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This is a very long email from Sam which we talk about (a bit) in this week’s show. A twenty-first century faith… …is a faith which moves beyond the axial age of dualism which still grips today’s world – the age of us and them, black and white, right and wrong. It is a faith… Read More »An email from Sam on a twenty-first century faith

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Help us to recognise the evil latent in communication that does not build communion. Help us to remove the venom from our judgments. Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters. You are faithful and trustworthy; may our words be seeds of goodness for the… Read More »Pope Francis: A Prayer for countering fake news

I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise… The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game… I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in… Read More »C. S. Lewis on praise

In Episode 281 I mentioned that I had been down a well. Here you go.

From the Credit Where Credit’s Due Dept. We give songwriters a rough ride on the podcast, but here are two excellent hymns which we mentioned in Episode 258. We cannot measure how You heal By John Bell and Graham Maule. We cannot measure how You heal or answer every sufferer’s prayer, yet we believe your… Read More »Some actually good hymns

Two quotes from this week’s show. “God is first and foremost that depth around all things and beyond all things into which, when I pray, I try to sink. But God is also the activity that comes to me out of that depth, tells me I’m loved, that opens up a future for me, that… Read More »The quotes from Episode 248

In our latest episode, we quote from an email sent by Samuel about four ways of viewing God. We had to summarise the email a bit, but here are the four categories as he described them: Listening to your musings, I got thinking about this typology, you might have come across it before, which suggests… Read More »Four typologies of God

In this week’s podcast I mentioned a part of the prayers during Rogationtide which really spoke to me. The word rogation comes from the Latin rogare – ‘to ask’ – and the Rogation days are the three days leading up to Ascension Day. Many churches also observe Rogation Sunday on the preceding Sunday. Nowadays the… Read More »Rogation Sunday prayers

As featured in Episode 240, and as created by ChatGPT. Verse 1: Lord, Your creation sings From the mountains to the sea A symphony of praise To the One who reigns supreme Chorus: And we hear the song of the Chiffchaff A melody of hope and grace You are faithful, You are true We worship… Read More »The Song of the Chiffchaff

In the second of the Staying Defiantly Webinars, Joe chatted to Dave Steell, about whether the time has come to reform, or possibly eradicate our notion of what ‘Hell’ actually is!

This is from MacDonald’s first volume of Unspoken Sermons. It’s not exactly light reading, and it suffers from the usual Victorian verbosity, but it’s a really helpful text for reframing our understanding of all that hellfire and wrath stuff in the Bible. At the root of it all is the idea that ‘Escape is hopeless.… Read More »George MacDonald – The Consuming Fire

It’s all happening over the Spar Supermarket right now.

Thanks to listener Peter, who sent in this photo of an angel playing the bongos. From the crypt of Bayeux Cathedral.

The Mid-faith Crisis Christmas Service 2023 Coming soon to a computer screen near you. Save the date – 20 December 2023. 8 pm GMT. Bring your own mince pies and mulled wine. There might be guests.

We’ve been at Lee Abbey this week, enjoying the company and conversation of a host of podcast listeners. I think all 17 must have turned up. Anyway, here are some of the things that we mentioned during the week. The Bright Field I have seen the sun break throughto illuminate a small fieldfor a while,… Read More »Dispatches from Lee Abbey

“Dear God, these are anxious times. Tonight for the first time I lay in the dark with burning eyes as scene after scene of human suffering passed before me. I shall promise You one thing, God, just one very small thing. I shall never burden my today with cares about my tomorrow, although that takes… Read More »Etty Hillesum, Sunday Morning Prayer

Glory be to God for dogs; and beer and laughter, kisses, handshakes, conversation – and all the everyday wonders of our lives. Glory be to God for rust; and moss and dappled sunlight, wet stones, dry leaves – and all the surprising beauty of the world. Glory be to God for decay; and illness, aching… Read More »Glory be to God for dogs…

We were recently asked a question on the show about a gospel story which features Jesus, a demon called Legion and a load of very wet pigs. Nick talked about the political aspect of the story and you can read a bit about that in this extract from his book, The Wrong Messiah.

Are you in the Manchester area? Ken in Stockport is planning to start a mid-faith explorers group, a community of practice for people to ‘share with, learn from and support one another along the way’. If you’re interested, you can email him at kenshaz300@gmail.com.

