Shows / The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz Podcast
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz Podcast
Authentic words for everyone trying to figure out the best way to be human.
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Episodes
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastOn Easter, MAGA Christians Will Tell You They Love God and That Jesus is Risen. They Will Be Lying.
This Easter, the MAGA God lovers will be everywhere. Your social media feed, your street, and perhaps even your dinner table may be filled with people who…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastPam Bondi, Kristi Noem, and Pink Slips From the Patriarchy
Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem, welcome to reality. It was always going to end this way. We tried to warn you. Those of us who’ve been paying attention for the past…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastIt Doesn't Matter How Bad Things Are Here
A reader recently told me that she thinks I’ve become too negative lately: that she misses the optimistic version of me that she got to know before the 2024…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastPraying for Terrible White Christians to Get Tired
As someone who grew up in the Church and who spent three decades ministering within it, there’s something particularly distressing about the expansive…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWhat Do We Owe MAGA Defectors?
There’s a good deal of online dialogue lately about how we should be responding to people around us, who are finally beginning to extricate themselves from the…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastFranklin Graham is Going to Hell.
“I love Donald Trump. We'll never get another president like Donald Trump. That is why it's important we do everything we can to try to get him re-elected.” A…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastNo Kings Day Helped Me Find Some Things I'd Lost
Sometimes you don’t notice attrition when it happens. When you lose elemental parts of yourself, they don’t all depart at once, and since you’re sustaining the…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastAre Americans Too Lazy to Stop a Dictatorship?
A friend of mine who is politically active and engaged every day in justice work here in our town recently confessed to me and a group of friends, “Dozens of…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastI'm Not Anti-Trump Supporters, I'm Pro-Humanity
People often accuse me of being anti-Trump supporters I suppose practically speaking, they’re often correct, but they’re also missing the point, sometimes…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastA Warning To The Would-Be King, From The Radical Left
A Message to the Would-Be King… We see that you’ve declared yet another war this week. This time, you haven’t viciously attacked some distant nation whose…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTalking Faith, Race, Community, and The Greatest Commandment With Digital Pastor Kristian A. Smith
Kristian A. Smith is a public theologian, Spiritual Humanist, and digital pastor of The Faith Community Virtual — an inclusive, justice-rooted ministry…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastNo Kings Day is Coming, But Does It Matter?
This Saturday is No Kings Day. More than 3,000 protests are planned throughout every state in the U.S., as well as hundreds of cities around the world. If last…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastConfronting the Mental Health Crisis of Trump's America
“I feel like I’m losing my mind.” These words are a continual presence these days.I hear them a couple of hundred times a day in one form or another.I read…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastMAGAs Are Destroying America For Spite
How can anyone still support him? Tens of millions of us still find ourselves asking this question, watching a staggering number of Americans somehow remain…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Trump Administration is Waging War on People With Disabilities. Decent Americans Cannot Let Them Win.
Recently, Donald Trump ridiculed California Governor Gavin Newsom’s dyslexia, saying, “Honestly, I'm all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastI'm Looking Forward to Going to Evangelical Hell
I still remember the precise moment I stopped believing in hell. Over two decades ago, I was at a Christmas dinner party in the home of a gay couple. From the…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTrump Supporters, Is This Really What You Voted For?
A vote is loud, Trump supporters. Whether that vote is cast joyfully, or with trepidation, or begrudgingly, or without all the information, or as a protest, it…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastHow Will This End for MAGA Americans? The Same Way It Did for NAZI Germans: Feigned Ignorance
As horrifying and sad as it is watching the worst inhumanity of the past repeating itself in the place we call home, it does allow us to look back and get some…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastAn American Christian Apology To Muslims Everywhere
Dear Muslim Friends, I’m an American Christian, and I wanted you to know that I’m sorry. I’m sorry that the loudest voices representing my faith tradition…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastIt's Good to Let People Know What You're Against
“You should let people know what you’re for, not what you’re against.” I hear this sentiment from time to time, and perhaps you do, too. The implication is…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastMAGAs, You Have Nothing in Common With Donald Trump.
