There’s an excellent joke that even an atheist can get: “Q: How do you make God laugh? A: Tell him your plans”. Mel Brooks made that exact idea the theme song of his movie “The Twelve Chairs” — “Hope For The Best, Expect The Worst”. Disruption is simply one of Life’s possibilities. Disruptions happen organically: the earth quakes, volcanoes blow, hurricanes howl. They happen because one tribe declares war on another. They happen because human beings are strange creatures who don’t always think things through before acting. On the other hand, imagine how dull Life would be if nothing ever disrupted it.
The pandemic started this podcast — a thing for which (perversely) Randy and I are grateful. The podcast platform both gave Randy and I a way to continue a conversation we’d been having over lunch for fifteen years but, also it gave us a way to share that conversation with the world. On paper, a Presbyterian Pastor and a born-atheist should have nothing to say to each other. As 44 podcasts in season one proved, that ain’t the case. Not only did Randy and I have plenty to talk about, we knew even as we were talking that we were, at best, scratching the surface of all we had to talk about.
That wasn’t the most surprising, most edifying realization. Our similarities — the ways we thought very much alike; we just used different vocabulary to describe those thoughts. The remarkable truth was (and remains): Randy and I are on a very similar spiritual path. The only real difference is how we describe our path and our journey on it.
Disruption doesn’t care what anyone believes. Just as the internet disrupted the music business and then film & TV (Alan’s business), it’s now come for Randy’s business: religion. The thing about disruption though — what it giveth, it also taketh away, but, what it taketh away? It can “giveth”, too — if you know how to make that work. In this podcast, Randy and Alan catch up after a podcasting hiatus.
Life’s been good but challenging. Alan’s been trying to get a TV series ready to take out and sell (a post-pandemic comedy called “Threshold” about a group of women who start a threshold choir to sing people out as they die (a very real thing!) while Randy’s been dealing with the prospect of disruption — and the opportunities disruption can present as he begins to transition from something recognizable – a preacher with a longstanding relationship with a religious institution (the Presbyterian Church) – to something entirely newfangled: a virtual spiritual guide. Yeah, disruption has come to the religion biz.
Let’s get talking!
Or, if you prefer to watch…