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A single late-night moment with a toddler sparked a question that can change how you pray: does God love us like a mother? We sit down with author Elizabeth Berget to talk about her book Love Like a Mother and the brave, careful work of expanding our understanding of God without losing our roots in scripture. If you’ve ever felt like the language you inherited for God was too small, too distant, or too tied to one kind of human experience, this conversation offers a bigger, more intimate picture.

We dig into why “God as mother” can feel jarring at first, and how Elizabeth learned to hold the tension between spiritual experience and biblical authority. We talk about maternal imagery in Isaiah, the Spirit’s closeness in seasons of exile and pain, and why limiting God to a narrow set of metaphors can create unnecessary barriers, especially for people carrying mother wounds or father wounds. Along the way, we name the reality of pushback and fear when women claim authority to speak about theology, and we share why we still believe this expansion is faithful.

Then we go embodied: motherhood as spiritual formation, the communion table and Eucharist through maternal eyes, and birth as a thin place where sacrifice and love become tangible. We also talk about mothering beyond biology, the kind of care that shows up in communities, and the slow practice of discernment, including how to notice what rings true in your body over time.

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Resurrection can feel like a distant doctrine when the world is loud with loss, conflict, and exhaustion. Our conversation asks a more urgent question: what does it look like to practice resurrection when life is in ruins and hope feels thin? For us, resurrection is not something to watch from the sidelines. It’s an invitation to surrender, to let something real die, and to trust the Holy Spirit to bring life where we can’t manufacture it ourselves.

We talk about the Spirit as comforter and nurturer and why comfort is never a cute promise but a sign that pain is being taken seriously. From the Emmaus Road to Pentecost, we trace how the Spirit keeps breaking down “us vs them” and calling us back into oneness, wholeness, and love. That leads us into language: kingdom, queendom, kinship, and the ways religious words can either widen the table or tighten it into exclusion. If you’re searching for inclusive Christianity, Holy Spirit-led discernment, spiritual formation, and a faith that makes room for your body and your inner knowing, this conversation is for you.

We also linger at the communion table, naming how many people have been pushed out of the very place meant to heal. We imagine what an open table could mean, and we close with a breathtaking reading from the Book of Wisdom that describes Spirit as intelligent, holy, subtle, and “friendly to all.” If this stirs something in you, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review. What part of your life is asking for resurrection right now?

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She was born into a world marked by plague and upheaval, yet she found a kind of inner stillness strong enough to challenge popes and serve neighbors at the same time. We’re talking about St. Catherine of Siena, and we’re letting her life press on our assumptions about spirituality, authority, and what it means to love in public.

We trace Catherine’s “cell” of contemplation as more than solitude, seeing it as the birthplace of self-knowledge, discernment, and a listening heart that can hear the voice above the noise. From there, the conversation moves into Christian mysticism with consequences: prayer that doesn’t split body from spirit, devotion that turns into embodied compassion, and a love of God that shows up as care for the sick, food for the hungry, and presence with grief.

Catherine also refuses to stay quiet. We wrestle with her letters and political courage, her resistance to excessive wealth and abuse of power, and what her witness means for women’s sovereignty in the church today. Along the way, we name modern tensions around marginalization, LGBTQIA inclusion, and the ongoing question of women’s leadership and ordination. We end with a blessing inspired by Catherine that speaks directly to women who feel diminished, calling forth a steady inner fire that is meant to be seen.

If this conversation helps you breathe deeper and stand taller, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find Expansionist Theology.