Ronnie McBrayer

Going Home

July 07, 2022 00:50 - 23 minutes - 21.9 MB

Do you love someone who struggles with mental illness...addiction? Ronnie addresses both of these In this episode, and speaks of "going home" as returning to the true God-given, Christ-seen self. This talk just might be for you.

God: For Geeks and Seekers, Eggheads and Explorers

June 28, 2022 22:44 - 24 minutes - 22.1 MB

Could it be that scientists, philosophers, theologians, and spiritual seeker are chasing after the same "Wondrous More" that religion calls God? This is Ronnie's talk for "Trinity Sunday, 2022."

Crickets, Christ, and Canadians

June 16, 2022 00:33 - 24 minutes - 22.1 MB

Crickets...Christ...and Canadians? Listen in to this episode to see what these have in common. This is Ronnie's talk for Ascension Sunday, 2022.

A River Runs Through It

June 13, 2022 20:16 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MB

Ronnie is back after a vacation to Colorado! This talk is about embracing the unexpected and "going with the Spirit" and wildness of life instead of holding to preconceived expectations. Enjoy!

All My Tears

May 26, 2022 02:11 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MB

This talk was delivered just days after Ronnie's mother's death and before the mass shooting in Texas. May all who listen find some comfort from these words.

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 10

May 13, 2022 14:31 - 25 minutes - 23 MB

In the conclusion of his series on the cross of Jesus, Ronnie speaks to the suffering of God and how that suffering is an act of solidarity with all who face injustice, pain, and inexplicable hurts. Ronnie says: "To speak of a God who cannot suffer is to speak of a God who cannot sympathize or understand. To believe in a God who is indifferent and unaffected, is to believe in a God who is deaf, blind, and calloused. But God, in suffering love, has in Christ come to join us in our own sufferi...

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 9

May 01, 2022 01:25 - 22 minutes - 20.8 MB

"Our Lord Jesus Christ, through His transcendent love, became what we are, that we might become what he is." So said the Church Fathers, and so says Ronnie in this 9th installation of his series on the Cross of Jesus. The cross must mean something for today, Ronnie says, as we "don't have to die to get in on it."

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 8

April 18, 2022 19:09 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MB

In Episode 8 of Ronnie's series on the Cross of Jesus, Ronnie addresses "everything that is wrong with the world" (An overly ambitious statement, he admits). But he also address the solution, as the cross is a way of God saying: "I know you need to offload the burden of simply being a human, of being that unique species, the only one on the planet committed to revenge. I know you are capable of envy, hatred, violence - the very worst - so put it on me. I can take it. I’ll bear it.I’ll give i...

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 7

April 13, 2022 15:53 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MB

"Everyone into the DeLorean!" And with that, like Marty McFly going "Back to the Future," Ronnie takes listeners back in time to the ancient roots of our faith, exploring the sacrificial system of the Hebrew people. Why the strange rituals? What was all this blood about? What happened on the Day of Atonement? What is a scapegoat? These are questions that Ronnie answers and then applies to our understand of the cross in this seventh installment of his current series.

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 6

April 06, 2022 15:01 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MB

Ronnie takes on a view of the cross now known as "Penal Substitution." While honoring the image of Jesus as a substitute and sacrifice for sin (more about that will be forthcoming in this series), Ronnie outright rejects the idea of a furious, Puritan-like God whose murderous anger must be assuaged only by blood. Adapting a a line from Jonathan Edwards, Ronnie says, "Not for one more minute longer will I believe in a God who, 'not only hates us, but who holds us in the utmost contempt; who w...

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part5

March 31, 2022 23:56 - 26 minutes - 24.1 MB

In episode five of "Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God," Ronnie talks about the importance and impact of an overlooked view of the cross called, "Moral Exemplar." Ronnie describes it like this: "The death of Jesus was such an act of loving sacrifice, such a far-reaching, world-transforming, relationship-changing event - that if understood even remotely - then Jesus’ example of all encompassing love would break our hearts open to love in return."

