Love is stronger than fear. I first wrote those words on the heels of Donald Trump’s election back in 2016, and they became a truth I returned to again and again in the social tumult of the past four years.
They also became the title of my podcast, and I’m excited to announce that Season 4 of Love Is Stronger Than Fear starts today! It’s a short episode today, an introduction to the season ahead, including guests like Jemar Tisby, Liuan Huska, and Katherine Wolf who will help me consider how to live in love instead of fear in the midst of personal pain and social division.
This season, we’re looking at the themes of my e-book Head, Heart, Hands. We’ll be talking about the way we can learn, relate, and respond with action to the brokenness in our own lives and our culture when it comes to race, class, disability, and other dividing lines within our culture.
So if you are already a subscriber, you should see this new episode in your podcast feed today. If you aren’t, I invite you to go to wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe right now. For all of you, please let other people know about Love Is Stronger Than Fear. We are on a mission to help people believe that we can make a difference. We can heal. We can proclaim that hope and love and joy and justice win. This podcast is just one small part of a larger healing work that we are all invited into.
I hope you’ll join us in the conversation. And I hope you’ll put the conversation into action in this broken world because you too have come to believe that love is stronger than fear.
Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book Head, Heart, Hands, which accompanies White Picket Fences. Check out free RESOURCES that are designed to help you respond to the harm of privilege and join in the work of healing. Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.
Connect with me:
Thanks for listening!
Note: This transcript is generated using speech recognition software and does contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
0 (4s):
Hi friends. I'm Amy Julia Becker and this is Love is stronger than fear. This is a podcast about responding to social division, with hope and healing. And as the events of the past week in particular demonstrate, we are a people with lots of division and we are in need of hope and healing. I'm really glad to be we're back with you. All and I want to, Today just give you a little taste of the season we have ahead of us. I want to offer some clips from upcoming interviews with Jomar Tisby Liuan Huska Katherine Wolf. But before I do that, let me just offer a little context for where we're headed. I am sure that these conversations will be helpful and encouraging and thought provoking for people like you who want to participate in personal and social healing in our nation.
0 (51s):
So I am going to ask you Today to take a minute and tell other people about this podcast, because we rely on your word of mouth to reach new listeners. And I don't want anyone who would benefit from these conversations to miss out. So please spread the word as some of, you know, the last season of this podcast emerged because I had a book that I wrote a 2018 memoir called white picket fences. And the themes of that book led into the themes of this podcast, which we recorded on the heels of a George Floyd's murder. I talked over the summer and into the fall with people like Esau McCaulley and Sarah Hendron and Andy crouch and Natasha Robinson and David Bailey. And we talked about race and class and disability and privilege.
0 (1m 34s):
I learned so much from interacting with those people. And I loved hearing from all of you about how those conversations affected your own perspective. New sent me emails and left me messages about thinking about where to send your kids to school, how to participate in racial reconciliation within the church, how to understand disability and our common humanity for this season. I'm using my ebook. Head heart and hands as a guide to conversation. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is an ebook that's available for free on my website. Amy Julia Becker dot com. It's free both as an ebook form and also has an audio book.
0 (2m 15s):
And its a short guide that follows up on the themes of white picket fences. It's designed to offer a way to respond to social divisions using our whole selves, our heads hearts and hands. And in the upcoming weeks I'll be interviewing scholars, spiritual leaders, leaders of nonprofits, leaders of churches, and some ordinary people who are living out a response to our social divisions. So we will talk with scholars and thinkers about resources for learning more we'll discuss spiritual practices so we can try to stay grounded and love and supported in the work of social justice and will also hear the practical details and the stories of people have taken the next step towards healing in their own lives, in their communities.
