Holy Shenanigans LIVE Connections at the Wild Goose Festival

In this special episode of Holy Shenanigans, recorded at the Wild Goose Festival 2024, host Tara Lamont Eastman delves into connection, community, and the divine dance of the Holy Spirit. Joined by guests Frances Cutshaw, Joy Celeste Crawford, Deborah Roof and Rebecca Daugherty Kaye, the episode features heartfelt stories and an interactive discussion with the audience about the sacred moments, or "holy shenanigans" that connect and transform us. Thanks to Charlie Bretan for recording this episode and for all his coordination to make the Goosecast a reality.

Transcript

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Tara: [00:00:00] Hi there friends of holy shenanigans podcast This is Tara Lamont Eastman coming to you live from Union Grove, North Carolina At the wild goose festival and I'm here sitting with a few friends and we're gonna be having some conversations today around connections around the Holy Spirit and Just this divine dance that we are called to live into in the everyday So for our audience who is here today, the scope of our conversation, I'll be telling a holy shenanigans story of my own.

Tara: I'm going to be giving some background of where holy shenanigans came from, and then I'm going to invite Francis and a few other friends to tell some of their own holy shenanigans stories. And then audience, it will be your turn. This is an interactive experience and the mics are here so that you can share [00:01:00] your own holy shenanigans stories.

Tara: So thank you so much for being with me here today. So my name is Tara Lamont Eastman. I am a pastor, I am a podcaster, and I am a practitioner of holy shenanigans. I'm going to center our time together today. By sharing a quote from the Celtic daily prayer when we started we were strangers We hardly knew each other's names now we are brothers and sisters and we will never be the same as We were built brick by brick.

Tara: We discovered the cornerstone For a wilderness has been transformed into a holy And so my picture today, as I sit [00:02:00] here at the campsites and the main area of the wild goose, it is a wilderness that has been transformed into a space of community and connections. And my Holy Shenanigans story comes actually from last night at the Wild Goose after the first day.

Tara: There were so many opportunities to make connections, to meet old friends, but there was something, even though this is the third year that I've had the privilege of coming to the Wild Goose, I have never had the opportunity to go to the silent disco. And so I'm going to the silent disco and it's if you've never done a silent disco, I'll try to replicate it or explain it as best as possible.

Tara: But folks come up, you're under a tent that has all sorts of beautiful lights. You are given a set of headphones. And on these headphones, you have three different tracks that you can listen to. And they're not stayed [00:03:00] tracks. They're actually live DJs. That are interacting with you and changing up the mix and it was the most beautiful thing because what looked on the outside like this solitary experience was actually this beautiful innovative experience of connection.

Tara: Everybody had choices, everybody had their own boundaries, but there was space to connect and, one of the folks that you know, I ended up dancing with, you know how when you go to a wedding reception and then eventually you make this circle where everybody is dancing together and you've just kind of let things go and you're experiencing that joy of that space?

Tara: And that was my experience last night. in the silent disco. And for me, it was an example of a holy shenanigan. A space where on the outside, it didn't necessarily look like there was [00:04:00] connection or community. It was a beautiful space of joy and connection and community.

Tara: So, as you think about this story of this dance, it also connects to a theological idea that's really important for me. And it's this fancy word called perichoresis, which is this dance of the divine with themselves and with humanity. There's this beautiful painting by Picasso called The Dance. That is this very abstract piece and you can't quite tell where one, one form ends and begins.

Tara: But that's a really important ideology for me as a person and as a pastor that I feel like every day we have the opportunities to engage with divine and to be loved and to love others. And so [00:05:00] as we are here at the wild goose. This is an opportunity for connections that have just begun or to return back to those connections that have already been established.

Tara: And I'm just thankful for everybody who's here and coming to have a place in this conversation. And I just encourage you to consider what holy shenanigans that the sacred and the divine are up to for you today and to sit with that. I want to give you a little bit of background because folks often ask me, where did this holy shenanigans idea come from?

Tara: So right in 2020, two weeks before the pandemic began, I was moved to a new pastoral call two weeks before the world shut down. So I [00:06:00] was 250 miles away from anybody that I knew. I was in a little basement apartment, and I had to navigate a way to connect with all this, all the new people where I was pastoring and also to feel a sense of connection for myself.

