Blessed Uncertainty

In this final episode of Season One, we wrap up our series on Children's Spirituality as Reverend Flo shares a bit about the intersection of children's development and the relational consciousness that connects them to self, others, and the divine.  So much of children's religious curricula does not take cognitive or emotional development into consideration, but when we understand children's developmental needs, we can support a healthy spirituality that promotes flourishing rather than harm.  CW: We mention suicide towards the end of our episode when remembering a previous guest, and we talk about the mental and emotional toll it takes to do justice work in a world that undervalues children.  Thank you for listening this season. We are grateful for these conversations, and we hope they move us towards a more loving and just world for children. 

In this episode, Priest Monica Coakley shares her experience with Godly Play — a method of storytelling and sharing sacred scriptures with children that opens the door to wonder and trusts children enough to make their own meaning. Mtr. Monica's role has shifted from years of working with young children to now ministering to men on death row as a chaplain, where she has found Godly Play just as profound in the prisons as it was in church classrooms. We talk about wonder, humanity, and returning to a childlike innocence that is not naive.   

Our guest today is Dr. Christine Webb, primatologist and author of The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters. Dr. Webb is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University, where she is part of the Animal Studies Program. Her research is driven by a growing awareness that the ecological crisis demands a profound shift in how we understand other animals and our place among them. This is a really fun episode, connecting the vulnerability of children and animals with the wonder and natural compassion children have for other creatures and the world we are all a part of. It's a fascinating conversation about the intersection of faith and science, and about keeping curiosity alive in both.

  Today's episode is a heavier one. We recorded this conversation in the midst of the newly released Epstein files and the horrific reality that powerful people often protect abusers rather than children. If there was ever a moment to talk plainly about safeguarding children, it's now. Our guest today is D.L. Mayfield (they/them). D.L. is an author, podcaster, and co-creator of The Strong-Willed Project, which documents harm done to children in evangelicalism and other high-control religious spaces, with particular attention to the legacy of James Dobson and the parenting framework his books popularized for decades. This episode was recorded on February 11, just days after reporting revealed that some abusers named in the Epstein files shared Dobson's parenting advice as part of controlling their victims. A content note: this episode includes discussion of corporal punishment and abuse. We do not describe sexual abuse in detail, but it is referenced. Please take care of yourself in whatever way you need. But if you have the privilege to listen, especially if you have not experienced abuse, please don't look away. Children cannot advocate for themselves in systems built to silence them. Protecting them is a moral responsibility. As James Baldwin writes: "The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.

Episode Four: Letting Go of a Punitive God with Brian Recker If fear is how we first met God, what does it take to unlearn that? In this episode of Blessed Uncertainty, we talk with writer and former evangelical pastor Brian Recker, author of Hellbent, about how beliefs about hell shape our inner lives, our parenting, our politics, and the world we are building together. This is a conversation about letting go of punishment as the foundation of faith and trusting in the God who restores. We explore hell as something we create here and now, the harm fear-based theology does to children, and why grace, not punishment, is what actually changes people. We first recorded this episode in October, when Brian's book was released. But with conservative evangelicalism doubling down on embracing a tyrannical and authoritarian regime more and more each day, this conversation feels even more urgent now than it did then. Guest: Brian Recker Author of Hellbent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love Free study guide available at: https://brianrecker.com Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Spiritual director Lacy Finn Borgo joins Blessed Uncertainty to explore the sacred art of listening with children, where wonder, healing, and trust reveal the presence of God already at work in their lives.

Episode 2: Children's Liberation Theology with R.L. Stollar:  What if respecting children's dignity isn't radical, but the most basic thing? Author and advocate R.L. Stollar joins us to explore Children's Liberation Theology — a vision that sees children as full human beings made in the image of God, reshaping faith and community for everyone.

On this first episode of Blessed Uncertainty, Danny and Flo talk about why children's spirituality matters, where prayer fits in, and how their childhood experiences of God have shaped their concern for children's agency and autonomy in faith spaces.