Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Tilted
Halo.
This is a new podcast and it'sfor anybody who's a woman in
ministry.
You might be a pastor likemyself, a bishop, a priest, a
rabbi, music minister, elderchildren's minister whatever
your title is, you're absolutelyin the right place, especially
if you're someone who loves yourministry and you're doing it
(00:24):
well and you're feeling pressureto sometimes be perfect, and
deep down inside, you knowyou're not, and how in the world
to deal with that?
And, men, you're absolutelywelcome here too, because this
is about ministry and the samething can happen to you.
So you're all in the rightplace.
Let's get started with the show.
(00:45):
Welcome to another edition ofthe Tilted Halo.
It's been a while since I'verecorded one of these podcasts,
and it's not for lack of thingsto say.
Sometimes it's so much is goingon that it's becomes kind of
tough to know how to put thepieces together and filter
(01:09):
things and come up with acoherent message, and there's
there's a couple of things that,um, I want to address.
So this may be kind of arambling episode.
I don't know exactly where it'sall going to go, but I've heard
a number of people express thatthey are so upset with all of
(01:35):
the negative stuff that's in thenews and I've talked about the
negativity before but all thenegative stuff in the news and
in the country, whichever sidethey are on with that that they
are just kind of tuning it allout and not paying any attention
to it.
(01:55):
And there are some good thingsabout that.
Instead of becoming so wrappedup in all that's negative and
not so good, to go about lifeand be there and do the things
that we need to do on aday-to-day basis and not let the
(02:17):
daily headlines become sooverwhelming that we can't
function.
Nobody needs that.
But on the other hand, withoutknowing what's happening out
there in the rest of the worldand staying just in our own
(02:38):
little cocoon of a corner, weare not really being part of a
broader community.
And that brings up some otherissues and it kind of leads into
a part of another part of wherethis all goes and how this all
(03:01):
kind of shakes out.
And that is that you know allof this stuff in the news, a lot
of it's because there's a lotof divisiveness in our culture
and in our country right nowacross the whole world.
So it's not just the UnitedStates, the whole world, so it's
(03:29):
not just the United States, buta lot of it becomes.
You know, it's my way, I gottahave my way, I'm right.
And the need to be right, theneed to have one, you know our
own way, our own understanding,our own outlook on life.
Be the dominant one.
You know our own way, our ownunderstanding, our own outlook
on life.
Be the dominant one.
(03:49):
Be the one that is not justheard but is in control.
So a lot of it's about controland who's in control and what's
in control.
And in the midst of that it'salso infiltrating into churches
(04:11):
the same type of feeling and thesame need for control.
And I've seen it play out in acouple of churches where it's
been.
It's not just pitting membersagainst each other, it's
actually torn congregationsapart and caused a real, very
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definite split, so much so thatpeople have gone off and started
a new congregation, felt shutout, you know, left
denominations, all of thosekinds of things.
And it's happening not just inone denomination but in many, in
(04:59):
a number of different Christianchurches and denominations, a
number of different Christianchurches and denominations.
And I get very sad about that,to see that kind of reaction,
that kind of way of dealing withlife, dealing with issues.
(05:24):
That it's got to be.
My understanding is right andtherefore it has to be the way
everybody else thinks and wehave to do it that way.
And yes, that's always beenthere amongst people A desire to
(05:44):
be in control, have our way, bethe one that you know takes
precedence.
But on the other hand, as Iread scripture, that's not how
we, as Christians, are called tobehave and the Apostle Paul in
(06:08):
his first letter to the churchin Corinth.
They were having a lot ofissues and struggles, and so you
know that's a very good book totalk about some of the issues
and struggles of today.
But one of the images that heuses in that book, in his first
letter to the Corinthians in the12th chapter, is one that many
(06:32):
people have heard about.
It's the idea of our bodies andthat we are not just one, you
know, one member.
We need all of us.
