For almost two years this podcast was a life-giving playground for me to explore the ways God connects with us. Then COVD-19 hit in March 2020. At first I thought I would take a break for a few months and then start recording again. I thought I’d figure out a way to coordinate my kids’ virtual learning, meet with spiritual direction clients, and also record and edit conversations. I could see how relevant the question of how God meets us in our daily lives was in this unprecedented season. I hungered to hear how people were experiencing this time spiritually.

But I could never make it work. I could never figure out how to care for my kids and my clients and myself and also record. What was a months-long hiatus had dragged into nearly a year. And now I can’t imagine recording again. It’s a lot of work. It’s life-giving work, but time-consuming. It’s time for me to release this podcast to make space for other creative work — hopefully writing my next book.

I will keep previous episodes up on this page. Although they were recorded pre-pandemic, there is still much wisdom and inspiration in the conversations. If you’re looking for some spiritual manna, I encourage you to check out the archives.

With love & gratitude,

Lauren

Whether it's quarantine, shelter in place, or social distancing, how could this challenging and extraordinary time become a spiritual practice? I share some ideas of ways I am opening curiosity and vulnerability in what is an uncertain and scary time. I hope you'll join me, and then share the ways that are helping you keep your heart open in this season.

We think of game-playing as frivolous, indulgent, child-like. Game store owner and philosopher Kylie Prymus shares how games have changed his life, and will leave you wanting to find a game to play with your loved ones, to experience the rich field of relationship-building and spiritual insight that awaits you on the board.

SHOW NOTES

Games Unlimited

Reiner Knizia

Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster

The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia by Bernard Suits

TED Talk by Jane McGonigal

Center for Play and Exploration

We also mentioned the games Hanabi, Medium, and Mysterium

"Honoring mess" is a surprising phrase, one that jars with our mental image of a spiritual life that is structured, orderly, quiet. Mystic and change agent Preeta Banerjee shares how her experience with the divine feminine has invited her into a flexible, collaborative, creative way of being. You will find tools and inspiration to embrace every bit of life's messy reality in this interspiritual, inspiring conversation.

SHOW LINKS

Preeta’s Website

Life As A Mix Master by Preeta Banerjee

Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly

“The Guest House” by Rumi

The Mystic Soul Project

Idea 2 Form Collaborative Design Studio

Brené Brown

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Photography can be a place of intimacy and relationship with the holy, if we slow down and open up to the image before us. Stephanie Bell shares her own transforming experiences with photography as a spiritual practice, and offers ways to play with this practice in our daily life.

SHOW NOTES

Stephanie’s Website

Allen Ginsberg

Eyes of the Heart: Photography As a Christian Contemplative Practice by Christine Valters Paintner

The Open Door

Garfield Community Farm

Earth Monastery Project

Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer

This Life That Is Ours by Lauren Burdette

In this conversation, Chichi Agorom makes the Enneagram accessible, shares her own journey from skeptic to teacher, and beautifully captures the graces she has experienced from engaging with this ancient tool. Whether you’ve never head of the Enneagram or have been studying it for years, you’ll find food for your soul.

Show Notes

Chichi’s Website

The Narrative Tradition of the Enneagram

Richard Rohr’s reflection on language and metaphor

Online Enneagram test

The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself & Others In Your Life by Helen Palmer

Book a Type Discovery Session with Chichi

How can a hobby become a way to connect with God? Pastor BJ Woodworth shares his journey with home-brewing, revealing how fermentation is a metaphor for the spiritual life, and inspiring us to listen for ways to enjoy time with God in new ways.

Show Notes

Into the Silent Land: The Practice of Contemplation by Martin Laird

Lost in Wonder: Rediscovering the Spiritual Art of Attentiveness by Esther De Waal

On Celtic prayers over daily life

The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Thomas Merton

Isaiah 30:15

A Vow of Conversation by Thomas Merton

Cooked by Michael Pollan

Dr. Diane Millis joins me for a conversation about the power of telling more life-giving stories. As Diane says, the nature of our lives is narrative. We are inherent story-tellers, but all of us have stories that don’t serve us well. Diane shares her own experience of learning to tell more expansive stories, how that has shaped her knowledge of the holy, and offers tools to explore and expand the narratives within which we live.

SHOW NOTES

Diane’s website

Re-Creating a Life: Learning How to Tell Our Most Life-Giving Stories

Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness by Nan C. Merrill

Dan McAdams

Kintsugi pottery

Frederick Buechner

Richard Rohr

Yoga with Adriene

StoryCorps

I am joined by a very special guest - my mother! Lou Ann Horstman shares her story of embracing her love of singing. You will be inspired by her journey with singing, how she traveled from seeing it as "decoration on the liturgy" to a rich and valid way of experiencing God's presence. Her story will make you want to sing more, and will ignite your curiosity about what practices might already exist in your life that are simply waiting to be taken seriously.

SHOW NOTES

The Institute for Applied Meditation on the Heart

Threshold Choir

On the neuroscience of singing

Women Who Run With the Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Learning to Fall by Philip Simmons

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Although House of St. Michael the Archangel is no longer an organization, I have inherited our publications and CDs. You can contact Lauren if you are interested in purchasing CDs. They are $10, and all proceeds will go to Caroline Becker, the widow of Tim Becker, the founder of the House.

In our last regular episode of Season 1, Barbara Mahany joins us to discuss motherhood as spiritual practice. Barbara is the author of several books, including Motherprayer, and she explores in her writing how parenting is an invitation into a holy curriculum. As she says, "no other spiritual practice could compel me in this way. Motherhood is so raw, real, and uncharted." We talk about what we have learned through our mothering, and how writing about our lives as mothers has helped us to open up to the holy potential of this role.

SHOW NOTES

Barbara’s blog, Pull Up A Chair

Motherprayer

Blessings of Motherprayer

The Chicago Interfaith Family School

How can we move from seeing our children as "in the way" of our spiritual practices, and instead see them as the way itself? Gavriel Strauss shares from his own experience as a father of two, and provides simple, practical ways to open up to the spiritual potential of fatherhood.

Gavriel is a spiritual counselor, and the founder of Evolving Judaism and Path of Tikkün, two organizations committed to the development of universal Jewish spiritual practice as a means of personal and collective transformation.

Whether you are a father yourself, or want to understand the fathers in your life better, this is an enlightening conversation.

SHOW NOTES

Gavriel’s website

Evolving Judaism

Path of Tikkun

Neufeld Institute

Castellino Prenatal and Birth Therapy Training