In this episode the host reflects on Ash Wednesday and uses James Baldwin's words to explore mortality, racism, and the ways religion can both comfort and control. Drawing on radical theology and the image of a crucified God, the conversation asks how acknowledging death can lead us to love, justice, and becoming Christ in the world.

In this episode Aaron unpacks Matthew 12 and redefines the "unforgivable sin" as calling compassion and liberation evil. He critiques spiritual bypassing and evangelical moral relativism, connects faith to historical fights against fascism and civil rights, and urges moral clarity, courage, and activism as essential expressions of faith. The episode closes with questions for reflection and a call to collective action.

In this episode the host explores rising anxiety and the search for hope by turning to Black church wisdom and the work of Dr. James Cone. Topics include the cruciform meaning of the cross, how faith and story sustained resistance to white supremacy, the idea of a present-focused "cruciform" faith, and how historical lessons from the Black community can guide our fight against contemporary fascism while nurturing solidarity, compassion, and action.

The hosts explore Jesus’s radical humility (the Beatitudes, Philippians, and the cross) as a way to reframe weakness, and discuss vulnerability, power dynamics, rest, and the healing power of connection and compassion.

In this episode the host leads a life review of 2025, reflecting on the Eaton and Palisades fires, political turmoil, community upheaval, and personal stories of trauma and recovery. Guests share how they found strength, faced loss, and began rebuilding their lives.

Key themes include grief and healing, chaplain wisdom that "it won't always feel this way," faith as a source of hope and love, Romans 8, perseverance, and the power of community care as the group looks toward 2026 with a benediction of love and justice.

Aaron reads Matthew’s nativity and argues Jesus began life as a refugee fleeing state violence, linking the story to the Exodus tradition. The episode challenges sanitized readings of scripture and urges Christians to care for migrants and the oppressed. Ultimately it affirms that love — not empire — has the final word.

In this episode the host tackles the timeless question: what is the meaning of life?

He outlines four overlapping ways people find meaning — the religious, the metaphysical, the social, and the material — and explores how each can sustain us. Stories and reflections include faith and deconstruction, a mystical view of being the universe experiencing itself, the power of relationships and politics, and finding joy in ordinary pleasures like sports.

The episode emphasizes our ability to create meaning, the importance of community, and offers a hopeful benediction to commit to love, justice, and the courageous embrace of life.

Peter Rollins starts with a parable about a mystic, an evangelical pastor, and a fundamentalist who each meet Jesus in the afterlife. From that story Peter explores three kinds of unknowing, the paradox that the divine can share our lack, and how that insight reframes salvation and love.

The conversation contrasts community, the commons, and a deeper communion forged around shared wounds and symptoms, using AA as an example of radical acceptance. The episode closes with a short guided reflection inviting listeners to imagine a circle of people and the burdens they carry.