We need all of the differentparts of our bodies to be able
to function and to do thingswell.
And you know he talks about theeyes, saying because I'm not an
(06:57):
ear that means I'm not part ofthe body or the ear saying
because I'm not a hand.
I don't remember if that'sexactly the analogy he was using
.
But it's that idea that onepart of the body would say that,
because it's not another part,that therefore they're not a
legitimate part of the body oreven a part of the body at all.
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And he also goes on to say thatyou know, if the whole body
were an eye, where would thehearing be?
Or if the whole body were anear, where would the sense of
smell be?
And if we were all a hand,where would the feet be?
It just um, it's just animportant analogy.
(07:49):
Um, and no analogy is perfect,but it's an important analogy to
remind us that none of us isindependent of the others.
We are all connected.
(08:10):
And towards the end of thatsection in chapter 12, where
he's talking about this, as onebody says, when one suffers, we
all suffer.
When one is, uh, rejoices,everybody rejoices.
But we haven't seen it that way.
We haven't understood our ownrole sometimes in the suffering
(08:35):
of others and the impact thatreally does have on ourselves.
And you know, thinking aboutsome of the things that are
happening in the government andthe drive to make it more
efficient, which everybody wouldlike, and to cut out excessive
spending.
Nobody's against that, it's howit's being done and what's
(08:59):
being caught.
That is always the question inthings.
But the idea that you know wecan just cut out this program or
that program and lay off thisperson or that group of people
and it's not going to have anyfat, that's not true.
(09:20):
And what effects all of this isgoing to have on the rest of us
is yet to be seen.
And on our country and oursecurity, that's all yet to be
seen.
And you know, I don't knowwhat's going to happen.
Some of it, I'm sure, is goingto be very good, some of it, I'm
(09:44):
not so sure.
About to be honest with you andto think that we can do these
things, things and say thingsthese days and that it's not
going to affect other people, weneed to stop.
We really do need to stop andtake stock of what we're pushing
(10:10):
for, and that means pushingagainst and who we're pushing
out in the process.
Yes, it's nice to have otherpeople agree with us, to be in
like company and, you know, cozyup with the people who agree
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with everything we're doing andsaying and thinking.
Yeah, it is, but it's like ameal without any seasonings.
It's like, you know, a forestwith only one kind of tree.
(10:53):
Yeah, you know, you can eat ameal without any seasonings.
You can have forests aroundwhere I live, there are places
that raise certain kinds of pinetrees to farm them and then
harvest them and things, and sothere are acres of pine trees
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that are being grown, acres ofpine trees that are being grown,
and you know, that's great fora crop but not for a world.
There's a parable.
I've shared a true story,actually I've shared about about
what happens when everything'sthe same and the exposure that
(11:39):
brings to diseases and illnessesand total crop loss if it's a
crop, but also the weakness thatbrings into society when we
only think one way, we only haveone point of view that's
(12:00):
accepted and allowed.
That's one of the beauties ofthis country is that we have had
all these years of freedom ofthe press, a good public
education system where peoplecan think and have conversations
, even debates about a varietyof issues and different points
(12:21):
of view brought in, so thattogether we have crafted you
know, it's not perfect, nobody'ssaying this country is perfect
but we have crafted a verystrong and good place to be one
that has been the envy of peopleall around the world and that
(12:49):
is in danger, as well as our ownfaith communities in danger,
when we push others out to say,no, you can't raise these
questions.
No, that's bad, that's wrong toeven say that, to think that,
to be that way.
(13:10):
You know, one of the joys I'vehad is in being able to have had
the opportunity to do sometraveling outside of the United
States, and to more than onecontinent.
I have been to Australia, I'vebeen to Europe and I have been
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in the Middle East and I havebeen in Asia and each place,
well, I've delighted to comeback to the United States to
live and I've always thought youknow, it's great to go and
visit and I'm glad to come home.
You know, it's great to go andvisit and I'm glad to come home,
very glad to come home.
