A sermon preached on Sunday, May 17 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon VA.

Here is the text.

Thanks for listening!

In celebration of the publication of Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life, and to explore the themes of the book, our Off-Script series continues! Joelle Henneman, United Methodist pastor who writes at TransPreacher, was a fantastic conversation partner. Here’s a recent sermon and her website.

Thank you Joelle! Thank you for your work of justice and authenticity.

In celebration of the publication of Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life, and to explore the themes of the book, I’m excited to launch Off-Script, a series on Substack Live/podcast series. And our first guest was a rockstar! Joseph Yoo is a pastor and writer who went big on social media with his wonderful video about his son. I think it resonated with so many people because he exposed the oppressiveness of a world that demands people conform to cultural expectations of “normal.” Loved this conversation and I know you will too. Thanks again Joseph!

A sermon preached on Sunday, April 19 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon VA.

Here is the text.

Thanks for listening!

Pete Nunnally, pastor of Water and Wilderness Church and mega social media star (at least as far as religious types go) was gracious to invite me to chat on Instagram Live about writing, the spiritual life, our respective books, and how the world can be made new. Just some tiny topics… Here’s the video/audio for your enjoyment! Pete is a great hang.

Pete is the author of the upcoming Catching Hope: The Hidden Spiritual Wisdom of Fishing. I’ve started the book and let me tell you, this is a book for anyone who’s looking to COME ALIVE, whether you ever pick up a fishing rod!

As always, you can order my book, Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life anywhere books are sold, and at the publisher for a 40% discount with the code NORMAL40.

Pete will be with Ed and me on Pop Culture Pastors Hour later this month to talk about our favorite works of pop culture that deal with creation and the natural world.

Steady on.

This may have been my (MaryAnn’s) favorite episode so far. The Pitt is a hyper-realistic peek into a trauma ED, with lots of wisdom and heart—deserving of its many accolades—and it was awesome to hear from Amy Snow and Christine Vaughan Davies, two chaplains with deep experience, about the work chaplains do in all kinds of hospitals and contexts.

As mentioned at the end of our conversation, April is National Donate Life Month. Please consider giving the gift of life by opting to be an organ donor, and letting your loved ones know of your choice. You can reflect this on your drivers license, or even in the Health app of your iPhone. All major religions in the U.S. support donation as a final act of compassion and generosity (which was reflected in season one of The Pitt!).

See you on April 28 at 3 p.m. EDT for our next episode of PCPH. We’ll be joined by Fr Pete the Wilderness Priest, author of the upcoming book Catching Hope: The Hidden Spiritual Wisdom of Fishing to celebrate spring and talk about our favorite works of pop culture about nature. Link to join.

Follow Pop Culture Pastors Hour on Substack or in your favorite podcast app.

Amaze amaze amaze! Directors Lord and Miller hit it out of the solar system with this creative and heartfelt adaptation of Andy Weir’s warm-hearted and science-stuffed novel. The conversation explores Ryland’s bravery, the power of friendship, the nature of sacrifice, and more.

Articles referenced in our conversation are here and here. The Jamar Tisby book mentioned is called The Spirit of Justice.

See you next Monday, April 6 at 1 p.m. EDT as we take up The Pitt. Two bona fide chaplains will join us and make the case for that wonderfully chaotic ER needing some chaplains on staff… See you there!

This. Was. So. Fun!

Three days and counting until we get to see Andy Weir’s charming, funny, optimistic, humanity-affirming book brought to life on the screen. In this conversation we recommend some space fiction and discuss our favorite Project Hail Mary themes, our hopes for the film adaptation, and more.

See you March 30 when we take up the movie version of Project Hail Mary. See you at 3 p.m. EDT via this link.