Dear MAGAs,This war has you confused, and I’d like to help you. I see your performative star-spangled posturing, your arrogant middle finger contempt for…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTo Americans Who Don't Like America, and Those Who Want to Leave It
I used to think I loved America, but I didn’t. It turns out, I loved the myth of America. Growing up, I bought into its songs and its anthems and its stirring…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastI've Had it With Unbothered People
I’m just gonna come right out and say it, I’ve had it with people right now. OK, it’s probably not particularly healthy to have a grievance with an entire…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastYes, White Men, We're the Problem. All of Us.
Hey, guys, it’s time for us to have a white man-to-white man conversation. We need to talk about how we’re going to clean up the catastrophic mess we’ve made…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastYes, World, It's Worse in America Than You Think
Earlier this week, a friend from Australia sent me a text. He’d been watching the news and said he wanted to check on me. “We’re heartbroken to see what’s…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastUmm, No, God Did Not Ordain a Vile, Traitorous Serial Predator. Alleged Christians Did.
If I hear one more Evangelical claim that God anointed Donald Trump, I swear I’m gonna rapture myself. It’s sinful.It’s blasphemous.It’s lousy evangelism.It’s…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Iran War Shows We've Lost Complexity and It's a Problem
The U.S./Israeli attacks on Iran are reminding us once again of the collective failure of public discourse. Our ability to hold complexity is evaporating. Our…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Republican-Evangelical Armageddon Death Pact to Kill the Earth and Bring Back Jesus
Christian fundamentalists and Republican politicians are going to bring Jesus back, even if they have to kill us all in the process. We’re now four days into…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastHe is Not Worth This, America
America, he is not worth this. This unrelenting chaos that we find ourselves emotionally drowning in: the manufactured emergencies, fabricated culture wars…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastAmerica Has Already Lost the War in Iran
As I watched scores of panic-stricken fathers in Iran, bloodying their hands, desperately tearing through the hulking rubble entombing their children, I…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastHey, Don't Forget to Be Happy
Welcome to another day. You probably didn’t give much thought to the fact that you’re here, that you woke up. You likely haven’t stopped to breathe in deeply…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastGood People Have Had it With Faux Patriotism and Phony Faith
Good people have had it. It’s been enough of a decade-long gut punch watching a sizable portion of our nation becoming fully indoctrinated into a stuporous…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastLessons Trump Supporters Are Teaching Their Children (Whether They Know It or Not)
Teach your children well. Their father’s hell did slowly go by. And feed them on your dreams. The one they pick’s, the one you’ll know by. - Crosby, Stills…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastHey Team USA Men's Hockey, Congratulations, You Just Won The Gold Medal in Misogyny
Hey, US Men’s Hockey Team, you may not realize this, but you just won the gold medal. Not just in ice hockey, but in misogyny. Watching you all hunched around…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastI'm Ready to Welcome MAGA Jesus Into My Heart
It’s taken me a long time, but I think I’ve finally found the truth that will truly set me free. After all these years watching so many of my fellow Americans…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe U.S. Olympic Team Is Giving Us Something Worth More Than Gold. It's Giving Us Hope.
It’s just sports, right? I mean, at the end of the day, it really means nothing. In the grand scheme of things, this is all pretty inconsequential. With every…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastYes, This is About Epstein's Survivors, And It's About a Lot More.
That nightmarish hellscape… That godforsaken island of unthinkable horrors, crafted by men whose disfigured, darkened minds cannot be stepped into by normal…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Revolution Will Be Amplified: How Musicians Are Soundtracking the Resistance to Trump's Fascism
And the artists will lead us… This week, the legendary U2 dropped a surprise 6-song EP called Songs of Ash, a collection of tracks the band said in a press…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastAn Apology to Conservative White Americans
Well, this is a difficult message to deliver, but it’s necessary, given recent events in America. I’ve done a good deal of painful soul-searching over the past…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastOn The Day I Die
On the day I die, a lot will happen. Many things will change. The world will be busy. On the day I die, all the important appointments I made will be left…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastICE is Spending 38 Billion Dollars for Concentration Camps. Fiscal Conservatives and Red-Voting Jesus Followers, Where Are You?
