We are a COVID-weary people. It’s been about a year since lockdown really began. Happy quarantine-versary? But in all seriousness, we often have been talking about COVID, but we rarely talk about gratefulness and COVID in the same sentence. Yet, while teaching us how to properly wash our hands and all sorts of ways to […] The post Ep 93: Gratefulness, Hope, and COVID – with guest John Van Sloten appeared first on SparkDialog.
Gratefulness and COVID feel like they don’t belong in the same sentence. But a year into this pandemic, perhaps there are some lessons we can learn, and some ways that this year has changed us all – maybe for the better.
We are a COVID-weary people. It’s been about a year since lockdown really began. Happy quarantine-versary? But in all seriousness, we often have been talking about COVID, but we rarely talk about gratefulness and COVID in the same sentence.
Yet, while teaching us how to properly wash our hands and all sorts of ways to estimate the distance of six feet, perhaps this pandemic has taught us something else – how to be grateful. Today our guest is John Van Sloten. John is a pastor, writer and (occasional) seminary teacher from Calgary. He’s been part of 5 Templeton Foundation-funded projects over the past 10 years—each exploring the intersection of faith and science in the context of preaching. John talks to us about a different side of COVID – how mask-wearing can be a spiritual exercise, why people, in this case doctors and nurses, risk their lives for strangers, and how we can all learn a little something about what gratefulness and COVID have to do with one another, and perhaps change for the better when this is done.
You can follow John at @johnvs7.
If you are a patron of the podcast, be sure to check the Patreon page all this month for bonus content from this episode.
Background music you heard are clips from:
Transmutation by Kara Square (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/mindmapthat/56527 Ft: Spinningmerkaba
Ethereal Space by Snowflake (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/33318 Ft: Zep Hurme
C95-RoutineMaintenanceMission by Javolenus (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/Javolenus/37693 Ft: nickleus
Rescue Me (Instrumental) by Aussens@iter (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/tobias_weber/57990 Ft: Copperhead
The post Ep 93: Gratefulness, Hope, and COVID – with guest John Van Sloten appeared first on SparkDialog.