https://pickerill.casa/comfortable-words/enChristianity© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerillhttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/9647eef879b12561a743f9cb992f9f33.jpghttps://pickerill.casa/comfortable-words/Sun, 01 Nov 2026 02:58:51 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillEric Pickerillpodcast@pickerill.casaThe Comfortable Words is a space to slow down and allow the words and way of Jesus to comfort us, strengthen us, and reorient us to the care and keeping of Christ. The phrase comes from Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer. Cranmer's "comfortable"...false346ea5a5-4d50-5393-a4e2-fb73268d9443episodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/comfortably-numb--76104736
We are not just anxious anymore. We have gone numb, and we have pulled back. Seventy-two percent of Americans say bad news no longer shocks them. Nearly half withdrew from other people this year. The world hands us that numbness and calls it peace.

Jesus does the opposite. His words wake us up, not only to the happiness of this world but to its pain, and then he brings a comfort this world has no medicine for. He invites us to be uncomfortably awake.

Scripture: John 14:27, John 16:33, and John 20:19-22 (NIV); Jeremiah 6:14 (ESV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/76104736Sun, 01 Nov 2026 10:00:24 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillComfortably numb, or uncomfortably awake. We are not just anxious anymore. We have gone numb, and we have pulled back. Seventy-two percent of Americans say bad news no longer shocks them. Nearly half withdrew from other people this year. The world...
We are not just anxious anymore. We have gone numb, and we have pulled back. Seventy-two percent of Americans say bad news no longer shocks them. Nearly half withdrew from other people this year. The world hands us that numbness and calls it peace.

Jesus does the opposite. His words wake us up, not only to the happiness of this world but to its pain, and then he brings a comfort this world has no medicine for. He invites us to be uncomfortably awake.

Scripture: John 14:27, John 16:33, and John 20:19-22 (NIV); Jeremiah 6:14 (ESV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>1128anxiety,artificial intelligence,christian,comfortable words,devotional,farewell discourse,john 14,peace,scripture reflection,shalom,uncertaintyfalsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/not-far-to-fall--75841544
Julia found an essay she started writing years ago and never finished, so she finished it now. "Let's just say my view from the front porch has changed quite a bit."

It begins with growth, the thing everything is supposed to do: babies, wealth, cities, followers, even faith. "Healthy things grow, but so do tumors and forest fires." From there she asks the question no one wants to ask: how do we let go of vitality gently and with grace? How do we embrace and allow for our own reduction?

She sits with a grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die, with the psalmist's "I cling to you; your right hand upholds me," and with Martin Buber's I and Thou. Clinging, she writes, is not her real state. Being upheld is. And if that is true, then losing your grip is not a fall to your death. There is not far to fall.

Scripture: John 12:24-25, Psalm 63:8, and 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75841544Sun, 18 Oct 2026 09:01:29 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillNot far to fall. Julia found an essay she started writing years ago and never finished, so she finished it now. "Let's just say my view from the front porch has changed quite a bit." It begins with growth, the thing everything is supposed to do:...
Julia found an essay she started writing years ago and never finished, so she finished it now. "Let's just say my view from the front porch has changed quite a bit."

It begins with growth, the thing everything is supposed to do: babies, wealth, cities, followers, even faith. "Healthy things grow, but so do tumors and forest fires." From there she asks the question no one wants to ask: how do we let go of vitality gently and with grace? How do we embrace and allow for our own reduction?

She sits with a grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die, with the psalmist's "I cling to you; your right hand upholds me," and with Martin Buber's I and Thou. Clinging, she writes, is not her real state. Being upheld is. And if that is true, then losing your grip is not a fall to your death. There is not far to fall.

Scripture: John 12:24-25, Psalm 63:8, and 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>6602 corinthians 4,christian,comfortable words,devotional,grain of wheat,growth and decline,john 12,letting go,martin buber,psalm 63,scripture reflectionfalsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/child-you-are-mine--75692236
Julia writes about the small sounds of an early morning — coffee, a dog snoring, a phone buzzing with messages from people she loves — and how they witness that she is not alone. From there she sits with Isaiah's words, "I have summoned you by name. You're mine," and what it means to be summoned: not called to show up, but formed, named, and brought into being.

This week's reflection moves through Psalm 104's picture of a vast creation, where even dust is called a treasure, and into Romans 8, where all creation groans out, "Abba, Father." It ends with an invitation to let go of what isn't yours to hold, and to hear the same answer waiting there: Child, you are mine.

Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-5, Psalm 104 (excerpts), and Romans 8 (NIV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75692236Sun, 11 Oct 2026 09:02:01 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillChild, you are mine. Julia writes about the small sounds of an early morning — coffee, a dog snoring, a phone buzzing with messages from people she loves — and how they witness that she is not alone. From there she sits with Isaiah's words, "I have...
Julia writes about the small sounds of an early morning — coffee, a dog snoring, a phone buzzing with messages from people she loves — and how they witness that she is not alone. From there she sits with Isaiah's words, "I have summoned you by name. You're mine," and what it means to be summoned: not called to show up, but formed, named, and brought into being.

This week's reflection moves through Psalm 104's picture of a vast creation, where even dust is called a treasure, and into Romans 8, where all creation groans out, "Abba, Father." It ends with an invitation to let go of what isn't yours to hold, and to hear the same answer waiting there: Child, you are mine.

Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-5, Psalm 104 (excerpts), and Romans 8 (NIV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>742belonging,christian,comfortable words,devotional,good news,isaiah 43,psalm 104,romans 8,scripture reflection,summonedfalsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/on-detergency--75557044
Julia power washed her house this week, and watched years of grime disappear in a single pass of soap and water. It got her thinking about detergency, the actual word for how soap works, and about Peter, washed by Jesus at the table the night before he died.

This week's reflection sits with John 13 and Luke 11: the difference between Peter, who lets Jesus see his grime, and the Pharisees, who can't see their own. It ends in Psalm 139, with an invitation to be searched, known, and cleaned.

Scripture: John 13:1-9, Luke 11:37-41, and Psalm 139 (NIV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75557044Sun, 04 Oct 2026 09:02:09 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillOn Detergency — or, an ode to the humble power washer. Julia power washed her house this week, and watched years of grime disappear in a single pass of soap and water. It got her thinking about detergency, the actual word for how soap works, and...
Julia power washed her house this week, and watched years of grime disappear in a single pass of soap and water. It got her thinking about detergency, the actual word for how soap works, and about Peter, washed by Jesus at the table the night before he died.

This week's reflection sits with John 13 and Luke 11: the difference between Peter, who lets Jesus see his grime, and the Pharisees, who can't see their own. It ends in Psalm 139, with an invitation to be searched, known, and cleaned.

Scripture: John 13:1-9, Luke 11:37-41, and Psalm 139 (NIV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>859christian,comfortable words,confession,devotional,foot washing,good news,john 13,luke 11,psalm 139,scripture reflectionfalsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/when-you-feel-buried--75378245
Julia sits with John 11 and the questions underneath it: what do you do when God doesn't show up on your timetable? Most of us have prayed Mary's prayer in some form. If only you had been here.

The comfortable words don't show up until the end of this reflection. Waiting is a part of the story.

Scripture: John 11, read from The Message. More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75378245Sun, 27 Sep 2026 09:02:10 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillJesus arrives four days late to his friend's grave, and the first thing he feels isn't grief, but anger. Julia sits with John 11 and the questions underneath it: what do you do when God doesn't show up on your timetable? Most of us have prayed Mary's...
Julia sits with John 11 and the questions underneath it: what do you do when God doesn't show up on your timetable? Most of us have prayed Mary's prayer in some form. If only you had been here.

The comfortable words don't show up until the end of this reflection. Waiting is a part of the story.

Scripture: John 11, read from The Message. More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>1152christian,comfortable words,contemplative prayer,devotional,grief,john 11,lazarus,scripture reflectionfalsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/hidden-in-the-field--75246716
From Matthew 13:44-46, 52.

Includes brief quotations from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship and C. S. Lewis's The Weight of Glory.

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75246716Sun, 20 Sep 2026 09:01:52 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillThe Smithsonian holds 155 million objects. About one percent is ever on view. Eric has spent this year inside a folder like that: his mother-in-law's portfolio of passports, birth certificates, and a wartime escape from Lithuania that nobody in the...
From Matthew 13:44-46, 52.

Includes brief quotations from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship and C. S. Lewis's The Weight of Glory.

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>919falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/nobody-knows-but-jesus--75090709
Includes brief quotations from C. S. Lewis's 1948 essay on living under threat of the atomic bomb, and from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea (1955).

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75090709Sun, 13 Sep 2026 09:01:59 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillJulia reflects on Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30), sown together in the same field and left to grow until the harvest. Rather than reading the weeds as other people, she turns the parable inward: the roots of pride,...
Includes brief quotations from C. S. Lewis's 1948 essay on living under threat of the atomic bomb, and from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea (1955).

