All Meditations 4 Misfits podcasts can be downloaded from either Spotify or iTunes apps
Meditations for Misfits – An Introduction podcast #1
“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.”– Howard Thurman
What the Dying have Taught Me about Living podcast #2
I was afraid of dying, so I became a hospice chaplain. I figured if I hung around with Death, made friends with him—at a safe distance—I’d get used to him, and he wouldn’t be so scary. So, for the past fifteen years I have had the privilege to journey with more than three thousand folks who have gone on to the other side.
Why is the Grim Reaper so Grim? podcast #3
In the years that I’ve worked with Death and felt his presence at the bedside of a dying patient, I’ve thought about his costume. I mean, what’s with the hooded cowl?
Existential Distress podcast #4
This episode explores the existential issues we all struggle with: meaning, isolation, uncertainty, and death. The bad news is, there is no cure for these existential issues. The good news is they can be diminished and made more manageable by honestly talking about them. The even better news is that existential distress can become the fertile soil for living a rich and significant life.
The Soul podcast #5
“I searched for myself.” – Heraclitus the Obscure
God Concepts podcast #6
“Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than it does God.” – Thomas Merton
The Point of Religion podcast #7
Religions by and large offer explanations about the experience of death and insights into how to live a good life prior to death. What I look for in my religion, are ideas to help me grow in wisdom and compassion.
Self Reflection podcast #8
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
Mayhem in the Morgue podcast #9
This is a true story of how one crazy night in a morgue helped me become a freer human being.
The Questions God Asks podcast #10
If God knows everything, then why does God ask questions?
Where are You? podcast #11
The first question attributed to God in the Bible.
Lost & Found? podcast #12
“I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.” – John Newton
Hide and Seek? podcast #13
What if there are simply seasons in our lives when God withdraws for a time to urge us into deeper intimacy?
Who Told You that You Were Naked? podcast #14
This is the last podcast that was recorded before the events of this past week, and it explores a second question attributed to God in the book of Genesis.
Repent! podcast #15
You may not have heard, but we were among those who lost their homes in the recent fires in southern Oregon. So until I can get a new recording set up, I’ll post some previous recordings – pre Meditations 4 Misfits days – I sill find helpful. This one is about becoming freer human beings and may not be quite as off-putting as you may think.
What Makes Someone Wise? podcast #16
While we are still in the process of securing a new home and recording equipment, here is another older podcast from earlier this year in series called “Holy Moments.” This episode explores the components of wisdom.
What are You Doing Here? podcast #17
Our new recording setup is still a few weeks away. So this podcast is a recording of a talk I gave several years ago exploring another “God Question.” In this episode, I share a pivotal story that helped call me out of hiding and into life. Blessings, Fred
Navigating Life in Uncertain Times podcast #18
How do you respond to the impermanent nature of life?
The Great American Mortal Sin podcast #19
One of the hardest parts about being a refugee is the emotional distress that comes with knowing you are committing the ultimate cultural sin: being needy.
What Fire Can’t Burn podcast #20
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliot
Blessed are Those Who Mourn podcast #21
This episode considers aids to help make decisions for the choices that shape our lives.
Where is Your Brother? podcast #22
One of my favorite aspects about these primal stories passed down to us from our faith ancestors, is how insightful they are into human nature. They really cause me to wonder how far we have progressed (or not) as a species in the past several millennia.
This Cain and Able story proports to be the genesis of the “us” versus “them” attitude that has plagued humanity from our very beginnings.
Other-ing podcast #23
While God did ask a number of questions in the Bible, God also gave a lot of commands, or mitzvot. The ancient rabbis boiled them down to some 613. One of those is, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Unlike the command “to go forth and multiply,” love your neighbor is one we’ve had a really hard time with.
From Other to Brother podcast #24
This podcast details the story of how three gay men with AIDS helped liberate me from being an Other into a brother.
Being With podcast #25
The existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger suggests the antidote to other-ing is being-with. For me being-with has two interrelated aspects: discovering more of my own inner being to offer to the other and by really listening to the other. The idea is that as I go inside myself to reflect on who I am, why I am, what I desire, and why do I act as I do – this self-reflection can open in me a space to receive others who are struggling with the very same issues.
What is Your Name podcast #26
The wonderful spiritual writer Joan Chittister advises, “It’s when we won’t let go of a thing that we are defeated by it. “Let me go . . . ,’ says the Spirit of God. And Jacob answers, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’ And therein lies the secret of winning all the struggles of our lives. We must learn to let go of them so that we can come to the blessings hidden within them.”
