Welcome to Grace and Space, a weekly newsletter from the Deconstructing Mamas Podcast! GRACE for who you have been, are now and SPACE for who you are becoming and will be!
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I think my favorite part of the Christian tradition, is the reality that there is no resurrection without a crucifixion.
Richard Rohr says: “If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it” and now that I have children, I am doubling down on transformation over transmission.
For me, that looks like reaching out for help. A lot. As often as I need to.
It also looks like remembering that I won’t always get it right. I won’t be perfect. I will have doubts and worries and uncertainties and I will make less than ideal decisions—but I can model for my children what it’s like to get back up. Every single time.
After all, resurrection has always been a bold invitation. --Ericka Graham
This Week on the Podcast:
Ericka Graham, freelance pastor and Bible-nerd extraordinaire, mama to two littles, recovering 12-stepper, and podcaster, is our guest this week. Ericka has a passion for reframing the Bible to be a source of life and healing and spreading that word far and wide.
On this episode, we dive deep into the hard spaces of OCD manifested in scrupulosity, drug addiction and herky-jerky recovery and the ways that the Bible has been used to harm others.
We also lean into the hopeful ideas of radically loving ourselves, fighting for our healing, evolving for our faith to survive and how Scripture can have a beautiful role in these when we come at it with a different posture. And to boot, how important this all is in parenting!
Talking with Ericka was like having lunch with a wise and vulnerable friend and also a nerdy and brilliant theologian. It's a magical combination that you don't want to miss!!
You can find Ericka at the following spaces:
Instagram: @mrserickagraham
Podcast: Curiosly with Ericka Graham
Latest News:
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Resource Alerts:
Esther's FAVORITE BOOK right now: "I am stockpiling antibiotics for the Apocalypse, even as I await the blossoming of paperwhites on the windowsill in the kitchen," Anne Lamott admits at the beginning of Almost Everything. Despair and uncertainty surround us: in the news, in our families, and in ourselves. But even when life is at its bleakest--when we are, as she puts it, "doomed, stunned, exhausted, and over-caffeinated"--the seeds of rejuvenation are at hand.
"All truth is paradox," Lamott writes, "and this turns out to be a reason for hope. If you arrive at a place in life that is miserable, it will change." That is the time when we must pledge not to give up but "to do what Wendell Berry wrote: 'Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.'"
In this profound and funny book, Lamott calls for each of us to rediscover the nuggets of hope and wisdom that are buried within us that can make life sweeter than we ever imagined. Divided into short chapters that explore life's essential truths, Almost Everything pinpoints these moments of insight as it shines an encouraging light forward.
Candid and caring, insightful and sometimes hilarious, Almost Everything is the book we need and that only Anne Lamott can write.
Lizz's FAVORITE BOOK right now:
Encounter God's unlimited presence and unconditional love in this joyful picture book that helps kids discover God in all parts of creation, from the mountains to the anthills and, most of all, in our hearts amid joy, sadness, calm, and chaos.
In this poetic book for 4- to 8-year-olds, a child asks her mother "Is God here, or is God there?" and begins to understand that God's attention, kindness, and comfort are everywhere. Young children will learn
God is present in all parts of nature
God is present with them when they are scared or brave, happy or sad, and in all situations
each person is loved and good because they are God's child and God is present within them
Written by two ministers who are COMING ON OUR PODCAST, and featuring vivid illustrations in rich colors, My Love, God Is Everywhere honors the natural way that children see and love the world while affirming each child's identity as the handiwork of a loving God. Kids and adults alike will enjoy spending time with our good God as they reflect on the truth that God is everywhere. Esther's Five(Ish)-Minute Sermon on Between Church. Find out how Esther is learning to go from TALK TALK TALK to TELL ME MORE and why that might be important in our relationships with each other.
Can't wait until Tuesday and need just a little snippet from our podcast episode. Here's something to whet your appetite and hold you over until then!!
One last thing. We want to remind you that we are so glad you are here. We wouldn't be the same without you. You will always find GRACE for where you've been and who you are now, and SPACE for who you are becoming and will be.
Carry on, our new-found friends. Welcome to the twisty-windy, full -of-adventure faith path that's laid out before us all. Love,
Lizz & Esther
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