Academy Podcast

This month, the Academy Podcast features Elaine Heath's understanding of neighborhood shalom. Her lecture from Academy 40 speaks to us of hopes and expectations, of well formed theology that is undone by lived experience. Knowing about Jesus and experiencing the compassion and presence of Jesus in the neighborhood is nothing short of transformational. Listen on, dear one, and as you listen, breathe deeply and expand gently. Elaine Heath’s vocational journey includes having served as Dean of the Divinity School at Duke University, and the McCreless Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology.  She is a pioneer in new forms of theological education. In that capacity Heath is co-founder and former President of Neighborhood Seminary. The author of thirteen books, Heath is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and served in pastoral ministry prior to her academic ministry.  She lives with her husband at Spring Forest, an intentional Christian Community and farm in rural North Carolina where s

This month, the Academy Podcast features Claire K. McKeever-Burgett as she discusses the sacred people, places, and experiences that shaped her new book, Blessed are the Women. Step into the holy conversation of what it means to be - not just a woman - but human - one who is loved, and listened to by the Divine. Blessed indeed are the ones who hear women in the Bible for they, like Christ, will see the Divine Mother face to face. Listen on Beloveds.  Claire K. McKeever-Burgett is an author, creative contemplative, and spiritual leader who has dedicated her life to bridging spirituality and social justice. With a background in English and Professional Writing from Baylor University and a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School, she has served as a clergy, led congregations, and facilitated transformative writing, movement, and liturgical practices centered on healing and embodiment. A mother, certified birth and postpartum doula, and a yoga, dance, and martial arts instructor, Claire lives with her

This month, the Academy Podcast features Luther Smith's teaching from Academy 29 in Burlingame, CA. His lecture on "Faithfulness within Conflict" reminds us that conflict should be embraced as a pathway to healing. Ultimately, Dr. Smith invites us to deal with conflict because “Our obedience requires it." The question he asks us is, "will we engage conflict confidently and creatively, or will we find ourselves unprepared?” Listen on, dear one, and as you listen, breathe deeply and expand gently for our world is in deep conflict and, as Luther suggests, it has always been. Luther Smith is an ordained elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, longtime Academy faculty person, and a member of The Academy Advisory Board. Luther spent 35 years of his career as an activist, scholar, and professor at Candler School of Theology, and he is known to be an authority on the life and theology of Howard Thurman. Luther is Professor Emeritus of Church and Community at Candler. His current research focuses on the wr

This month, the Academy Podcast features Ray Buckley's teaching from the 2021 Spiritual Formation in Today's World. His Lecture on Reconciliation. As an indigenous person in North America, Ray speaks with authority about what it takes to be reconciled across walls meant to keep people and creation apart. Let us consider what it will take for indigenous folks, and all historically marginalized people, to have more access which leads to equity in all areas of life. Ray Buckley is the Director for the Center for First Nations Spirituality and longtime faculty member of The Academy for Spiritual Formation. Ray has served the United Methodist Church as a staff member of the United Methodist Publishing House, Director of the Native People Communication Office, and Director of Connectional Ministries and Native Discipleship for the Alaska Missionary Conference. Ray is the author of multiple books and resources for all ages. His stories, poetry, and art have appeared in numerous journals, periodicals and books aroun

This month, the Academy Podcast features Daniel Wolpert’s teaching from the 2021 online Academy Day Apart retreat called Drinking from Ancestral Wells: God’s Wisdom for the Work of the Present Age. Dan contrasts the wisdom of our ancestors with the destructive nature of colonization that cuts people off from God. He guides listeners to reconnect to their ancestors and allow that ancestral wisdom to help them reconnect with God. Dan is the author of multiple spiritual formation books and is executive director and co-founder of MICAH, the Minnesota Institute for Contemplation and Healing; spouse; partner; ally; activist; and dad. Dan has been a student of the spiritual life since age 21 and has taught in the fields of psychology and spiritual formation in numerous settings. In addition to his retreat and teaching work, Dan provides counseling and spiritual direction services at MICAH. Show notes: The quote from Wendell Berry that Shalom references in the outro comes from the poem, "Wild Geese," by Wendell Ber

