How can you find peace in a world that feeds on fear? Singer and songwriter, Josh Garrels reflects on ways to find peace with our host, Oliver Hersey and guest co-host, Kelsey Bowse. He created the album Peace To All Who Enter Here, with classic hymns and worship songs in quarantine. His role models for peace are St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan religious order and Wendell Berry, an American poet and farmer.
He said “We can’t afford to let fear and anxiety take hold of us. So the weapons we’ve been given are praise and prayer. Those are the weapons we’ve been given, and renewing our minds in the faith, with the word. Those are the weapons we’ve been given to combat deep levels of fear and anxiety.”
This is part two of a conversation with Josh Garrels on the Transforming Discipleship podcast.
Time Stamps:
What was it like being quarantined? What would you say have been some of the highs, and some of the lows in this whole process? [1.43 – 4.00]
In your other albums, you highlight peace. What is peace? [4.01 – 8.44]
On your Bandcamp page, Michelle Garrels wrote “in the month of march the world entered a time of quarantine. our life of work- and school-from home continued basically as usual. but beyond the boundaries of our yard, the world was rapidly shifting. instinctively for us, it was a time to pray & praise.” It sounds like your family had some spiritual rhythms going. So how did that kind of become the gut reaction for your family? [8.45 – 11.50]
You’ve tapped into the fact that peace is necessary in the storm, and peace can be found in the storm. Could you share with us a moment in your life – when you were in a storm and you did find the peace point for yourself? What did that look like? How did you get out of the storm? [11.51 – 14.54]
How do we get ourselves back to a place of peace? [14.55 – 19.33]
You talked about how you were staring in the embers of the fire, and you realized ‘this is peace.’ How important is it to have trusted people in our life that have permission to speak into it? Can I find peace on my own? Do I need community? [19.34 – 23.14]
I listened to the Grace Story Podcast that you were on. It seemed like your sister becoming a Christian had a really big impact on your life – and your coming to the faith. Could you talk a little bit about that and how it brought you to a place of peace? [23.15 – 29.47]
You have five kids in your home. Are you encouraging your children to be peace makers? I think about the passage where Jesus says ‘Blessed are the peace makers.’ How do you enter into culture and try to make peace in the world around you? [29. 48 – 34.52]
You mentioned St. Francis of Assisi a couple of times. Why is St. Francis important to you, and what do you think it would look like to learn from his story? [34.53 – 36.37]
Check out what was referenced on the podcast:
- Josh Garrels and Dr. Drew Flamm, “Grace Story Podcast Ep 013: Josh Garrels,” Sept. 16, 2019, in Grace Story Podcast, podcast.
- Psalm 37 1-2 (ESV) “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”
- Psalm 91:1,7, 9-10 (ESV) “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the LORD, who is my refuge--then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.”
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Produced by Kelsey Bowse, edited by Alex Carter
