New year, new podcast. But same old us, sadly. Anyway, good to be back with you. This week we visit some old emails and talk about the 'right' way to grieve, how names for God are a bit like old streets, and why Jesus might be a dance teacher. Normal service has resumed, then.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Pluribus
• The Divine Dance - Richard Rohr
• Mar 25 Lady Day
• Perichoresis

In our final (probably) podcast for 2025, we each look back on the three things we've learned this year. Which doesn't, apparently, include (a) watching the Ashes and (b) not eating mince pies while recording. Happy Christmas everyone and a massive thank you to everyone who has supported the podcast this year.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Wake Up Dead Man
• A Christmas Carol - Wikipedia
• Gerald Dickens - Website

Joe is back from Mexico and Nick has recovered from man flu. We talk about who we really are as individuals, and how that affects our relationship with others. Also, we think about what it is that we really need to prepare for Christmas, and the difference between entertaining people and hospitality.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Palestine 36
• Winter solstice - Wikipedia
• When is the winter solstice in 2025?

Joe talks to Professor Ros Gleadow, Emerita Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University, Australia. They discuss the scale and impact of the climate crisis and, crucially, what we can do to make a difference.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Ros Gleadow - Wikipedia

We have an interview with Dave Tomlinson. Dave and Joe discuss some of the difficult questions people have about God and faith and talk about how we, as Christians, can be part of the repair of the world.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave Tomlinson - YouTube
• Charles Hartshorne - Wikipedia

Jesus gives us a crucial challenge: 'Who do you say that I am?' We discuss our answers to that question. Meanwhile, Joe launches MFC verify to examine some claims about Christmas and Nick talks about Bible translation and why there are unicorns in the King James Version.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• The VelociPastor - Wikipedia
• Wintering | Katherine May
• How to Winter | Kari Leibowitz
• Hygge
• Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus | Dave Ripper
• Beyond Justification: Liberating Paul’s gospel | Douglas A Campbell and John DuPue

This week, we spend a lot of time discussing the spiritual lessons to be learned from Traitors. Also, we talk about heavily paraphrased Bible verses and Joe has had a near-death experience in the toilet.

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• The Mid-faith Crisis Church Weekend Away 2026 - one place left!

Mentioned in this episode:

• Daniel Swift | The Dream Factory
• Patrick Grant | Less
• “Are We the Baddies?” — That Mitchell and Webb Look
• BBC One - Hamza's Hidden Wild Isles
• BBC One - The Celebrity Traitors

Joe is not very well this week. So here's just a little something to keep you going: an edited excerpt from an episode done many years ago on Nick's book The Badly Behaved Bible. As Nick says, it's not so much a 'greatest hit' as one of our least worst efforts. We talk about the inspiration of scripture and how many of our problems with the Bible are not with the book itself, so much as the things people say about it.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• The Badly Behaved Bible | Nick Page
• If you want to listen again to the series, it continues with Episode 79: Exile Stories