Sorry – the weekend is now sold out. We’ve been overwhelmed by the response and the weekend is full. Sorry about that. But do send us an email and let us know if you’d be interested in attending an event in the future. St. Katharine’s Parmoor, Frieth, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 6NN 29-31 October 2021 Come and… Read More »The Mid-Faith Crisis Church Weekend 2021

In our latest episode, Lacy Finn Borgo talks about an exercise she did, smashing up a plate and then putting it back together using a home-made kintsugi technique. Here are some pics of her plate. Find out more about Lacy here.

There is a God.And God is good. And God loves you. Because God is good, and because God loves you,You don’t have to be afraid;You don’t have to suffer alone;You don’t have to worry about riches or status or pretending to be someone you’re not;You don’t have to feel insignificant, unnoticed or unloved;You don’t have… Read More »What is the good news? Nick’s version

Good news Good news – You belong.  Your life matters! Good news: There is a way of kindness and love, where you can live in harmony, with yourself, with other people and with the earth. There is a love that is free, open, inclusive of all people and available to you right now. Good news:… Read More »What is the good news? Joe’s version

This is a talk I gave to a group of colleagues the other day. Hope you find it helpful. Or funny. Or even both. We are in weird times. Unprecedented times. Worrying times. Most days, I have to remind myself that the Kingdom of God is a perfectly safe and good place to be. Most… Read More »Jeremiah buys a field

These are prayers which Joe talked about in Episode 104. Circle me O GodKeep hope withinDespair without Circle me O GodKeep peace withinKeep turmoil out. Circle me O GodKeep calm withinKeep storms without. Circle me O GodKeep strength withinKeep weakness out Circle of loveEncompass _____________.May your love well up within her/himMay your passion enlighten her/him.Circle… Read More »Encircling prayers

Happy New Year! Here’s the New Year’s Examen reflection as referred to in Episode 98: New Year, New Theme. Download a pdf

Due to the current Pandemic, the Mid-faith Crisis week at Lee Abbey in 2020 has been cancelled. We hope to reschedule this for 2021. So you can still join Joe and Nick, and however many other Podcast listeners are foolish enough to come, for reflection, conversation, laughter and even the odd spiritual moment. Stay tuned… Read More »Join us at Lee Abbey 2020 – CANCELLED

For our Minsmere trip we created this set of reflective, contemplative and generally wiffly exercises to help people to look, listen and generally attend to the presence of God. Feel free to download a copy and take it on your own journeys. Download ‘Bird Sheet’

These wonderful T-shirts were given to us by Alethea during the Mid-faith Crisis birdwatching trip.

I am delighted to invite you to a day with Dr Alexander Shaia at One Church in Brighton on Saturday 10th November 10.00am – 4.00pm. Book Tickets here Alexander is an International Teacher and has been described by Rob Bell as “his favourite teacher”! We are so thrilled that he is making time to be… Read More »The Fourfold Journey of Transformation with Alexander Shaia

This is a photo of Joe and Nick some time around 1993 when we were younger, slimmer and, in the case of Joe, possessed.

We’re having a Mid-faith Crisis Week! Are you going through a mid-faith crisis? Do you stand in church saying, ‘Is this it?’. Have new questions taken the place of old answers? Do you sense that there might be a bigger, more exciting faith out there? This is a week for you! Together, we’ll investigate the… Read More »Yes! It’s the week for the Bewildered

We had a great time with everyone at our first ever Day for the Bewildered. And the day included a wonderful cake made by the brilliant Lisa which featured the figure of Ethel made out of icing! Talking of meeting up, we have a Big Announcement coming soon. Check out Podcast #27.  

It’s the Mid-Faith Crisis Podcast DAY FOR THE BEWILDERED! Saturday 30th September 2017 The Queen’s Arms, 11 Warwick Way Pimlico, London, SW1V 1QT In which our heroes actually meet the people, drink some beer and generally continue the hilarity and the confusion in a live setting, and you could be there! Yes! It’s actually going… Read More »It’s a Mid-Faith Crisis Meet Up

Thanks for spending the time to listen to the podcast. Can we ask two things. First, that you would feel free to give us any feedback you think might be helpful, or ask any questions that you might have. You can send your feedback to joe@midfaithcrisis.org, or find us on Facebook or Twitter. Second if… Read More »Welcome to the Mid-Faith Crisis Podcast