Ep 99: Christmas Traditions with April McClure Stewart

 

Reverend April McClure Stewart join PostConsumer Reports for the 99th episode, which also happens to be our annual Christmas episode! It's the last show of the year and the last show before we put together something special for the 100th episode. April is a Disciples of Christ pastor and has served in various leadership positions over the years. But what really makes her qualified for this particular topic is all of the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany traditions she celebrates with her family each year. This interview features a number of ideas people should consider implementing into their own annual traditions. You can find out more about her church here.

You can find my book Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas here or most anywhere you purchase books. Thanks again to Magic Word for the lovely Amazon review. 

Ep 97: Christmas With Emily Hunter McGowin

 

It's time for another Christmas episode! Dr. Emily Hunter McGowin is here to discuss her new book Christmas: The Season of Life and Light. The conversation ranges from the joys and challenges surrounding the holiday, to reclaiming old traditions even while developing new ones, to a lightning round of Emily's Christmas favorites. Emily is associate professor of theology at Wheaton College and canon theologian for the Anglican Diocese Church For the Sake of Others (C4SO).

Christmas: The Season of Life and Light can be purchased here. An alternate version of this interview, with additional material, was released on the Tent Talks podcast.  She was one of the guests in Chris's previous series for the Tent Talks Podcast "Women in Church Leadership," which can be listened to here. You can find out more about her, including her other publications at her website.

If you are interested in reading Chris's book on the 12 days of Christmas you can find it here or here. Chris's Christmas music can be found here. Last year's Christmas episode on sad Christmas songs (from Tent Talks) can be found here.

BONUS Episode: The REAL War on Christmas

It's the REAL war on Christmas! It's THE real war on Christmas! It's the real WAR on Christmas! It's the real war on CHRISTMAS! You get what I'm saying? This is a talk I gave for the the Tent Talks podcast Patreon subscribers, but I'm offering it you here for free as a way of enticing you to go and listen to Tent Talks. There's a lot of great conversations on that podcast. For instance, coming up in 2022 our first episode is with a former U.S. presidential candidate. I wonder who it will be? To be sure, their name certainly doesn't rhyme with Schmillary Macklinton!  If you're interested in part one of this talk about resting and debauchery at Christmastime, please see the Tent Talks podcast.

Also, I've released a new Christmas song for the end of 2021. It's my electronic version of "What Child Is This?" Go have yourself an Xmas dance party! You can find my older Christmas album here. Also, here is last year's Christmas episode! (You're welcome!)

Oh hey, did you know I wrote a book about Christmas! It's all about the Christmas Culture Wars! And by the end of it, I've certainly won them. All of them. I am the victor. Here are all the places displaying the spoils of my victory:

Amazon
Christian Book Distributors
Wipf and Stock
Barnes and Noble
Google Play
Faithlife
Cokesbury
Lagron Miller (Roman Catholic book, gift, and vestment store in Peoria, Illinois)
Thrift Books

Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, 
Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.

You can stream the new song directly here:

Ep 82: Christmas in July & a New Podcast

Episode 82 of the podcast features a talk I gave at Living Waters Church in Peoria, Illinois in 2019 about my book Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas. I spoke about how Pentecostals have their own version of Advent, about the quirky saints days after Christmas day, and about some of the challenges in attempting to celebrate Christmas as an extended holiday rather than one day.

This episode also features an excerpt from Tent Theology, a new podcast that I am helping to produce and am a cohost on. Please give it a listen. The aim of what we are doing is to help renew the social and political imagination of Christians by following in the way of Jesus. Political theologian Dr. Stephen Backhouse is the main host, and he was a guest on the podcast a few years ago, where we discussed his biography of Soren Kierkegaard. Backhouse also has a ministry named Tent Theology which aims to help the Church engage with and learn theology from within their own congregation.
Here are all the places where you can purchase my book: 
Amazon
Christian Book Distributors
Wipf and Stock
Barnes and Noble
Google Play
Faithlife
Cokesbury
Lagron Miller (Roman Catholic book, gift, and vestment store in Peoria, Illinois)
Thrift Books

Other related podcast episodes on Christmas:
Ep 79: Blair E. Clark and the Artwork for the 12 Days of Christmas
Ep 79: Dr. Michael Ward on C.S. Lewis, Paganism, and Christmas
Ep 71: Happy Pagan Christmas!
Ep 72: The 12 Days of Christmas, New Years, and Epiphany

The 12 Days of Christmas Book Media Blitz!

Artwork by Blair E. Clark

Note: this article was created as a presentation for the 2020 Business of Art conference put on by Arts Partners of Central Illinois and held at Bradley University. 
This is the first article in a series based on my experience of getting my own book, Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, written and released, from proposal to publication. The other articles are:
How to Write a Book Proposal (as best I know how)
How to Market a Book (as best I know how)
___________________________________

What a whirlwind....

It's been quite the few months for me as I launched my first book, Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas out into the world. 

