We continue our series on walking through deconstruction without losing our faith by deconstructing the “love” depicted in Shel Silverstein’s popular book The Giving Tree. Is this what the love of God revealed in Christ is like? Or does our definition of love need to be deconstructed?
Links from the podcast
- Sign up for a Gravity Leadership Cohort, there are still spots available in cohorts that will start this month.
- Join us for a Parenting in Grace and Truth Workshop April 24-25 in Albuquerque, NM.
- Join us for an Enneagram Transformation Workshop April 24-25 in Kalamazoo, MI.
Mentioned in this episode: here’s the barbecue joint we found in Lansing, Michigan called Gravity Smokehouse and BBQ (it was very sunny):
Verdict: Very good BBQ! Highly recommend!
Become a patron
Gravity Leadership is a community of leaders who are learning to lead like Jesus, live on mission, and make disciples in the post-Christendom world. If you’d like to connect more deeply and partner with us in our work, check out our Membership Community on Patreon.
You can partner with us for as little as $5 per month, and there are some pretty great perks involved if you support us at a higher level, including our patron-only Practitioner Podcast and monthly Learning Labs.
The Membership Community is a way for you to be more connected to others who share your values. It’s a way for you to be able to share what you’re learning and learn from others. It’s a way to be part of our work.
Learn to lead like Jesus
And if you’d like to dive in “all the way” with us, check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 10-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.
If you found this episode of the Gravity Leadership Podcast helpful, please let us know by leaving a rating and review on iTunes, or wherever you review podcasts. You can also contact us to ask a question or suggest a topic for a future episode.
Join our community
And fill out the form below to join the Gravity Leadership Community. You’ll get a curated list of interesting and edifying articles every week, plus FREE resources for leading like Jesus, living on mission, and making disciples.
Reid Telando says
March 13, 2020 at 10:12 AMMatt and Ben;
This isn’t a deeply important point intrinsic to the content that you were talking about on the giving tree podcast: but the whole time I was wondering; What if Silverstein intentionally wrote the giving tree as a critique in the way that Christians see love? As a Jew, perhaps she’s trying to teach Christians to read it and say; “this doesn’t feel quite right.” And instead; our Christian culture took the book and said, “yes! This is exactly what love is.” And Silverstein is sitting somewhere banging her head cause we missed the point.
Ben Sternke says
March 13, 2020 at 11:38 AMThat is an interesting idea! Perhaps.
Ben Sternke says
March 13, 2020 at 11:39 AM“His” though – Shel Silverstein is a man.