Tara: And I had written all of these little stories about holy shenanigans, and I was talking to my spouse, and I'm like, Oh, you know, it would be great to be a book, it would be great to be this, it would be great to be that. It I said, but it doesn't seem like the right time for that. It seems like the right time for people who are hurting and scared and looking for connection to share this in an audible way, to share this in a narrative format.

Tara: And so we figured out the tech and step by step started producing a weekly podcast [00:07:00] loosely connected to the lectionary. Grounded by an opening blessing and a closing blessing and usually some poetry and a personal story. Then we stepped into the arena of having guests on the podcast. But originally we would have people record five minutes.

Tara: Speeches and we would insert them into the technology and, and to make it a whole thanks to Ian, my editing spouse. But that was the beginning of Holy Shenanigans and now we are over 180 episodes in three years. It's been a labor of love, this mom and pop practice, but it is very much, I think, for myself and for Ian a spiritual practice that we engage in and walk together.

Tara: Even though vocationally I've had a few changes in my vocation, this has been the constant space [00:08:00] for me to share God's hope and peace and, and, and love in the world. And so that is the background, that is an example of a holy shenanigans story from me. But one thing that I love about having a podcast is getting to meet wonderful people and to hear their stories.

Tara: And today I have with me first, Frances Cutshaw. And Frances has been on the podcast twice. And if you go to our latest episode, Frances and Joy we Did a little bit of a reunion episode right before the wild goose festival. And so Francis, I'm just so happy that you're here today. I'm happy to be 

Frances Cutshaw: here.

Frances Cutshaw: This is great. This is one of those, one of those moments of spontaneity that I'm leaning into. I love it. 

Tara: So Francis and I met originally online through the order [00:09:00] of Hildegard and I'll let you speak more about that because you are. the abyss of all things Hildegard. But we had this shared interest in Hildegard.

Tara: We were online in the middle of a pandemic. And so here we are today. And, and so I thought, what a wonderful way to express to you and to exemplify the power of connection, like almost four years, right, Francis? Yes. Yes. So what, what is this this idea of connection? And I'm going to improvise a little bit and ask a few different questions, but like, why is connection important for you?

Tara: Actually, 

Frances Cutshaw: that's, that's like the core of my personality. That's the core of who I am is connection. I feel like that's, that's woven into my personality. So I'm driven by connection. My motivation is connection and yeah, I could go on and [00:10:00] on, but it's not just connection to the world around me in terms of trees and birds, but that's a huge part of it, but it's people and it's organizing and creating connectors.

Frances Cutshaw: So, yeah. 

Tara: And that's something that you're doing all the time in your work with the order of Hildegard, correct? Yes. So why don't you tell the audience a little bit more about the Order of Hildegard if they 

Frances Cutshaw: don't know anything about it. Very similar to you, Tara, as you already know, the Order of Hildegard was born out of pandemic leadings.

Frances Cutshaw: And so I, in that same exact timeframe, when you said that, I thought, wow, there's things we haven't even shared because. When I left my prior job, I gave my notice for March 1st, which was two weeks before everything happened. Right? So March 1st, I was done at my previous job because I had been told that I needed to, and I say told, I had been led spiritually that I just needed to make a huge shift and lean into my prayerful, spiritual, more, more spiritual.

Frances Cutshaw: open to what might [00:11:00] come side of myself. And I didn't know what was needed, but I knew something different was needed of me. After a couple months of the pandemic and dreaming a little bit more, I was able to kind of integrate some of my past experiences as a, as a ex pastor. As a social worker, as a non profit leader, and as someone who had been traumatized and I don't, that word can be used, and people have almost lost connection to the meaning of it because it's so common, deeply affected by harm in the churches that I had served as a pastor and as a layperson, as a, just a, just a, what, congregant.

Frances Cutshaw: So I was able to take all of those experiences and start to weave with the help of some others and imagining. of an organization that could be present to people who had experienced the same things, but also call out their leadership and develop that, because leadership development was part of my past.

Frances Cutshaw: So, the Order of Hildegard was born, [00:12:00] and now we're operating in the world as a leadership development organization. Interfaith organization. We train chaplains and we train them for interfaith community service. 

