S05E08 – Tim’s early experience of God

Tim Victor

We’re sharing our own experience of God. This is by way of example of how deep and real these conversations can go.

In this episode Tim share’s the story of his early experience of God, covering the early years of 1987 – 1993. Not everyone’s journey begins at the same point in their life and the details will vary considerably. It is important to distinguish our experience of God from what we make of it and how we’ve been schooled into interpreting and presenting it.

If you’d like to explore your journey with us, contact us via the form on our website. The link is below.

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S05E07 – Introducing our own experiences of God

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In this episode we introduce a section of episodes in Season 5 in which we share our own answers to the questions we’ve posed to all of our previous guests. That is, an exploration of our own early experiences of God. We also share some thoughts on why we’re introducing them at this point in the season.

There’s also 10 bonus points awarded to Gryffindor for the first listener to spot where Tim’s timer goes off in the episode. We wanted a tighter timeframe for this intro and so put ourselves under pressure to be more concise than usual 🙂

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S05E06 – This conversational pilgrimage

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In this episode we explore this season as a conversational pilgrimage shared between the hosts, listeners, and conversation partners. We go on to consider that our human-to-human relationships offer insight into our human-to-divine relationship, and therewith honesty in terms of where our relationship really is at.

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S05E04 – Mystery and Presence

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In this episode we explore the transition in Christianity from presence to mystery. In the primal expression we find high concentrations of engagement with God in small communities of Christ followers. Such experience is non-negotiable. After the creation of the institution of the Church we then find ridiculously low concentrations of relational engagement with God amidst a vast population now defined as Christian by citizenship and birth. Ever since relational engagement with God has a not been considered essential nor has it been required. The result is that we believe, behave, and belong as those raised Christian in a mostly Christian world.

In this episode, we explore the shift from presence to mystery and the challenge of trying to engage God relationally in the context of a life and faith defined by mystery and silence.

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S05E03 – Relational Experience and Language

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In this episode we continue the conversation around relational experience in relation to other people and in relation to God.

Here we distinguish between God’s non-relational relationships and God’s relational relationships. This might sound complex but it really comes together as we talk about our human to human relationships and the relationship we can have to ‘the idea of God within us’ as opposed to having ideas about God and relating to God as the Person who draws near and withdraws.

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S05E02 – Relational Experience

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In this episode we begin establishing what Relational Spirituality is. As people we have diverse relationships – with ideas, values, objects, institutions, and persons – and it’s important to shift from relating to God as an idea to relating to God as a Person who draws near and withdraws.

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S05E01 Introducing Season 5

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Our latest episode kicks off the new season of the podcast of the urban mystic.

In this episode, Tim Victor and Steve Carter talk about the season and what’s ahead. This is our most ambitious season yet and we’ll be establishing Relational Spirituality in concept and in practice. As a model of spirituality it differs to devotional and introspective spiritualities which grapple with the mystery of God in activities. In contrast, Relational Spirituality focuses on God drawing near and withdrawing. It is focused on the presence of God rather than the mystery of God as behind the scenes.

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Podcast Bonus Episode – Wayne Jacobsen – Lifestream

Wayne Jacobsen

Here is another bonus episode for you of quality conversation with a wise and humble guest, Wayne Jacobsen. Wayne generously gave us an hour and a half of his time to explore his experience, his thinking and current work and life. Wayne leads us to “new spiritual trailheads” as he works with “hungry people” – hungry people who are interested and yearning for engagement with God. It is a conversation which covers more than 40 years of life history; so a rich and insightful tapestry.

When we finished recording, I sat back in my desk chair, a bit overwhelmed by what we had talked about and so excited that it was recorded. This is the message I most want to leave in the world.

Wayne Jacobsen

It’s really humbling to hear this conversation described this way. We’re looking forward to continuing conversations with Wayne.

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Podcast – Season 4 Episodes

We recorded a min-series on Open and Relational Theology and engage with emerging thinkers who wrestle with the experience and presence of God.

