Episode Notes

Readings included in this episode are Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16 and Mark 8:31-38

IGNITE - A Burning Bush

With a focus on Exodus 3:1-15, here's a devotional reflection that asks the question: What is the flame of your faith like today?

Reflection QUESTIONS

1. How do you answer the question: Who is God?  Or, how have YOU known God?
2. What does it mean to you that God knows us by name, and have you ever felt God’s call?
3. How does the Endless Identity of God IGNITE faith in you, your family, your church, and/or your community?

IGNITE- Identity

What is the flame of your faith like today?

This devotional episode, titled IDENTITY, begins with two readings from Genesis 9 and Mark 1. The IGNITE devotional series is a complete devotional you can take with you on the go, from Muhlenberg Lutheran Church in Harrisonburg, VA.

Episode Notes

This is Episode number 6, titled: “Living Intentionally”.  This is the final episode of our first series of this podcast, concluding our study on the book “Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self, While Caring for Others” by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky.  Today’s episode covers Chapter 12: The Fifth Direction — A Daily Practice of Centering Ourselves and the book’s Conclusion.  Our guest host is Dr. Mark Warner, the retired Senior Vice President of Student Affairs at James Madison University, and a Muhlenberg member.  The conclusion of this book draws us to a place where we can find our center, understand ourselves, and remember that this self-work is not selfish. As we each strive to bring compassion to our daily lives, whether that is vocationally or in simple moments each day, we are meant to live intentionally with a clear and consistent sense of who we are. Mark discusses the development of a personal mission statement, and we conclude with a reflection on Luke 4:16-30, where Jesus lays out his own mission statement for life and ministry, but is quickly misunderstood by those in his hometown.  In this, we see that living intentionally and centering ourselves on our values and calling is a faithful and self-full way of life that makes us fertile ground for growth, and a wellspring of grace for all in need.

This week's reflection is to try writing your own Personal Mission Statement by following Mark's steps: 1- Clarify your values, prioritize a top 10 2- Reflect on ways you concretely live out your values 3- Audit your calendar to see how you spend your time 4- Frame your reflection with the question "Who do I want to be?" 5- Make it personal, and let it be imperfect (wordsmith later)

Let us know in the comments how this process goes for you! We’d like to encourage you to discuss this process with a conversation partner, and whatever you’re comfortable sharing, you’re invited to share your reflections in the comments section of our Muhlenberg Lutheran Facebook page, Instagram @MuhlenbergLC, or on YouTube. Thank you, for gathering with us today around the Wellspring, we’re looking forward to another episode next week! Learn more about our congregation online, or by joining us for worship each Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00am Eastern Standard Time, with the 11:00 service streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. Your financial support of the ministry of Muhlenberg makes the many ministries, including digital ones like this, possible for our community. You can make your gifts online at www.muhlenberglutheran.org/give

Episode Notes

This is Episode number 5, titled: “The Way is Wide” discussing chapters 8 through 11 of “Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others” by Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky. Our guest host Karen Barnes offers reflections on her long career in various fields of caregiving and discusses 4 of the 5 directions that the book offers for Finding Your Way to Trauma Stewardship. “Creating Space for Inquiry, Choosing our Focus, Building Compassion and Community, and Finding Balance” are all directions in the wide way that each of us can follow. Through our discussion, we find ways of understanding the things that might burden us and hinder us from seeing these directions, and even reconcile the difference between a direction and a path. Paired with a study of Mark 6:7-13, when Jesus commissions his disciples two by two, we see that the way of compassion is wide, and we never walk alone.

This week's reflection questions are the "Try This" prompts at the end of each directional chapter. Let us know which ones you tried!

We’d like to encourage you to discuss these questions with a conversation partner, whatever you’re comfortable sharing, you’re invited to share your reflections in the comments section of our Muhlenberg Lutheran Facebook page, Instagram @MuhlenbergLC, or on YouTube. Thank you, for gathering with us today around the Wellspring, we’re looking forward to another episode next week! Learn more about our congregation online, or by joining us for worship each Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00am Eastern Standard Time, with the 11:00 service streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. Your financial support of the ministry of Muhlenberg makes the many ministries, including digital ones like this, possible for our community. You can make your gifts online at www.muhlenberglutheran.org/give

Episode 004: "Inside Out"

This is Episode number 4, titled: “Inside Out” discussing Chapters 5 and 6 of the book “Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self, While Caring for Others” by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky. Our guest host is Pastor Micah Krey, who brings his pastoral experience, as well as his personal experience of addiction recovery, to a conversation about “Creating Change from the Inside Out”. This focus on the work of self, particularly for those who do work in helping others, may tend to feel “selfish”. But this is not selfish, or really self-help, it’s about working on transformation from the inside out, finding an authentic connection to both the reality of joy and pain in our world in a healthier way. Pastor Micah reminds us of the importance of embracing our feelings of compassion for the world and for ourselves, before over-intellectualizing our problems. Paired with a conversation on John 3, and Nicodemus’ visit to Jesus in the night, we’ll see the ways that this type of self-work is its own form of being born anew, and seeking an inside-out way to eternal life, we’ll find the promise of gift that is already within us.

Questions for Reflection: Take a fearless moral inventory, beginning with what resentments you're carrying. What things, like Nicodemus are you overthinking in the night? What are three ways you can practice compassion for yourself and others this week?

