This year. This year has been exhausting, dripping in grief and loss. No way around it. And yet. The exhaustion, grief, and loss are not the whole story. There are small miracles and moments that inspire gratitude. One thing I…
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3MMM | Episode 88: Shepherding Justice
Nashvillians know Rev. Dr. Judy Cummings as a social justice advocate, pastor, and community organizer. Yet she understands herself to be a shepherd at heart. Dr. Cummings, pastor of New Covenant Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, is a recognized leader,…
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3MMM | Episode 86: Where God is Present
Where is God present? This is a question that circles through my fourth and final conversation segment with Dr. Pete Ward who teaches in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK. Over the last few weeks we…
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3MMM | Episode 84: Why Music Matters
In our last Episode 83, Pete and I talked about why ministers need to study culture. He gave us two reasons: People come to seminary shaped and formed by culture innately — largely unawares. Reflexivity is that significance of learning…
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3MMM | Episode 83: Why Culture Matters
The first time I met Pete Ward in person we had a theological argument. We also had drinks and some laughs in a mutual friend’s living room. As I recall, Mary McClintock Fulkerson and I might have teamed up against…
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3MMM | Episode 82: Ethical Wills
Chaplaincy Jennifer Hundley Batts Thomas sat down with me in the late spring to talk about ethical wills. She helped me to share with my students in the Death, Dying, and Bereavement course at Union Theological Seminary about the significance…
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3MMM | Episode 81: Beyond the Walls
This week we are sharing our final conversation with Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock. What a joy to speak with her this month about her calling to do justice work and her many collaborations to rebuild North Nashville after the March…
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3MMM | Episode 80: Called to Collaboration
This week we are going deeper into our conversation with Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock. She is helping us see how multiple factors are impacting the community of North Nashville. Back in March 2020, Nashville was hit hard by tornados that…
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3MMM | Episode 79: Called to Justice
“I knew early on I was called to this work.” -Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock Called to ministry Vocational calling comes in all different sizes, shapes and forms. Traditional congregational ministry, in spite of what people think, is not the only…
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