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 5

March 31, 2022 23:56 - 26 minutes - 24.1 MB

In episode five of "Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God," Ronnie talks about the importance and impact of an overlooked view of the cross called, "Moral Exemplar." Ronnie describes it like this: "The death of Jesus was such an act of loving sacrifice, such a far-reaching, world-transforming, relationship-changing event - that if understood even remotely - then Jesus’ example of all encompassing love would break our hearts open to love in return."

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 4

March 18, 2022 22:49 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MB

Ronnie's continuing exploration of the cross of Jesus arrives at what scholars call, "Christus Victor;" summarized best by Irenaeus, who was born not long after the first Apostles died, said: “[in Jesus] God came to Earth that he might kill sin, deprive death of its power, restore life and freedom to all humanity, and raise a monument of victory.” But this is not a stuffy, theological lecture. Ronnie uses contemporary examples to help us think about how the victory of Christ works itself out...

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 3

March 13, 2022 23:38 - 23 minutes - 21.9 MB

In his third installment of "Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God," Ronnie reaches for the oldest image Christian faith used to understand the death of Jesus. From the oldest Gospel, the words of Jesus himself: "The Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom .” Ronnie explores how the cross "works" as a ransom, liberating us to live in freedom.

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 2

March 04, 2022 16:58 - 22 minutes - 20.3 MB

This is Ronnie's second installment of a series on the Cross of Jesus. It could be sub-titled, "Love and Scandal." Using provocative, contemporary examples, Ronnie talks about the "foolishness of the cross." From the talk: "Could you for a minute get your mind around the fact that a military and political prisoner, taken in the land of our enemies, and executed by the world’s superpower, is the hope for the world? Or would you find such a story to be so far out of bounds, that the only concl...

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God, Part 1

February 24, 2022 02:55 - 24 minutes - 22 MB

In what promises to be a thought-provoking, belief-behind series of talks, Ronnie has launched a series on the meaning behind the Cross of Jesus. In this introductory talk, Ronnie points to Divine Love as the energizing force behind the "sacrifice of Jesus." Ronnie says, "Jesus did not come to save us from God - but to show us who God is. So, whatever happened on that hill outside Jerusalem all those years ago, it wasn’t God torturing his Son. Love cannot do that. It wasn’t God committing a...

Crosswords: How the Cross of Jesus Reveals the Love of God

February 24, 2022 02:55 - 24 minutes - 22 MB

In what promises to be a thought-provoking, belief-behind series of talks, Ronnie has launched a series on the meaning behind the Cross of Jesus. In this introductory talk, Ronnie points to Divine Love as the energizing force behind the "sacrifice of Jesus." Ronnie says, "Jesus did not come to save us from God - but to show us who God is. So, whatever happened on that hill outside Jerusalem all those years ago, it wasn’t God torturing his Son. Love cannot do that. It wasn’t God committing a...

Good News...Not So Good, Part 2

February 18, 2022 01:47 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MB

In this conclusion of a two-part talk from Luke 4, Ronnie says: "We live in such an entitled, selfish, self-centered society, that when we begin to broach the subjects of concern and care for others, patient assistance, breaking the cycles of poverty and violence, intervening to help the 'least of these,' of intentionally taking sides with the weak - the very crux of what Christianity looks like when practiced publicly - it is dismissed as Pollyanna at best or Marxism at worst. I get it; I k...

Good News...Not So Good, Part 1

February 09, 2022 20:53 - 24 minutes - 22.1 MB

In this first of two talks from Luke 4, Ronnie says: "When Jesus comes preaching about 'releasing the captives' and 'setting the oppressed free' and 'God’s good favor' coming to us, it is good news...so long as it us. But when come come to understand that Jesus' intent is to spread his grace to 'them," - not just 'us' - all those people we have spent our lifetimes being suspicious of, if not outright hating, then the good news may not sound so good after all."

”Doctor, My Eyes”

February 04, 2022 21:32 - 21 minutes - 20.1 MB

After an interruption from a Covid outbreak at home, Ronnie is backwash his fifth year of podcasts! This talk, taking its title from Jackson Browne, is an appeal to look and see, to stop and listen, as God speaks to us in the Creation around us. Ronnie asks, "Have we grown so world-weary and tired that we have lost our vision? Have we grown so cynical and soured by the awfulness of what we humans do to each other, and how we act, that we can’t hear the beauty of Creation - thus we can’t hear...

