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Prayer isn't just words whispered in sacred spaces—it's marching in the streets, demanding justice from those in power, and standing in solidarity with the marginalized. This revolutionary understanding of spirituality sits at the heart of "We Pray Freedom," a groundbreaking liturgical collection from theologians Liz Theoharis and Charon Hribar.

The book reimagines prayer as "the work of the people" in its most authentic sense, featuring contributions from over 80 grassroots leaders—unhoused organizers, low-wage workers, and faith activists—who share liturgies born from their communities' struggles. These prayers, songs, and rituals emerge not from theological institutions but from lived experiences of injustice and visions for a more equitable world.

Take the biblical story of the persistent widow, often interpreted narrowly as encouraging consistent personal prayer. Theoharis reframes it powerfully: "This woman goes to this person with power and demands justice and wins it, and that's how we pray without ceasing." This perspective invites us to see prayer not as passive acceptance but as persistent action toward justice.

Both authors bring deep personal connections to this work. Liz Theoharis, raised in a movement family, experienced housing insecurity firsthand. Charon Hribar grew up in a small steel town, witnessing economic devastation when the industry collapsed. Their paths converged at Union Theological Seminary, where they established the Kairos Center, connecting faith communities with economic justice movements.

Whether you're a longtime activist, spiritual seeker, or someone questioning traditional religious practices, "We Pray Freedom" offers a fresh vision of spirituality that doesn't separate faith from action. It's an invitation to join what might be called the "Freedom Church"—not an institution, but a community committed to embodying prayer through working for justice, freedom, and peace in our world.

Visit weprayfreedom.org for additional resources, including music videos and organizing tools, or join the Freedom Church of the Poor virtually on Sundays at 6pm Eastern to experience this transformative approach to spirituality in community.

You can buy their new book here: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798889830344/We-Pray-Freedom

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Mary Magdalene beckons us beyond the twelve verses that mention her in scripture, inviting us into a profound reimagining of what it means to witness the divine. Shelley Shepard and Heather Drake explore this sacred friendship during Mary's feast week, diving into the transformative power of seeing resurrection through feminine eyes.

What makes Mary's witness unique? The hosts suggest that witnessing isn't merely observing or repeating stories—it's embodying presence in vulnerability and mutual care. "If I am a witness to someone's life," Heather explains, "it's not that I am bossing them or repeating a story. I am embodying my own presence." This reframes Jesus's commission to Mary as an invitation into intimate friendship where humanity is fully embraced, needs are tended to, and love flows freely between companions.

The conversation takes an unexpected turn when the hosts propose a powerful possibility: perhaps in the garden, Mary called to Jesus first. What if her longing and connection transcended death itself, and his response—"Mary"—was simply answering her call? This perspective transforms the resurrection narrative from a one-sided miracle to a testament of love's power to bridge even death's chasm. Jesus's instruction not to cling to him becomes not rejection but invitation to transcendence—moving beyond limited forms into expansive understanding.

Mary Magdalene likely walked a wisdom path even before meeting Jesus, possessing inner knowing that allowed her to grasp what others missed. While the disciples sought political revolution, Mary understood Jesus's teaching that "the kingdom is within." Their unified vision created a friendship that modeled the very love they sought to share with the world. Perhaps this is why, out of all his followers, Jesus commissioned Mary specifically to first proclaim the resurrection—because she alone truly understood its meaning.

Ready to explore Mary's expansive path of wisdom? Join our community where we're reimagining spiritual friendship that honors both our humanity and transcendent potential. Visit expansionisttheology.com to continue the journey of pouring out love generously in a world hungry for connection.

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What if Mary Magdalene's uncovered hair wasn't just a break from tradition, but a revolutionary act of spiritual and feminine liberation?

As we approach Mary Magdalene's feast day on July 22nd, Shelley and Heather dive into one of the most overlooked yet profound aspects of her story – her hair. In ancient times, a woman's hair was simultaneously considered her "glory" and something to be hidden away from public view. The cultural mandate requiring women to cover their hair wasn't simply about modesty; it was fundamentally about control and power.

Mary Magdalene shattered these conventions when she not only uncovered her hair in public but used it to dry Jesus's feet after anointing them with expensive oils and her own tears. This act of devotion wasn't just spiritually significant – it was politically and culturally subversive. She transformed what patriarchal systems had deemed should be hidden into a sacred instrument of connection and worship.

Through vivid imagery and thoughtful exploration, Shelley and Heather unpack how Mary's wealthy status intersected with her beauty, creating a platform that she chose to use not for personal gain but for devotion. They consider how this ancient story speaks to our modern experiences of beauty standards, cultural control, and the search for authentic self-expression. What does it mean when we reclaim aspects of ourselves that we've been conditioned to hide? How might we find liberation in seeing our physical bodies as sacred vessels rather than objects to be controlled?

This conversation opens windows into a radical understanding of embodied spirituality, where tears, hair, and presence become holy offerings. Mary Magdalene's example challenges us to expand our concept of the sacred and invites us to find transcendence not by escaping our humanity but by fully inhabiting it with love, courage, and radical authenticity.

Join us on this journey of expansionist thinking as we reimagine what it means to follow the path of Mary Magdalene – a path where beauty isn't hidden away but becomes the very story that liberates us all. Share your own reflections and join our community at expansionisttheology.com.

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Could Mary Magdalene be a missing part of the Christ story? This question forms the heart of our exploration as we approach her feast day on July 22nd. While neither of us come from Catholic traditions, we recognize the profound wisdom in celebrating feast days that awaken our consciousness to spiritual truth—and Mary Magdalene holds truths too long overlooked.

