What do Christians mean by 'worship'? Is it more than mere singing? How can churches worship God corporately, when we all have such different experiences and preferences? How should we worship when suffering and struggles come?

Benita Lim is a worship leader and PhD candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary. Having lived through the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, Benita shares her experience of worshiping God in the midst of natural disasters, and discusses how, as churches, we can build one another up in spite of our suffering and weakness.

Producers: Matthew and LaRae Cherukara

Music by Leon Riskin

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Samuel Johnson was a critic, poet, and essayist, and the author of one of the most influential English dictionaries in history. As one of the finest minds eighteenth-century England, Johnson was in the centre of debates around the place of Christianity in the moral life of the nation, and the role of faith in a post-Enlightenment world.

Dr Kirsten Herlin of the University of Austin joins Christy, Joe, and LaRae, to discuss Samuel Johnson's life and faith, as well as his engagement with an increasingly secular intellectual culture. How did Johnson deal with his personal struggles of doubt and weakness? Did the humanism of the English Enlightenment necessarily mean a decline in spirituality? How does Johnson's moral influence come through in Jane Austen and other English writers?

Producers: Matthew and LaRae Cherukara

Music by Leon Riskin

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Xie Dawei suffered from polio as an infant, and has been a wheelchair user ever since. In graduate school in the US, she encountered Jesus and experienced the transformation of her identity. In this episode, Dawei speaks to Christy about her struggles growing up with a disability, how she came to faith, and how she uses her experiences to reach out to others suffering from a crisis of identity.

Producers: Matthew and LaRae Cherukara

Music by Leon Riskin

Follow us @overtones.thinktank