When was the last time you deeply listened to someone’s story?

On this episode, Dr. Donny Bryant and Dr. Barbara Holmes are joined in conversation by Alison McCrary exploring the very real impact of how we listen, speak, and show up in the world. 

A former nun and tireless advocate, guest Alison McCrary reminds us, “We’re all called to be holy beings—to be the eyes, ears, heart, and being of God in the world.” How will you embody the eyes, ears, and heart of God in the world today? 

Alison McCrary, a Georgia-born, New Orleans-based social justice lawyer and spiritual worker, bridges justice and spirituality in her work. With roots in the U.S. South, she serves as a transformative justice practitioner, strategist, and mediator. Passionate about healing trauma and repairing harm, Alison is a Spiritual Advisor on Louisiana’s Death Row. Formerly a Catholic nun, she remains active in her parish and indigenous community, advocating for criminal justice reform, environmental justice, human rights, and cultural preservation.

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.
• To learn more about Alison's work, visit her website here.

How can we cultivate resilience and hope, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges and ongoing chaos?

In this episode Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant talk with Rev. Otis Moss III about Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times, and how we can build resilience by consecrating chaos through prophetic grief and liberation listening.

Otis Moss III built his ministry on community empowerment and social justice activism. As senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Moss spent the last two decades practicing and preaching a Black theology that unapologetically calls attention to the problem of mass incarceration, environmental justice, and economic apartheid. Hailed as one of the "twelve most of effective preachers in the English-speaking world" by Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, he has been cited by Chicago Magazine as one of the city's thirty most influential people. He is an NAACP Image Award recipient, award-winning filmmaker, poet, and professor of homiletics at Mercer University McAfee School of Theology. He is married to Monica Brown, and they are the proud parents of two children.

Resources:

• A transcript for this episode can be found here.
• Rev. Otis Moss III's latest book, Dancing in the Darkness, can be found here.

Envision a future brimming with peace, joy, and creativity. What does that look like for you? 

In the final episode of “The Cosmic We” season 4, Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant discuss the importance of envisioning a future that bridges the ordinary and the eternal.   

As Dr. Holmes explains: “We are unique and ordinary mystics in the making, flowing from one state of existence to the other, inhabiting the ordinary and touching the eternal. We are embedded in the continuum of life, related to the divine, the earth, and our neighbors.”  

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.
• If you wish to get a copy of Crisis Contemplation, you can find it in the CAC Bookstore.

Connect with us:

• Have a question you'd like Dr. B or Donny to answer on a possible listener questions episode? Email us: [email protected] or leave us voicemail.
• This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at https://cac.org/support-cac/podcasts/ Thank you!

How do we heal while traumatic events continue to happen?   

“As we sit with what is and what never should have been, our feet remember the call of drums and we allow the spirit within us to soar.” – Dr. Barbara Holmes

In this episode, learn more about the essential expression of joy as Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant explore the themes of the 5th chapter, Healing, in Crisis Contemplation.

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.
• If you wish to get a copy of Crisis Contemplation, you can find it in the CAC Bookstore.

Connect with us:

• Have a question you'd like Dr. B or Donny to answer on a possible listener questions episode? Email us: [email protected] or leave us voicemail.
• This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at https://cac.org/support-cac/podcasts/ Thank you!

What does life look like in our modern-day village?  

Based on the next chapter in Crisis Contemplation, The Village Response, in this episode, Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant explore the role our communities play in shaping our humanity, our self-expression, and our healing.

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.
• If you wish to get a copy of Crisis Contemplation, you can find it in the CAC Bookstore.

Connect with us:

• Have a question you'd like Dr. B or Donny to answer on a possible listener questions episode? Email us: [email protected] or leave us voicemail.
• This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at https://cac.org/support-cac/podcasts/ Thank you!

Who do you consider part of your village? 

In this episode, both Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant helps us make sense of our community wounds and explore the next chapter of Crisis Contemplation, Wounds. Dr. Barbara Holmes explains why unwelcome events are often essential to true transformation: “Wounds are portals. They are entryways to somewhere else within you. Sometimes things happen in your life that make you realize you have allowed a scar to form over something that was festering. It needed to be broken open.” 