This month, the Academy Podcast features a word from Alexia Salvatierra. The content comes from her lecture at last December’s online Academy Day Apart retreat called, “Hope in a Time of Despair.” Alexia explores the immigrant and refugee experience through the lens of hope, likening it to the hope of a woman in labor. They have faith that on the other side of the hardship, there is new life that is a fulfillment of God’s dream for their lives—a life where they not only survive but thrive. Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra is the Academic Dean of Centro Latino and the Associate Professor of Integral Mission and Global Transformation at Fuller Theological Seminary.  She has over forty years of ministry experience, including as a missionary in the Philippines, in Spanish-speaking and English-speaking congregations, as a legislative advocate, as the founder and director of multiple non-profit organizations and as an international speaker/training/consultant.  She was the co-founder of several national initiatives in

This month’s episode of the Academy Podcast features teaching from Amy Oden on the topic of “Meeting God in Our Longing” from the 2021 cohort of Spiritual Formation in Today’s World. Amy explores the art of discerning between the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death by paying attention to our deepest longings. She emphasizes that in our fast-paced and noisy world, practicing mindfulness, or pausing to listen within, can help us recognize what our soul needs and guide us in making the choices that will bring freedom and aliveness. Born and raised on the prairies of Oklahoma, Amy has found her spiritual home under the wide-open sky. She earned her PhD in Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University, writing her dissertation on Augustine. Over the last 30 years, she has served on the faculties of Oklahoma City University, Saint Paul School of Theology and Wesley Theological Seminary where she also served as Dean. She now is an itinerant professor, teaching at several schools in the areas

In this month's episode, we hear from Safiyah Fosua. Safiyah was speaking on the topic of "Meeting God in Our Healing" from the 2021 cohort of Spiritual Formation in Today's World, a one-year online program from The Academy. Safiyah shares the story of the Gadarene demoniac from the synoptic Gospels to help us understand how our relationship with fear is connected with our healing, both personally and socially. Safiyah Fosua is a retired professor of spiritual formation at Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University and former Director of Transformational Preaching Ministries at Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church. Safiyah and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Kwasi Kena, also served as missionaries to Ghana, West Africa, assisting the Methodist Church of Ghana in curriculum writing, leadership development, and local pastors’ education. Safiyah has served churches in Iowa, and New Jersey, and is in frequent demand as a preacher, speaker, Bible study leader, and worship designer for national eve

This month's episode features teaching from Wilkie Au during the first session of Two-Year Academy #40 in 2018. Wilkie explores how the stories in scripture can be a paradigmatic lens for viewing our current life experiences, helping us to see how God is showing up in our lives today and inviting us into a deeper felt knowledge of God's love for us. Wilkie reminds us that interacting with scripture using our full being—both our intellect and our imagination—can unlock deeper transformation of spirit. Wilkie Au is a spiritual director and Emeritus Professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, where he taught in the area of Christian spirituality and coordinated the graduate concentration in spiritual direction. He is the author of the award winning books, By Way of the Heart: Toward a Holistic Spirituality and The Enduring Heart: Spirituality for the Long Haul. He has also co-authored several books with his spouse, Dr. Noreen Cannon Au, including God's Uncondition

In this month's episode, Cláudio Carvalhaes asks us to consider how we understand ourselves and our faith in relation to the land. For over 50 years, we’ve commemorated Earth Day in April and yet investment in our planet feels like such an onerous task. What does it mean to recite “The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof” when it comes to honoring Earth Day? What is our task as followers of the way, who experience the fullness of God revealed in nature, when it comes to divesting of systems that wreak havoc on the earth? Cláudio Carvalhaes is a theologian, liturgist, performer, artist, and activist. Originally from Brazil, he is the Associate Professor of Worship at Union Theological Seminary - New York City. He is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is the author of multiple books including, Liturgies from Below: Praying with People at the End of the World, Praying with Every Heart: Orienting Our Lives to the Wholeness of the World, and most recently, Inventory, Metamorphoses  and Emer

