Theology on a Timer {Reflections}

Racing against a 30-second timer, Pastor Ryan tackles deep theological questions with surprising candor and insight in this experimental podcast format. Music director Mike Lauer serves as both inquisitor and timekeeper, challenging Ryan to distill complex spiritual concepts into concise, meaningful answers before the buzzer sounds.

The rapid-fire format creates moments of both depth and humor as Ryan reveals his admiration for Moses—a biblical leader with relatable anger issues who nevertheless spoke with God "as a man speaks with his friend." When addressing common misunderstandings about grace, Ryan boldly encourages listeners to "take advantage of God's love," explaining that's precisely why it's given freely. His perspective shifts our understanding from cautious approach to enthusiastic embrace.

Biblical trivia emerges naturally as Ryan explains that Mark wasn't one of Jesus' original disciples, yet his gospel likely provided the template for Matthew and Luke. We witness Ryan's theological strengths in narrative interpretation alongside his self-described "blind spot" with Paul's epistles. The most powerful moment comes when Ryan offers two contrasting summarizations of the Gospel—one historical, one provocatively personal: "You're a bastard and God loves you anyway."

From afterlife mysteries to the future of the American church (and even a lighthearted prediction for the struggling Colorado Rockies), this episode demonstrates how theological reflection can be simultaneously profound, accessible, and entertaining. Whether you're spiritually curious or deeply faithful, join us for this refreshingly honest conversation that proves meaningful insights don't always require lengthy explanations.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
What is up everybody?
Hey, my name is Ryan andwelcome to our Reflections
podcast, and today we got aspecial treat for you we're
going off the grid, off the map.
Mike Lauer is joining us in thehouse today.
What's up, mike?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Not much.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
If you don't know Mike, he is our director of
music here at Central.
He's also my podcastingproducer in our huge operation
down here in the basement and hethought this idea would be kind
of fun.
He's like I'm going to pepperyou with like as many
theological questions orpractical questions about church
or whatever faith that he canthink of, and I have what.
Is it 30 seconds to answer?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, we'll do 30 seconds.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
And when I'm at 30 seconds and if you know me and
many of you maybe do or havegotten to I'm kind of
long-winded, especially aroundtheology.
I just like to explain it.
But he's going to buzz me.
Here's the buzzer to know thatI'm out of time.
All right, there it is, and noexceptions.
So we're going to get throughas many as we can and we're
going to see how it goes.
It's an experiment.
If you like it, let us know.
If you think it's terrible, letus know.
All right, shoot One.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
All right, question one.
I think I know the answer tothis one.
Okay, denver Broncos, denverBroncos.
Question number one who is yourfavorite biblical figure?

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Oh boy.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
I really Just kidding .
Okay, 30 seconds, starting now.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I really like Moses.
You know, moses was a flawed asI read him, a flawed character,
but he loved God.
He was kind of a maniacal.
He had anger issues, I think.
I mean when he strikes the rockwhen he's supposed to speak to
it, he gets frustrated at thepeople and I can understand that
.
But he also, I think I meanwhen he strikes the rock when
he's supposed to speak to it, hegets frustrated at the people
and I can understand that.
But he also, I think, lovedthem and he met with God.
As a man speaks with his friend, it says I love that.

(01:52):
It's a beautiful, beautifulstory.
Oh, great.
Oh, you hit the buzzer.
Go ahead, all right, let's go?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Number two, number two.
What's something peoplemisunderstand about capital?
G Grace, 30 seconds starts now.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Okay, I don't know even about capital G grace, but
I'll say this.
I think people oftentimes saythings to me like I don't want
to take advantage of God's love,and I just think, no, no, take
advantage of God's love.
That's what he's giving it toyou for and by no means is it a
license to sin.
That's missing the point.
Take advantage of it.
It's free, it's a gift from God.
God is doing everything God canto rescue you, save you and

(02:31):
liberate you.
Take advantage of that.
Please take advantage of it.
That's quick Under time.
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
What is a random tidbit from the Bible that you
think most people don't know?

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Oh boy.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
A random tidbit, 30 seconds starts now.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, a random tidbit , you know this came up in
conversation a couple weeks agowith this group of people.
I do a Bible study with thatMark.
So the Gospels, the fourGospels, the stories of Jesus,
are Matthew, mark, luke and John.
Mark was not a disciple ofJesus so it's kind of crazy that
his book got in there.
So Mark wasn't one of theoriginal 12.
People think that he wasprobably a close friend of
Peter's and even of Paul's andthat he had connections in that

(03:13):
way, but he was not a directfollower.
But his book actually was usedby Matthew and Luke scholars
believe as like their templatefor their gospels.
So Mark was like one of theoriginal gospels, it was one of
the first.
It was the first gospel written.
So, yeah, mark wasn't adisciple, though.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Good answer, all right.
Next question, question numberfour.
Question number four this cameup because I like to reread
books.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Sometimes you reread a book and you're like wait a
second.
I don't reread books, what,except for the Bible, yeah, so
what was the last thing you readin the Bible that you were like
wait a second?
What?
That happened yeah 30 secondsstarts now.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, I think the first thing that comes to my
mind is in John 6.
I just talked about this acouple weeks ago, but Jesus is
hanging out with a bunch ofpeople and he tells them.
He says very truly I tell you,unless you eat of my flesh and
drink of my blood, then you haveno life in you.
But whoever drinks of my bloodand eats of my flesh will have
eternal life.
And they're, like they're,super offended because this, in

(04:17):
a Jewish culture you would nevertalk like that.
I mean, eating a body would beanathema, be really a faux pas.
It's scandalous to say that andeven the All right, I'm out.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
All right.
Question number five.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Okay, what is your theological specialty?

