Best David Brisbin Podcasts (2025)

1
Keeping Awe Alive 46:55

9d ago46:55

46:55

Dave Brisbin 6.15.25Past week brought a series of headlines each pre-empting each other’s news cycle. Against a backdrop of wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the disruption of a new US administration intent on radical change, protests and riots broke out in LA, then aerial offensives between Israel and Iran, political assassinations in Minnesota, more p…

1
Graduating Tribe 45:51

17d ago45:51

45:51

Dave Brisbin 6.8.25A man asks me about Jesus’ saying that if we believe in him and his works, we’ll do the same and greater works than he. He’s troubled by the verse because he’s not doing the works that Jesus did, let alone greater ones, so does that mean he doesn’t really believe? I ask him what works of Jesus he’s looking to do. Well, it has to …

1
Hidden in Each Other 44:45

23d ago44:45

44:45

Dave Brisbin 6.1.25What is the most important goal of your spiritual formation? You might instinctively say love. Learning to love, practicing love. Good answer, but until we carefully define it, love may not help direct us. Rather than a feeling or behavior, love is simply identification with the beloved. When we identify—see ourselves in the othe…

1
Identity Shift 45:58

1M ago45:58

45:58

Dave Brisbin 5.25.25If I asked you who you are, how would you answer?Almost everyone I’ve asked, including myself, has answered with a mix of the roles they fill, the accomplishments they’ve accumulated, and the attributes they exhibit. Roles, accomplishments, and attributes describe the human container we inhabit in this life, the whole with which…

1
The Life in Death 43:46

1M ago43:46

43:46

Dave Brisbin 5.18.25Two events converged in my mind last week. My wife and I picked up the ashes of a friend we’d been helping take care of for the past few years…and our faith community turned eighteen years old. Nothing like an anniversary to open the memory faucet, and maybe because of our friend’s death, the serious illnesses of many others, an…

1
Restoring Mom 47:59

1M ago47:59

47:59

Dave Brisbin 5.11.25Our English words patriarchal and paternal descend from the Latin word pater, father. We know about patriarchy—society organized around male domination, often to the point of excluding women—but paternalism is restricting the freedom and autonomy of others under the guise of protecting their own welfare. The US started out patri…

1
Already Free 46:07

2M ago46:07

46:07

Dave Brisbin 5.4.25The most damaging attitude toward life and spirituality is…wait for it…passivity. Passive people feel their actions are insufficient or that they have no real choice at all, which makes them victims—defined by choicelessness. Victims are always waiting, never in the present, looking toward some other moment when circumstances may…

1
Between Freedoms 46:32

2M ago46:32

46:32

Dave Brisbin 4.27.25We’re back in count again. We just finished counting forty days of Lent, and now we’re counting again. The count of Lent signifies a time of preparation for Easter, and the count now is also preparation for a second liberation on the fiftieth day after Easter—Pentecost.Our liturgical calendar is overlaid on that of the Jews, who…

1
Meaning of Resurrection 23:01

2M ago23:01

23:01

Dave Brisbin 4.20.25Cross and resurrection form the crux of Christian tradition, but whatever these events were historically, if we merely revere them from a distance of two millennia, we are missing the point of the gospels. These events realigned every detail of the lives of Jesus’ closest friends and followers, but as long as they remain histori…

1
Threat of Clarity 50:49

2M ago50:49

50:49

Dave Brisbin 4.13.25Very few of us live in the real world. Like avatars in a gamescape, we live in a world created by our own thought patterns, which are in turn created by our core beliefs—deeply held, fundamental assumptions about ourselves, others, and the world. Hiding in our unconscious, core beliefs are as unquestioned as the air we breathe, …

1
Doing Our Forty 50:16

3M ago50:16

50:16

Dave Brisbin 4.6.25Just when you think the world can’t get any crazier, each week we get a whole new view of crazy. And the more the world pounds on our door through news and social media, the more our grip on spiritual reality can loosen. The silence and solitude of contemplative practice, the wordless knowing of God’s presence can feel impotent, …

1
Burning Bushes 51:46

3M ago51:46

51:46

Dave Brisbin 3.30.25Burning bush is our cultural meme, idiom for a peak experience, a vision of God or from God. But for all its power, one burning bush is not enough. Standing on holy ground in front of the original burning bush, Moses argued with God, doubted God’s word right there, and for the rest of his life, oscillated between boldness and do…

1
Showing Our Work 54:48

3M ago54:48

54:48

Dave Brisbin 3.23.25Remember taking math tests in school? Remember how you had to show your work? Remember how you hated that? Wasn’t enough to get the answer, you had to show how you got to the answer. Yes, a right answer, or at least a functional one, is important. But showing your work signaled that you grasped underlying principles that would g…

