Podcast
Ronnie McBrayer
Hosted by Ronnie McBrayer · EN
Podcast of author, speaker, pastor, and spiritual teacher Ronnie McBrayer. This is his collection of talks, interviews, insights from the Enneagram, and conversations with friends on the ever-changing, ever-evolving nature of faith. It is especially for those who are “burned out on religion” - to quote Eugene Peterson’s marvelous paraphrase; for spiritual exiles; and those whose faith is in transition.
18episodes
Episodes
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In My Time of Dying
1w ago00:25:06Tap to summarizeI know this is not the most pleasant subject for many people. But in the last words of President McKinley, "We are all going. We are all going." So long as death is way down the road, at some far and distant juncture that remains out of sight, it can remain out of mind. But we have no such promises. There are no guarantees that our end is decades or years in the future. Allison Arieff says: “It is the awareness and acceptance of our own mortality that makes us human. And it is the impetus for living our lives to the fullest. The brevity of life leaves me determined to seize, observe and interact with the days that remain. It is the knowledge of how quickly, sometimes tragically, things can change or disappear that fuels my urgency to be in the present.”
Transcribe →Give Thanks And Praises
2w ago00:23:31Tap to summarizeBob Marley...The Book of Psalms...Meister Eckhart...John Oatman Jr. What do all of these have in common? Gratitude. It's the best way to live your life.
Transcribe →How Great Thou Art
3w ago00:21:52Tap to summarizeI have no way to prove this, but I suspect that more people know the song "How Great Thou Art" than know the Psalm upon which it is based - Psalm 8. I venture to guess that more people have heard this song in the last 75 years than have read the book of Psalms. And I think that’s just fine! Because, the song - “How Great Thou Art” -, remains faithful to the text. Times have changed. Understandings of the world have changed. Theological conclusions have changed. Modes and manners of worship have changed. Attitudes toward ecology and creation have changed. Science has changed. Technology has changed. Religion has changed. But still, there is this eternal hymn written to the glory of God, glory that is recognized in the world around us. For the video referenced in the talk, go to: https://ronniemcbrayer.org/2026/06/04/how-great-thou-art/
Transcribe →Creation Song
4w ago00:26:04Tap to summarizeRonnie's continuing exploration of Psalms from the Revised Common Lectionary arrives at Psalm 104, with an ode to the Psalmists and contemporary artist, Fernando Ortega. Ronnie urges listeners to rediscover God's good creation by saying: "We are more fixated on looking through tiny digital windows on the world than living in and enjoying God’s actual, created world - a world that will remain more extraordinary than anything made by human hands or imagination."
Transcribe →Riders In The Sky
May 2000:26:55Tap to summarizeWhat do Stan Jones, King David, the Apache Tribe, the Canaanites, Baal, and Yahweh have in common? You'll have to listen to find out more. My latest talk from Psalm 68.
Transcribe →Fire and Rain
May 1300:23:21Tap to summarize"God protects us from death and keeps us steady. Our God, you tested us, just as silver is tested. You trapped us in a net and gave us heavy burdens. You sent war chariots to crush our skulls. We traveled through fire and through floods but you brought us to a land of plenty” (Psalm 66 8-12). This is really a mixed bag here, isn't it? Praising God for God’s protection and care; and then acknowledging God’s hand in the Psalmist’s troubles. God appears to send the writer through fire and rain - and the case can be made that God is the fire and the rain. Is God the curse or the cure? Or both?
Transcribe →Like a Rock
May 500:23:29Tap to summarizeWhen it comes to people who have truly suffered, who have endured so much trouble, they must have something extraordinary that sustains them. It must be something solid. Something stronger than anything else. Something that doesn’t move, that doesn’t wash away. Surely, their feet have found a rock upon which to stand, a fortress in which to retreat. Surely, there is a love that carries them, buoys them along. Surely, there is a power greater than themselves to which they have surrendered and entrusted their lives (Psalm 31)
Transcribe →A Rolling Stone
Apr 800:21:44Tap to summarize"Take in the scope of this ancient proverb: 'A rolling stone gathers no moss.' It emerged in ancient Antioch, was rediscovered during the European Renaissance, beloved in the peat moss bogs of the Scot-Irish, and institutionalized by the royalty of blues, country, and rock and roll music. And sure as sunrise, there was no moss on the stone that covered the entrance to Jesus’ grave. It rolled away just about as quickly as it had been put into place." Listen for more pf Ronnie's Easter 2026 talk.
Transcribe →"Your God Is Too Small," Part 2 of 2
Apr 100:26:56Tap to summarize"Seventy percent of your body is water. Seventy percent of all you ingest is water. Seventy percent of this planet is water. Water is everywhere and in everything. Water is what each of us are made of, and water sustains us. Water sustains everything in our world. That's not hard too understand - because it is our reality. Is it then so hard to understand that Christ is in all and hold all things together?" This is part 2 of "Your God Is Too Small."
Transcribe →"Your God Is Too Small," Part 1 of 2
Mar 2500:23:15Tap to summarizeJB Phillips coined the phrase, "God-In-A-Box." What did he mean? We have tamed God. We think we own or control God. Just look how God works through the religious machinery we have built, after all. God is reduced to a wafer in the hands of a priest; a doctrinal statement; the rules and expectations of a particular denomination or church. But God is wilder and larger than any restriction humans might place on God.
Transcribe →