A cold December night, a live audience in a church basement, and a question that won’t leave us alone: why do Christmas redemption stories still hit home when the world feels stuck? We open with the “villains” of our childhood—Scrooge, the Grinch, Frosty’s rival, the Abominable Snowman—and uncover what lingered: not just neat endings, but the stubborn truth that joy finds a way and community calls us back.

From there we press deeper. Is redemption a flip of a switch or the long work of transformation? We wrestle with Dickens’ overnight arc, the pressure of perfect holidays, and how grief and absence reshape tradition. Our guests—an artist, a playwright-chaplain, and returning regulars—trace a path from performative change to lived formation: amends, accountability, and daily habits that restore us to each other. Along the way, we name the forces fighting against that work: algorithms that reward outrage, culture wars that distract from real needs, and the temptation to outsource care to systems while our neighborhoods grow quiet.

What emerges is a simple, demanding practice: choose tables over threads. One coffee instead of ten comments. Real communities—churches, arts circles, running clubs—become places to be known, challenged, and carried. We connect classic Christmas scenes to present choices: Rudolph and Herbie finding belonging, the Grinch hearing singing in the square, Scrooge stepping back into the business of humanity. And we end by gathering signs of hope in a hard year—artists hungry for meaningful stories, families holding each other through illness, neighbors rediscovering steady volunteerism beyond December.

If these themes resonate, join us. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who loves Dickens or dreads perfect Christmases, and leave a review to help others find the show. Then schedule one real conversation this week. Grace meets us in person, and change follows close behind.

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Two minutes of silence can’t carry the whole story. We lean into the hard questions Remembrance Day raises: how to honor courage without glamorizing war, how to include civilians alongside veterans, and how to keep memory honest when distance invites denial. With Canadian Armed Forces chaplain Capt. Justin McNeil and philosopher Dr. Trudy Govier joining our regulars, we navigate symbols like the red and white poppy, the surge in defense spending, and the chronic underfunding of diplomacy. The aim isn’t to score points; it’s to hold tension: preparedness and restraint, justice and forgiveness, grief and hope.

Justin takes us inside the strange vocation of training for what you hope never happens, and the pastoral work of rehumanization—names, faces, families, artifacts from those with no graves. Trudy probes where reconciliation meets justice, from South Africa’s TRC to today’s conflicts, and how amnesty, accountability, and public repair can clash. We ask what rebuilding must look like after the shooting stops, and why “win and leave” only seeds the next war. Together we explore nonviolent resistance, alliances, and the leverage that shapes negotiations in a world where drones, disinformation, and nationalism have changed the rules.

We also confront the language that primes violence and the counter-story of shalom: peace as shared safety, dignity, and livelihood. From Rwanda’s neighbor-against-neighbor horror to Canada’s peacekeeping identity and the realities of moral injury, we keep circling one insistence: remember well so we can choose better. If you’re wrestling with poppies, budgets, diplomacy, and what to carry after the bugle fades, this conversation offers clarity, compassion, and a path forward.

If this moved you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review telling us your key takeaway from Remembrance. Your voice helps more listeners find thoughtful, hopeful conversations like this one.

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What if sin isn’t a tally of private failings, but a way to see how our choices shape each other’s lives? We open the door to a deeper, more human conversation with two guides who’ve lived it from different sides: Pam Rocker, a queer playwright and activist working at the intersection of faith, belonging, and justice; and David Sweet, a retired homicide detective whose mantra—leave people better than you found them—was forged in the hardest rooms in policing.

We trace the old script from Augustine’s original sin to Dante’s seven deadlies, then turn it inside out. The panel shares raw first encounters with shame and fear—from shoplifted candy to purity culture’s damage—and asks whether people are born bad or shaped by moments and systems. David explains why empathy, not pity, opens truth in an interview room and in everyday life. Pam names the toll of Christian nationalism and the chilling idea that empathy is a “sin,” while Joanne Anquist reframes sloth as apathy toward what matters and calls for a new social contract rooted in dignity and mercy. Together we test greed, pride, wrath, and sloth against modern realities: workers who can’t afford the food they stock, billionaires celebrated while communities crumble, and survival choices punished without context.

This is a conversation about accountability without humiliation, forgiveness that leads to responsibility, and practical steps that make repair real. We offer simple practices—curate diverse stories, build the empathy muscle, confess clearly, and choose the daily discipline of leaving people better than you found them. We’re not defined by failures, and we’re not fixed by fear. We are human, capable of harm and capable of repair.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your voice helps more people find thoughtful, nuanced conversations that trade shame for truth and turn empathy into action.

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