Tara: Thank you. Thank you for that explanation. So, I've given you a minute to think about a holy shenanigan story, Frances.

Tara: And I wonder if you are ready to 

Frances Cutshaw: share one. I, I am. I really, I'm going to stick with the Order of Hildegard. I feel like my life is holy shenanigans. So I'm going to stick with something shareable. And that is just that, I'm just going to stick with that for now. One of the great things about having an organization, and, and Tara knows this from what was just shared, that is meeting virtually for the most part, Is that when we finally meet each other in person, it's almost like disembodying.

Frances Cutshaw: It's so exciting and crazy. And so I would say that my most recent holy shenanigans moment is just jumping [00:13:00] for joy seeing people who I have only known on online, but we know each other well, because this it's working and and just feeling the same. sense of Wow, this is really real. And there's a chaos to it because it's like you're out of your body for a minute, then you're back in and and you know, this is this is what you've been hoping for.

Frances Cutshaw: And, and it's just like a double sense of embodiment. It's a little scary. It's a little exciting. Like the I'm this. These are real relationships. I'm accountable to these people. And they're accountable to me, you know, So yeah, there's a lot of laughter and a lot of, a lot of enjoyable, chaotic embodiment going on in my world right now.

Tara: As you shared that story, I remember the first Wild Goose, where I was like, Order of Hildegard. Oh my goodness, that's Francis, right? And you know, walked up and we had this, this first time meeting already feeling like there was a sense of knowing. Yes. And I, I think in. My sense [00:14:00] spiritually thinking about this idea of connection.

Tara: We get so used to connection being in one plane. We got better at it during the pandemic out of necessity to lean into those various means of making connections. And then there was this snapback to returning to what was. And I'm not saying that face to face connection isn't essential and important.

Tara: It is. I treasure the space with you and with everybody who's here today, but in my work as a pastor, I find oftentimes those online spaces give so much more opportunity. There are so many less obstacles apart from, you know, internet access and justice around that. But if you have internet access, if you have a little camera on your laptop or your [00:15:00] phone, you have a means of connecting with the whole world.

Tara: And that is an amazing gift. And it can be something that can be overwhelming and chaotic, but it does call us to that space of connection that I think is so, so needed in the world today. Do you have any other thoughts on connection? And I'm going to invite Joy as you think about that to come up to the next microphone.

Frances Cutshaw: I think just in, in terms of the in person part, there is this It is another experience, and I think what I'll be looking for going forward in this work is balancing how we connect in virtual spaces. With you know, our integrity and our values. That's it's really a big a big part of what interests me right now How do I represent myself in virtual spaces?

Frances Cutshaw: Yeah versus how I do in person. So that's the learning. That's the learning I don't know the answer right? [00:16:00] 

Tara: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. That's a great question So next we have with us on Joy Crawford everybody give her a little applause

Tara: And so Joy Crawford and I met at the Wild Goose three years ago Was it three years ago? Joy? Wow. Wow. 

Joy Celeste Crawford: Wow. 

Tara: What is time? Right? But we, I invited joy after taking in a wonderful table conversation at the wild goose about being connected to nature to have a conversation about three and a half questions.

Tara: about love, which was the theme of the first year and a half or so of the conversational portion of the podcast. And there are amazing things that I learned about you in that interview. There were points of connection that I had no idea that we had had shared health issues, similar, not quite exact, but.

Tara: Journeys that we had no [00:17:00] idea that were the same. And to be in that space and to hear your story was so encouraging. And I'm so grateful for that, that time and that opportunity. But I wonder, Joy, if you could say something more about why connection is important for you. 

Joy Celeste Crawford: Hmm. I'm a spiritual director and a lot of people don't know exactly what a spiritual director is, or a spiritual guide, spiritual director is a little bit of a misnomer.

Joy Celeste Crawford: Because we don't direct anything. But a spiritual guide is somebody who accompanies either a person or maybe a small group of people in very deep listening for the presence of the Holy and the sacred in their lives. And that over time, it's a relationship that develops over time and so after and a lot of the people that I have been doing spiritual guidance with, I have been doing this for 10 years, you know, it, it is an, an established relationship so [00:18:00] very by its very nature.