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>929falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/remain-in-my-love--74929240
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74929240Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:01:47 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillJulia reflects on Jesus' words to his disciples on the night before his death: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love" (John 15:9). She distinguishes discomfort — the ache of a comfort once known and now lost — from...
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>940berry,comfortable,george,macdonald,wendell,wordsfalsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/singing-without-words--74751009
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74751009Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:02:00 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillEric reflects on Jesus' cry from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46), and discovers it isn't a line Jesus composed himself, but the opening words of Psalm 22. Drawing on a UK pastor who leads prisoners in writing...
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>979bonhoeffer,brueggemann,christian,comfortable,contemplative,dementia,devotional,eric,julia,lament,memory,music,pickerill,prayer,psalms,spiritual,wordsfalsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/not-my-will-but-yours--74556020
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74556020Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:09:27 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillJulia turns to the Garden of Gethsemane and the most uncomfortable hours of Jesus' life, where comfort shows up in an entirely upside-down way. Drawing on Mark's Gospel and W. H. Vanstone's The Stature of Waiting, she traces how Jesus moves from actor...
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>1100falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/consider-the-birds--73343058
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73343058Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:00:27 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillJulia explores a phrase tucked into the Sermon on the Mount: "The eye is the lamp of the body... if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light" (Matthew 6:22). She traces the Greek word emblepō — to gaze, to look intently — through...
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>835anxiety,attention,birdsfalsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/apocaloptimism--73689218
Eric ran into the feeling twice in one week: once watching a man methodically pick up trash from a roadside ditch that would fill right back up within days, and once catching himself in it, admitting his own uneasy mix of hope and dread while wading into work on artificial intelligence.

Both moments point back to something older than the word, something Jesus's own followers felt watching a man who "went about doing good" end up dead like a failure. The answer isn't optimism. It isn't pessimism either. It's something else.

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73689218Sun, 09 Aug 2026 09:04:29 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillThere's a word for wanting to fix a broken world and quietly suspecting it's beyond saving, at the same time. It's not in any dictionary. A documentary made it up this year: apocaloptimism. Eric ran into the feeling twice in one week: once watching a...
Eric ran into the feeling twice in one week: once watching a man methodically pick up trash from a roadside ditch that would fill right back up within days, and once catching himself in it, admitting his own uneasy mix of hope and dread while wading into work on artificial intelligence.

Both moments point back to something older than the word, something Jesus's own followers felt watching a man who "went about doing good" end up dead like a failure. The answer isn't optimism. It isn't pessimism either. It's something else.

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>942falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-when-you-return--73326400
Read the reflection and listen to the audio at https://pickerill.casa/comfortable-words/and-when-you-return


The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73326400Sun, 02 Aug 2026 09:00:47 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillJulia reflects on Jesus' words to Peter on the night of his betrayal: 'Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.' She explores...
Read the reflection and listen to the audio at https://pickerill.casa/comfortable-words/and-when-you-return


The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>884falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/finding-your-way-home--73167802
Eric's first Comfortable Words: on being harassed and helpless, the temptation to build a shelter in the valley or an altar on the mountain, and Jesus's invitation to keep moving — all the way home.

References the song "Guiding Light" by Foy Vance.

Read along and subscribe: https://pickerill.casa/comfortable-words

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73167802Sun, 26 Jul 2026 09:00:29 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillFinding Your Way Home — Matthew 14 Eric's first Comfortable Words: on being harassed and helpless, the temptation to build a shelter in the valley or an altar on the mountain, and Jesus's invitation to keep moving — all the way home. References the...
Eric's first Comfortable Words: on being harassed and helpless, the temptation to build a shelter in the valley or an altar on the mountain, and Jesus's invitation to keep moving — all the way home.

References the song "Guiding Light" by Foy Vance.

Read along and subscribe: https://pickerill.casa/comfortable-words

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>1075falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/where-is-your-soul--72954801
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/72954801Mon, 13 Jul 2026 21:19:04 +0000Eric and Julia PickerillJulia introduces "The Comfortable Words," a way to let Jesus' words comfort and strengthen you. She leads a "location exercise" to notice where your soul is right now and to picture your current spiritual landscape. Julia explains the Anglican...
The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill
]]>1226anglican,christianity,comfort,comfortable,contemplative,cranmer,devotional,examen,formation,liturgy,meditation,pickerill,prayer,scripture,stillness,wordsfalse11full