With this episode, we wrap up the first series of Faith Made Welcome, a progressive podcast on faith brought to you by Commonwealth Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. If you’ve been listening since Episode 1, you know that throughout the month of August we recorded podcasts offering an opportunity for folks in our faith community to further discuss topics from a special sermon series at our church.
That series, titled “What The World Needs Now,” invited guest activist preachers to give us their take on this theme. Today’s episode, which you can watch on our YouTube Channel, features Nichola Torbett, who argues that what the world needs now is a longing for life or, as she puts it, using the German word sehnsucht, or deep wistful longing.
In this episode of the podcast, pastors Robin and Marty Anderson are joined by both members of the This Most Unbelievable Life duo: Faith Made Welcome regular, Cheri Spiegel, and Faith Made Welcome’s sound engineer, Paul Fitzgerald. In this episode we take a look at what it looks like to truly long for life. We consider how abundant life and the longing of our hearts is necessarily tied to community, and we explore ways that the American Dream, American exceptionalism, and other transactional systems might keep us from living life fully alive.
About Nichola Torbett
Nichola Torbett describes herself as a spiritual seeker, recovering addict, gospel preacher, podcaster, writer, resistance fomenter, dog-walker, nonviolent direct action trainer and abolitionist. She co-founded the Seminary on the Streets, a training academy for love warriors and Second Acts, a liturgical direct action affinity group. She is the co-editor of Respiscence: A Lenten Devotional for Dismantling White Supremacy, and she contributes to The Word in Resistance, a podcast from SURJ-Faith.
About Our Guest, Paul Fitzgerald
Dr. Paul Fitzgerald is a professor of Biology at Northern Virginia Community College, and is a 20+ year student, and teacher, of mindfulness and Vipassana meditation. A mid-westerner at heart and a dedicated spiritual seeker for life, he is a co-founder, along with Dr. Cheri Spiegel, of This Most Unbelievable Life, and a co-host of the associated podcast, This Most Unbelievable Podcast.
Scripture Mentioned this Episode
If you’re looking to dig deeper, here are the scriptures mentioned this episode:
Additional Materials Mentioned this Episode
About This Podcast
This podcast was envisioned as means to foster spiritual growth and conversations about faith, both within and beyond the faith community at Commonwealth Baptist Church. At the open of this episode, we discuss what spiritual formation means to our CBC pastors and the role community plays in our concept of faith.
Got a question or want to reach out to the Faith Made Welcome team? You can reach us at faithmadewelcome@gmail.com.
Faith Made Welcome is produced by Cheri Spiegel, Paul Fitzgerald and This Most Unbelievable Life.
A Note on the Links in these Shownotes
Where possible the links to books mentioned in this episode direct to Old Town Books. We’re not sponsored by this bookstore; we just believe in supporting our local community! If you’re not an Alexandrian, we hope you’ll check these out at your local bookstore!
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