Joy Celeste Crawford: It's, it's all about connection and it's a, it's a, it's a heart to heart connection with another person. And then that leads to hopefully a deeper, more embodied sense of connection to the sacred, the holy, to God, to however it is that we think about that. So it's my life's work and it's something that touches me deeply.

Joy Celeste Crawford: It's my, it's my, my deep gladness. to do that. 

Tara: Thank you. There is a saying that where you're called to be in the world is where your deep joy meets the world's deep need. And it sounds like, Joy, you have discovered that space. I 

Joy Celeste Crawford: have. I have. And it's such a blessing, a gift for me to do that. 

Tara: Do you happen to have a holy shenanigan story that you can share with our audience today?

Tara: And as you think about that for a moment I'm looking around the tent. Thank you. And if there is somebody else that has [00:19:00] a holy shenanigans story that they are longing to share, just pop your hand up and, and we'll share a microphone. 

Joy Celeste Crawford: That would be cool. So, and I have shifted just a little bit because I, I feel like I don't want my back to you.

Joy Celeste Crawford: I want to see you all. so my holy shenanigans story I've been a spiritual director for, oh, a dozen years or so. And about six years ago, I learned just because this is the way God works. Something caught my eye that had to do with a study that was being done at Johns Hopkins university on psychedelics and, and spirituality.

Joy Celeste Crawford: And what I learned was that there were people, Who actually sat with people who are having psychedelic experiences and guided them through them or just sat with them to, to just to have to sit in presence. And I went, that's it. I felt so called to that. It was like the next step of what [00:20:00] I felt called to, to be and do in this world when it comes to, to providing spiritual guidance for people.

Joy Celeste Crawford: it took a long time. It took a long time of just leaning into that finding places here and there, you know, online. And then I finally got connected to an organization called Legare and Legare's tent is right over there. So I am here this year with Legare. I have become connected to them.

Joy Celeste Crawford: I now do spiritual guidance. In psychedelic spaces. So we call it psychedelic informed spiritual guidance and talk about holy shenanigans. I mean, it's just, there's so much to it. It's so big. It's so, Beautiful. And it's such a God thing. Only God could have connected me in this way to my, the deepest call of my heart.

Joy Celeste Crawford: Yeah. So yeah. 

Tara: It is. So a tagline that is more than a tagline for [00:21:00] the podcast is that holy shenanigans are always sacred and never stuffy. I'll say that again. Always sacred and never, ever, ever stuffy. Because. Sometimes spiritual life can be sequestered to very, very isolated spaces, right? Or spaces that are very restrictive and I think that perichoresis, that dance of the trinity, is something that is unlike that altogether.

Tara: Yeah. So true. Yeah. And so I think that you're an example of a holy shenanigan. 

Joy Celeste Crawford: Anything but stuffy. Anything but stuffy, anything but stuffy. He's way down out there. That's 

Tara: great. Thank 

Joy Celeste Crawford: you, thank 

Tara: you Joy. And you can stay right there. I'm going to look around and see if there's anybody else. Come on up Debra.

Tara: So this is very much a reunion conversation. So Debra Roof, Reverend, Reverend Docker. Debra [00:22:00] Roof. Thank you very much. 

Deborah Roof: R2D2. 

Tara: Reverend Dr. Debra Roof. So Debra and I met last year. The first year, three years ago, at Wild Goose and a tent not so far from this space, and we were in a, a writing conference, and we sat down next to each other and just struck up, you struck up a conversation.

Tara: Conversations, 

Deborah Roof: absolutely. 

Tara: Yeah. 

Deborah Roof: So what you call holy shenanigans, I've often called God winks, and going to that talk that we went to about. Writing and when does one stop being a writer and become an author? well, there's a book involved and Holy shenanigans the Holy Spirit just kind of like threw these doors open one right after another Now a year later.

Deborah Roof: I'm selling my book in the bookstore here today, and it's like wait a minute what? What, 

Tara: what, what? So Deborah, before you go into more story, please tell them the name of your book so they can find it in the tent. [00:23:00] So the name of 

Deborah Roof: my book is Words, Wonder, and the Divine in You. You were talking about our connectedness and the div, we're connected because the divine inhabits each and every one of us.

