Best Ronald P Byars Podcasts (2025)

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The kingdom of God is about justice, but justice is elusive in history and often thwarted. 11:01

5d ago11:01

11:01

Anyone who preaches, or listens to sermons, has discovered that the text for last Sunday’s sermon and the one for this Sunday’s sermon may seem to point in opposite directions. Last Sunday’s text: grace. This Sunday’s: Judgment. Human beings tend to be uncomfortable with ambiguity. . . .By Ronald P. Byars

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A traveling Bible study for some whose faith has been shaken. 11:01

12d ago11:01

11:01

The authoritative voice one may learn to discern in Scripture is often drowned out by the sheer abundance and volume of other voices. But it hasn’t gone silent. Jesus’ voice always does the same thing: clears some things up; unsettles others. If you pay attention, Jesus’ voice, interpreting Scripture, wakes you up.…

1
“’In the afterlife,’ Maud May told me, ‘God’s got a lot of explaining to do.’” 11:01

20d ago11:01

11:01

God, viewed cross-wise, reveals God’s self not as relating to the world in dominating power, but rather as a God become present to the world in weakness, in vulnerability, in sharing the all-too-familiar status of victim.By Ronald P. Byars

1
The eucharistic prayer in the newer service books highlights the central affirmations of the Christian gospel. 10:34

27d ago10:34

10:34

Praying the Great Thanksgiving at Communion led me, over time, to reflect more deeply about eschatology, about which seminarians learn a little and then try to forget lest they be mistaken for fanatics!By Ronald P. Byars

1
The anticipation of heaven’s refuge did not reject the hope of a cosmic redemption, but gradually pushed it to one side. 10:34

1M ago10:34

10:34

“In scripture’s images of a heavenly banquet, we are led to a big-picture redemption, a cosmic resurrection, a transfiguration of heaven and earth, where God’s expansive generosity will be realized in the reign of Christ, whose embrace reaches to me and mine, but not only to me and mine!”By Ronald P. Byars

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Adam and Eve had persuaded themselves that God might not be playing fair with them. 10:34

1M ago10:34

10:34

Adam and Eve did what’s so easy to do: They followed their impulses, naively abandoned their trust as though trust were just a trick meant to deceive them. So, they reached out for that one off-limits thing that would prove to be, sooner or later, a terrible blend of heaven and hell.By Ronald P. Byars

1
Faith is, in some sense, always a mystery. 11:38

2M ago11:38

11:38

“It does not take much exposure to religious extremism to find oneself sufficiently repelled as to want to distance ourselves, to shake the dust off our feet, to stalk off and leave it all to those Christians who seem to have kidnapped the God we thought we knew.”By Ronald P. Byars

1
“I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” says Jesus. 10:38

2M ago10:38

10:38

“I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” says Jesus. The Holy Spirit speaks to the church; and we find ourselves rejecting some ideas that seemed like sure-enough certainties for centuries. The divine right of kings, trashed. Slavery, discarded; race-based privilege no longer credible. Male domination, rejected. Caste syste…

1
Why Does Love So Often Elude Us? 10:47

2M ago10:47

10:47

“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate...I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Rom 7:15b, 19)By Ronald P. Byars

1
Disenchantments 10:13

2M ago10:13

10:13

“Growing up is, very often at least, a series of disenchantments.” As childhood gives way to adolescence, and adolescence to young adulthood, we’ve got to figure out what to do with that early naiveté.By Ronald P. Byars

1
Judgment and Love go Hand in Hand 10:46

3M ago10:46

10:46

It’s easy to critique other tribes, other nations; but the prophets did what wasn’t expected and isn’t easy.By Ronald P. Byars

1
An Easter Visitor 11:06

3M ago11:06

11:06

He told me that it made no sense for me to be preaching about the resurrection to this young, well-educated congregation.By Ronald P. Byars

1
The Shock of Faith: It’s Nothing Like I Thought it Would Be 10:34

3M ago10:34

10:34

It was almost as though I had begun to hear a divine voice speaking to me in, under, and between the written words.By Ronald P. Byars

1
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of All Nature. . . 11:35

3M ago11:35

11:35

Austin Farrer argued that “while theologians of the late Middle Ages primarily looked in the scriptures for propositions and modern theologians have looked there to sort out what is historical, we should be looking for images.”By Ronald P. Byars

1
Walking on Water 10:53

3M ago10:53

10:53

One of the persistent questions about the New Testament is what to make of the stories that describe Jesus doing things that require the reader to suspend disbelief.By Ronald P. Byars

1
Preach the Hard Texts 9:05

4M ago9:05

9:05

Sitting in that space between scripture and the tumble of the world, it seems the most rewarding sermons tend to be on the most difficult texts. Perhaps they are most often the most rewarding because they require the deepest dives into the text, the most artful wrestling of how to perceive and understand these things, both in themselves and in how …

1
Same Words; Two Languages 9:50

4M ago9:50

9:50

By Ronald P. Byars

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Ronald P Byars Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
What Language Shall I Borrow: Reflections on Faith

Ronald P. Byars

1
The kingdom of God is about justice, but justice is elusive in history and often thwarted. 11:01

1
A traveling Bible study for some whose faith has been shaken. 11:01

1
“’In the afterlife,’ Maud May told me, ‘God’s got a lot of explaining to do.’” 11:01

1
The eucharistic prayer in the newer service books highlights the central affirmations of the Christian gospel. 10:34

1
The anticipation of heaven’s refuge did not reject the hope of a cosmic redemption, but gradually pushed it to one side. 10:34

1
Adam and Eve had persuaded themselves that God might not be playing fair with them. 10:34

1
Faith is, in some sense, always a mystery. 11:38

1
“I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” says Jesus. 10:38

1
Why Does Love So Often Elude Us? 10:47

1
Disenchantments 10:13

1
Judgment and Love go Hand in Hand 10:46

1
An Easter Visitor 11:06

1
The Shock of Faith: It’s Nothing Like I Thought it Would Be 10:34

1
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of All Nature. . . 11:35

1
Walking on Water 10:53

1
Preach the Hard Texts 9:05

1
Same Words; Two Languages 9:50

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