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Mortality on the forehead. Stories in the bones. That’s the current we ride as we swap ash-streaked reflections, step behind the scenes of a first Ash Wednesday service, and welcome Dr. Sorina Higgins—editor, teacher, and scholar of the Inklings—into a wide-open conversation about imagination, power, and the words we use on each other.

We start with the tactile: making ashes from last year’s palms, the awkward tenderness of tracing a cross on a child, and the pastoral decision to preach less and shepherd more. From there, Sorins reframes C. S. Lewis’s “space trilogy” as the Ransom Cycle, where adventure asks real questions: What would an unfallen world look like? What’s the role of science and marriage in a dystopia? How do we name “the heavens” without reducing them to empty space? Along the way we meet Tolkien, Barfield, and Charles Williams, and we learn how their fellowship made room for difference while insisting on beauty, goodness, and truth.

Imagination isn’t child's play; it’s a tool of resistance. Sorina maps the ancient debate over images in prayer, showing how sanctified imagination can serve truth. She also draws a bright line between symbolic “magic” in fantasy—think Aslan’s breath as a sign of the Spirit—and real occult practice. Then we turn to today’s landscape: the strange overlap between spirituality and politics, the speed at which online disagreement becomes dehumanization, and what her podcast, Words Do Things, has taught her about persuasion, pluralism, and patience. The hardest charge lands at the pulpit: Pastor's Are the Problem. We sketch another way—cross-shaped leadership that welcomes those we fear, forms people who can bear difference, and trusts beauty to do its quiet work.

We close with a sonnet and an invitation to keep learning. If this conversation stirred you—if you want a church where ash, story, and courage belong together—follow, share, and leave a review. What story is shaping your faith right now?

Links:

ICE detention camp in Dilley, Texas

Caduceus

If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.

For more information, you can follow us at
https://www.theologyinpieces.com/
Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces

Email us by emailing hello@theologyinpieces.com

Malcolm Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoley
Slim Thompson on twitter @wacoslim

For more information on the church,
check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.

Send us a Question!

**As you may be able to tell...Malcolm's mic wasn't on for today's episode. You'll still hear him through Slim's mic, but its noticeably worse.

All Apologies** Now, for the Episode...

When the Empire Demands Your Gaze, Fix Your Eyes on Christ. We start with the killing of Minnesota nurse Alex Pretti by ICE agents and the rush to label, excuse, and move on. From media spin to the refusal to apologize even after video surfaces, we trace how propaganda thrives on the rightness of your side and how that rightness corrodes the social order and our humanity. Then we pivot to a harder task: learning to resist the outrage economy without going numb. Attention is formation. If we stare at empire all day, it will shape us.

That tension carries into our deep dive on discipleship and effort. Michael Horton argues: Disciplines don't Save. Christ Does. First we ask... who is making this argument? He assigns the blame at the feet of John Mark Comer, but we wonder if this is just his own allergic reaction to any striving on the Christian's' part.

With Lent on the horizon, we make a practical case for a season that trains love: prayer that reshapes attention, fasting that clears space for a greater good, and almsgiving that breaks greed’s grip. Ash Wednesday’s “remember you are dust” is not punishment; it’s clarity. When mortality is set against resurrection, repentance becomes hopeful, not heavy. Along the way we share listener mail on art and hypocrisy, talk through pastoral judgment on addressing current events, and laugh about our own cringey “stop trying so hard” era.

Let us know what you think!

Video or no-video?

JD VANCE - no apologies

Garret Bearanger - eyes back on Christ

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/01/disciplines-dont-save-christ-does/

Larry Norman - Fallen Angel

If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.

For more information, you can follow us at
https://www.theologyinpieces.com/
Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces

Email us by emailing hello@theologyinpieces.com

Malcolm Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoley
Slim Thompson on twitter @wacoslim

For more information on the church,
check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.

Send us a Question!

A tour is on the calendar, a new book is brewing, and our inbox lit the fuse: what happens to your faith when you step off social media and start searching for unspun news about Gaza, empire, and the stories we’re told? We open the year by taking a hard look at propaganda, grief, and how easy it is to let a nation define “we” for the church.

Then we head to the movies, where a whodunit surprised us. Wake Up Dead Man puts two versions of Christianity on display: a combative, us-versus-them posture that bleeds people, and a pastoral presence that stops the action to pray, receives confession, and announces forgiveness.

*** SPOLIERS IN THIS EPISODE***

We push back on TGC's review of the movie contrasted with their review of the animated movie: David, which stays close to the text yet leans triumphalist and one-noted, raising a bigger question: do we want art to be good, or branded as “ours”?

Here’s our take: art is not a sermon. Common grace means truth can surface where you don’t expect it, and excellence matters more than labels. If the New Testament church could live under empire and still sing, confess, and forgive, then we can learn to watch and create stories that widen our empathy and sharpen our hope without compromising conviction.

Articles/Links mentioned:

Two Corrupted Christianities

TGC's David Review

Jake Randolph's Knives Out: Wake Up Deadman Review

Terrible Tweets:

"Today is the most humiliating day in the history of the United States of America. At least until tomorrow."

Trump's Unhinged Letter to Denmark

If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.

For more information, you can follow us at
https://www.theologyinpieces.com/
Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces

Email us by emailing hello@theologyinpieces.com

Malcolm Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoley
Slim Thompson on twitter @wacoslim

For more information on the church,
check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.