In this episode of the Voices in My Head podcast, host Rick Lee James opens with a sponsor message for Podbean, then introduces himself as a recording artist, songwriter, author, worship leader, and ordained Nazarene minister. He shares several announcements: his participation in the National Worship Leader Conference in Nashville (May 7‑9, 2018) at Trevecca University, a UTR Media showcase, and plans to record additional podcasts with various Christian musicians and producers. He discusses a personal perk from his recent album crowdfunding campaign—a well‑marked copy of Thomas Merton’s Life and Holiness—and reads a passage from Merton’s chapter “The New Law,” which emphasizes Christian perfection as a personal summons, the interior law of love, and moving from fear‑based obedience to spontaneous love. James adds brief commentary, noting the inclusive intent of Merton’s language, and reflects on how operating out of love aligns with Wesleyan holiness. He confesses his own shortcomings, asks listeners for prayers, mentions the unfinished funding goal for his new album, and requests support. The episode concludes with promotional plugs for his website, social media, booking agency, a request for iTunes reviews, and a benediction.
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Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer, song I'm a songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is your source for discussions on music, literature, movies, pop culture, theology, and more. Now sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode of the Voices in My Head podcast. And don't forget to let the voices in your head be heard by following me on Twitter @RickLeeJames and sharing your thoughts about today's show.
Welcome back to Voices in My Head. I am so glad that you are here again today. Still trying to get over a little bit of a cold, but I'm doing much better. I can't even remember if on the last podcast you knew I had a cold or not, because the episode about Mr. Rogers that we had with Tim Madigan, my voice was kind of messed up anyway for some reason because of the electronics involved. But hopefully this one's going to turn out okay. Couple quick announcements just at the very beginning, and then we're going to have a few moments with Thomas Merton from his book Life and Holiness today, something that I found very helpful, and I think you might too. And, uh, what I— especially because, um, of the tradition that I'm in as part of the Church of the Nazarene, and holiness is so much of the heartbeat of what we believe and, and what we teach and preach about. And, and so Thomas Merton's book, uh, Life and Holiness, is just a, a really beautiful book, and. It has some, I think, very helpful things for us on the journey. So I wanted to share a little bit of that today. This next week though, the announcements pertain to that. I'm going to be in Nashville, Tennessee, May 7th through 9th. That's Monday through Wednesday. The National Worship Leader Conference is going on. I'm so excited that I get to play even just a small amount and be a part of what's going on. I want to thank my friends at UTR Media, Dave Trout, for inviting me to be part of the UTR Media Showcase that's happening at Trevecca University where I graduated from. So I'm pretty excited about being there. But on Tuesday from Nashville time from 4 to 6:30 in a place on campus called The Hub— if you are a student there, you'll know where that is— there's going to be a UTR Media Showcase as a part of the National Worship Leader Conference., and I'll be playing there, and so will a bunch of people from Old Bear Records like Brothers McClurg, Ian Zumback, we've got Andrew Osenga, Crystal Wells, different guests that we've had on the show here in the past. A bunch of great artists are going to be there over that hour and a half, or couple hours that we have, whatever it is. Anyway, it's going to be a lot of fun, and so I hope that if you're in the area you'll be able to come in and join us and be a part of that. If you're going to the National Worship Leader Conference, you will seek us out. Also, the planner coming right now is on Monday night when Crowder and Brothers McClure play. I will be at Brothers McClure table to help them with some merchandise and things, but also just to say hi and, and kind of be a part of some things that are going on. Really excited about being a part of the Worship Leader Conference this year, and there are so many great artists. I mean, a lot of people that I really dig are going to be there this year, from Andrew Peterson to Phil Keggy, as I already mentioned Crowder. They're even bringing in, you know, going a little bit old school, bringing in Michael W. Smith, who has some pretty innovative stuff that he's doing right now. And I just can't even think of everybody. Like, if you name them and there's somebody that is known in the music business for being sort of a pioneer in music, both past and present, chances are they're going to be at this conference. And so I hope if you're going to be there that you'll seek me out and say hello. I'd love to make a connection with you there. It's going to be a great time of fellowship over those few days. And also while I'm in Nashville, I'll be recording hopefully a number of podcasts. I have several planned right now. Randall Goodgame from Slugs and Bugs, we're going to hopefully be getting together with him while I'm in town. Randy Cox and Phil Nash. Phil Nash is a multiple award-winning producer, and he's one that co-wrote the Rich Mullins song that I recorded on the new album. Randy Cox, of course, was Rich Mullins' publisher. And so we've got a few other podcasts. Nikki Lerner, I think, is going to be coming on one of the shows. So we'll just see what I can come up with podcast-wise wise. Those are ones that I've already scheduled, but hopefully we're going to get a lot more. But also get to hang out with my old friends Brandon and Gloria Hancock, who are going to be there. Many of my listeners are probably going to know them. So looking forward to a really good time this next week at Trevecca Nazarene University. If you're going to be in the area, please stop in and say hello. I would, I would really love to make a connection with you. And if you don't know how to get in touch with me, send me an email, rick@rickleejames.com, and that's probably the easiest way to get in touch or send me a tweet @RickLeeJames, whatever. That's fine. Well, today I just wanted this to be something that maybe would encourage you as much as it has encouraged me over the years. One thing that I did when running the crowdfunding campaign for this new album is one of the perks was at a certain level you could get one of my personal books, a book from my personal collection. And this is a a book that I'm considering giving out, and it's hard because it's so marked up and has so much use. I almost feel bad giving it to someone because there's so much in there that's been so helpful to me, but I hate giving somebody a book that's this marked up, but it just means it's well used, and I may have to just get another copy for myself. But there's a wonderful book by Thomas Merton called Life and Holiness. And as a part of the Church of the Nazarene, as