For this month’s Academy Podcast episode, in honor of March and the celebration of women’s history, we have chosen to highlight the life of Saint Teresa of Avila through the scholarship and spiritual guidance of Sister Kathleen Flood. Sister Kathleen bears witness to the courageous life of St. Teresa, whose devotion to Christ led her to become a reformer of the Carmelite order, a resister against the Christian nationalism of 16th century Spain and the Spanish inquisitions, and a profound teacher on the life of prayer. An Illinois native, Kathleen R. Flood, OP, presently resides in Wisconsin. She became a member of the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation (the Order of Preachers) in 1981, and served as a campus minister in Illinois and Wisconsin. She came to Nashville in 1988, serving for many years as University Catholic Chaplain at Vanderbilt University, as well as providing a ministry of spiritual direction, leading retreats, preaching, and teaching. Sr. Kathleen is a graduate of the Graduate Theological Found

This month's podcast episode features Regina Laroche as she bears witness to the healing and transformation that can come when we risk stepping into the wounded places in our neighborhoods and in our world. Regina cultivates food, connections, and community in her work with DIASPORA GARDENS, Planting Connections, Planting Hope, and the St. Mark Giving Garden. These integrate farming or gardening with art, cultural identity, and celebration; and are dedicated to nourishing and healing earth, bodies, spirit, and communal relationships. The emphasis is on communities of color with histories of racialized trauma and land-related violence. Regina invites us to deepen our birthright connections to healthy land, healthy food, empowering traditions and resilience in ways that bring justice and repair to all.  These offerings draw on Regina's life of small-scale farming on the edge of Lake Superior, her mother's rural South Carolina upbringing, and her father's Haitian Afro-Caribbean culture. Regina is experienced in

This month's podcast episode features Juan Carlos Huertas, who currently serves as minister of proclamation and the practice of justice at First-Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln, NE. Huertas holds a Master of Divinity degree from Emory University in Atlanta, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana College in Pineville, Louisiana, where he majored in Religion and minored in Spanish—his first language growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is a trained spiritual director and committed to practices that move communities to liberation through shared wisdom, communal leadership, and contextual action. Juan is married to Shannon Perry Huertas. Juan and Shannon have three children: Seth, Isabelle, and Lucas

This month's episode features Roberta Bondi's exploration of prayer. Roberta is a writer, speaker, teacher, and retreat leader. She is Professor Emerita of Church History at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Roberta earned a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University and completed two years of study at Perkins School of Theology. She holds Mater of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University. A weaver and spinner who is interested in women’s work with fiber through the ages, Roberta is the author of nine books and a longtime faculty member of The Academy for Spiritual Formation. Roberta’s lifetime of studying the desert mothers and fathers of the Early Church lends itself to the wisdom you’re about to hear-–that the whole of the Christian spiritual life is about growing in the knowledge of God’s love, and that we can’t love others if we don’t first know God loves us.

Perhaps it is because of Hee Soo’s formation and orientation to Confucianism and Buddhism that we experience a refreshing expansion on the story of Elijah 1 Kings 17-19. Have you had an experience like this? Where you set aside time to dislocate from your regular rhythms and give yourself over to a new road, the hospitality of strangers, and the provision of God? Hee-Soo Jung was born in Kwang hwa do, Korea. He came to the United States in 1982. His family was in the Confucian/Buddhist tradition and, at 16 years of age, he became the first converted Christian in his family. Hee-Soo Jung holds degrees from Methodist Theological Seminary, Dongguk University Graduate School in Seoul, Korea; Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California; Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, California and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, he has completed the Upper Room's Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation. His passionate leadership has been focused on Korean-American Chur

