{"id":20070,"date":"2025-12-15T05:00:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/?p=20070"},"modified":"2025-12-12T14:42:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T20:42:42","slug":"season-28-episode-3-advent-week-3-beyond-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/2025\/12\/season-28-episode-3-advent-week-3-beyond-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Season 28: Episode 3 | Advent Week 3: Beyond Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this week\u2019s episode, Ruth and Marilyn discuss the themes of winter and vulnerability. They explore the metaphorical storms of winter, praying beyond safety, and infinite longing. The conversation also touches on the challenges posed by climate change, the significance of collective humility, and the importance of grappling with complex, real-world issues within church communities. Marilyn concludes by reading her poem &#8216;After the Fire,&#8217; reflecting on loss, renewal, and the essential nature of vulnerability in the spiritual journey.<\/p>\n<h3>Questions for Reflection:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u200aHow do we open up to moving beyond safety? <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>How do we pray beyond safety?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>How do we find security within the midst of our frailty and fragility and vulnerability?\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Where does our security come from even if we&#8217;ve lost things that are the most certain to us?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Where does our security come from and what are the particularities of our situation that we&#8217;re being invited to live in fully?\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>In this season of the <em>Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership<\/em> podcast, Ruth invites listeners to embark on a unique journey during Advent 2025. Departing from traditional liturgical approaches, we will focus on the overlap between the seasons of Advent and winter, inspired by Marilyn McIntyre&#8217;s book <em>Midwinter Light: Meditations for the Long Season.<\/em>\u00a0Ruth will be joined all through Advent by Marilyn McIntyre, herself. Together they will explore themes such as inner reflection, the significance of silence, and the profound connections between spirituality and the physical season of winter.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-20025 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Marilyn-IMG_0652-1-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Marilyn-IMG_0652-1-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Marilyn-IMG_0652-1-700x700.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Marilyn-IMG_0652-1-24x24.jpeg 24w, https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Marilyn-IMG_0652-1-48x48.jpeg 48w, https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Marilyn-IMG_0652-1-96x96.jpeg 96w, https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Marilyn-IMG_0652-1-300x300.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>Marilyn McEntyre<\/strong> is an author of over 20 books, including <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3XVrSsl\">Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies<\/a><\/em> (2021) and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4rzUTaW\"><em>Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict<\/em><\/a> (2020). Her book,<em> <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4pC4Gvn\">What\u2019s in a Phrase? Pausing Where Scripture Gives You Pause<\/a><\/em> won the Christianity Today book award in spirituality. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4rlDsuo\">Midwinter Light<\/a>,<\/em> reflections on poems for the \u201clong season,\u201d has just been released. A former professor, now writer, writing coach, speaker, and retreat leader, her deepest interests lie in connections between spirituality, language, healing earth, and each other. She teaches regularly for programs at Western Seminary, New College Berkeley, and the Oblate School of Theology.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr style=\"clear: both;\" \/>\n<p><a class=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/strengthening-soul-your-leadership-ruth-haley-barton\/id1214483830\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SUBSCRIBE ON APPLE PODCASTS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also access podcast on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/ruth-haley-barton\/strengthening-the-soul-of-your-leadership?refid=stpr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stitcher<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/41tz8kmZTi7wyYakvWUKZz\">Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"S28 Ep 3 | Advent Week 3: Beyond Safety\" allowtransparency=\"true\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" style=\"border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?i=rbbee-19ec095-pb&#038;from=pb6admin&#038;share=1&#038;download=1&#038;rtl=0&#038;fonts=Arial&#038;skin=1&#038;font-color=auto&#038;logo_link=episode_page&#038;btn-skin=7\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"button outline\" href=\"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/strengthening-the-soul-of-your-leadership-podcast\/season-twenty-eight\/\">Listen to other episodes from Season 28<\/a> <a class=\"button-secondary outline\" href=\"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/strengthening-the-soul-of-your-leadership-podcast\/\">Access past podcast seasons<\/a><\/p>\n<hr style=\"clear: both;\" \/>\n<p><strong>Music Credit:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist<\/li>\n<li>O Come O Come Emmanuel from <em>Advent Music in Solitude<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr style=\"clear: both;\" \/>\n<p><strong>We\u2019re starting a Substack!<\/strong> This will be \u201ca new home for reflection, conversation, and connection with our transforming community.\u201d Our new Substack is called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thetransformingcenter.substack.com\/\">On the Journey with the Transforming Center<\/a>,\u201d and it will include thoughtful reflections from <strong>Ruth Haley Barton<\/strong> and the Transforming Center team, as well as alumni and friends of the Transforming Center, occasional<strong> special video teachings and guided practices,<\/strong> and space to interact with our content and respond with how God is working in your life through the posts. <strong>This will also be the new home of all of our podcast patron content!<\/strong> There will be free and paid tiers. <a href=\"https:\/\/thetransformingcenter.substack.com\/subscribe\">We\u2019d love for you to join us over on Substack<\/a>. (Existing patrons, check Patreon for a special link to provide you with a discounted rate!)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Support the podcast!<\/strong> This season patrons will receive spiritual practices tethered to the lectionary readings to accompany them through Advent. <a href=\"https:\/\/thetransformingcenter.substack.com\/subscribe\">Become a paid member of Substack today<\/a> to receive these practices and so much more!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/\">Transforming Center<\/a> exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next <em><a href=\"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/tc\">Transforming Community<\/a>:<\/em>\u00ae A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.\u00a0 Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self! Learn more and apply <a href=\"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/transforming-community\/\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copywrite\">*this post contains affiliate links<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this week\u2019s episode, Ruth and Marilyn discuss the themes of winter and vulnerability. They explore the metaphorical storms of winter, praying beyond safety, and infinite longing. The conversation also&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[4591],"class_list":["post-20070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-season-28"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Season 28: Episode 3 | Advent Week 3: Beyond Safety - Transforming Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/transformingcenter.org\/2025\/12\/season-28-episode-3-advent-week-3-beyond-safety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Season 28: Episode 3 | Advent Week 3: Beyond Safety\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this week\u2019s episode, Ruth and Marilyn discuss the themes of winter and vulnerability. 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