Only the Shadow Knows podcast #27
Catholic priest, Fr. Richard Rohr, has said, “I do not think you should get rid of your sin until you have learned what it has to teach you.”
The Liberating Power of a Blessing podcast #28
John O’Donohue, in his poetically Irish way says, “A blessing is different from a greeting, a hug, a salute, or an affirmation; it opens a different door in human encounter. One enters into the forecourt of the soul, the source of intimacy and the compass of destiny.”
The Face of God podcast #29
When you look into God’s face, what do you see? In this podcast, Fred shares one of his most significant experiences of spiritual liberation.
How to Give a Blessing podcast #30
“Blessing is from soul to soul.” – John O’Donohue
Who Can I Send? podcast #31
“Preachers err by trying to talk people into belief; better they reveal the radiance of their own discovery.” – Joseph Campbell
Liberated in Las Pitas podcast #32
“Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not “How can we hide our wounds?” so we don’t have to be embarrassed but “How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?” When our wounds cease to be a source of shame and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.” – Henri Nouwen
The Sting of the Scorpion podcast #33
“Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to the place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it … Our ability to enter into solidarity with those who suffer [is our greatest gift].” – Henri Nouwen
What Shall I Give You? podcast #34
“All wisdom is plagiarism; only stupidity is original.” – Hugh Kerr
Mauled in Manila podcast #35
I remembered the Anne Lamott line that “becoming a writer is about becoming conscious.” I didn’t want to be conscious. I wanted to be comatose.
Awful Grace podcast #36
“He who learns must suffer, and, even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despite, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” – Æschylus
Is It Right for You to be Angry? podcast #37
Many Christians observe this season of Lent by giving up something, or fasting from something. Might I suggest that this Lent, we consider give up being afraid? Give up being vengeful? Give up being angry? Who knows, if we do, we might become more the people we want to be come Easter?
Refiner’s Fire podcast #38
Through it all, the fires, the sirens, the numerous re-locations, the unbreathable smoke-filled air, the grief of loss, the uncertainty of the future – there was always a wordless awareness of being held by our Sacred Other. Never abandoned. Never alone. I experienced at the raw reptilian fear level what one writer observed, “Life is arbitrary, God is not.”
The Crying God podcast #39
“Since no one really knows anything about God, those who think they do are just troublemakers.” – Rabia al-Basri (8th century Sufi mystic))
What is That in Your Hand? podcast #40
“The key to living well is remembering that nothing lasts.” – Rami Shapiro
The Card Game podcast #41
Learning how to discover God in the reality of the present moment.
The Gift of Impermanence podcast #42
Matthew’s forgotten Beatitude, “Blessed are the flexible, they shall not break.”
“What Have You Done?” podcast #43
Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.
– Anne Lamott
You Don’t Know Jack podcast #44
“When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prisoner we set free was us.” – Lewis Smedes
But How Do I Forgive? podcast #45
“Hurt people, hurt people. Free people, free people.” – Cleddie Keith
Have You Considered My Servant Job? podcast #46
“All-wise. All-powerful. All-loving. All-knowing. We bore to death both God and ourselves with our chatter. God is not to be expressed, only experienced.” – Frederick Buechner
And the Rocks Cried Out podcast #47
“The mystic keeps the God question clean of all our unworthy and inferior answers … Meister Eckhart says the nearer you get to the presence the more God ceases to be God and is allowed to become completely Godself. So the spiritual life is about the liberation of God from our images of God.” – John O’Donohue
Where Were You? podcast #48
“God, my God, God Whom I meet in darkness, with You it is always the same thing! Always the same question that nobody knows how to answer!” – Thomas Merton
Apprehended at the Wall podcast #49
“Ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one’s own search for God, with all the moments of pain and joy, despair and hope, at the disposal of those who want to join this search but do not know how.” – Henri Nouwen
Vital Signs podcast #50
This episode explores criteria to evaluate an authentic spiritual experience.
“May your concept of God be feisty and imaginative and rich enough to incorporate all the hungers of your heart.” – John O’Donohue
What Do You See? podcast #51
When God looks at you, what does God see?
What Does God See? podcast #52
A close encounter of a third kind is when you actually touch.
Close Encounters podcast #53
This week I share a most personal story – the story of my divorce.
How Can I Give You Up? podcast #54