 Have you gone through an unwelcome event that ushered in profound healing? Share your experience with us.  

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.
• If you wish to get a copy of Crisis Contemplation, you can find it in the CAC Bookstore.

Connect with us:

• Have a question you'd like Dr. B or Donny to answer on a possible listener questions episode? Email us: [email protected] or leave us voicemail.
• This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at https://cac.org/support-cac/podcasts/ Thank you!

Do you have a time-tested contemplative practice for moments of crisis?  

In this episode, Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donald Bryant offer us this thought: “When crisis has you in its grip, contemplation offers the ability to stop striving. It allows you the space to grieve your losses and then let go. It lets you know that it is okay to withdraw from ordinary pursuits for a while and let the Spirit lead.”  

This episode is based on second chapter of Crisis Contemplation: Contemplation.

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.
• If you wish to get a copy of Crisis Contemplation, you can find it in the CAC Bookstore.

Connect with us:

• Have a question you'd like Dr. B or Donny to answer on a possible listener questions episode? Email us: [email protected] or leave us voicemail.
• This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at https://cac.org/support-cac/podcasts/ Thank you!

Are you experiencing a crisis? How would you recognize it? 

On the 4th season of The Cosmic We, we are taking a pause from our normal format to explore the themes of Dr. Barbara Holmes' book Crisis Contemplation. Together, Dr. B and Dr. Donny explore ways we can apply it to the realities we face in our daily lives. This first episode is based on the themes of Chapter 1: Crisis.

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.
• If you wish to get a copy of Crisis Contemplation, you can find it in the CAC Bookstore.

Connect with us:

• Have a question you'd like Dr. B or Donny to answer on a possible listener questions episode? Email us: [email protected] or leave us voicemail.
• This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at https://cac.org/support-cac/podcasts/ Thank you!

How has your experience of faith changed since your childhood? What shifts in the foundation of your faith have you intentionally and unintentionally made? 

In this final episode of season 3, Barbara and Donny have a conversation with Brian McLaren about the ways we construct God and how, in many ways, the Christian faith hasn’t fully grasped Jesus’s teachings. 

Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is a core faculty member of  The Living School and hosts the podcast Learning How to See, which are part of the Center for Action and Contemplation. He is also an Auburn Senior Fellowand is a co-host of Southern Lights. His newest books are  Faith After Doubt (January 2021), and Do I Stay Christian? (May 2022).

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.

On this week’s episode, Barbara and Donny has a conversation with the Center for Action and Contemplation's Living School manager and spiritual director Gigi Ross about ways to embody contemplation when our paths of discovery and growth make unexpected shifts.

Gigi Ross serves as the CAC’s Living School Manager, supporting students in the Living School. She came to the CAC after spending her last six years in Washington, DC homeless, unemployed, and living in poverty. She resides in Albuquerque where she practices spiritual direction and is a member of the Threshold Choir, a group whose members sing for people who are dying. 

Resources:

• The transcript for this episode can be found here.

How can preaching be a way of relating to life and one another? On this episode, Dr. Frank A. Thomas joins Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant for a conversation about his ability to preach in a way that is applicable to the life around us.

Frank A. Thomas, PhD, currently serves as the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Homiletics and Director of the Academy of Preaching and Celebration at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana. Indicative of his great love of preaching, an updated and revised version of They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration In Preaching, considered by many to be a homiletic classic, was released in August 2013. For many years, Thomas has also taught preaching to Doctoral and Masters level students at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, and at Memphis Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee. He is the CEO of Hope For Life International, Inc., which formerly published The African American Pulpit. With a long history of excellence in preaching and preaching method, Thomas was inducted into the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College in April 2003. Thomas also serves as a member of the International Board of Societas Homiletica, an international society of teachers of preaching.

Thomas holds a PhD in Communications (Rhetoric) from the University of Memphis, a Doctor of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary, Doctor of Ministry degrees from Chicago Theological Seminary and United Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary, and a Master of Arts in African-Caribbean Studies from Northeastern Illinois University. 

Resources:

The transcript for this episode can be found here.