The Day After

January 05, 2022 19:35 - 24 minutes - 22 MB

With what a listener called one of the "most provocative, thoughtful messages I've heard from him over the years," Ronnie talks about moving on - into the new year to come. Based on Isaiah 65, he encourages listeners to believe that "the ones who have been harmed, hurt, and battered in the past, are the very ones who will rebuild a future." Things may never go back to the way they were, but things will go on - and so will we. PS - Ronnie credits the "provocative, thoughtful" nature of this ...

WWHD? A Path to Peace

December 21, 2021 17:45 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MB

WWHD? What Would Hilda Do? Synthesizing the final Sunday of Advent with a remembrance of his dear friend Hilda McDonald, Ronnie plots a path to personal peace in spite of these chaotic times.

”Let‘s Get This Over With:” Facing a Blue Christmas

December 16, 2021 16:20 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MB

"Let's get this over with." That's what Elvis Presley said just before recording the now classic Christmas song, "Blue Christmas." In this talk Ronnie talks about how the holidays can have that exact effect on us, but how we can still find lasting joy for this season and beyond.

”Hope Is A Thing With Feathers...”

December 10, 2021 23:58 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MB

This talk fuses the Apostle Paul with Emily Dickinson and the need of all our hearts: Hope. Using Dickinson's image of hope as a bird that sings and Paul's encouragement that God finishes the work that God begins, Ronnie delivers timely words for Advent and beyond.

Take Me to the River, Part 2

December 01, 2021 17:23 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MB

Ronnie concludes his talk on the story of Naaman and Elisha from 2 Kings 5, focusing on gratitude - and how it is often the best medicine to cure what ails us.

Take Me To The River, Part 1

November 25, 2021 01:07 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MB

The story of Naaman and Elisha falls on our ears like a simple Sunday school tale. Yet, it's far more tangled than that. Based on 2 Kings 5, this is the first part in Ronnie's exploration of Naaman's healing, the complexities that surround the story, and the implications for each of us today.

”Sick and Tired,” Part 2

November 04, 2021 16:12 - 27 minutes - 24.7 MB

In the second part of his talk, "Sick and Tired" - which could be subtitled, "A Deal With the Devil," Ronnie talks about consequence, shares thoughts on divine punishment, and how we all come to a crossroads with the choice to wipe the slate clean. Legendary bluesman Robert Johnson is featured as well.

”Sick and Tired,” Part 1

November 04, 2021 15:59 - 26 minutes - 24 MB

Visiting the man at the pool of Bethesda and connecting that story from the Gospels with Fannie Lou Hamer and how we all desire change, Ronnie talks about how we must become "sick and tired of being sick and tired" before real transformation is possible.

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part 8

October 22, 2021 00:20 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MB

In this conclusion to his series of talks on "letting go," Ronnie talks about surrendering the future: "Make your plans - sure. Set some goals. That’s good. Use some common sense and apply some hard-earned wisdom. You’re going to need that. And then, when all your plans are made, your goals have been adapted to melodic slogans and website catch-phrases, and you have wisely and sincerely anticipated every possible outcome - make sure it’s all written in pencil. Nothing will happen as you thin...

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part

October 22, 2021 00:20 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MB

In this conclusion to his series of talks on "letting go," Ronnie talks about surrendering the future: "Make your plans - sure. Set some goals. That’s good. Use some common sense and apply some hard-earned wisdom. You’re going to need that. And then, when all your plans are made, your goals have been adapted to melodic slogans and website catch-phrases, and you have wisely and sincerely anticipated every possible outcome - make sure it’s all written in pencil. Nothing will happen as you thin...

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part 7

October 13, 2021 19:21 - 29 minutes - 27 MB

"One of the hardest things to let go of is the past, because surrendering the past usually involves forgiveness...Forgiveness doesn’t mean that what happened to you is now and suddenly, okay. It means that you are giving up your power to make it, okay. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that justice should not be sought. It means that achieving justice is ultimately out of your hands. Forgiveness doesn’t mean the past will never hurt you again. It means you have decided to stop hurting others - or you...

