00:00:00:00 - 00:00:25:18 Rev. Trudy Welcome to Perspectives, a podcast where the clergy women of the First United Methodist Church of San Diego share their musings on Scripture, theology and what it has to do with us. We're doing something a little different in Perspectives today, giving ourselves a little bit of time off, but we wanted to send you a very special message for this New Year's weekend. 00:00:25:19 - 00:00:51:23 Rev. Trudy I'm here with Reverend Brittany, Juliet Hanlin with Reverend Dr. Hannah Ka. We are glad to talk to you a little bit about what we are hoping for, expecting, dreaming of, I don't know, perspectives in the coming year. Yeah, it could go just about anywhere. But first, let's talk a little bit about, what makes Perspective so special to you guys? 00:00:52:01 - 00:00:58:10 Rev. Trudy What do you think? I'll let you go. What is it you like about Perspectives when we get together and do this? 00:00:58:14 - 00:01:18:04 Rev. Brittany I like that each of us has a different perspective, and that it's never going to be the exact same. And that we've read the same text, but it doesn't come to us the same. Or a certain word might have stuck out to Hannah that I am like, “oh, I totally missed that,” you know? So I think just being able to hear, yeah, the differences of opinion. 00:01:18:05 - 00:01:18:22 Rev. Brittany Yeah. 00:01:19:00 - 00:01:51:18 Rev. Hannah And as a Bible nerd, I've been reading the Bible for a long time, about the past five years, and especially more so for the past two years. Every time I read, the Scripture is stood out differently. As I prepare for this, reading commentaries, something different catches my eyes and the process with which I integrate all the scripture and commentaries and the stories that I hear from people come to life in a different light. 00:01:51:20 - 00:02:15:10 Rev. Hannah And after I finished recording Perspectives, I go back to reflect on what I heard from you, too. Yeah. And then move on with a different perspective than what I have shared here. So yeah, it's like a process, continuation of my engagement with the Scripture and what's going on in the world. 00:02:15:12 - 00:02:18:15 Rev. Brittany Is that process theology? Would you say. 00:02:18:17 - 00:02:26:03 Rev. Hannah That's yeah, that's parallel to process theology. It's a creative synthesis of good, beautiful things. 00:02:26:03 - 00:02:26:08 Rev. Trudy Okay. 00:02:26:10 - 00:02:34:16 Rev. Hannah Weaving stories together. Tapestry, Perspectives, and process theology: They're all cousins. 00:02:34:18 - 00:02:57:04 Rev. Trudy There you go. You know, one of the things I'm realizing when I sit down to talk with you guys about the scripture, we're all Scripture nerds. We all love that. But I have realized that over my career, I've kind of ... I haven't, I've used scripture differently, and this gives me a different experience of Scripture. 00:02:57:09 - 00:03:15:18 Rev. Trudy You know, usually I'll sit down and somebody will need to, will ask me for a scripture passage that will help them in hard times or whatever. And so, I'll go to some of those things and I'll look for something specific, you know. Or I'll pick a passage that I know I'll be preaching on, and then I'm crafting a sermon for it. 00:03:15:20 - 00:03:43:01 Rev. Trudy I never just sit down and talk about reading this passage and having a conversation about it. And that has been so life giving, and it has resulted in what you've experienced. This changing of understanding and this discovery of new and different perspectives. And it just comes alive in a new and different way. It's been really wonderful to do this. 00:03:43:03 - 00:04:19:05 Rev. Trudy Yeah, I think that's part of what I hope that people watching or listening will feel. At least, you know, and which is nothing less than the Spirit and the energy between us and the all of whatever it is we think of as Divine or Sacred. That's all of it happening within us. Right? And that's how God's working in helping us not stay stagnant, not be bored with it. 00:04:19:06 - 00:04:21:12 Rev. Trudy Not disregard it. 00:04:21:19 - 00:04:22:14 Rev. Brittany Yeah. You know. 00:04:22:14 - 00:04:28:02 Rev. Trudy But to really use these Sacred texts to mine for the gold in it. 00:04:28:02 - 00:04:29:07 Rev. Brittany Right? Yeah. 00:04:29:13 - 00:05:00:02 Rev. Hannah And that's how God comes alive through this closed book. And through the stories of people like us. And since I'm hoping that next year I would hear more about people saying ... so, I have different preference for compliments. So, it doesn't matter if people say your sermon was great, but if I hear people say, “you actually got me to think about that.” 00:05:00:04 - 00:05:19:10 Rev. Hannah So I look forward to hearing more often from people. Yeah. You guys got us to think about these things. And engage in a conversation with us. Throughout the year so that all of us can enrich one another's life and faith journey and grow together. 00:05:19:15 - 00:05:23:23 Rev. Trudy Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I love that. Do you have a hope for Perspectives? 