Deborah Roof: And when we, Realize it, wake up and see, that's when we call it out as shenanigans. God is like laughing because, oh, they got it. They got it. And so it just keeps happening. These shenanigans happen all the time. I am not an athlete. And I think there's something about practice. Athletes practice. Yeah. I think spiritual beings, we need to think about practicing more and more and practice, meaning we spend time in relationship with the divine.

Tara: Yeah. 

Deborah Roof: And we listen to amazing podcasters like this one right here. [00:24:00] Yeah, come on. Come on. Shout out from the grow Yes, because her connections then I saw you too a couple years ago but we we we do this and then something comes and We are again amazed. How did that happen? Well, we need not be amazed We need just go.

Deborah Roof: Oh, yeah And then look for it. 

Tara: Definitely. Definitely. I'm so glad that you mentioned the importance of practice. Yeah. I don't know any, any yoga practitioners out there, right? So if you, the first time you did tree pose, right? You think, Oh, this is so simple. Ground your foot, put the other foot on, not your knee, but below or above, right?

Tara: All of those things. It takes a lot of practice to practice tree pose and staying vertical, right? And there are some [00:25:00] days that you can stand and be grounded. And then there are other days that you're just have a difficult time, but that is the human experience, isn't it? And I think that that translates to spiritual practices.

Tara: As well. Yes. Is that some days we feel very grounded and some days we do not. But the practice is that safe space for us to dance with the divine. 

Deborah Roof: Absolutely. Dance and laugh. Laugh a lot. Laugh a whole lot. And be amazed. Yes. Look for wonder. 

Tara: Definitely. So I would love it, Deborah, if you could tell us a story of, you say, Godwinks.

Deborah Roof: Oh, yeah. There's so many. And when you were talking to Joy, I was just thinking, okay, so which one? And a real quick one, because I could sit here for three hours and talk to y'all about all my Godwinks is that this Tara, [00:26:00] met my other Tara and we're from New Hampshire and they didn't know each other, but they met and she comes home and says, Oh, I met this amazing woman named Tara.

Deborah Roof: Okay. So those connections, that's a God wink in a silly, wonderful relationship kind of Another God wink is this amazing thing about me I'm going to sign. My book. I'm sitting at the table with Jim Wallace. Hello. Okay, so now you know who Debra Rufus, my wife knows who Debra Rufus, nobody else knows who Debra Rufus.

Deborah Roof: I know who Debra Rufus, excuse me. Thank you, thank you. But Jim Wallace and the God Wink? 

Tara: Yeah. 

Deborah Roof: 23 years ago I was on the hospitality committee at a local college that had Jim Wallace come in and I had dinner with him and he was telling me about his crazy wife. Who I love and I've been listening to since we've [00:27:00] been here.

Deborah Roof: And how we can't seem to disagree and she won't admit that she's wrong. And which is the story that they continue to tell and laugh about and love one another about. That they, they still Found that divinity within. 

Tara: Yeah, so 

Deborah Roof: God winks They just sometimes a couple of months apart sometime 20 years apart.

Deborah Roof: Wonderful. 

Tara: Wonderful. Thank you. I'm gonna ask It if so number one Give you a little bit more time if you are still thinking about sharing your own holy shenanigans story But you can still stay put joy. It's okay. I'm not 

Joy Celeste Crawford: going 

Tara: and Francis you can come bond back up here But I'm wondering, in this moment, do we have a microphone for questions?

Tara: We can use this one. Okay, so if you have a question about Holy Shenanigans about this idea of the Trinity in dance with us, why don't you come on up and ask a [00:28:00] question? We'd love to hear from you.

Tara: Come on up. Any questions? Do not be shy. 

Frances Cutshaw: Can I share something else? 

Frances Cutshaw: I just wanted to add, and I wish I'd done this earlier, so I'm going to take advantage of this moment to say that we have a cohort starting with the Order of Hildegard in August, and we're very interested in your interest in what we do.

Frances Cutshaw: So our tent is right next to Joy's, Legare, Order of Hildegard, right next to it. So where can they find you online, 

Tara: Frances? OrderofHildegarde. 

Frances Cutshaw: org.

Tara: Thank you so much. Okay, I so please say your name if you are comfortable. 

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: My name's Rebecca. 