1
Marching and More Alive 47:42

3M ago47:42

47:42

Dave Brisbin 3.16.25Mid-century dancer Martha Graham said that no artist is ever satisfied with their work at any time. That there is a strange, “divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest” that keeps them marching and more alive than others. This is a blueprint for excellence and recipe for disaster depending on whether a balance can be maintained. …

1
The Gift of Doubt 42:42

4M ago42:42

42:42

Dave Brisbin 3.9.25Years ago, at the lowest point in my life, a friend invited me to her church, marking a return to Christianity after fifteen years away. First thing, I booked a lunch with the pastor, and halfway through, across my untouched plate, he said he saw “divine dissatisfaction” in me. Strange phrase. I didn’t see anything divine in my d…

1
Empowered 44:31

4M ago44:31

44:31

Dave Brisbin 3.2.25Jesus doesn’t save anyone passively, in spite of themselves, beyond their willingness to actively engage a way of experiencing transformed life he calls Kingdom. If we’re waiting for a savior, no one is coming. If we’re waiting for anything, we’re not in Kingdom. Waiting is passive, not yet; Kingdom is always in motion, herenow. …

1
The Purpose of Life 48:58

4M ago48:58

48:58

Dave Brisbin 2.23.25Do people really change? Seems maddingly rare, especially the older we get—the way is narrow and gate constricted—but it does happen. Why are some of us able to make fundamental, personal change, beat the odds that imprison the rest of us?Joseph Campbell introduced the monomyth, the hero’s journey, the one plotline we use over a…

1
Balancing Act 54:30

4M ago54:30

54:30

Dave Brisbin 2.16.25Life is big, loud, in your face. Like an over-the-top extravert, life can suck all the oxygen out of the room, leaving little energy or attention for anything else. And against life’s overwhelming physical realities—whether personal or political, socio-economic or relational—the spiritual can seem like a whisper we’re not even s…

1
All We Know 48:51

5M ago48:51

48:51

Dave Brisbin 2.9.25Quote from a movie priest: There comes a time in man’s search for meaning that you realize there are no answers. When you come to that horrible, unavoidable conclusion, you either accept it or you kill yourself. Or you simply stop searching...I remember how obsessively important it was to get answers to the big theological and ex…

1
The Real Enemy 49:45

5M ago49:45

49:45

Dave Brisbin 2.2.25Would Jesus have been a Republican or Democrat?What seems like the setup to a joke is being asked in all seriousness. Two weeks into a controversial administration, I’m hearing people ask how a good Christian could possibly vote… How a Christian pastor could possibly support… An Episcopal bishop and a sitting president both state…

1
Keeping The Faith 52:14

5M ago52:14

52:14

Dave Brisbin 1.26.25One of the best-known stories from the gospels, one that has seeped into collective consciousness, is the story of Jesus walking on water. This and turning water to wine has become shorthand for divine power. It’s natural for us to focus on the literal, but all Jesus’ miracles have spiritual meaning as well, and since most of us…

1
More Big Words 1:06:03

5M ago1:06:03

1:06:03

Dave Brisbin 1.19.25From someone going through a perfect storm of difficulties: I see no evidence of God, but plenty of evidence of the devil. Despite years as a devout Christian, she’s hit the point we all do, over and over in life, the point Karl Jaspers called a limit situation. The moment we realize we’re gonna need a bigger boat. Hitting the l…

1
The Big Words 53:58

5M ago53:58

53:58

Dave Brisbin 1.12.25I’m often asked about the big words... The words of Christian doctrine that seem to contradict the nature of God that Jesus called Good News, love itself. Degreeless and indiscriminate love that can’t be altered or avoided, showering on everyone equally—just and unjust alike. Yet Christianity feels exclusive…acceptance withheld …

1
Reward And Punishment 55:07

6M ago55:07

55:07

Dave Brisbin 1.5.25An angel was walking down the street carrying a torch and a pail of water. When asked what he was going to do with torch and pail, the angel said that with the torch he was burning down the mansions of heaven, and with the pail, putting out the fires of hell. Because only then would we see who truly loves God. With no promise of …

1
Through The Needle's Eye 38:33

6M ago38:33

38:33

Dave Brisbin 12.29.24When a rich young man asks what he must do to experience eternal aliveness, and Jesus tells him to sell all he has, and the man walks away with head hung, Jesus tells his friends how hard it is for wealthy people. Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person to enter aliveness. The Aramaic word for ca…