(14:18):
But I have grown by experiencingdifferent languages, different
cultures, different points ofview, a more I know diverse is a
bad word these days but a moreinclusive person and more
understanding of other people,and we're in danger of losing
that.
We're in danger of trying tomake the whole body.
You know an arm or a leg, youknow right or left, it doesn't
matter which one, it doesn'twork to have.
(14:38):
You know, yes, our human bodiescan function with only one leg.
We have crutches, we haveartificial limbs, we have
wonderful things to help peoplewho have the misfortune, for
whatever reason, of losing alimb.
We have wonderful ways to helpthem be able to continue to live
(14:59):
good, functional lives, to bethat way in our thinking and in
what we see as acceptable as faras making everybody like us,
(15:21):
everybody, have to think the waywe think and do things the way
we do and, you know, find lifeto be about the same things we
find life to be about.
We're going to be a lesserperson, a lesser faith community
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, a lesser country in the longrun, and we're all going to
suffer, suffer from a blindness,suffer from a lack of a
dexterity to be able to thinkand move and act in this world.
(16:06):
And I've wondered sometimes youknow why this is happening.
What's the root cause of all ofthis?
And I sometimes think maybe ithad something to do with the
pandemic and everybody beingforced into a oneness that we
didn't want, with things shutdown and wearing masks and
(16:28):
things like that, for our owngood and for the good of the
broader community.
And now there's a rebellionagainst that, but there's a
rebellion in saying well, youmade me do it your way, now I't
need to be like that.
(16:54):
We need each other.
We need the hands, the feet,the eyes, the ears, the sense of
smell, the wholeness of ourcountry, wholeness of our
congregations, wholeness ofdifferent ideas and ways of
approaching life, ways ofapproaching faith that all of
(17:20):
that brings.
It doesn't mean everything'sokay, no.
It doesn't mean we don't needlaws, that we can just kind of
get along with each other andanything goes.
No, we know that there arelimits to things and that's why
(17:43):
we have laws, but laws andpolicies and procedures and all
of those kinds of things.
But it's we still need eachother and all of the differences
that are there to bring.
If it's a meal, it's to bringout those wonderful flavors and
aromas and tastes and and allthat goes with a truly delicious
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meal and a banquet, a greatbuffet of great variety, where
we get to pick and choose.
But others get to pick andchoose too and they may choose
differently than we do, andthat's okay.
So this is kind of my ramblingstatement about our need for
(18:28):
each other, our need fortolerance Again, that's not a
very popular word these days Aneed for the diversity.
There are people who say nodiversity, but we need that.
We need that.
We need each other, with all ofour similarities and our
(18:53):
differences.
That's when we're the strongest, that's when we have, you know,
the best possibilities forourselves, for our families, for
our faith communities, for ourcountry, for our faith
communities for our country.
(19:14):
So we are one body, as theApostle Paul says, whether it's
in a church, some other faithgroup, a community, you know,
neighborhood, community, state,country, even the whole world,
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we are one body and what affectsone affects all of us and we
need to be careful lest, inspiting our you know, cutting
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off our nose, we spite our face,or however that saying goes.
Be careful and learn to talk toone another and listen.
Listen to each other, listen tothe depths of what's wanted and
needed not always to the wordsthemselves and find ways to come
together, even amongst ourdifferences, to celebrate, to
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enjoy and to grow strongertogether.
So peace, blessings, gratitudeto you for being here today and
enjoy a beautiful, beautiful dayUntil next time.
Bye-bye.
You have been listening toTilted Halo with me, kathleen
(20:42):
Panning.
What did you think about thisepisode?
I'd really like to hear fromyou Leave me some comments.
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another upcoming episode.
For more conversation onministry life, mindset and a
whole lot more, go towwwtiltedhalohelpcom, where I've
(21:04):
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be sure to say hi to me,kathleen Panning, on LinkedIn.
See you on the next episode.