I said before, called unto holiness is really our heartbeat. And this book is one of the finest books on holiness that I have ever read. So I want to just share a passage with you today. I am probably not even going to comment on it much. I just want to let it speak for itself and maybe just allow it to just sink into your heart a little bit today. And I think if we can just accomplish that, just to spend a few moments, whether you're taking a walk when you listen to this, or driving in your car, or wherever you may be, maybe it's most appropriate just to try to get a quiet moment and just listen to the words of one of our great spiritual writers, Thomas Merton. This is from his chapter titled "The New Law," and I'm just going to start reading a bit of it. The way of Christian perfection begins with a personal summons addressed to the individual Christian by Christ the Lord through the Holy Spirit. This summons is a call, a vocation. Every Christian in one way or another receives this vocation from Christ, the call to follow him. Sometimes we imagine that vocation is the prerogative of priests and of religious,. It is true that they receive a special call to perfection. They dedicate themselves to the quest for Christian perfection by use of certain definite means. Yet every Christian is called to follow Christ, to imitate Christ as perfectly as the circumstances of his life permit, and thereby to become a saint. Our reply to this call of Christ does not consist in saying many prayers making many novenas, lighting vigil lights before the statues of the saints, or in eating fish on Friday. It does not merely consist in attendance at Mass or the performance of certain acts of self-denial. All these things may be very good when seen in the full context of the Christian life. Taken out of this context, they may be devoid of religious significance, mere empty gestures. Our response to Christ means taking up our cross, and this in turn means shouldering our responsibility to seek and to do in all things the will of the Father. This was in fact the whole essence of Christ's own earthly life and of His death and resurrection. All was done in obedience to the Father. So too Christ says to every Christian, "The kingdom of heaven will not give entrance to every man who calls me, 'Master! Master!' only to the man who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Hence, our whole life should be centered on the will of the Father. This will is expressed clearly and obviously in the law given to us by God, summed up in the Ten Commandments, and epitomized most perfectly in the one great commandment to love God with all our hearts, and minds, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. But now that Christ has laid down his life and risen from the dead to take possession of us by his Spirit, the Spirit himself dwelling in us should be to us a law. This interior law, the new law which is purely a law of love, is summed up in the word sonship. Those who follow the leading of God's Spirit are all God's sons. The Spirit you have now received is not as of old, a spirit of slavery to govern you by fear; it is a Spirit of adoption, which makes us cry out, "Abba, Father!" The Holy Spirit does not abolish the old law, the exterior command; He makes that same law interior to ourselves, so that doing God's will becomes now no longer a work of fear, but a work of spontaneous love. So the short comment that I will make on that, as he talks about that last line about not doing God's will out of fear, but out of a work of spontaneous love, you know, perfect love is what Wesley called holiness. And we— I think Merton sums it up so well there. The only thing I would change is he's using only masculine terms, and this applies both to male and female, and actually everyone. And, you know, I don't know whether he was writing for the monks specifically in the community where he lived in when he wrote this, which could very well be the case. But I just wanted to say I don't think he was intentionally trying to not be inclusive of everyone. When he said that, but I love that last line. The Holy Spirit does not abolish the old law, the exterior command. He makes that same law interior to ourselves so that doing God's will becomes now no longer a work of fear, but a work of spontaneous love. I love that we can operate not out of fear, but out of love. When we operate out of fear, we always head down a bad path. It always takes us to a path that brings us not to wholeness, but it takes us to unhealthiness and unhealthy places, and it usually causes division and hurt. But when we operate out of love, perfect love as this says, this love that, that is embodied in holiness, not not just a touchy-feely love, but a true agape type of love that only the Holy Spirit can bring. When we allow that to guide us in our actions and in our lives, it takes us down the road to wholeness, and it takes us to a path of healing, not just for ourselves, but I think for others as well. May God help us to live out that perfect love. I know that I fail, and I know that I need the grace of God, and the help to repent as much as possible. I have sinned in thought, word, and deed. I have not loved God with my whole heart. I have not loved my neighbor as myself as much as I would like to think that I have. And I too am in need of that grace. So all of us listening today, all of us being a part of this podcast today, may God help us to operate not out of fear, but out of perfect love. That is about all I have today, my friends. It is a short podcast. We have got a lot more coming your way next week. I am busy getting ready to go on the road again, as I have been talking about. I would covet your prayers in the coming days as summer comes on. My traveling— I get a lot busier, and I am grateful for that. I am grateful for the work, but also with the new album coming out, a lot of choices need to be made. We did not make our funding goal, so I am trying to make wise and appropriate choices as far as how to use the money that I have and how to make more. So anyway, I just appreciate your prayers, and I will do my best to pray for you, the listener, as well. We ask that God will help us to lead out of love. All right, you guys take care. Thanks for letting me be the voice in your head this week. God bless.
Thank you for joining me here this week on the Voices in My Head podcast. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com, follow me on Twitter @RickLeeJames, like my artist page on Facebook at facebook.com/rickleejames, and keep up to date on what I'm writing at my author page on amazon.com. Make sure to follow my calendar on the website, and if you would like to have me come to your town to do a concert, a speaking engagement, or a book event, you can book me through my website site by clicking on the link for Pare Booking Agency.
That's P-A-R-E Booking.
And finally, it would mean the world to me if you were to leave me a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast is on the internet. And now the benediction: May the God of peace who raised Christ from the dead strengthen your inner being for every good work, and may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and dwell within you this day and forevermore.
