Rev. James Martin, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, best-selling author, and editor-at-large of America magazine. Father Jim, as he graciously lets us call him, joins Jenn Giles Kemper to explore why he believes prayer is, well, for everyone. In this warm and welcoming episode, Father Jim and Jenn discuss Ignatian spirituality, the power of imagination in our prayers, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and how contemplation and action go hand-in-hand. Father Jim also shares how, in his words, “God is making us more loving in prayer.”

On this episode of Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper, Father James Martin dives into:

• What motivated him to explore prayer now in his writing
• What our longings to pray tell us about who we are and who God is
• How prayer can help us stay rooted in God in chaotic times
• Why the Examen can be a helpful practice for us all
• Why imagination plays an important role in what we pray — and how — we pray

About the guest: Rev. James Martin, SJ, is the best-selling author of Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone, Jesus: A Pilgrimage, and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. Father Martin is a prolific writer in the national media sphere, including in the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He has appeared on all the major radio and television networks, including NPR’s Fresh Air and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In 2017, Pope Francis appointed him to be a Consultor for the Vatican's Secretariat for Communication.

Reflection point: In this episode, Father Jim says, “The voice of God is the voice of hope. The voice of despair is not the voice of God.” How does this speak to your soul? Where might the Spirit be leading you into reflection on this idea?

Links:

• Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone (Father Jim’s new book!)
• America Magazine (where Father Jim is Editor at Large)
• Fr. James Martin on Facebook

About Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper: Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper explores faith where it hits the pavement of work, relationships, creativity, and real life. Inspired by Jenn’s curiosity and faith (and her work as a minister and spiritual director) we’re crafting a show to help you meaningfully explore your own life with Christ — and ultimately lead you to become more wholly human and more fully faithful. On Tuesdays, join us for a conversation with folks whose words, work, and witness have shaped our team’s understanding of God and practice of faith. (Plus, we’re featuring lots of good music, prompts for your reflection and practice, and plenty of invitations into a community of kindred spirits!)

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We appreciate your ratings and reviews, too.

Experienced spiritual director and award-winning author Dr. Barbara Peacock joins Jenn to share the compelling, beautiful ways in which African American women and men throughout history have approached soul care, prayer, and spiritual direction. Dr. Peacock also gives a glimpse into how a great cloud of witnesses has shaped her vocation and personal to ministry. Dr. Peacock and Jenn discuss the power of sabbath in our walk toward wholeness, the necessity of lament in our lives, and the gift of reflecting on our personal spiritual autobiographies. 

On this episode of Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper, Dr. Peacock:

• Explores how spiritual disciplines are woven into African American culture and lived out in the rich heritage of its faith community.
• Provides examples of Black Christians who have shaped her faith.
• Shares about how growing up on a farm rooted in her in a contemplative tradition.
• Reflects on the significance of watching her grandmother pray.
• Reads a stirring excerpt from her book Soul Care in African American Practice.

About the guest: Dr. Peacock is a preacher, teacher, and spiritual director. She holds a Doctorate of Ministry from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary with a dissertation emphasis on spiritual direction and soul care. She lives in North Carolina with her husband. Her latest book, Soul Care in African American Practice, received the 2021 Christianity Today Award of Merit for Spiritual Formation.

We’re proud to carry her book in our spiritual formation bookshop.

Reflection point: Dr. Peacock teaches classes about writing spiritual autobiographies. As you’ve reflected on this episode, consider why it’s important to connect the dots of God’s presence in your life. As Jenn asked Dr. Peacock, can you recall a time when you felt deeply aware of your calling and vocation?

• Dr. Barbara Peacock
• Soul Care in African American Practice
• Soul Care in African American Practice Workbook

About Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper: Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper explores faith where it hits the pavement of work, relationships, creativity, and real life. Inspired by Jenn’s curiosity and faith (and her work as a minister and spiritual director) we’re crafting a show to help you meaningfully explore your own life with Christ — and ultimately lead you to become more wholly human and more fully faithful. On Tuesdays, join us for a conversation with folks whose words, work, and witness have shaped our team’s understanding of God and practice of faith. (Plus, we’re featuring lots of good music, prompts for your reflection and practice, and plenty of invitations into a community of kindred spirits!)

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We appreciate your ratings and reviews, too.

World-renowned artist Makoto Fujimura, author of “Art + Faith: A Theology of Making,” draws from his deep well of reflections on creativity and the spiritual aspects of “making” in this poetic, inviting conversation with Jenn Giles Kemper. Experienced in the Japanese art of Kintsugi (mending broken ceramic with lacquer and gold to create something new) Makoto (Mako) talks with Jenn about what he’s learned about the very nature of our Maker God through this process of being “not only restored, but made new.”

On this episode of Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper, Mako explores:

• Why art is an outpouring of God’s grace
• How the trauma of living near Ground Zero on Sept, 11, 2001 has been reflected in all of our lives during the 2020-21 global pandemic
• The generativity of humanity
• How art asks more questions than it answers
• His journey in Christ through different denominations and traditions
• How art is a gift but not a commodity, and how that reflects God’s grace

About the guest: Makoto Fujimura, an artist, arts advocate, writer, and speaker, is the founder of the International Arts Movement and the Fujimura Institute, and co-founder of the Kintsugi Academy. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey and is a leading contemporary artist whose “slow art” has been described by David Brooks of the New York Times as “a small rebellion against the quickening of time”.

Mako’s art has been featured widely in galleries and museums around the world, and is collected by notable collections including The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, The Huntington Library, and the Tikotin Museum in Israel. He is one of the first artists to paint live on stage at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall as part of an ongoing collaboration with composer and percussionist, Susie Ibarra.

We’re proud to carry his books Culture Care and Art + Faith in our spiritual formation bookshop.

Reflection point: In Art + Faith, Mako writes that “To be effective messengers of hope we must trust our inner voice, our intuition that speaks into the vast wastelands of our time.” When is a time you have not trusted your inner voice? What was at stake? And in the episode, Jenn mentions that Mako says that the book of Psalms, God’s poetry, gives us an ecosystem of metaphors and a garden of words to describe the thriving offered to us in the New Creation. What would it look like for you to spend some time in a Psalm this week? What might God have to tell you through the Psalm you read, as it relates to new creation?

Links:

• Art + Faith: A Theology of Making by Makoto Fujimura
• Makoto Fujimura
• Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life by Makoto Fujimura

About Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper: Sacred Ordinary Days with Jenn Giles Kemper explores faith where it hits the pavement of work, relationships, creativity, and real life. Inspired by Jenn’s curiosity and faith (and her work as a minister and spiritual director) we’re crafting a show to help you meaningfully explore your own life with Christ — and ultimately lead you to become more wholly human and more fully faithful. On Tuesdays, join us for a conversation with folks whose words, work, and witness have shaped our team’s understanding of God and practice of faith. (Plus, we’re featuring lots of good music, prompts for your reflection and practice, and plenty of invitations into a community of kindred spirits!)

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.