We’d like to encourage you to discuss these questions with a conversation partner, whatever you’re comfortable sharing, you’re invited to share your reflections in the comments section of our Muhlenberg Lutheran Facebook page, Instagram @MuhlenbergLC, or on YouTube. Thank you, for gathering with us today around the Wellspring, we’re looking forward to another episode next week! Learn more about our congregation online, or by joining us for worship each Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00am Eastern Standard Time, with the 11:00 service streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. Your financial support of the ministry of Muhlenberg makes the many ministries, including digital ones like this, possible for our community. You can make your gifts online at www.muhlenberglutheran.org/give

Episode Notes

This is Episode number 3, titled: “A Way in the Wilderness” discussing Chapters 3 and 4 of the book “Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self, While Caring for Others” by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky.  Our guest host is Kristee Trumbo, a Licensed Professional Counselor who brings her perspective to the process of mapping our response to Trauma Response.  Kristee’s clinical perspective helps us get into the meat of this book, after we’ve recognized that caregivers can be recipients of secondary trauma, Kristee helps us walk through the 16 Warning Signs of Trauma Exposure Response.  It’s easy to feel lost in the wilderness of trauma, but there are indeed landmarks that may look familiar, and help us find our way in the wilderness.  Concluding with a reflection on Luke 4:1-15 we look at a time where Jesus navigates the wilderness himself, and find that often the way forward is not always the easy way, but the faithful way.  But the hope we find in this is that Jesus has navigated this wilderness, and walks with each of us, wherever we’re walking. Things to be curious about:  What of these 16 warning signs do you want to learn more about? Who is in the wilderness with you, who is a trusted voice in the wilderness?  What are the shortcuts that are available to you, what paths are ahead of you?

We’d like to encourage you to discuss these questions with a conversation partner, whatever you’re comfortable sharing, you’re invited to share your reflections in the comments section of our Muhlenberg Lutheran Facebook page, Instagram @MuhlenbergLC, or on YouTube.  Thank you, for gathering with us today around the Wellspring, we’re looking forward to another episode next week! Learn more about our congregation online, or by joining us for worship each Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00am Eastern Standard Time, with the 11:00 service streamed live on Facebook and YouTube.  You financial support of the ministry of Muhlenberg makes the many ministries, including digital ones like this, possible for our community.  You can make your gifts online at www.muhlenberglutheran.org/give (http://www.muhlenberglutheran.org/give)

Episode 2: The Communal "Yes, And..."

This is Episode number 2, titled: “The Communal Yes, And…” Discussing Chapters 1 and 2 of the book “Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self, While Caring for Others” by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, our guest host is Ashley Saunders. Ashley brings years of experience in Community Organizing and Advocacy on behalf of Transgender Kids in her community to a conversation on the reality of a life that is both joy and pain. We reflect on the nature of Trauma Stewardship as a lifelong practice that is demanding, yet deeply rewarding.  Ashely offers her reflections on the radical gift of intentionally cultivating joy, even in the midst of trauma.  But this kind of thing can’t happen alone, we need community around us. Concluding with a reflection on John 20:19-29, we find a moment in scripture when the community of disciples found both the very real pain of fear that bound them in the upper room, and the true joy of Christ’s peace in their midst. It matters that in this scene, Jesus still bears the wounds of the world, thus drawing the disciples to meet Him in the wounds of the world around them. This communal “yes, and…” speaks to the nature of a world that is inherently messy, complicated, beautiful, and beloved.  Just like you.

Questions for Discussion: A question of balance... How do you invite joy in your life? How do you hold pain? What wounds of the world/wounds of Christ are you being called to witness to?

We’d like to encourage you to discuss these questions with a conversation partner, whatever you’re comfortable sharing, you’re invited to share your reflections in the comments section of our Muhlenberg Lutheran Facebook page, Instagram @MuhlenbergLC, or on YouTube.  Thank you, for gathering with us today around the Wellspring, we’re looking forward to another episode next week!

Learn more about our congregation online, or by joining us for worship each Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00am Eastern Standard Time, with the 11:00 service streamed live on Facebook and YouTube.  You financial support of the ministry of Muhlenberg makes the many ministries, including digital ones like this, possible for our community.  You can make your gifts online at www.muhlenberglutheran.org/give.

Episode Notes

This is Episode number 1, titled: “We’re All Traumatized”.  This is the first episode EVER for this podcast, and more importantly  the first episode in our study on the book “Trauma Stewardship: An Every Day Guide to Caring for Self, While Caring for Others” by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky.  Today’s episode covers the introduction of the book, where we discuss the importance of this particular conversation around trauma, and how in a post-pandemic world, the relevance of Trauma Stewardship has a greater importance than ever before; not just for those in historically caring professions, but for Christians and all people who hope to bring a caring and compassionate presence to the world around us.  Pairing this introduction with a study of Luke 8:26-39, when Jesus encounters the Gerasene Demoniac, we’ll conclude with some questions for reflection about what exactly we’re carrying with us.  Hopefully we’ll discover that this humble admission that “we’re all traumatized” will allow each of us to find freedom in which we can care for ourselves and then care for others.

Questions for discussion: As we wrap up our time here today, I’d like to offer a few questions for reflection:  How have you changed?  We make the case in this episode today that everyone is traumatized, that everyone has changed since 2020.  How have you changed in these years? What are you carrying with you, and like the Gerasene Demoniac, how has that left you feeling isolated? What was your cliffside moment?  If you’ve had one, what was the moment you realized that things have affected you? What would freedom look like for you in letting go of the pain of others that you may be carrying?

We’d like to encourage you to discuss these questions with a conversation partner, whatever you’re comfortable sharing, you’re invited to share your reflections in the comments section of our Muhlenberg Lutheran Facebook page, Instagram @MuhlenbergLC, or on YouTube.  Thank you, for gathering with us today around the Wellspring, we’re looking forward to another episode next week!

Learn more about our congregation online, or by joining us for worship each Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00am Eastern Standard Time, with the 11:00 service streamed live on Facebook and YouTube.  You financial support of the ministry of Muhlenberg makes the many ministries, including digital ones like this, possible for our community.  You can make your gifts online at www.muhlenberglutheran.org/give.