A New Thing: A Friday Feature

Let’s start something new, shall we?

Along with the regular Tuesday and Sunday posts, on the last Friday of each month I’d like to start sharing with you a podcast or book or blog that has become one of the learning tools along my journey. My hope is that you will make the time to check out what I share and let it be a part of our together journey. Take a listen. Find a good spot and a cup of coffee and read. Open your heart to God’s message for you. And, then, share with us through the comments your thoughts.

If you know of a podcast or book or blog that is influential for your journey, let me know! I’ll check it out and share it.

To start this off with a bang, my first recommendation is a Three-fer: a book, a website, and a podcast! But first, let me tell you a short story. I was in high school when I saw a stage play based on the Scopes Monkey Trial. I remember coming home in tears because my Baptist church influenced teenage brain could not fathom the scientific concept of evolution. Although my dad, himself a scientist, had never voiced a conflict between trusting the scientific method of understanding the world around us and believing in a God who created the universe, I did not know how to reconcile the two in my head, heart, and soul. I felt as if my identity was being shattered and no one around me was able to help me hold all the pieces together. No one I knew had the language to help me articulate what I was experiencing because science and faith were never brought together in the same conversation. The underlying message was they both existed but did not interact or belong together.

I learned to live with this un-articulated tension and as had been modeled for me, I did not attempt to discuss the two at the same time. Until I read Dr. Francis Collins’ book The Language of God. It’s been so long that I can’t remember how I found the book but it was definitely a game changer for me. For the first time, I began to learn how to integrate what I knew about scientific study and information and the loving God who created each of us in the divine image and the entire universe. I was learning how to integrate the two into one comprehensive and full-bodied understanding of Whose and who we are.

Ten or more years after reading the book and referencing it countless times in sermons and seminary papers, I discovered the “BioLogos” website and from there the “Language of God” podcast. Both of these are now a part of my weekly reading and listening routine and I am so grateful for their ongoing exploration of “God’s Word and God’s World to inspire authentic faith”.

I invite all of you to make use of what the amazing folks at the BioLogos Foundation provide for all of us to grow in wisdom and understanding in our companionable journey following Jesus on earth as in heaven.

Language of God – book
Language of God – podcast
Biologos website

I’d love to have a conversation with you about what you discover!

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+