1. What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? In this episode, we gather for a post-Christmas, post-New Year pastoral debrief. We talk about symbols and meaning, Christmas and holidays, signs and seasons, and how modern churches quietly cleared the path for culture to push Christ out of Christmas without much resistance. We explore the strange and largely arbitrary ways the world measures time, along with the old Adam’s never-ending pyramid project. That is, his need to build meaning upward by effort, progress, and control rather than receive it as a gift. From there, we return to symbol and meaning. We ask why ancient liturgy’s nostalgia or ornamentation, but the distilled shape of reality itself, why the Lord’s Supper isn’t a side practice, but the beating heart of the Church, of worship, and of the Christian life. And why stories’ decorations for faith, but the way truth takes on flesh and finds us where we actually live. This is a conversation about time, worship, memory, and why the Church invents meaning but receives it again and again at the table.
  2. Today on the Christian History Almanac, we head to the mailbag to answer a question about Hanukkah and Christianity.
  3. Today on the Christian History Almanac, we remember the 7th century’s “most interesting man” and a link between the East and West.
  4. Come Together, Right Now… In this episode, we read from Tim Keller’s sermon, which asks, “What is the Church?” We discuss the relationship between churches and culture, what the church is and isn’t, where we locate faith, whether Christian faith changes one’s values, and much more.
  5. Can’t You See. In this episode, we read the Lutheran theologian Matthias Flacius, and discuss inter-church debates, the Lord’s Supper as ground zero for most church conflicts, the consequences of compromise in matters of faith, the limits of love, and when it’s time to push away from the table and go into prayer.
  6. In episode THREE HUNDRED AND TWELVE, Mike, Jason, and Wade discuss the Protestant fear of formalism, or ritualism?
  7. You May Be Right… In this episode of Banned Books, we read Anselm of Canterbury’s Meditation on Sin and Penance. We discuss the consequences of sin, the Fountain of Mercy, Jesus’ excuses, the doctrine of simul iustus et peccator, theological presuppositions, and how we speak influences our behavior.
  8. Dig, Lazarus, Dig! In this episode of Banned Books, we read St. John Chrysostom’s sermon on the Rich Man and Lazarus — wealth, poverty, Satanic feasts, ivory beds, spiritual warriors, Chaldean comfort dogs, and the dangers of actors and perfume on this podcast episode.
  9. In episode THREE HUNDRED AND SEVEN, Jason and Wade discuss various terms used to describe Christian churches and which ones apply to Lutherans today.
  10. Good Christians, One and All Rejoice? In this episode, we read Origen’s response to Celsus about whether or not Christians are detrimental or beneficial to society. Does the Church uplift or undermine culture? What part does faith play in living a virtuous life?