Jessica Smucker is today's SOS guest, and she believes the best way to change the world is to channel our pain into connection. Jessica is one very captivating person, both musically and otherwise. She worked on movies, is a published poet & a social justice warrior, came into music through a rock band called The Sleeping World, and she knows all the two-letter words in Scrabble, so don't even think of challenging her.

We're called to flip the world topsy-turvy & stop beating our asses according to Cantankerous Hermit-ish Mendicant Farmer (Don Durham) and Jewish Trans Educator (Liam Hooper), two insightful & radical Bible wrestlers.

In a followup to our most downloaded episode,  What Does the Bible Say About Climate Change?, host, Peterson Toscano speaks with two Christian women about their faith, their commitment to creation care, and why they see Citizens Climate Lobby as a place where they can pursue meaningful solutions. They talk about their values, the Bible, the spiritual charge to do the work of reconciliation, especially in a contentious and politically divided country.

Liam Hooper takes on the "gayest" passage in the Christian Bible, the story of the Roman Centurion and the healing of his personal servant. Does this text condone gay sex? Gay relationships? Slavery?

Liam deepens the significance of the passage by connecting it to the narrative that comes immediately afterwards: Jesus raising a widow's only son from the dead. 

Peterson Toscano recounts the epic story of a "day in the life" of Jesus and the disciples as found in Mark chapter 5. There we see a demon possessed man, a herd of pigs, really pissed off towns people, and very frightened disciples. As an actor, Peterson is curious about the backstory of "the man who dwelt amongst the tombs." What brought him to this place in his life?

While serving as Activist in Residence at Susquehanna University, Peterson Toscano co-preached a sermon with chaplain 

Special guest Mx.

Justin Jay Arnold is himself and nobody else, happy to wrestle with the full range of beliefs, heading toward preacher-hood complete with his tattoos, scraggly beard, & shaved head, and making his own music of whatever type. With a father who played in the Feather River Canyon Band, and with influences like CCR, Waylon Jennings, & Elvis, Justin's gravelly, open-hearted vocals and lyrics swim on the deep side with no saccharine taste at all. Who else sings of choosing between a guitar and a bullet to his head? Find his 3 albums to-date on CDBaby.

Charley Earp is honestly devoted to the religiously-inspired communism of his youth, without apology or irony.

Philip Gulley is the author of 16 books to date, including the popular fictional series based in Harmony, Indiana. Phil's latest is If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus, and it is a powerful challange to the anti-gay, pro-war, pro-wealth messages of Christians out of step with Jesus.