Sacred Counsel

Your straight-talking queer bestie and favorite (ex) pastor are here with all the honest, compassionate, and refreshingly explicit advice you didn’t know you needed. Meg Holiday and Brian Recker each deconstructed their faith in their own ways, and went from having all the right answers to wrestling with all the big questions. Join these two pastor's kids as they spill the tea and dish out wisdom on love, God, religion, sex, relationships, and all other sacred things. Send listener letters to [email protected] . . Follow the pod on instagram @sacredcounsel, subscribe, and review to support our growth!

Season 2 Episode 6: Interview With Sally Osborne 06/19/2024

Season 2 Episode 6: Interview With Sally Osborne Brian and Meg are joined by Sally Osborne, a former Mormon who left the church and came out as a lesibian. She now works to help people come out into their truest selves. We discuss her journey out of high control religion, and how we can support people in all kinds of coming out journeys. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/31581107

Season 2 Episode 5: Why Pride Matters 06/12/2024

Season 2 Episode 5: Why Pride Matters In this episode, Brian and Meg acknowledge and celebrate Meg’s first Pride since coming out, and reflect on what Pride means, and how we have each evolved in our relationship with Pride celebrations. We also discuss Trump’s indictment, the wasteland of the US political environment, and the dehumanization that allows a continuing genocide in Gaza. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/31649037

Season 2 Episode 4: Why Queer Churches Can't Be Mega Churches With Rev. Brandan Robertson 06/05/2024

Season 2 Episode 4: Why Queer Churches Can't Be Mega Churches With Rev. Brandan Robertson Brian and Meg are joined by Brandan Robertson, a queer pastor, to discuss his upcoming book on 'queering' the Bible! Brandan tells us his favorite queer Bible stories, and answers questions like; should queer people care about the Bible at all? /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/31542062

Season 2 Episode 3: Trans Rights & Psychics/Mediums 05/29/2024

Season 2 Episode 3: Trans Rights & Psychics/Mediums Brian and Meg dive into a listener letter about psychics and mediums, and have some fun discussion and disagreement about skepticism and spirituality. They also discuss trans rights, and why it's so important to let parents and doctors make decisions for children, rather than religious organizations enforcing their agendas. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/31443172

Season 2 Episode 2: What Christians Can Learn From Atheism & A Listener Letter About A Gay Wedding 05/08/2024

Season 2 Episode 2: What Christians Can Learn From Atheism & A Listener Letter About A Gay Wedding Episode 2 of season 2 is a continuation of the first episode where Meg and Brian catch up and discuss what Meg believes Christians can learn from atheism. Brian and Meg also respond to a listener letter about a woman who's in a gay relationship and getting married (love!) who's struggling with family members not wanting to attend the wedding. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/31010603

Season 2 Episode 1: Catching Up & How Hell Is Ruining Christianity 05/08/2024

Season 2 Episode 1: Catching Up & How Hell Is Ruining Christianity Brian and Meg return to the podcast after a 3-month hiatus to catch up and talk about their opinions on hell and how Meg has been getting so much ate on IG now that she's posting deconstruction videos. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/31175782

Episode 12: What Makes You Bloom? With Kevin Garcia 01/03/2024

Episode 12: What Makes You Bloom? With Kevin Garcia Brian and Meg interview Kevin Garcia, a mystic theologian, queer spiritual coach, and all-around amazing human being, and discuss picking your battles when going home for the holidays, and learning how to celebrate your whole self. We also answer a listener letter from a “validation addict” who wants to stop having to justify his sexuality to his family and himself. We also discuss Kevin’s amazing new book, “What makes you bloom,” coming out this January! This episode is filled with amazing nuggets of spiritual wisdom. Enjoy! /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/29241563

Episode 11: Christmas Grab Bag! 12/27/2023

Episode 11: Christmas Grab Bag! In this special episode, Brian and Meg tackle 3 very different listener letters, packing in all sorts of juicy counsel, covering: 1. how to deal with conservative family members at Christmas-time, 2. how divorce impacts kids and some of our best advice on co-parenting, and 3. How to work through harmful religious programing, replacing old thoughts with new thoughts. Don’t forget to send listener letters to ! /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/29232373

Episode 10: SOS – My Boyfriend Has a Feminine Side in Bed and I Don’t Know How I Feel About It! 12/20/2023

Episode 10: SOS – My Boyfriend Has a Feminine Side in Bed and I Don’t Know How I Feel About It! Brian and Meg discuss Meg’s horrible Thanksgiving, and answer a listener letter about someone navigating big news about their partner’s sexuality, and trying to figure out how to feel about it or what she should do. We discuss how evangelicals can falsely blame any non-heterosexual sexuality on trauma, and how kink and sexual exploration can be healthy. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/29128058

