Shows
There's Got to be a Better WayWhy I Like The Christmas Jesus BestThis week Paul takes a exploreswhy the Christmas season is the most meaningful to him in the Christian calendar. First he takes a deep dive into his Christology (ie, the study of Christ and why he matters), and then he shares a brief personal story about why this season matters to him as much as it does. What's your favorite season or holiday in your tradition? What does Christmas mean to you? And which "Jesus" do you like best? 2024-12-1529 minThere's Got to be a Better WayTrump Voters & What "The Left" Is MissingIn this week's episode Paul goes through a very unscientific survey he asked Trump voters he knows to fill out. The reality is that enough Americans support him to have elected him again, and Paul felt a need to understand a little better why people support him. And out of this tiny survey, came a revelation for Paul about what "the left" is missing when it comes to our current sociopolitical state and electoral politics.2024-12-0834 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.11: Bluebonnet BSOn Friday afternoon, the day this episode was recorded, the Texas Board of Education voted to allow the Bluebonnet curriculum to not only be allowed in its schools, but incentivizes them to do so. What is this a problem? Because the curriculum is fraught with Christian teaching. This week, Paul (speaking as a pastor and substitute teacher) breaks down two units from the curriculum, exposing their problems both socially and theologically, as well as positing why this curriculum violates the First Amendment.2024-11-2243 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.10: Post-Election Thoughts (aka: My Concept of a Plan)This week Paul reacts to the presidential election. He outlines his feelings about it, as well as what he thinks we need to be doing between now and January 20th, when Donald Trump will be inaugurated into his 2nd term. He'd love your feedback, particularly about how we can be prepared to combat whatever may be coming that infringes on basic human rights, democracy, and freedom. 2024-11-1029 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.9: The Election, Spirituality, and Moving Through AnxietyThis week Paul welcomes his friends and fellow seminarians Kari Niedermaier and Matthew David Morris on the pod. They discuss the election, how their varying spiritualities inform their views on the present and possible future state of the US post-election, and what it means to simply be a human in this time and space. We hope you find this conversation as enriching as they did being a part it! 2024-11-031h 06There's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.8: All The Devils Are HereIn a late drop, this week Paul looks at the one-man-show All The Devils Are Here as a way of exploring humanity's potential for evil. Patrick Page's show All The Devils Are Here traces how Shakespeare created "the villain", but also looks at our own potential for it. None of us exempt. So how do we approach evil, deal with it, and understand how people get there?2024-10-2821 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.7: Rainn Wilson's Soul BoomIn this episode Paul breaks down Rainn Wilson's book Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. Rainn Wilson is most famous for playing Dwight Schrute on the TV show The Office, and in 2023 he published Soul Boom, which has led to his podcast of the same title. Rainn Wilson is a deeply spiritual person, and has some great thoughts on how vital an authentic and robust spirituality may be to healing our nation's and world's ills. In this episode, Paul talks about the book, why what Rainn Wilson is getting at is so important, and invites us into...2024-10-2030 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.6: Is a Vote Really Like a Prayer?This week Paul looks into Pastor and US Senator Raphael Warnock's idea that a vote is "like a kind of prayer". Is it? Perhaps yes, but also maybe not so much. Here Paul unpacks that metaphor a bit, while also naming just how important it is to vote. Are you registered to vote? Get registered at www.vote.gov. 2024-10-1330 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.5: The Church, Its Past, and Its FutureThis week Paul goes back. Way back, exploring how historical events in the Christian Church's history still ring through today and why that may just be at the root of its struggles. What happens when the empire get baptized? 2024-10-0642 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.4: A Problem With EasterThis week's text is the story of The Passover, and because of that Paul takes a deep dive into the problematic way that Christendom appropriates this story on Easter. In it Paul also calls his fellow Christians to look at and listen to their hymns, theologies, doctrines, and liturgies with a more critical eye, particularly as they pertain to Christian supersessionism and antisemitism.
2024-09-2929 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.3: Peace, Shalom, SalaamAs we approach the one year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's ongoing subsequent response, this week Paul uses the story of Joseph, his brothers, his grandfather, and his great grandfather Abraham to take a raw, unanswered, and frustrated look into Israel, Gaza, islamophobia, and antisemitism, and Christianity's role in all of it. 2024-09-2238 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got To Be A Better Way 1.2: Look to the Stars[Please excuse the over modulation in this episode. Something happened between editing and exporting. Paul will figure it out for next week.]
This week on the There's Got to be a Better Way pod, Paul reflects on the odd 24 hours we had with the Presidential debate immediately followed by the 23rd anniversary the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. He talks about what he calls the "collective chronic anxiety" that has marked American culture since then, and how an ancient ancestor named Abram may have something to teach us about that. 2024-09-1532 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way 1.1: To Judge or Not to JudgeThis is the first full and true episode of the "There's Got to be a Better Way" podcast. This week we take the story of Adam and Eve eat of the "forbidden fruit" and explore how the concept of "judgment" works in our world and in our souls. Hit me up at IrrevPaul@gmail.com for thoughts, opinions, critiques (but be kind), and feedback. Peace, friends.2024-09-0832 minThere's Got to be a Better WayThere's Got to be a Better Way: PreviewFor far too long I've been meaning to start a podcast, and I just keep putting it off. But now's the time. My name is Paul Baudhuin and I live at the vocational intersection of being a city council person, a substitute teacher, and a United Methodist pastor. And that intersection is where this podcast begins...2024-08-2102 min
Esme Murphy3-2-19 - Show Highlight - Pastor Paul BaudhuinThe pastor from Aldersgate UMC in St. Louis Park gives his thoughts on this week's decision from the United Methodist Church to ban same-sex marriage and gay clergy. He also explains which side of this argument he stands on.2019-03-0309 min
Esme Murphy3-2-19 Esme Murphy 7 PMDr. Paul Orchard from the U of M tells us about Rare Disease Day, along with what may classify as a rare disease. Univ. of St. Thomas professor Charles Reid discusses the latest revelations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Pastor Paul Baudhuin describes the recent decision from the Methodist Church regarding same-sex marriage.2019-03-0340 min