1
We Magi 54:48

6M ago54:48

54:48

Dave Brisbin 12.15.24What is it we’re supposed to see in Christmas? Talk about a mixed message... Only two gospels mention Jesus’ birth at all, and the few details given depict a birth so ordinary to parents so poor that those closest didn’t even make room for them in the inn. Enter shepherds and Magi...here the gospels spend a bit more time, becau…

1
Growing Small 48:41

7M ago48:41

48:41

Dave Brisbin 12.8.24What does the story of Job have to do with Christmas?Any story is a story about risk. We’ve all been at risk from our first breath, but we don’t like to think of ourselves balanced on a razor’s edge of circumstances we can’t control. We work really hard to manage risk, grow as big as we can, accumulate money and materials so ris…

1
Enoughness 48:08

7M ago48:08

48:08

Dave Brisbin 12.1.24Long ago, many people came to seek counsel and wisdom from a great Zen master. One day, a very important man, used to giving commands, came to him, “Teach me about Zen. Open my mind to enlightenment.” The master smiled and said they should discuss the matter over tea. When the tea was ready, he poured and the tea rose to the rim…

1
Arriving Where We Started 51:45

7M ago51:45

51:45

Dave Brisbin 11.24.24To ancient Hebrews, the number twelve signified the completion or perfection of earthly systems, rule, government. More than a literal number, this is the meaning being transmitted by the twelve patriarchs, tribes, apostles, every detail of the New Jerusalem. It symbolizes a complete cycle—twelve lunar orbits creating the twelv…

1
Circles Within Circles 47:08

7M ago47:08

47:08

Dave Brisbin 11.17.24The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. Eliot’s iconic line reminds that time is not a line, but a circle. Beginning and end one and the same. That any authentic journey is a journey of awareness, bringing us back to ourselves expanded. And knowing…what?Step 11 tell…

1
Grateful And Amazed 39:49

8M ago39:49

39:49

Dave Brisbin 11.10.24What do you think of as a miracle? Seas parting, walking on water, healings? Dictionaries tell us miracles are events not explainable by natural or scientific laws. But what if an event is not explainable to or by you personally? Or leaves inexplicable space between data points? When you raise your hand, can you explain that? W…

1
As Forgiven As We Wish 40:17

8M ago40:17

40:17

Dave Brisbin 11.3.24I’ve tried to make amends to people I’ve hurt in the past. Sometimes I felt reconnected. Sometimes my apology was flatly refused. Sometimes the words of forgiveness were spoken, but everyone knew nothing further was exchanged. In all of them, there was no reconciliation. We’ve not spoken since.The 9th Step of AA tells us to make…

1
Beginning Of Shalom 44:56

8M ago44:56

44:56

Dave Brisbin 10.27.24When we hear the Hebrew word shalom, we think of peace, as in the absence of conflict. And when we hear the word forgiveness, we think of pardoning or excusing, even condoning a person’s harmful action. But shalom—selama in Aramaic—means the greatest amount of unity, wholeness, health, and prosperity possible. And sebaq, forgiv…

1
Asking Humbly 49:06

8M ago49:06

49:06

Dave Brisbin 10.20.24Ever try to give someone a compliment who couldn’t accept it? I like your shirt. Oh this? I got it on the clearance rack. Good job! I could have done better, just got lucky. Or next level: It wasn’t me; it was the Lord. All glory goes to God. Maybe we feel unworthy…or think we’re being humble or more spiritual by deflecting pra…

1
Supposed To Be Happy 54:43

8M ago54:43

54:43

Dave Brisbin 10.13.24When I went skydiving for the first and only time, I didn’t want a tandem jump—strapped to a jumpmaster—so that meant a full eight hours of training, and that the decision to jump was all mine. Fear grew all day through classes and videos; fitting for jumpsuit, helmet, goggles, pack; walking out to board the silver prop plane w…

1
Unaloneness 45:03

9M ago45:03

45:03

Dave Brisbin 10.6.24Longtime friend sent a text just long enough to tell me that his wife had died and could we set up a time to talk. I was shocked—knew she was fighting cancer, but no idea so advanced. On the phone, he didn’t want to talk about her death as much as what it had stirred up. Any death raises awareness of our own, but the death of a …

1
A Personal Ghetto 52:43

9M ago52:43

52:43

Dave Brisbin 9.22.24If the first three Steps of AA are a serial surrender of the illusion that we can manage our lives isolated from the greater power of community and God, then Steps 4-7 are a serial healing of the damage those illusions have done. Just as surrender is too big to happen in one step, so is our emotional and psychological healing. S…