Hey, is this thing on? Are you out there? Do You fiscal Conservatives still exist? Are Red-Voting followers of Jesus still a thing? Because right now, I’m…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastIf Hell Exists, It Will Be Filled With Congressional Republicans
Growing up in the Church, I believed in Hell. In the story I inherited, there was a place where monstrous people would spend an excruciating eternal afterlife…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastJD Vance Embodies MAGA's Heretical, Heartless, Jesus-Less Christianity
JD Vance claims to be a follower of Jesus. In fact, he never shuts up about it. He wears his religion openly, brandishing it at every opportunity in…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe MAGA Nightmare is Almost Over, America.
This will all be over soon, America. The sundowning of the MAGA movement is upon us. The signs are everywhere. As much as History can be an albatross in…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastHey, Don't Let 'Em Gaslight You. You're Right to Grieve What's Happening in America.
Friend, I may not know you, but I’m pretty sure I know some things about you: I know you feel something breaking inside lately, an invisible fracture that only…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastAmerica's Boys Deserve Better Than MAGA Masculinity
While so many of us here in America are rightly lamenting the devastating emotional effect this repulsive regime is having on girls and young women, we’ve only…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWe Don't Need to Agree to Disagree With Trump Supporters. They're Just Wrong.
I often find myself in a now-familiar spot with Trump supporters I know: hopelessly stuck in an unnavigable impasse on our respective paths, unable to find a…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastDear Pam Bondi, (A Letter From A Father)
Dear Ms Bondi,I’m writing to you as an American citizen, a former pastor, and the father of a daughter. I spent today, as much of the nation, watching you…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastMAGAs Hate Bad Bunny Because He Reminds Them That They're Losing
MAGA Americans have a Bunny living rent-free in their heads. (We’ll just call it BDS: Bunny Derangement Syndrome.) Their president has posted late-night…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastSo, You're Not An Activist, White Friend? Well, it's About Damn Time You Became One.
White friend, you’re not an activist. Or, at least maybe that’s the way you’ve always felt. Perhaps you don’t see yourself in a street with a sign yelling…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastBad Bunny's Halftime Show Reminded Us of the America We're Fighting For.
Sometimes you can forget the point of it all. It’s easy when the horrors have become commonplace to become so beaten down and disheartened by the fight that…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastHey MAGAS, If the President is a Pedophile...
Dear Republican Voters, Trump Supporters, White Evangelicals, and MAGA Faithful, I’d like to ask you some questions, and I’d like to hear your honest…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTo White People Tired of Being Called Racist, From Another White Guy,
Yesterday, a Trump supporter dropped a lengthy, rambling, profanity-laden diatribe into my comments section, lecturing me for implying that MAGA is inherently…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTrump's Meme About the Obamas is Vile and Racist, and No, It Won't Lose Him a Single Supporter
Donald Trump shared an unspeakably racist meme about President Obama and Michelle Obama on social media. With our nation stretched to its breaking point by a…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTo "Pro-Life" Christians, The Epstein Victims Were Sacred in the Womb, But Worthless Outside of It.
You hear it, don’t you? The conspicuous silence? The supposed pro-life Christians have gone awfully quiet lately. In fact, come to think of it, they’ve…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTo The Man Behind the Mask (An Open Letter to An ICE Agent)
Dear ICE Agent, This morning, I woke up abruptly after another night of disrupted sleep and replaying nightmares. My mind and body, though exhausted, could not…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastBad Bunny, Kid Rock, and MAGA's Super Bowl of Racism
Sometimes you don’t have to work to figure out where the racists are. Sometimes they out themselves. Back in the Fall, within nanoseconds of the NFL announcing…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastA Jesus Follower's Apology for MAGA Christians
I’m not with them. Hundreds of times every day, I feel compelled to break into strangers’ conversations on social media or in the checkout line or in my…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastConfessions of a Radical, Woke Leftist
Whew, this is a tough one to write, but I’ll try to get it out if you’ll bear with me. For the past couple of months, I’ve been doing some serious…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastNo MAGA Christians, America Isn't a Christian Nation, But You Wouldn't Want One Anyway.
I’m sorry to break it to you, MAGA Christians, but America isn’t a Christian nation. In fact, God doesn’t bless it, either. That’s not how this works. Now, I…