Tara: Hi Rebecca. 

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: Hey Tara. It's great to see you again. So good to see you too.

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: So 

Tara: this is like, how many degrees of separation from Brian Alain's writing workshop. Zero , right? Zero. Yeah. So we met, we met last summer 

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: Yeah. At the writing workshop. At the pre-conference at the Goose. Correct? Correct. And as a result of it, I met Joy on my way out and got connected to [00:29:00] Francis in the order of Hildegard.

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: And just quick plug, the chaplain cohort that's coming up, starting in August two. Enthusiastic thumbs up. I am in. The second cohort and as a result of meeting Tara here last year and unfortunately Deborah not quite haven't quite transitioned from being a writer to being an author as a result of our experience.

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: It's okay. I'm there with you. The goose workshop. But I did have a question. That's why I'm sitting here. Yes. Yeah. What's your question? I am. So a word that I would use and that like. I am a Unitarian Universalist. I am like, sort of very open to a whole lot of different experiences of the divine. And I am really struggling with how, with, like, what feels, like, the word that I would use for holy shenanigans and godwinks is magic.

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: Right? Like, I really believe that we are the magic. Yeah. And I am struggling with talking to skeptics [00:30:00] and I would love to hear about how you, how you approach that conversation. What are your entry points and and how do you, how do you handle that? 

Tara: It's a very apt question because I had a a skeptical conversation just recently.

Tara: And oftentimes when I have those questions, I feel like it comes from a place of folks may think that being separating intellectual from spiritual it shifts into this very esoteric kind of space where we have to out theolog, theologian, I can't even say it. Theologicalize.

Tara: That's not a word, but you know what I'm saying to go to such an intellectual space that you cut away the heart. And if you think about in ancient texts, the idea of heart was this central holistic in the heart of Hildegard Veradidas, [00:31:00] right? This greening space, this bringing everything together, right?

Tara: Which is magical. Yeah. Right? But I think my role in this is, is to share the stories and folks that might be struggling or be skeptical about this, you know, holy shenanigan theology that's their road. Right. Yeah. My, my call is to share the stories and to share other people's stories of, of how the sacred and the divine is at work in their lives.

Tara: Right. And in my own. And also to give people space to tell their own stories. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll have a conversation. I will. I'm not afraid to do that. But I think it's It's also a space of this is a spiritual practice for me and so folks need to respect that as well. Yeah. 

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: Oh, I love that.

Rebecca Daugherty Kaye: Curating other's stories as a spiritual practice. 

Joy Celeste Crawford: Yeah. [00:32:00] Can I add a little something? Yes. Yeah. So I have found that most skeptics don't want to hear anything that I, I have to say, but if they're given the space, they will tell me their story. Yeah. And there are so few places. that people have in this world to really open up and tell their stories from their hearts.

Joy Celeste Crawford: There's nothing transforms people more than that. So it's kind of that the difference between being a lighthouse and a tugboat, right? A tugboat goes out, tells you know, grabs hold of the ship. Come on, I'm going to take right. A lighthouse just stands there and just shines the light points out a few the little distractions are here, they're the hazards that are out there.

Joy Celeste Crawford: And then just wait. , but, it takes time, right, to establish that kind of really trusting relationship. So that's, yeah, my, thank you. It's like tree posts. [00:33:00] It is like tree pose. You have to learn how to do it and then find that grounded stillness that can receive what somebody else is bringing. 

Frances Cutshaw: Yeah.

Frances Cutshaw: Yeah. Go ahead. If the person is actually seeking my thoughts on magic and what magic is in the world, I might tell my story about how, you know, when we're a child, fireflies are magic, right? And they are absolutely magical. Birds are magical. And they fly. They sing. It's unbelievable. But there's something about our tendency to discover, which is amazing.

Frances Cutshaw: Science is incredible and create and describe that seems to give us permission to then wipe away the original experience and which one feels better. Science is amazing. We need it. It's also a process. It's an ongoing discovery, but that initial experience of, of magic. Of [00:34:00] being connected to something that you can't understand that impacts you in a particular way and you know, it's real that Firefly was real and continues to be magical.

