Season 29: Episode 2 | With God in Seasons of Grief and Loss
With longtime friends and ministry colleagues Glenn and Margo Balsis, Ruth introduces a spiritual conversation on grief and loss. Margo and Glenn recount their daughter Kristen’s cystic fibrosis diagnosis, 28-year life, and death, and their journey with God through grief. Glenn describes the pressure to “defend God,” and the loneliness of others trying to fix their pain. Together all three reflect on marriage, debunk divorce statistics after child loss, and share the formative role of contemplative practices and Transforming Community in their grief journey. They also delve into other unexpected experiences with grief throughout their lives and how they’ve met God there.
Over on Substack the three continue their conversation with Margo and Glenn sharing the practices that have been helpful and sustaining to them in their journeys with grief.
Season 29 is titled Becoming Human: With God in Our Bodies. Our goals this season are to confront the dualism between life in the body and life in the spirit, to hear stories of people who experienced their bodies as a place of encounter with God, and to explore the connection between the integration of life in our bodies and our spiritual lives with our leadership. We will be having deep, spiritual conversations with friends of the Transforming Center about their very human experiences in their bodies and how they’ve experienced God in and throughout these experiences. We will explore God in concrete bodily realities like gender, sexuality, race, ability, aging, illness, and death, to name a few.
You can also access podcast on Stitcher and Spotify.
Listen to other episodes from Season 29 Access past podcast seasons
Mentioned in this episode:
- How Can So Many Pastors and Leaders Be Godly and Dysfunctional at the Same Time? By Todd Wilson
- The Guest House by Rumi (poem)
- Pilgrimage Through Loss by Linda Lawrence Hunt
Music Credit:
- Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist
- Tender Moment from Music in Solitude
We’re on Substack! “On the Journey with the Transforming Center” is our home for “reflection, conversation, and connection with our transforming community.” It includes thoughtful reflections from Ruth Haley Barton and the Transforming Center team, as well as alumni and friends of the Transforming Center, occasional special video teachings and guided practices, and space to interact with our content and respond with how God is working in your life through the posts. This is also where you find all of our podcast patron content! There are free and paid tiers. We’d love for you to join us over on Substack.
Support the podcast! This season patrons will receive special bonus conversations with each of our guests. Become a paid member of Substack today to receive these practices and so much more!
The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders. Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!
*this post contains affiliate links
The purpose of the Beyond Words blog is to offer helpful and hopeful content that strengthens the souls of leaders and the congregations and communities they serve. All comments are monitored and the TC reserves the right to delete those that are not consistent with this goal and purpose. Access our comments policy.
Join thousands of pastors and spiritual leaders
Receive On the Journey with the Transforming Center —rooted in prayer, community, and transformation, the Transforming Center nurtures leaders who long for more of God. On the Journey offers space to pause, reflect, and be renewed — so we can live and lead in life-giving ways.