On this fourth Sunday of Advent, we’re going to look to the hospitality given and received by the Holy Family just after Christ’s birth. And we’re going to examine what this story encourages us to do. I hope that this story sparks in you a desire to build communities marked by generosity—I expect you’ll find fulfillment greater than you could have imagined too.

Join us as Kendall Vanderslice sits down with author, speaker, and songwriter Amanda Held Opelt. We reflect on what it’s like to move through grief. How grief affects our whole personhood - spirit, mind, and body. And how food rituals can be a healing and transformative way to tend to our bodies, and experience healing in community.

Do you enjoy sharing meals with friends? Do you prioritize sitting at the table with others, or is it something that you fit in between all the other busy things? Eating together with others is a primary means by which God addresses our need for community.

What is it about our diet that connects us with others? Why do we find it easier to eat in a certain manner when we do it with friends? And why does our diet become such a significant part of our identity? Most importantly: is this helpful or harmful for us?

These are the questions we explore in this episode on diets, identity, and belonging—and how we can create a more holistic relationship to community and food.

Have you ever read the Bible as…a dietary manual? For some of you that might sound strange, for others…well, you might know exactly what I’m talking about. Christian dieting books abound that promise spiritual freedom, if only you eat according to strict guidelines laid out in various parts of scripture. In our fourth episode on Diet Culture, we’re going to look at the underlying assumptions behind most Biblical diet books…then consider a different theological approach.

Happy New Year! Are you bombarded by messages about how to make this year the best one yet? Are you struggling with the siren call of new dietary plans? Instead, let’s consider the rhythms of fasting and feasting built into the church calendar. They just might help us enter the new year in celebration rather than shame.

Thanksgiving is a complex holiday. Both its history and the role it plays in many families today. This week on Kitchen Meditations, we’re talking about Thanksgiving. We believe it is a day we can choose to confess our brokenness and work towards healing, together at the table. If you’re looking for a new way to approach the holidays this year, listen in.

For many of us, our relationship to place is a complicated one. It's sometimes a privilege to know the many places that have formed us. Other times, we'd like to forget them. But the yearning to understand how places have shaped who we are is a deeply human one. Join Kendall Vanderslice and guest Patrice Gopo, author of “All the Places We Call Home”, as we meditate together on how to lean into the yearning for home.

In this episode of Kitchen Meditations, Kendall is joined by Lore Ferguson Wilbert, the author of A Curious Faith. Together, Kendall and Lore discuss what makes them feel at home, the lingering feelings of homesickness, the role questions can play in our faith, and how to instill some rhythm into our everyday lives to feel more at home.

This week’s episode is a reading from the preface of Kendall Vanderslice’s book By Bread Alone: a baker’s reflections on hunger, longing, and the goodness of God. We hope you enjoy this small taste of what’s to come.

This Fall, we’ve been reflecting on our food stories and how they impact our sense of home. This week, Kendall shares some of her own food story, how it led her to create Edible Theology, and why gathering at the table in this season is more important than ever.

What comes to mind when you hear the word rest? In this episode of Kitchen Meditations, we’re going to spend some time reflecting on what might cause the complicated feelings around rest.

In this episode of Kitchen Meditations, we're talking about food allergies—why they seem so prevalent these days and the opportunity they give us for a new approach to hospitality.

You are what you eat. I imagine you’ve heard this phrase before. Maybe it’s helped you embrace the foods that connect you to family or to home. Or maybe it’s shamed you for enjoying something unhealthy. In our third episode on Diet Culture, we’ll dive into the way food shapes our identities, for better or for worse, and how we can use food to remind us of who we are.

How much time or mental energy does grocery shopping take up for you? Is it a cause of stress or a point of joy? In today’s episode, we’re talking about what it means for food to be good, and how this can help us approach our grocery shopping as a way to celebrate the gifts of God.

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “eating local”? This phrase, eating local, can mean a variety of things. In this episode, we’ll dig into the different forms “eating local” can take—and reflect on what value it might bring to our lives. 

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “authentic food”? Today, we’re going to talk about the concept of authenticity, especially as it relates to food.

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “clean eating”? Is it raw fruits and vegetables, whole grains and nuts and seeds, milk in a glass bottle and home fermented yogurt? What about…a squishy loaf of Wonderbread? In our second episode on Diet Culture, we’ll explore the history of clean eating, how this framework has shifted, and how we can find more helpful ways of relating to the foods we eat.