've been saving from the first of our Campmeeting podcasts.  After we finished recording the podcast, Community Questions, we spent time talking with some friends about various issues we had raised.  It's a little more raw than our regular discussions, but still quite interesting, I think.  Certainly not everyone in the world thinks like Dale or I, so you might appreciate hearing some different voices.

Enjoy!

Community Questions (Bonus)

Labels, Identity and Community (Campmeeting 2015)

On Wednesday at Campmeeting, we spent some time exploring one of the questions I've (David) been thinking about: What does it mean to say I am Adventist?  For some, this is seen as a hostile statement by which I separate myself from other people, particularly Christians.  But does it have to be so?  Who decides what the name "Adventist" means?  Can I provide meaning for it?  Or does it belong to "Adventists"?  Or does it belong to those I interact with?  Or is it something bigger than any of us?  Of course, this moves into a larger discussion of the stakes, risks and value of claiming identity with a particular group through the use of labels--in particular the recent case of Rachel Dolezal.

Our apologies for the background noise.  There seemed to be a lot of people coming and going when we were recording.

Again, thanks for listening and enjoy!

What Do Labels Mean?

Belonging Without Belonging (Campmeeting 2015)

This is our Tuesday podcast from Hope Campmeeting.  After our opening discussion, we turned to one of the questions Dale raised: Why is it that we can belong to a community for years and yet lack any real relationships with the people in that community?

We explore this through Homi Babha's idea of the unhomely--the ways in which we avoid the hard reality of encountering people who tell different stories than us, varying conceptions of community and society, and through Donnie's questions about privilege--about the ways in which we fail to attend to the specifics of our belonging in a particular group of people.

Thanks again for listening and enjoy!

Belong Without Belonging

Community Questions (Campmeeting 2015)

It's been a long time since Dale and I have recorded together, but we finally sat down at Hope Campmeeting this year to explore some ideas we both been thinking about.  Our central focus is community--what is it?  how do we build it?  what are barriers to community (particularly within Adventism)?  More specifically, we focused on the connections between boundaries, identity and stories and how our conception of those can help or hinder deep and meaningful relationships.

For each of us, this discussion sprang out of significant personal experiences in the past year or so.  We start by talking about those experiences and the questions raised.  That discussion leads into a rather wide-ranging consideration of various themes and struggles in living together and relating to those with different stories.

As the week went on, we dove directly into specific questions raised in this opening discussion and got to share the experience with some friends who came along for the ride.  I will be posting those as I get time, over the next few weeks.  Thanks for listening and enjoy.

Community Questions (CM2015)

Game of Thrones, Geekdom and Marginalization as (Political) Power

Great discussion of the politics of victim hood and the power of ressentiment in contemporary society--touches on geekdom, gay marriage, polygamy, and atheism. The discussion is between a Christian and an atheist and both have good things to say. Enjoy.

The Score (April 15, 2014)

The Great Controversy: Biblical Basis

Aaand we're back.  Thanks for sticking around as we're transitioning.  Dale's moved away, so we're figuring out the logistics and technical details of recording in two places at once.  In the meantime, I will be trying to write more here.  But this week, enjoy a new podcast.

After our last podcast I was talking with a friend and listener about the value of the Great Controversy as a narrative framework for understanding God, the Bible and life.  She asked about the Biblical basis for the narrative--a good question.  Admittedly, for Dale and I, this story is so much a part of our thought and life (and has been for so long) that it's difficult to try to go back to the beginning, to figure out how one might put this all together from just the Bible.  So, this isn't a comprehensive Bible study, but more a general discussion of some key points and ideas and relevant Bible passages and ideas.  We'd love to hear if you have any insights to add to the discussion.

Enjoy.

The Great Controversy: Biblical Basis

Hopefully we'll be back with another podcast next week.