Menu

The Soul Talk “Menu.” Bon Appetite!

Every Soul Talk program will include two spiritual elements – personal nurturing, and a sociopolitical emphasis.

First Course

• Theme song – “Wake Up” by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass, lead vocalist.  Perfect message and soul feel for the aim of the show.

• Introduction & Tag Line – “A spiritual feast to leaven the World Soul”

• Soul Food- Chuck’s “sermonette.”

• The Sanctified Segue – A song  that dovetails with the sermonette theme, played before and after the Soul Food.

Second Course

• Hearty Fare – Each week a “congregant” responds to the Soul Food, joining Chuck for a heart felt dinner conversation, engaging the topics of nurturing faith and ethics.

Third Course

• The Soul Stirrer – An interview with someone who demonstrates embodied faith in action.

Fourth Course

• Closing, with the Tag Line, “Love the good, live the good.”

The Cooking Process for a Reborn Soul Talk

Years ago at my church, I was asked to write a brief paragraph about what I do as a Preacher.  I referred to myself as a “Sacred Chef.”  I began to reflect on this notion, seeing the transformed Soul Talk as a cross between a common meal and a communion service.  This tag line to frame the program emerged, “A Spiritual Feast to Leaven the World Soul.”

I recalled the closing blessing in the Episcopal Eucharist service.  ”You have fed us with spiritual food…send us now into the world in peace, and grant us courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart.”  This was right on target.  The purpose of being fed is not to be selfishly satiated but to be nurtured for service to humanity.  However, I needed something more succinct and to the point.

I discovered it in preparing for a class about my own faith tradition, