The Kindlings Muse

Listen to a rich conversation between Host Dick Staub and the Reverend Earl Palmer as they discuss the works of Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and Gary Haugen, examples of Christians as Peacemakers.  Suggested reading: Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr., Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural (Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library) and Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World by Gary A. Haugen.      

What are the outer limits of faith and prayer? How do they manifest in the Book of Job? What insights into this epic tale of suffering can a modern poet and playwright offer? Listen as Earl Palmer and Dick Staub explore “The Book of Job" and J.B.: A Play in Verse by poet and playwright Archibald MacLeish.

KindlingsFest  2014 was all about Coming to Your Sense. In this short vignette, Susie Johnson shares her passion for helping guests come to their senses through food and hospitality.

Malcolm Guite reads another of his poems during KindlingsFest 2014. The 9th sonnet on his sequence of 15 sonnets for the stations of the cross, taken from Sounding the Seasons: Seventy sonnets for Christian year.  This sonnet is called ‘Jesus falls for the third time’, and deals with the experience of acute depression. Here is the full sonnet: He weeps with you and with you he will stay When all your staying power has run out You can't go on, you go on anyway. He stumbles just beside you when the doubt That always haunts you, cuts you down at last And takes away the hope that drove you on. This is the third fall and it hurts the worst, This long descent through darkness to depression From which there seems no rising and no will To rise, or breathe or bear your own heart beat. Twice you survived; this third will surely kill, And you could almost wish for that defeat Except that in the cold hell where you freeze You find your God beside you on his knees.

A short reading of "Descent" by Malcolm Guite, from Kindlingsfest 2014. "Descent" is published in The Singing Bowl and also recorded as a song Descent - Good Company - The Songs of Steve Bell. Here is the full poem: They sought to soar into the skies, Those classic gods of high renown, For lofty pride aspires to rise, But you came down. You dropped down from the mountains sheer, Forsook the eagle for the dove, The other Gods demanded fear, But you gave love. Where chiseled marble seemed to freeze Their abstract and perfected form, Compassion brought you to your knees, Your blood was warm. They called for blood in sacrifice, Their victims on an altar bled, When no one else could pay the price, You died instead. They towered above our mortal plain, Dismissed this restless flesh with scorn, Aloof from birth and death and pain, But you were born. Born to these burdens, borne by all Born with us all ‘astride the grave,’ Weak, to be with us when we fall, And strong to save.

During our annual Christmas show  we explore what “call” and “journey" mean during the Christmas season. With the injustices of Ferguson and in New York City framing the current culture, our panel reflects on what Christian tradition and the music, art, and poetry of our culture today can offer us on questions of our purpose. Live music  performed by Eric Miller sings us into the Advent season. Listen in as we consider together what calling and journey mean for us during this ‘most wonderful time of the year.’ With Host: Dr. Jeff Keuss Panelists: Richard Dahlstrom, Senior Pastor of Bethany Community Church and author of "The Colors of Hope" , Brian Bantum, Associate Professor of Theology and author of "Redeeming Mulatto" , Jeffrey Overstreet, film critic and author of "Through a Screen Darkly" , and Kindlings Muse producer, Anna Miller.

Malcolm Guite, as introduced by Scott Cairns, is “a thoroughly engaging teller of tales, a theologian, priest, and poet whose central passion appears to be relationship, connection, apprehending the sacredness off all persons."  He is the author of The Singing Bowl, Sounding the Seasons, Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination, and Word in the Wilderness: A poem a day for Lent and Easter. In this podcast from Kindlingsfest 2014, Malcolm shares his journey of coming to his senses and experience of the sensuous God fueled his poetry, music, and feeling truly human. With readings from his sonnet “Love's Choice", the words of Shakespeare, the Gospel of John, Edwin Muir, and more he stirs the imagination for the sensuousness of God.

Handel's "Messiah" has never lost its popularity since the day it was first performed in London in the 1742. What were the circumstances under which George Handel composed this iconic masterpiece? How did his intentions with structure and text shape the overall composition? Why do we still listen to this piece of work hundreds of years later? Listen to Rev. Earl Palmer, along with host Dick Staub, as they unpack this epic composition and the story behind it's creation and beauty.

KindlingsFest 2014 was all about “Come to Your Senses." Our first evening was an enthusiastic, round table conversation about the distinctions and elements of a generative, creative faith community, thrown in with some humorous trivia to test our friends from the UK. Hosts Dick Staub and Jeff Keuss lead a boisterous gathering that includes British Kindlings Nigel Goodwin, Galloping Gourmet Graham Kerr and his wife, Treena, and Poet/Chaplin/Musician Malcolm Guite.

Gillian Flynn’s 2012 best-seller “Gone Girl” has captured the book clubs of the world with its fast paced, plot twisting tale of romance, marriage and revenge in modern life. With the film version directed by David Fincher starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike selling out theaters around the world, the story of seemingly star crossed lovers becoming a horror story has touched a cultural nerve. What does this story say about how people view relationships today? Is marriage now the villain of modern life? Is romance always doomed? Join us for a great discussion with Jeff Keuss, author Jennie Spohr, and Tina Sellers – professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Seattle Pacific University. **SPOILERS abound in this live Podcasts.

With the increasing popularity of books and films giving a starring role to women as the ones who save the day, are these new heroines of contemporary culture a clash with Christianity?  with host Jennie Spohr and panel Lauri Evans Deason, Dr. Christine Chaney and Bill Hogg

Are we hearing the beginning of the end of U2? Whether they wanted it or not 500 million people became instantaneous owners of U2's latest release "Songs of Innocence" through the latest promotional effort of Apple. What do we love and hate about U2? Is giving away their album a corporate promotion tool, an extreme act of hubris, or an indication of the much industry's future? In this lively discussion at Hale's Ales Brewery and Pub we review U2's newest album, where it sits in the U2 canon, and the controversy surrounding corporations choosing the music that appears on our playlists. With host Dr. Jeff Keuss, and a panel that includes Jennie Spohr, Jeffrey Overstreet and Pickwick's Galen Disston.

With the explosion in extreme fitness programs such as Crossfit, P90X, Bootcamp, Spartan and Tough Mudder Races coupled with radical diets modeled after primal eating habits are gaining more followers, what does this say about our culture’s view of health and wellness? Christian versions such as The Daniel Plan have taken off led by Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren. Why this new extreme take on fitness? Are these extreme programs hurting us or saving us? Listen to this intelligent discussion about what defines "fit," "wellness," the balance of mind+body+spirit, and what makes for a healthy approach to a full life. With host Dr. Jeff Keuss, Jennie Spohr, Scott Rodriguez – Crossfit level 1 Trainer and Regional Crossfit Games Athlete – and Julie Church – Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Director at Opal: Food+Body Wisdom.

From the tech world to hip-hop, entertainers and the movies, will the fresh wave of alpha-male sexism pull the rug out from women or is it merely a last gasp of the powerful succumbing to the future? And in the end, can the relationship between the sexes be based on more than power? What is bro culture, why is it gaining prevalence and what effect it does it have on our culture? As  #YesAllWomen gains traction in response to Elliot Roger's misogynistic rant before shooting seven UCSB students in California, Listen to a timely, intelligent discussion about this resurgence of Bro Culture. Recorded Live Hales Brewery and Pub with our host Dr. Jeff Keuss, Jennie Spohr, Jennifer McKinney, and Brian Bantum

Kindlings Fest is a celebration of art and ideas and where they intersect with the spiritual.  This years Kindlings Fest on Orcas Island asked, "Can Crabbed age and youth live together?" Through film, talks, panel discussions, art, music and casual conversations we explored what it is that keeps generations apart and what can bring them together. Through poetry, music, and story Malcolm Guite talks through Ten Ways together that we can reconnect across generations:  You Yourself are Intergenerational! Start by remembering and befriending your inner child, the one that dreamed Dreams and saw visions. If you are a youth still in touch with your inner child, how about getting in touch with your outer adult? Practice Hospitality especially with the other generation. Learn to love the unlike (Unlike you) - you can always like the like but you can only love the unlike. Get out of the ghetto (musically, culturally), turn your badges of separation into bridges of connection. If you are a lost tribe find your tribal elder If you are lonely elder, find your lost tribe. Don't just confine yourself to the three generations when there are three hundred at your disposal. Notice where your shadow falls and who is in it, don't stand between one another and the light, but turn to it together. Draw communal strength from the great rites of passage. If you've lost or forgotten the great rites, then remember and reinvent them!