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 PodcastAmerica Chose the Monster
We all make mistakes. Every one of us can recall times when our judgment was temporarily clouded; when our emotions betrayed us in a moment of weakness or fear…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Cost of Knowing: How Staying Informed is Killing Our Mental Health
Growing up, I was taught that knowledge was power. I used to agree. Now, I'm beginning to believe differently. Now, I think it's a pain in the ass. Right now…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWelcoming Immigrants and Fighting the American Dream Hoarders
America was always supposed to be the place people could nurture dreams that found welcome nowhere else; the adoptive home for those from every square inch of…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Case For (Possibly) Going Back to Church
A couple of months ago I was invited by a Florida church to host several conversations on faith, politics, and the threat of Christian Nationalism, held over…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastMAGA's Wicked America: Standing With Elphaba, Defying Gravity, and Resisting The Wizard
The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy. - The Wizard, Wicked They’re eating the cats, they’re eating the dogs. - Donald…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastSharing the Holidays With A Mental Illness
'Tis the season to be struggling... There is no good time to have a mental illness. I mean, it's never convenient to carry that invisible heaviness around with…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThings I'm Struggling to Believe After the Election
Not only do the times change, the times change us. Every day we are gradually altered by the world; by what we see or experience, by the people we cross paths…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWe're Not Going Back—Or, Are We?
We’re not going back! We’re not going back! Those words, defiantly but joyfully shouted by tens of thousands at a North Carolina rally back in October still…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastChristians Need to Get Out of People's Bedrooms and Bathrooms.
Surveying my news feed lately, I can't help but think that most people doing the same thing would be hard-pressed not to come away with the conclusion that all…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastDonald Trump Didn't Win the Election. Fear Did.
I finally figured out why this is all so frustrating. Now I know why we’re all so exhausted, why many of us can’t sleep at night. In the aftermath of the…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastAcknowledging The Empty Holiday Chairs
For many people, the holidays are a time for recognizing our profound fullness: of purposefully dwelling on the abundant overflow we find ourselves in and…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastDon't Avoid Your Anger, Honor It
Many people will tell you that you shouldn’t be as angry as you are lately. I am not one of those people. I actually want you to honor your anger. Many really…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Wasteful Conservative Persecution of the Transgender Community
Fear is a versatile tool in the hands of those willing to wield it. It can make otherwise sensible people irrational.It can separate them from reason and…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Christian Right Was Right About America's Moral Collapse—With One Exception.
I have a confession to make: I was dead wrong about the Christian Right. I have to hand it to them, they knew what the heck they were talking about all this…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastIt's OK to Skip the Holiday Gatherings This Year
It’s beginning to look a lot like this sucks... OK, so, the holidays picked a really terrible time to show up this year: a few short weeks after a…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastChristian, If You're Celebrating Deportations, You Shouldn't Be Celebrating Christmas
Christian, Maybe you can help me here. I'm trying to reconcile two things I’ve seen. On one hand, I’ve seen your house: carefully strewn with glowing lights…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWhat to Do When You Don't Know What to Do
Being a part of History ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s rare in life that we can say we are in truly unprecedented times—but here we are. This is a pivot…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastNo, the Democratic Party Can't "Message Better" to Racism, Misogyny, and Ignorance
In the wake of the election results, one of the most common media postmortems has been the Democratic Party’s supposed failure to reach those Americans who…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastYes, World, it's That Bad Here in America. (Actually, it's Worse.)
A friend from Australia texted me last week. He’d been watching the election news and said he wanted to check on me. We’re heartbroken to see what’s going on…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastMAGA Christians are Mocking God
"God will not be mocked." Growing up a Christian, I heard that phrase more times than I can count, often punctuating the finger-wagging sermons of sweaty…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastResistance is Exhausting (Self-Care in the Chaos)
Resistance is not futile, but it is exhausting. In the middle of the night following the election, as the sick reality was starting to set in, I began to get…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastHatred Hasn't Won
"Hatred won." Many times a day I now find myself thinking this; maybe just as some internal primal scream therapy, an emotional pressure-release to fend off a…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTrump Voters, You Owe Our Children an Apology
If you voted for Donald Trump again, you owe my children an apology. You owe them an apology for making them spend these critical years with a hateful…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWe Were Wrong About America
The results of the presidential election have force-fed many of us the most bitter of pills: we were wrong about America. The fact that the results weren’t…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastMAGAS Lost the Election, Too. They Just Don't Know it Yet.
There is joy in MAGAville right now. They’re arrogantly reveling in a euphoric moment they’ve been lustfully coveting for the past four years: their mobster…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastYes, You Can End Relationships Over Politics
“You shouldn’t let politics get in the way of your relationships.” You’ve been hearing that for the past few months and seeing the sentiment pop up on social…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastA Message to Exhausted Young Activists and Voters: Don't Stop Now
I imagine you're exhausted right now. It's easy to wake up in the morning in a week like this (if you’ve slept at all the night before), and to feel as though…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWhat The Hell Just Happened, America?
This is probably a really bad idea. Writing while grieving deeply is like drunk-tweeting: it’s likely not going to come out well or effectively convey anything…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastI Have Seen America: An Election Day Meditation
We're finally here.After all the work and worry and predicting and waiting we've reached this day, one that will change many so things around us. I'm pretty…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Most Important Tuesday of Your Life
We’re all worried about this Tuesday, friends. It is the place our minds and hearts are solely fixed on. Right now our energies are understandably marshaled…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastNot Electing Kamala Harris Will Harm, Not Help The People of Gaza
This is an urgent moment. In the days before the most consequential election of our lifetimes, a disturbing fiction has taken hold in many progressive voters’…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWe are the Enemy Within
Donald Trump is absolutely right about us: we are the enemy within. We are the enemy within homes and family holiday gatherings, filled with people we once…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Cult of Trump and The Death of Decency
I thought we had an agreement here. Rational human beings are supposed to have a bottom: a base level of decency that defines us, a place we will not go…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastRed Hats, White Hoods, Swastikas, Yard Signs
Bigotry has always done its greatest damage in the shadows, below the surface, and beneath a disguise. It actually helps you when it shows itself: when it…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastIf God is Love, Why Are Conservative Christians So Hateful?
As a longtime Christian and former pastor, one of the most common questions I’m asked is one I often ask myself: “Why are Conservative Christians so hateful?”…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastGood People Won't Be Voting for Donald Trump
Everyone believes they're essentially a good human being. We all tell ourselves a story, and in that story our cause is always just, our motives are always…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWe All Deserve Better, America. It's Time We Elect, Better.
I love this country. I don't love it blindly, though. I don't love it unconditionally. I don't love it unreservedly. I love it with my eyes fully open. I see…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThis is Why I'm Voting
This election, I’m voting. I’m voting for my wife,for my children, for my family,for my friends,for my neighbors.I’m voting for other people’s spouses and…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Living, Active Faith of Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t sell Bibles with her name on them—because she’s actually read the Bible. She doesn’t put on religion like a strange…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWhite Evangelicals Must Lose in November
I’m not sure Americans really understand what this nation will look like in a few short months if Donald Trump wins this election. I do. I've spent most of the…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThere is Nothing Pro-Life About Voting for Donald Trump
“I support him because I’m pro-life.” We’ve all heard these words in one form or another, so many times over the past decade from family members, church…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Leading Liars
Fact-checking website Politifact has determined that beginning with his 2016 presidential campaign and up until this week, Donald Trump has spoken lies, either…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastMAGA Can Have Their Hate Cult. They Can't Have America.
It’s a cult. It’s as simple as that. For a decade now, we’ve all tried to analyze it, to explain it, to make some kind of sense of it. We’ve parsed out every…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWhen Christians Finally Get Tired of Being Terrible
I came across a social media post this morning from a former church friend. He was (as usual) carrying on about the LGBTQ community, arguing with folks while…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastAmericans, What is America Worth to You?
What is America worth to you? What would you sacrifice in order to stop the suffering you're seeing every day on the news and on your timeline and in your…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastHelp Me, MAGA Parents—I Think My Kids are Woke!
Dear MAGA Parents,I’m reaching out to you in desperation as I have the sneaking suspicion that my teenage children are… I can barely even bring myself to say…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastDonald Trump's Dangerous Helene Lies are the Truth in the Heads of His Supporters. That's the Tragic Reality.
Yesterday, Donald Trump shamelessly, brazenly stood behind a makeshift podium fashioned of bricks from a Hurricane-ravaged furniture store in Georgia—and lied…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastIf All Immigrants Coming Here Were White
I can’t help but believe that if all the immigrants coming into America were white, things would be very different here right now. We'd never have heard…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastYou're Really Not Sick of Politics—You're Sick of Hatred
“I’m just so sick of politics.” I hear or read these sentiments hundreds of times each day, more and more frequently as we approach the election. I imagine…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastMen, the Election is a Test of Our Goodness—and We Can't Fail it
(Warning: strong language, NSFW) Men of America, we need to have some real talk about something. America is approaching one of the most important and…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastA Message To MAGA Americans From the Rest of Us
Dear MAGA Americans, we really don't think you've been listening for the past nine years. If you'd been listening you'd understand us.If you'd been listening…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe One Reason So Many People Can't Quit Trump
How can anyone still support this guy?If I had a dime for every time I thought, said, or heard this question, I’d be delivering this message from my expansive…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastChristian, You Don't Owe The Republican Party a Thing.
To the Christians reading or listening to this, I hope you’ll take a few minutes and hear me out because this matters to me, because you matter to me. I’ve…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastThe Exhaustion of Pretend Patriotism and Phony Faith
Life is exhausting these days for many of us and I think I've figured out why. I think it's the pretending we’re witnessing. You see, it's bad enough watching…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastBe Encouraged. You're Better Than You Think.
Yesterday a stranger left a very sweet comment on a piece I'd written, saying, "I wish I was half as good a person as you seem to be." My reply to her was, "I…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastJ.D. Vance, Haitian Immigrants, and Christians Who Refuse to Love Their Neighbor
We all live within two stories: the story we tell ourselves about who we are, and the story our actions tell. As the sickening and intentional myths of Haitian…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz Podcast5 Reasons Trump's "Eating Dogs" Tirade Isn't Funny
In the wake of the Presidential Debate, in which Republican nominee Donald Trump launched into an unprompted, rambling tirade about people in Springfield, Ohio…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastTrump Supporters, Don't Blame the Debate Moderators For His Implosion
Desperate Trump Supporters, This is silly. Stop complaining about the debate moderators or ABC. Donald Trump’s debate disaster isn’t their fault. Did they fill…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastDear Undecided Voters,
Dear Undecided Voters, We have some questions that we’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now, not knowing how to reach you. Hopefully, this can find its…
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz PodcastWhere Have the Kind Humans Gone?
Something's wrong here. I can feel it in my bones. That not right-ness wakes me up at night.It shortens my breath and twists my stomach into knots.It furrows…