I don’t remember how I became acquainted with the work of Krista Tippet. For years I listened to her spiritually reflective interviews with various cutting edge thinkers in science, religion and literature. Her voice was a healing balm to me on long walks as I would plug in her podcast On Being. Then when our youngest child went to college he had to take a theology class and he began calling me and telling me how much he loved one of the class assignments. “What?” I asked? “This woman named Krista Tippet in her podcast On Being.” Suddenly I had a way to connect on a deeper level with my 19-year-old son. And I realized Krista’s spiritual reach stretched across various age, race, religious, social divides.

I feel a kinship with her. She’s from a small town in Oklahoma and I’m from a couple of hours due south in Texas. She first pursued a career in journalism and that is what I studied as an undergraduate. Unlike me though, she moved to Germany during the Cold War and covered events leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. She then became chief aide to the US Ambassador to West Germany. But then a spiritual shift compelled her to move back to the US and pursue a masters at Yale Divinity School. So we enjoyed many of the same professors who shaped the mind and chiseled the contours of the heart with academic rigor and faithful scholarship.

So when we began dreaming three years ago about who might be a headline speaker for our Centennial Celebration, her name rose to the top. Because of the pandemic her in person appearance was postponed to 2022. I’m grateful to Dr. Mike Graves who worked with Krista’s agent to keep rescheduling her visit to Kansas City and to a family in the church who underwrote her honorarium and travel. I trust you will be there the Wednesday after Easter to hear her and please, do bring a friend. Maybe a friend from another church or one who has already given up on church. Maybe a young friend who doesn’t know about a church like ours that is open and seeking ways to engage in real life from a spiritual perspective. The event is free and no ticket is needed.

Elsewhere you can read about podcast discussion groups we are hosting in the next couple of weeks to acquaint you with Krista. These are great ways to connect with folks you don’t yet know in our church.

Grace and Peace,
Carla

“Now is a powerful time in this country for young people and others to be asking the question, What are we for? Do we exist for some reason other than competing with China or finding the best possible technological advances?”
― Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living

“I believed—and still believe—that when all is said and done, none of us will be measured on how much we accomplish but on how well we love.”
―Krista Tippett, Speaking of Faith