1
A Short Fall 52:34

9M ago52:34

52:34

Dave Brisbin 9.15.24Made a decision to turn our lives and will over to God, a power greater than ourselves…Step Three of AA…sort of a let go and let God. Sounds so easy, but it’s only as easy as our grip on whatever we’re holding on to. And if we believe we’re holding on to the only way we’ll ever experience security and survival, affection and est…

1
Centurion Moment 47:34

10M ago47:34

47:34

Dave Brisbin 9.8.24Looking at the 12 Steps of AA as a rite of passage: separation from the now too-small world we knew, to a disorienting transition, to reincorporation—a changed person returning to community. It’s the shape of every human life, but the trick is to make it conscious, our steps intentional. The danger is substituting the ritual for …

1
Betwixt And Between 53:52

10M ago53:52

53:52

Dave Brisbin 9.1.24Think of this election as the extension of a collective rite of passage into which we were plunged with the pandemic. A rite of passage is a three-part experience that grows us from one stage of human development to another. Being separated, by life event or ritual, from the world we knew; thrown into a difficult, even traumatizi…

1
Power Of Powerlessness 56:49

10M ago56:49

56:49

Dave Brisbin 8.25.24We don’t have real rites of passage in our culture anymore. At least not conscious rituals that take us through the three essential stages of separation, transition, and reincorporation. In true rites of passage, we are taken from the familiar world we know and plunged into a transitional experience that is betwixt and between t…

1
Healing Happiness 51:38

10M ago51:38

51:38

Dave Brisbin 8.18.24Woman tells me her daughter just left to go back to college after the summer home. How’s she doing with that? Sad, but ok. Truthfully, she’d gotten used to the freedom of an empty nest. Missed that freedom with her daughter back at home. But when daughter is away, misses her as well. We all do this. Mourn things missing to the p…

1
Happiness Is 46:50

11M ago46:50

46:50

Dave Brisbin 8.11.24Moving days are always stressful, but our last move was off the hook. My wife sick, cleaning and packing until 1:30A, then up again at 6A to pouring rain that lasted all day. Delays at the new house meant they were still laying floor on moving day. The moving crew showed up, men in their twenties with tats and knit caps, seemed …

1
Graduating Certainty 51:20

11M ago51:20

51:20

Dave Brisbin 8.4.24When Christians fight, you can bet it’s going to be over the book. No matter the issue at hand, it will always come back to the book, or more specifically, interpretation of the book, which is all we really have. No matter what a text was meant to say, all that survives our reading is interpretation. To be certain of our interpre…

1
Jesus' Rudiments 46:01

11M ago46:01

46:01

Dave Brisbin 7.28.24A friend sent me a link to a podcast interview that rambled, but was mostly concerned with end times prophecy. Confused and concerned, he wanted to know what I thought. In one of their tangents, the interviewee flatly stated: God doesn’t love everyone. Now that’s often implied, but rarely declared, and in case there was any doub…

1
Unreasonable Meaning 47:52

11M ago47:52

47:52

Dave Brisbin 7.21.24I’ve said that Jesus’ teaching is not meant to give data, but point to an experience that changes everything. But what is the everything that changes? If we say our very understanding of life—how things are or should be—next morning, making coffee, what has changed? Life is same mix of work, pain, respite that we share with ever…

1
System Reboot 46:46

12M ago46:46

46:46

Dave Brisbin 7.14.24We’ve all had to reboot our computers, phones, pads, anything with an operating system. Sometimes they just get so cluttered and confused, they slow to a crawl or freeze entirely. When in doubt, reboot, yes? Hit escape, control-alt-delete, shut down, restart, pull the plug, or if the system is sophisticated enough, restore to a …

1
Spiritual Albedo 47:24

12M ago47:24

47:24

Dave Brisbin 7.7.24Very few of us know the word albedo, yet we use it every day, and it’s a huge factor in climate change. From the Latin word for white (think albino), albedo is the amount of light reflected off any surface. We all know that light colors reflect sunlight, a cooling effect like those impossibly white houses on seacliffs in Greece. …

1
Growing Down 42:24

12M ago42:24

42:24

Dave Brisbin 6.30.24Ever wondered what Jesus would have been like growing up? People have been wondering that ever since the generation who grew up with him died out. One of the many gospels that didn’t make it into the bible, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, assumes Jesus had all his powers from birth, but had to grow into them. Portrayed at age five…

1
Road Not Taken 50:37

1y ago50:37

50:37

Dave Brisbin 6.23.24When we were kids, my sister did a paint-by-number of Da Vinci’s Last Supper. You know, where the image is preprinted as numbered areas you fill in with the matching-numbered paint. It looked ok squinting at it from across the room, but imagine the difference between painting by numbers and the original master, creating and mixi…

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