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part 6

October 04, 2021 15:04 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MB

"God said it, I believe it, and that settles it!” God might have said it - but now God is unsaying it. Or maybe God didn’t say it at all? Maybe we were just told that God said it. Maybe there is more fluidity to belief than foundation. Maybe there is more mystery and movement to our convictions than surety and certainty. Maybe keeping the faith is more about staying on the path - Jesus is the way, you know, a moving, traveling, always unfolding journey - than it is about stopping and settli...

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part5

October 02, 2021 15:18 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MB

Ego. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Religious Extremism. Wild Horses. Find out what all these have in common in the fifth installment of Ronnie's current series, "Try Something Different: Surrender."

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part 4

September 22, 2021 14:29 - 24 minutes - 22.1 MB

“Look at me…I am the captain now.” That was the iconic and improvised line delivered by Barkhad Abdi to Tom Hanks in the film, "Captain Phillips." It is a line, an attitude, used by us all - not of personal autonomy or personal liberty. It is a question of control. We all want to be in the captain’s chair. Ronnie explores this theme in his fourth installment of the current series.

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part 3

September 15, 2021 14:37 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MB

This is Part 3 of Ronnie's latest series: Try Something Different, Surrender. In this episode Ronnie confronts our "rights-driven" culture, in light of the self-limiting, self-surrendering Jesus. He concludes that to take the attitude of Christ, we must "give up on all we think you deserve...we stop worrying about reputation...about trying to prove something. We stop clinging to our place at the front of the line."

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part2

September 07, 2021 16:03 - 26 minutes - 24.6 MB

This is Part 2 of Ronnie's latest series: Try Something Different, Surrender. He answers these crucial questions: What is Jesus after from us? What does God want? What is it that we need to let go and surrender? The answer to all of these questions is ego and pride. Self-centeredness is the biggest barrier to our spiritual development; the biggest roadblock preventing us from following Jesus and being truly free.

Try Something Different: Surrender, Part 1

August 30, 2021 23:30 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MB

Drawing inspiration from Jesus' words to his disciples, the mediations of Meister Eckhart, and an ancient poem by Rumi, Ronnie launches an ambition series of talks entitled: "Try Something Different: Surrender." In this introductory talk, Ronnie speaks to the "how" of surrender and letting go, and the role that suffering plays in our transformation.

"Leaving Evangelicalism:" A Conversation with David Gushee

August 24, 2021 01:29 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MB

Ronnie has a conversation with ethicist, distinguished professor, author, and pastor Dr. David Gushee. David's new book is entitled, "Leaving Evangelicalism."

6-5-4-3-2-1, Part Two

August 16, 2021 15:53 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MB

Ronnie completes his thoughts from a previous episode, concentrating on the necessity of surrender as the only means to achieve personal peace.

6-5-4-3-2-1, Part One

August 12, 2021 17:09 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MB

Ronnie returns and relaunches his podcast after months away recovering from Covid-19. He leads with a question, "When you come up against something that undoes you; that hurts you; that knocks you off your game; that pulls the curtains back on your vulnerabilities and your fragility: What are you going to do?"

Carry Hope In Your Heart, Part 5

March 20, 2021 13:50 - 26 minutes - 24 MB

In his conclusion to the book of Ruth, Ronnie illustrates how hope is the product of God’s work and human will.

Carry Hope In Your Heart, Part 4

March 10, 2021 16:02 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MB

In the fourth installment of his series on the book of Ruth, Ronnie uses events from Naomi and Ruth's life to illustrate that after you have done all you can do, you have to do the hardest thing of all: You have to wait - because waiting is as much a part of hope as working. Sometimes the work is the waiting.

Carry Hope In Your Heart, Part 3

February 08, 2021 16:04 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MB

In his third installment on the Book of Ruth, Ronnie reminds us to throw ourselves on the providence and possibilities of God. But hope is a verb. It moves you. It keeps us pointed in a God-ward direction.

Carry Hope In Your Heart, Part 2

February 08, 2021 15:55 - 21 minutes - 20 MB

In this second installment from the Book of Ruth, Ronnie connects the biblical story to the statesman Vaclaz Havel: "Hope is not optimism. It is a state of mind. It is the certainty that life has meaning, regardless of how it turns out…I am not an optimist, because I am not sure everything will end well. I just carry hope in my heart."

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