Episode 9: Eve Was Framed 12/06/2023

Episode 9: Eve Was Framed Trigger warning- this episode mentions a rape. We interview Eve from @eve_wasframed about her background in Bethel and her journey out of evangelicalism into atheism. We talk about stereotypes of atheists, evangelical shame around virginity and divorce, and other various highly relatable traumas of American evangelicalism. Find Eve on instagram at @eve_wasframed /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28947258

Episode 8: Meg's Coming Out Journey 11/29/2023

Episode 8: Meg's Coming Out Journey /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28834683

Episode 7: I Will Never Betray Myself Again 11/22/2023

Episode 7: I Will Never Betray Myself Again Jo Luehmann takes us to church in this episode!! She preaches about why she refuses to abandon herself, how each of us are called to be liberators, why she ultimately left Christianity, the possibilities for beauty inside of the idea of “church,” her advice to those who remain Chrisitan, and creating safety for people to listen to their intuition. Jo Luehmann is a Colombian born and raised (former) pastor with a masters degree in ministry and theology. Jo speaks and teaches about decolonizing church, theology, spirituality and faith, as well as the importance of dismantling white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism both individually and collectively /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28722773

Episode 6: Am I Making A Mockery of Marriage? 11/15/2023

Episode 6: Am I Making A Mockery of Marriage? Brian and meg answer a listener letter, and discuss open marriages, jealousy, putting off divorce for the sake of the kids, “God’s eternal plan for marriage,” and navigating the crushing shame that can come from getting divorced. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28504586

Episode 5: Getting Naked With Naked Pastor 11/08/2023

Episode 5: Getting Naked With Naked Pastor Dave Hayward, aka Naked Pastor, speaks with us about vulnerability in sex and spirituality, gives us wisdom on stepping out of sexual shame, and shares his most basic form of connection to the divine. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28500674

Episode 4: Should I Burn It All Down? 11/01/2023

Episode 4: Should I Burn It All Down? On this episode, Meg and Brian answer a listener letter from someone wrestling with everything they would lose from stepping into their more authentic self. They discuss the way that we can fixate on what we *might* lose, and miss what we are *already losing* by living in a state of dishonesty and failing to bring our whole selves into our relationships, and give some practical advice for having honest, difficult conversations! /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28476278

Episode 3: The Difference Between Acceptance And Affirmation With Mike Maeshiro 10/25/2023

Episode 3: The Difference Between Acceptance And Affirmation With Mike Maeshiro This week Brian and Meg talk to Mike Maeshiro about his coming-out journey, his mission to affirm those who are not feeling validated for who they are, how deeply he desires to witness God coming out of the closet, and we get his take on the mega-church pastor Andy Stanley’s half-hearted gesture towards LGBT acceptance. We also answer a listener letter from someone dealing with judgmental family members and discuss why Brian loved the Sears catalogue as a kid. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28397243

Episode 2: Trusting Yourself & The Power Of The Word Beloved 10/18/2023

Episode 2: Trusting Yourself & The Power Of The Word Beloved On episode two of the pod, Brian & Meg, answer a letter about how to trust ourselves when we're deconstructing and leaving a high control religion. They also share why they love the word "beloved" and offer a few of their current favorite recommendations including Brian's current guilty pleasure. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28351106

Episode 1: Being A Married Virgin, Talking To Kids About Sex, And The Nonexistence Of Hell 10/12/2023

Episode 1: Being A Married Virgin, Talking To Kids About Sex, And The Nonexistence Of Hell In episode one of the pod, Brian and Meg get to know each other (they just met online 3 weeks ago!) by sharing about their deconstruction journeys, christian sex, how dumb hell is, explaining boners to kids, and tattoos. We're off to a great start and good news: we had fun so we're doing it again. /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28162775

Sacred Counsel Podcast Trailer 10/01/2023

Sacred Counsel Podcast Trailer Meg Holiday and Brian Recker, two pastor's kids with different paths to their religious deconstruction met a few weeks ago on IG and decided to start a podcast. They feel like they used to have all of the answers and now they just ask all the questions. Here weekly to discuss everything from religion to sex, Meg and Brian and your queer best friend and your favorite pastor. Ask us anything. Email: . . . Follow the podcast on Instagram @sacredcounsel, subscribe, and review to support our growth! /episode/index/show/38b35fcc-793e-45e7-9519-4af62282d76d/id/28162616

Sacred Counsel

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