0 (3m 5s):
So let me tell you about some of the guests we will hear from in the next few episodes. I'll start with a little story last week on Wednesday, January 6th, I was excited that morning. I learned that Raphael Warnock would be serving in the United States Senate. And I thought it was pretty exciting to find out that a black Christian man would be representing the people of Georgia at this time. And I was excited because I was going to be talking with Jamar Tisby and recording an episode. The first episode for this season of the podcast, if you don't know who Damar Tisby is, he has a new book that just came out, but his book that just came out as a follow up to his bestselling, the color of compromise, which is a history of the American church's complicity and racism.
0 (3m 51s):
His new book is called how to fight racism. And it just seems like a great day to talk with him. I was excited and encouraged as we went in to that conversation. A little did I know that literally, as we talked, president Trump was also talking, he was talking to a large group of his supporters who would then March down Pennsylvania Avenue and storm the Capitol building where Congress had gathered to certify the electoral college votes that make Joe Biden, our next democratically elected president. But in light of these tumultuous, upsetting, unjust, tragic events, this conversation with Jomar only convinces me more of the importance of having these conversations.
0 (4m 35s):
We had a chance to talk about all sorts of things, including racial identity formation and learning how history plays into the present moment. And we also talked about the role of relationships in racial justice and here's a clip from what he had to say about that.
1 (4m 51s):
And this gets the, at the idea of that all racial justice Is in some sense, relational. And I especially mean when we have to cross different boundaries, race, ethnicity, culture, so that people don't simply become the other or the enemy, but, but human beings, image bearers of God and, and how that affects the way we treat other people the way we love our neighbors, the way we maneuver in the world. But I recognize that oftentimes we leave it at relationships. And so that's where you get statements. Like some of my best friends are black, black, or you know, I'm a nice to people who, who are different. So therefore I'm not racist and are not part of the problem.
1 (5m 34s):
Well obviously keep those relationships, you know, that's good. Don't want you to be mean to other people who are not have a diverse relationships, but let's recognize that that that's necessary, but not sufficient. And so we have to go a step further to the commitment aspect and that's really getting at the laws, the policies, the systemic and institutional factors that, that create and perpetuate racial inequality.
0 (5m 58s):
So I'm sure that gives you a little taste. You'll be excited to come back next week and hear from Damar, but will also get to here from Liuan Huska. She is the author of a recently released a book hurting yet whole, which I highly recommend. And we will talk about how personal pain and chronic illness can contribute to social pain and social division. So here's a short taste of the wisdom that she has to offer to you.
2 (6m 21s):
He was with people with disability. So much of the suffering that happens has to do with how they don't do or don't fit into society's definitions and ideas of what's a good life and a productive life and a meaningful life. So I felt like that also plays into chronic illness that you can, we can start to ask the question like, is this suffering and may be, are these limits that are causing suffering do too. Like the experience is like the physical experience in itself or the way that our world works so that we're not able to participate in the life of society in ways that would enable us to feel more supported and connected and, and experience healing and fighting.
0 (7m 12s):
We will get to hear from Katherine Wolf author of hope, heals and suffer strong and founder, along with her husband, Jay of the hope heals camp. I can't wait for you to hear more from Katherine about her whole story, but to give a little preview, he or she is talking about what it's like to spend a week at camp with a group of families who all have family members who are present with disabilities
3 (7m 35s):
Because nobody's trying to fix it down there and nobody's trying to heal. Nobody is trying to correct things. Its just being together. And my theory is that the Bazaar communal like almost instant, like embracing of each other, has everything to do with the fact that living the American dream is no longer available to these families. So like they're not concerned with it anymore. Their on the other end of the spectrum where they actually are watching to disrupt the lie, the joint only comes in a pain free life.
0 (8m 16s):
So this is an invitation for you to tune in next week and the weeks after that to subscribe and share this podcast and let other people know about Love is stronger than fear. We're on a mission here. I guess that's what I'm going to say. We're on a mission to help people believe that we can make a difference. We can heal We can proclaim that hope and love and joy and justice will when this podcast is just one small part of a larger healing work, but I hope you'll join us in this conversation. And in pudding this conversation into action in our broken world, 'cause you two have come to believe that Love is stronger than fear.
4 (8m 58s):
<inaudible>.