Frances Cutshaw: I don't know. I just encourage people to hold on to that and think of those stories where we can't explain away the original experience. So, 

Tara: thank you. I was reminded while you were speaking about fireflies of another insect that has been captivating my imagination, the honeybee , of late, especially the queen bee.

Tara: And can I give you another story of a holy shenanigan? So one of the things that I've been looking into and learning a lot more about. is how to meet people in spaces of isolation and desperation. That's also part of this work of the podcast. But an important connection for me has been this May I became [00:35:00] a workshop guest.

Tara: Presenter for soul shop. And if you haven't checked out soul shop, I invite you to check out soul shop and it is a workshop for churches or faith organizations That addresses desperation and suicide in going into church systems or parachurch systems or community systems and having honest conversations around the grief of loss to folks through suicide or folks who have lived experience.

Tara: And, and this came into my life like. Six years ago I was invited by my local chapter of AFSP, American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide, to go to one of these workshops, which I met Michelle Snyder, who's the co founder of Soul Shop. And at that very first workshop six years ago, she invited me to become a trainer.

Tara: And I was like, I don't have [00:36:00] time. I was in my first call. Life was very chaotic. Where was I going to find the funding? All of these questions. And so it's, it's been something that has I've put up on the shelf for almost six years. I hosted another soul shop in my church where I was during the pandemic.

Tara: I went to another training called assist, which is a crisis intervention training out in White Plain. And every single time Michelle would say to me, when are you going to become a trainer? I'd be like, I don't know. Everything's chaotic. But through some holy shenanigans and some, some generosity of Michelle and the program.

Tara: This May, I went to Little Rock, Arkansas, and I finally, finally became a certified trainer for Soul Shop. It was such a wonderful experience to meet other folks that were becoming trainers, that were courageously going into spaces that, you [00:37:00] know, I was just astounded to meet people where they were.

Tara: And to love them and to nurture them. This is the funny honeybee story. So when there's a cohort of soul shop, you have to name your cohort. And we had, you know, the big butcher paper on the wall and everybody was writing down things, trying to figure out what our name was going to be. And we couldn't figure it out.

Tara: Nothing seemed quite right. And on the afternoon where I had a break, I found this wonderful love spell tattoo shop in Little Rock, Arkansas. And my obsession with the honeybee doubled in that the Insect for Arkansas is the honey bee. And so I got this cute little queen bee. It is very cute. This is a visual medium.

Tara: Yes. It's this cute little queen bee on the inside of my arm, which is very plain painful spot. And I'm somebody who has a lot of tattoos. [00:38:00] But it was representative for me for that journey to become a trainer with soul shop. It's this tender spot, right? But I felt it was really important. And another thing that's cool about bees is that, you know, bumblebees aren't supposed to be able to fly aerodynamically, but they do.

Tara: So there's that. And Joy could say more about that because she's a beekeeper. But this all culminated in I arrived at the cohort dinner and I walk in the door and I go, look guys, this is what I got. And they're like, oh my goodness, where are the honey bees? Not joking. Laughing. And so that is the story of, you know, connection calls us to be courageous, to take risks, to go to places that you never thought you would go.

Tara: And so I hope with the work of this podcast, [00:39:00] that it encourages those who listen to be courageous to make connections. I had no idea in 2020 that all of these connections would be made that be sitting here, you know, three years later, four years later, under the same tent at the Wild Goose Festival.

Tara: But I am grateful to all of you for being here today and sharing this conversation. I'm going to go back to this quote from the Celtic daily prayer. And I ask you to just receive it as a meditation. When we started, we were strangers. We hardly knew each other's names. Now we are siblings, brothers, sisters.

Tara: And we will never be the same. Thank you [00:40:00] for being here for Holy Shenanigans podcast live at the Wild Goose. I'm Tara Lamont Eastman, pastor, podcaster, and practitioner of holy shenanigans. Thank you, Francis. for being here. Thank you. Thank you, Joy, for being here. Thank you. Thank you, Rebecca, for being brave with your questions.

Tara: Thank you to Charles and the audio. Thank you. give him a round of applause. He is here in the tent, but thank you for joining me for an unforgettable spiritual venture that is always sacred and what never stops me until next time. May you be well, may you be at peace and may you know that you are always connected and blessed.

Tara: Amen. Beloved. Peace.