00:05:24:01 - 00:05:43:12 Rev. Brittany I think my hope is that, you know, I think we talk about a lot of issues that happen in the world. But I think for me, I would like to do that a little bit more concretely. I think there's so much happening in the world. And sometimes people find Scripture to be dry, like Ezekiel's bones, you know, in a sense. 00:05:43:14 - 00:06:19:03 Rev. Brittany But I do think that there is such meaning that comes from it when we can put it into perspective about why it's important to us today and how it relates to us today. And I think that's for me why I appreciate the Bible. It's not because I think it's inherent or because I think that it is God's Word, but because I know that it is telling the stories of people at a very particular time who are dealing with issues in the world the same way that I'm dealing with them, on an internal level, but may have external, you know, differences in how they present themselves. 00:06:19:03 - 00:06:27:02 Rev. Brittany Yeah. And some like some harder text. Right. Like Tamar’s abuse in the Bible, you know, like some of the text that we kind of ... 00:06:27:02 - 00:06:27:10 Rev. Trudy That’s an incredible story. 00:06:27:20 - 00:06:32:01 Rev. Brittany Right. Judges 19 like some ... I know, I know, I know. 00:06:32:01 - 00:06:35:03 Rev. Trudy You're gonna give them Judges 19 on New Year’s day?! 00:06:35:03 - 00:06:56:18 Rev. Brittany No, I'm not saying that. Don't look at that. Don't look at that on that right now. But some of those, some of those harder texts that we don't really hear or listen to. Or even, Reverend Hannah, I was about to do a funeral one day, and I was like, “Reverend Hannah, I cannot do another typical funeral sermon.” And she was like, “oh, you should think about Moses, because he did da da da da.” 00:06:56:18 - 00:07:09:03 Rev. Brittany And I was like, “maybe I need to read the Bible a little bit more carefully, Honey, because I don't remember this about Moses!” You know. So, if we can get some of those more obscure scriptures to unpack together, I think it would be interesting. 00:07:09:03 - 00:07:09:21 Rev. Hannah Oh, that'd be fun. 00:07:09:22 - 00:07:12:09 Rev. Trudy That sounds good. Yeah. What about you? Did you have anything more? 00:07:12:18 - 00:07:13:12 Rev. Hannah Did I go first? 00:07:13:21 - 00:07:16:14 Rev. Trudy You did go first. Yes. I was. 00:07:16:19 - 00:07:17:22 Rev. Hannah Minimalist here. 00:07:18:02 - 00:07:41:10 Rev. Trudy I was caught up in the in the conversation. You know, I would love to be able to broaden our conversation with others. And have some more guests come in, particularly from other faith traditions. I'd love to be able to kind of understand more about what others love about their faith. You know, just like we do. 00:07:41:12 - 00:07:56:05 Rev. Trudy And to hear more about what maybe they're not quite so good with. Right. Like we are sometimes very honest about as well. Yeah. So I think Perspectives has a lot in its future and I'm very excited to see what will happen. Yeah. 00:07:56:05 - 00:07:57:05 Rev. Hannah As we move forward. 00:07:57:05 - 00:08:19:14 Rev. Trudy Yeah. We are so glad that the response to what we're doing in this podcast has been so positive. Thank you to all of you listeners or watchers for the ways in which you let us know you are out there. Thank you so much. Thank you to our Patreon members who support us financially, or just simply sign up to follow us. 00:08:19:16 - 00:08:40:22 Rev. Trudy There is that free account if you are listening. And just know that we would appreciate you joining, and just being a part of the Patreon community. It gives us a chance to know you're there and to be able to maybe engage with you if there's an opportunity to do that. And we are celebrating our second anniversary, two years of Perspectives! 00:08:41:03 - 00:09:01:23 Rev. Trudy And if you're local to San Diego or don't mind a little bit of a drive, we invite you to celebrate with us on January 25th from 12:15 to 2 PM roughly. We’ll feed you lunch and we'll even release some of the bloopers. Perspectives. There's only 1 or 2, I’m sure. 00:09:01:23 - 00:09:03:05 Rev. Brittany I'm only one. 00:09:03:07 - 00:09:08:12 Rev. Trudy Only one. Oh, that was the time .... I'm just gonna. Well, yeah. 00:09:08:13 - 00:09:11:04 Rev. Hannah Can I extend my vacation? 00:09:11:06 - 00:09:12:13 Rev. Trudy No, you need to be there, too! 00:09:12:13 - 00:09:14:09 Rev. Hannah I don't want to see the bloopers! 00:09:14:09 - 00:09:37:11 Rev. Trudy You don’t want to see the bloopers?! Oh, yeah, we have a lot of fun, as you know, and we would love to share that with you as well. For now, we hope that you have an amazing set of expectations for the coming year. And we hope that every single one of them is exceeded by your faith, by your hope, by the way you love others. 00:09:37:13 - 00:09:45:20 Rev. Trudy And by the way, maybe your perspective is shifting in more positive directions. We're glad you're with us. Happy New Year. 00:09:45:22 - 00:09:46:12 Rev. Brittany Happy New Year! 00:09:46:17 - 00:09:49:20 Rev. Hannah Happy New Year! 00:09:49:22 - 00:10:17:23 Rev. Trudy This is a production of First United Methodist Church of San Diego. To learn more about our events and ministries and to access additional learning resources, visit fumcsd.org.