In this Academy Podcast episode, Rev. Larry Peacock reminds us of our essential nature as God’s beloved. Larry is the Director of the Franciscan Spiritual Center in Milwaukie, Oregon, has led retreats and workshops for groups and churches across the country and is the author of "The Living Nativity – Preparing for Christmas with St Francis," and "Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Sages, Psalms and Prayer Practices" and many articles on liturgy and spirituality. He pastored United Methodist churches in England, Michigan, and California for 30 years before moving to Massachusetts to become Executive Director of Rolling Ridge Retreat and Conference Center. After being a participant in the Academy for Spiritual Formation, he became a retreat leader and faculty presenter for the Academy. He is trained as a spiritual director and has made pilgrimages to Assisi, Iona, Taize, walked the last 100 Km of the Camino de Santiago and taught at Boston University School of Theology. He is married to author Rev. Anne Broyles and

In this episode, we have the gift of hearing from Rev. Grace Imathiu, Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Evanston, Illinois. Pastor Grace is a citizen of the world for whom ‘the world is her parish’. As an African who is married to a European and is raising an American son, Grace is fluent in three languages, was educated in Kenya, U.S.A., in England and Israel. She has preached in Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Togo, Liberia, Denmark, Australia, Malaysia, Brazil, and all throughout the United States. Grace has a passion and gift for inspiring and nurturing prophetic communities of faith to live out loud the Jesus Story. For Grace, the quintessential expression of the resurrected Lord’s presence is a community whose very DNA is a radical hospitality which births a loving and a healthy tension that is ideological, theological, racial, ethnic and cultural. She thrives on diversity. Grace is married to David Jones and together they are the parents to Erik. Pastor Grace will invite us to hold the

Our host, Shalom, reflects at the beginning of the episode saying  “As I listen to this previously recorded lecture from Academy 38 in Nebraska in 2017, I’m struck by the bite size and yet weighty spiritual truth present in the text that bears witness to the Resurrection.”   Dr. Hy has a doctorate and post doctorate in the field of psychology. He has taught at numerous universities and his research and writing has been reprinted as a classic in a developmental psychology book. In his lecture, teacher Hy spends time deconstructing what it takes to participate in healing. are we first assaulted then instantly healed? do we move immediately from jarring  events to feeling free and confident? Teacher Hy, who is quoting Ronald Rollheiser, would say the difference lies in amazement versus pondering. Listen on dear ones. And as you listen, hold, carry and transform the tension that Naturally builds up from being a part of this world. May you experience God, yourself and your own pain in ways that will lead you to

Spring has sprung. New life is teeming. Resurrection Sunday and Easter tide are right around the corner. We also celebrate Earth day this month. Even as we witness biodiversity waning and people going hungry for lack of nutrition the earth is crying out. In this month's episode, we hear from Susan MacKenzie. Susan talks about sustainability as the long term environment where all things, all creation may flourish and achieve their highest purpose. Sustainability never sounded so good. Sustainability never sounded so much like the beloved community. How can buying locally sourced goods or eating seasonal produce or reducing single use plastic lead us to new life in mind body and spirit? How can these practices help us to build the beloved community? Susan speaks on this in more at a previously recorded 2019 Five Day Academy that took place in Iowa.

In this month’s episode, we hear from Marjorie Thompson author of Soulfeast, a spirituality classic and best seller. For many church workers this is a seminal book on spiritual formation. Marjorie is ordained in the Presbyterian Church USA and brings to her ministry over 30 years of experience in retreat work, teaching and writing, and Christian spiritual formation. Marjorie considers writing a central dimension of her vocation. For 12 years Marjorie served as director of Pathways in Congregational Spirituality with the Upper Room. In that position, she was chief architect of Companions in Christ, an innovative small group resource series for adult spiritual formation. Currently she works freelance, offering retreats, lectures and spiritual guidance. Marjorie deeply supports the Academy for Spiritual Formation and has served as faculty for both Two Year and Five Day models. In this episode we hear a portion of one of her lectures to church leaders in 2017.