Pop Culture Pastors Hour: What’s Saving Our Lives Right Now

Thanks for joining us this afternoon!

Before we dive in, here’s the audio of Dr. King reading Letter from Birmingham Jail, as Ed referenced. And there’s a lot of videos of Willie Pearl Mackey King telling the story of putting together the letter from the scraps of paper Dr. King had available while in the jail, and her work for civil rights in general. Here’s one.

As for pop culture that was saving our lives (h/t to Barbara Brown Taylor for the question), we came up with quite an eclectic list of things that are keeping us going amid ~gesturing at everything~. Art is sustaining, illuminating, diverting, and more—and you see that full gamut reflected in our choices.

Viewer discretion advised on some of the items below.

MaryAnn’s list:

* Somebody Somewhere, HBOmax

* Hank Green’s comedy special “Pissing Out Cancer”, originally on DropoutTV, now free on YouTube

* “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine—the louder the better

* A Man on the Inside, Netflix

* Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

Ed’s list:

* The “Time” Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time

* Rooted: A Spiritual Memoir of Homecoming, Christy Berghoef (and here’s her Substack)

* The Soundtrack Show (podcast)

* Clair Obscur (video game)

* Sports! (Go Broncos)

What’s saving your life lately? Thanks to viewer Mark who shared the song “This Is My Country” by Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble.

Get full access to The Blue Room with MaryAnn McKibben Dana at maryannmckibbendana.substack.com/subscribe