Mary represents a pathway to transformation that embraces feminine wisdom and embodied spirituality. When the Gospel of Mary was discovered in Egypt in the 19th century, it revealed a woman who understood Christ's message so deeply that male disciples questioned how Jesus could have shared such mysteries with her. Yet Jesus himself declared that wherever his story was told, hers would be told alongside it—a commission we've collectively failed to honor for centuries.

What might Christianity look like if we restored Mary Magdalene to her rightful place? If Jesus is understood as the Second Adam in theological tradition, might Mary represent the Second Eve—not replacing Mary the mother of Jesus, but complementing our understanding of feminine spiritual presence? The evidence suggests she continued as an evangelist after the resurrection, particularly in France, spreading a message of embodied, Spirit-led devotion. Her understanding of anointing—exemplified when she recognized the significance of Jesus's approaching sacrifice—shows spiritual insight beyond what other disciples grasped. When we embrace her witness alongside Christ's, we discover a more complete spirituality that honors both masculine and feminine expressions of divine wisdom. Ready to explore the full story? Join us as we uncover what traditional narratives have too often left untold.

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What happens when we expand our vision of God beyond Father to include Mother? Shelley Shepard and I journey into territory many find unfamiliar yet deeply healing as we explore divine motherhood and its transformative potential.

This conversation travels through personal stories of our relationships with our mothers and how these experiences have colored our spiritual understanding. We examine how limiting God to masculine imagery creates barriers for many who've experienced trauma or difficult relationships with fathers, while embracing feminine divine aspects opens pathways to deeper connection. As we share, "Mothering is too huge a job to relegrate to one person," suggesting our spiritual lives benefit from seeing the sacred feminine expressed through earth, community, and divine presence.

The conversation crescendos as we read the Lord's Prayer from the New Zealand Anglican Prayer Book—beginning with "Eternal Spirit, Earth Maker, Pain Bearer, Life Giver, Father and Mother of us all"—demonstrating this expanded theology already exists within Christian traditions worldwide. We reference Jesus using feminine imagery and mystical teachers like Julian of Norwich who embraced God's mothering qualities centuries ago.

Perhaps most powerfully, we suggest God transcends gender entirely, with the various expressions—Father, Mother, Spirit—serving as different access points for different human needs. The episode concludes with a beautiful prayer to Mother God, granting listeners permission to experience the divine in healing, expansive ways that honor their unique spiritual journeys.

Has your understanding of the divine felt incomplete or limiting? This conversation might just unlock doors to spiritual healing you never knew existed. Join our community of spiritual explorers at expansionisttheology.com as we continue reimagining faith for wholeness, inclusion, and love.

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What if everything you thought you knew about sin and separation from God was based on a misunderstanding? What if the true spiritual journey isn't about managing sin but remembering your divine nature?

Shelley Shepard and Heather Drake dive into a spicy conversation about religious labels that have historically limited our spiritual experience. Through exploring Mary Magdalene as "the new Eve," they uncover a powerful alternative narrative—one where humans were never truly separated from the divine in the first place.

Shelly and Heather challenge listeners to question inherited religious frameworks with the same question God asked Eve: "Who told you that?" This simple query opens the door to examining how certain theological constructs may have disconnected us from our birthright of divine communion. Drawing from both biblical narratives and apocryphal texts like the Gospel of Mary, they reveal how Mary Magdalene understood a profound truth—that transformation comes through presence with the divine, not through moral perfection or religious rule-following.

"Sin is what separates you from God, but there isn't anything that separates us from God," Heather explains, offering a radical reframing of traditional theology. This perspective invites listeners to put down the burden of sin management and instead embrace what Jesus actually taught: oneness with divine love.

The conversation weaves between scripture, personal reflection, and spiritual insight to illuminate a path beyond religious trauma toward wholeness. Their message is ultimately one of liberation—that we can release limiting labels and experience what Mary Magdalene knew in her bones: we are "made of God, made of love," and nothing can separate us from this fundamental truth.

Visit expansionisttheology.com to join our community and continue exploring how returning to divine wholeness transforms not just our spiritual lives, but our entire experience of being human.

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What happens when the sacred spaces of our childhood reveal themselves to be breeding grounds for exclusion? Cara Meredith joins us to unpack her three-decade journey through evangelical church camp culture and the awakening that led to her powerful new book.

From her first experience as a 9-year-old camper in 1988 to her final speaking engagement at a family camp in 2018, Cara's relationship with Christian camping environments evolved from wholehearted participation to thoughtful criticism. The turning point came when she witnessed firsthand the harm inflicted on LGBTQ+ individuals, women, and people of color within these supposedly sacred spaces.

"When it comes to the God who is love, when it comes to this God that I am meeting and promoting, who does no harm—if that is who I truly believe that God is, that God is a God of love and that God then calls us to be people of love and people who do no harm, then these two don't align," Cara explains, describing the dissonance that eventually led her away from evangelical camping environments.

We explore how church camps often present a singular male image of God, reinforcing complementarianism, purity culture, and even elements of white Christian nationalism. Yet paradoxically, these same natural settings hold profound potential for authentic spiritual connection. As Heather reflects, "We were so close to the divine, we were so close to the mystery... Earth is our first monastery."

The conversation moves beyond mere criticism to envision a better way forward—one where camps might become truly inclusive spaces that honor the sacred in everyone. Cara's journey reminds us that loving something deeply sometimes means being willing to criticize it, not out of bitterness but from a profound hope for transformation.

Anyone who has experienced church camp—whether fondly or painfully—will find resonance in this honest exploration of how seemingly benign religious institutions can both form and harm us, and how we might reclaim what is beautiful while addressing what has caused damage.

You can find out more about Cara Meredith by visiting her website https://www.carameredith.com

You can purchase her new book Church Camp at https://ggpbooks.com/book/9798889831006 or your favorite local bookstore.