Ep 72: The 12 Days of Christmas, New Years, and Epiphany

Artwork courtesy of Blair Clark. This is not the final cover
to the book, but she is starting to work on it...

It reads like a bad joke, but this episode features interviews with 2 Anglican bishops and an Eastern Orthodox priest. Bishop Alberto Morales, Bishop Keith Ackerman, and Fr. Andrew Kishler all gave me time to talk about an assorted amount of Christmas traditions, both secular and ecclesiastical. We discuss Puerto Rican Christmas traditions, how to do New Years and the Feast of the Holy Name as a church, and what Epiphany/Theophany looks like for Eastern Orthodox Christians. And please consider supporting the Kickstarter campaign I have going on right now for my forthcoming book on Christmas: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrismarchand/book-celebrating-the-12-days-of-christmas



Subscribe to the podcast on itunes 
Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.

Also, in the past few weeks, the book and the Kickstarter have been featured on a few other podcasts and blog, which you can check out here:
Anglican Audio Faith and Honor Podcast
The Come to the Table Podcast Global Christian Worship Blog 
The Rabbit Room Facebook Page:
Related Podcast Episodes:
Ep 62: Brian Roberts of Ha Ha Tonka

Ep 52: Fernando Ortega's The Crucifixion of Jesus

Ep 50: Stu G on the Beatitudes Project

Ep 59: Jeremy Casella's New Album and Kickstarter Campaign

Ep 56: Andrew Osenga

Ep 53: The Mosleys—Husband and Wife Duo
Ep 67: Singer-songwriter John Van Deusen
Ep 62: Stephen Backhouse on the Life of Kierkegaard
Ep 63: Artist Jaci Musec

Ep 46: Artist Quinton Thomas
Ep 13: Artist Jessica Ball—Owner of the Art Garage
Ep 22: Artist Blair Jeffers

Ep 71: Happy Pagan Christmas! (and support Chris's book)

Episode 71 features an interview with Gabi and Petr Michlik about the Christmas traditions they knew growing up in the Czech Republic, traditions with a surprisingly, terrifyingly Pagan bent...where Santa is more of a demon than a jolly old elf. But there's so much more.... Have you ever heard about the Christmas tradition where a carp lives in your bathtub for a week before the 25th of December? Me either.

This conversation is being released to help promote the Kickstarter campaign Chris is putting on to help fund the completion of his new book on the history and traditions of the 12 Days of Christmas. You can find out more info and support the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrismarchand/book-celebrating-the-12-days-of-christmas




Subscribe to the podcast on itunes 
Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.

Related Podcast Episodes:
Ep 62: Brian Roberts of Ha Ha Tonka

Ep 52: Fernando Ortega's The Crucifixion of Jesus

Ep 50: Stu G on the Beatitudes Project

Ep 59: Jeremy Casella's New Album and Kickstarter Campaign

Ep 56: Andrew Osenga

Ep 53: The Mosleys—Husband and Wife Duo
Ep 67: Singer-songwriter John Van Deusen
Ep 62: Stephen Backhouse on the Life of Kierkegaard
Ep 63: Artist Jaci Musec

Ep 46: Artist Quinton Thomas
Ep 13: Artist Jessica Ball—Owner of the Art Garage
Ep 22: Artist Blair Jeffers

Ep 58: What Are Christians To Do With Halloween? A conversation with pastor and author Kevin Wright

Kevin Wright is the pastor of First Covenant Church in Peoria Illinois and is also author of The Danse trilogy, a series of horror/mystery novels. If you are thinking that is a strange combination you'd be right, but it is also makes Kevin the perfect conversation partner surrounding the issue of what Christians are supposed to do with the holiday of Halloween. Get ready for a complex and "nuanced" (to use a word that came up a few times) discussion on All Hallow's Eve, All Saints Day, Harvest Festival, and Samhain.

You can purchase Wright's books or find out more info at: 
www.KevinWrightBooks.com
www.facebook.com/kevin.wright.author
http://www.firstcovenant.net/




 You can stream the episode above, subscribe to the podcast on itunes or Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.

Also, a couple of articles on Halloween were referenced in the interview, which you can find here:
Concerning Halloween
What Are the Origins of all Saints Day and Are They Pagan?

Related Podcast Episodes and Articles:

PCR Podcast Ep33: Michelle Van Loon—Author of Moments & Days

Michelle Van Loon is an author who recently released Moments & Days: How Our Holy Celebrations Shape Our Faith through Navpress Publishers (click on the link for a free excerpt). A regular contributor for Christianity Today and the Her.meneutics blog, you can find more of her writings on her website: http://michellevanloon.com/ or at her blog: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip/. Our interview focuses mainly on the new book, what Christians can learn from the Jewish feast (along with all my many questions about them!), and how we modern people can slow down and follow a different order of time.

Subscribe to the podcast on itunes 
Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, Tunein, and PocketCasts.