My remote, island community doesn’t have the best cellular
service, so I have yet to acquire a smart phone; the pay-as-you-go flip phone I
bought years ago for travel serves just fine for phone contact on the
road. But it doesn’t do all the
things its more high-tech cousins do, so when I bought my new laptop a few
years ago and those nice folks at Apple threw in an iPod Touch just for the
price of sales tax (about $25.00), the offer was too good to resist.
It didn’t take me long to begin to enjoy many of the features this device offers. It now serves as my calendar, address
book, and note pad. And I never
imagined how much I’d enjoy downloading and listening to podcasts; I now have
quite a library stored there including food programs, author interviews, news
analysis, short stories read out loud, and comedy.
One of my favorite podcasts
is offered through Northern Spirit
Radio (NSR). Since 2005, Mark Judkins Helpmeet, along with the support of
Eau Claire Friends Meeting, has
prepared Northern Spirit Radio’s programs to “promote world healing by broadcasting inspirational voices of peace and
social justice using the language of personal story, music, and spirituality.”
Though Mark is a Quaker, he talks with people from a wide range of faith
perspectives on his two shows, Spirit
in Action and Song
of the Soul. The program’s website gives a flavor for the topics Mark and
his guests tackle. Over the years I’ve had some great companions on walks as
I’ve listened on my iPod to people responding deeply and intimately to Mark’s
questions about the ways the Spirit is at work in their lives.
As is true for many people who are led to spiritual work,
Mark has a day job to help support his broadcasts. A recent fundraising letter from NSR nudged me to take out
my checkbook to help with those efforts.
It’s a small price to pay for some regular doses of inspiration.
Where do you find voices
of peace and social justice?
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