  • S04E01 – Season Introduction. This is a short miniseries. In this intro we look briefly at why we took this tangent into Open and Relational Theology, and how we came across our four wonderful guests. Episode link.
  • S04E02 – Delvyn Case III. In this first episode of the miniseries, Delvyn Case joins us in conversation on his first experiences of God, his work and ministry in ecumenical spaces. Del is a musician, educator, writer, scholar and speaker. You can head across to his website to connect with some of his current work, or connect with him on Facebook. You can find out more about Del on his website and listen to via the Episode link.
  • S04E03 – Rory Randall. Rory the Center for Open and Relational Theology joins us in conversation on this week’s episode of the podcast. Rory has published a book recently entitled, “An Open Theist Renewal Theology: God’s Love, the Spirit’s power, and Human Freedom“. We asked Rory to share some handles with which to understand this emerging theology. As usual though the theory is woven into the backdrop of life story, and so Rory shares his first experiences of God within the telling of his life story. Towards the end of the episode we return to the question of how we experience God and what it means to ‘practice the presence of God’.  Episode link.
  • S04E04 – T.C. Moore. TC Moore joins us this week on the podcast for a conversation about Open and Relational Theology. Of course, we start by digging into his life story and first experiences of God – and it’s a fascinating story. We also spend some time looking into TC’s ROSE acronym which he offers in contradistinction to John Calvin’s 5 points of Calvinism – most often referred to by the TULIP acronym. You can access the Youtube link hereto a longer and deeper dive into TC’s work on Open and Relational Theology. Episode link.
  • Bonus Episode – Tim’s FaceBook post. This is a bonus episode we’re squeezing in between conversations with our miniseries guests. It arises from a Facebook post Tim wrote (link) about healing and how we follow the Kingdom of Jesus behaviour to go in an ambassadorial way into the world to do as Jesus did/does.  It is a stand alone conversation, though in many ways it connects deeply with so much of our thinking and conversing over the past year.  At the root is a desire to take seriously the God who speaks and acts in this world, and draw near to that God, to self and to others in a way that acknowledges the living presence and desire of this alive God. Episode link.
  • S04E05 – Robert D Cornwall. In this week’s episode we squeeze in one final guest to our exploration of Open and Relational Theology. Tim stumbled across an article Bob had written and so we decided to extend the series and include our conversation with him. Bob has also published a number of books, some of which he speaks to in this conversation. You can find his work here if you would like to dig further into his thinking. Episode link.
  • S04E06 – Season Conclusion. This is the final episode of our miniseries on Open and Relational Theology. Tim and I wrap up our thinking following all of the conversations with our guests and take aim at some of what we hope the future holds for us. It is also our book giveaway episode. Thomas Jay Oord, of the Center for Open and Relational Theology, was kind enough to send us some copies of his new book to giveaway to some fortunate listeners. Thank you for listening, we look forward to hearing from you. Episode link.
  • Bonus Episode – Phil Drysdale. This episode we speak to Phil Drysdale from The Deconstruction Network. With deconstructers standing as perhaps the fastest growing spiritual movement in the west, this research is tremendously important. Phil is among those doing research into deconstructers which evidences a different picture to what institutional supporters paint them out to be. This is a bonus episode that best slots in with Season 2 where we spoke with fellow deconstructers. Episode link.
  • Bonus Episode – Wayne Jacobsen. In this episode we speak to Wayne Jacobsen. Wayne generously gave us an hour and a half of his time to explore his experience, his thinking and current work and life. Wayne leads us to “new spiritual trailheads” as he works with “hungry people” – hungry people who are interested and yearning for engagement with God. It is a conversation which covers more than 40 years of life history; so a rich and insightful tapestry. Episode link.

In this season we continue our exploration of the tension between faith and experience in relation to thinkers wrestling with Open and Relational Theology and the presence and activity of God.

Podcast Bonus Episode – Phil Drysdale – The Deconstruction Network

Phil Drysdale

In This episode we speak to Phil Drysdale from The Deconstruction Network. With deconstructers standing as perhaps the fastest growing spiritual movement in the west, this research is tremendously important. Phil is among those doing research into deconstructers which evidences a different picture to what institutional supporters paint them out to be.

This is a bonus episode that best slots in with Season 2 where we spoke with fellow deconstructers.

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