Thursdays at the Table Podcast
Bishop LaTrelle Easterling invites United Methodists to draw up a seat at the proverbial kitchen table as she engages difference-makers in insightful conversations about topics that matter. This podcast sets the table for truth-telling with humor, candor, unbridled honesty, and a spirit of hope. In the sharing of our stories, we rediscover the sacred and what makes us vital – living into the fullness of all that God calls us to be. Truth be told, these are conversations you won’t want to miss.
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Episode 1: The courage of our voice
In this episode of Thursdays At the Table, three leaders in The United Methodist Church talk about racism and the realities of white supremacy. They share stories with Bishop LaTrelle Easterling of bearing witness to lynchings, confronting how racism was woven into their own histories, and how their privilege affects the ways they are learning use their voices to advocate for justice. In a candid and courageous conversation, Bishop Easterling talks with David Abbott, Director of Stewardship for the United Methodist Foundation of New England; Dr. David Scott, Director of Mission Theology for the denomination’s Board of Global Ministries; and Bill Waddell, an attorney from Arkansas who provides legal counsel to The United Methodist Church. Together, they explore the personal and cultural intersections of whiteness, privilege, racism, Scripture, and justice. Learn more and listen now. episode 2: A textured Gospel
In the second episode of Thursdays At the Table, Bishop LaTrelle Easterling explores the importance of a variety of theological perspectives with guests the Rev. Drs. Shively Smith, an Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Theology, and Theresa Thames, Associate Dean of Religious Life and the Chapel at Princeton University. Theology or “God-talk” is not situated in one culture, people or time. Rather, all of creation extols the glory and represents aspects of the Divine and therefore needs to speak into this conversation. To privilege one group over another de-centers those whose voices are often excluded and attempts to wrongly make one experience, culture or worldview normative and limits our understanding of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Bishop Easterling and her guests delve into “the radical boldness of saying yes,” and the importance of “possibility models,” and interrogating the text. Together, they explore overcoming biblical illiteracy and moving beyond a fairy-tale faith to capture the truth and implications of the Gospel message through the lived life of Jesus. Learn more and listen now. Special episode: tempered resilience
This special episode of Thursdays at the Table was recorded on October 20, 2022 during Next Level with Tod Bolsinger. After his plenary address, Bishop Easterling and he sat down for some real talk around his book, Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change. Learn more and listen now. Episode 3: Where God Calls
Discipleship, it has been said, is learned on the inside of the church and lived on the outside. Deacons are a special order of ministry in The United Methodist Church that lives out this life of service and compassion beyond the pews and pulpits in ways that make the church relevant and meaningful. Join Bishop LaTrelle Easterling as she talks to two well-storied Deacons, the Revs. Leo Yates and Stephanie Moore Hand, as they explore how each of us is called to bring our best gifts to the table. Listen now. Episode 4: Love in practice
Young adult voices too often go unheard in the church and too often their leadership and perspective is not fully respected, included and valued. In this energetic episode, Bishop LaTrelle Easterling talks with two young thought-leaders, the Rev. Dorlimar Lebrón Malavé and JJ Warren, about identity, the future of the church, the meaning of love, and theology – including Womanist, Activist and Queer Theology which is about de-centering that which has been traditionally prioritized, and allowing room for other expressions, other beliefs, other methodologies. Queer Theology, and the discussion in this podcast, seek to create a place where we offer one another grace as we walk together through our differences. Listen here. Episode 5: unholy ghosts and the work of hope
History shapes us, our country and our faith in ways known and unknown. Truths from our history as Christian Americans need to be faced – not to shame or guilt anyone – but in order to understand what vestige of those still impact us today so that we might engage in community with one another to dismantle them and create a brighter future. Even as the church has hope eternal, there is much tension and confusion about what the American Church is and who God is calling her to be. Bishop Easterling invited Joel Goza, the author of America’s Unholy Ghosts: The Racist Roots of Our Faith and Politics, to her table to talk about foundational history that intentionally misshaped the American church. Listen now. Episode 6: The creator and the created
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