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Okay, I love talking about the Gospels, like just
reading through the Gospels andjust talking about the
fascinating layers, connections,meanings behind a lot of these
stories.
I'm doing it with this younggroup of guys they're
college-age boys, like three orfour of them, and they come
every week and we do it and itis endlessly fascinating to read
through the Gospels and justtalk about all the metaphor,

(04:58):
allusions and stories.
I think Jesus and his friendswere just extremely fascinating.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yes, all right, the Gospels, that's good.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, that and the creation story, I think is
interesting also.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
All right.
On the other side of the coin,what is your theological blind
spot?

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah, I'm not a Pauline scholar.
I have a grasp on Paul but Ialso because I love stories and
images and that side ofnarrative.
I mean I love narrative.
My hermeneutic is the fancyword how I read the Bible.
I read the whole Bible as astory and some of Paul's letters
.
They're really interesting, butI get bored I shouldn't say

(05:39):
bored, that's not very fair toPaul.
I just love stories and paul'swriting letters and fair enough,
but I, that's probably my.
My weak spot, I think, is theepistles sure all right.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Question number seven if you had to preach on one
book for a whole year, yeah,what book would that be?

Speaker 1 (05:55):
well, we've done it.
But uh, john, I think john isjohn or genesis, they're my two
favorites.
Well, you gotta pick one, okay,ah, john.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
There's no book called John or Genesis.
That's true.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's true, john.
All right, I love John.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Okay, yeah.
If you had to sum up theGospels in one sentence, what
would you say?

Speaker 1 (06:14):
The Gospels themselves, or the Gospel like
the good news of Jesus.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Because I got an answer for that one.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
I'm going to say Like , am I synthesizing the four
books?
Yeah, I'm going to say the onethat you don't already have an
answer for, to put you on thespot.
Well, I mean Jesus.
Yeah, it's the story of thelife, death and then
resurrection of Jesus and how itchanges the world, Literally
changes the course of humanhistory, and nobody saw it

(06:44):
coming.
Even while it was happening, noone saw it coming.
That's it, man.
That's it.
You want the other answer?

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Sure might as well.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Okay, I'm going to say an offensive word, I hope.
If it offends you, I'm sorry,but I read this in a book called
the Brother to a Dragonfly,which you should get.
It's an incredible book abouttwo brothers and I forget the
author off the top of my head,but he summarizes it like this
and I love it.
Here's the gospel you and I.
You're a bastard and God lovesyou anyway, there you go.

(07:14):
That's great.
So, good man, that's so good.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
All right.
Question number nine whattheological question.
Idea, paradox, whatever is theone that keeps you up at night.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Oh, I wish I had more detailed answers about what
happens after we die.
Now, look, I know you're goingto say, oh, there's plenty of
scriptures and there are, but alot of them are not really clear
.
A lot of them, like in theearly Jewish text too, are not.
It develops, it begins to morphover time, and especially in

(07:51):
Paul.
Paul has more, I think, sort ofGreek influence, and some
people contend that Paul was aPlatonist and I think there's
some of that in his writings.
But what exactly happens?
I think my view is you go to bewith God.
I love Ecclesiastes.
The breath, the spirit goeswith God and the body goes back
in the dirt.
But what happens?
What does it look like?

(08:12):
What does it look like?
Yeah, the other images aremetaphors.
Okay, I'm out, I'm done, allright.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Question 10.
What do you think the churchwill look like in 25 years,
which is probably roughly whenyou will be retiring and passing
the torch on to?

Speaker 1 (08:28):
another, this church or the church Western church.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
You could answer it either way, but just like how
are people going to engage withthe church in 25 years?

Speaker 1 (08:38):
I'll be quite honest, I don't know if it'll be that
much different.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
I mean, 25 years is not a long time.
But I think you'll see hispockets of alternative styles
and engagement and things thatpop up that reflect their
context or that maybe embodymore practice.
But I think that this, what wehave now, in many ways is a
behemoth and I don't know thatit's going to go away anytime
soon.

(09:01):
It might take a long time tomorph it and change it, but 25
years is not much time, dude,sure.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, all right.
Right, one bonus question.
Okay, let's go for ourlisteners out there.
You may not know this littlefun fact, but ryan and I are
actually both from colorado.
Yes, and we both grew uprooting for the rockies.
Yes, uh, and as of right now,the the coloradoies are, as of
this recording, 4-25.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
That's four wins, 25 losses.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
They're on pace for a record low 22-win season.
My question is how many gamesdo you think the Rockies will
win this year?

Speaker 1 (09:38):
I'm gonna go 35.
I think they'll exceed the pacethey're at now by 10 games.
So they'll be 35 and 127?
Yes, whatever that, I thinkthey'll exceed the pace they're
at now by 10 games or whateverThey'll exceed the pace.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
They'll be 35 and 127 .
Yes, whatever that you do themath, yeah, I think that's the
math.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
They're bad.
They're bad Time for theMunfords to sell.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Let's buy them.
Let's buy them, all right, anyfinal thoughts?

Speaker 1 (09:58):
No, hey, I appreciate you guys Love us't know?
Go to our website, find myemail and email me.
I'd love to hear what you think.
Peace.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Peace.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you
share it with some friends.
And don't forget, you arealways welcome to join us in
person at Central in Elk Riverat 830, which is our liturgical
gathering, or at 10 o'clock, ourmodern gathering, or you can
check us out online atclcelkriverorg Peace.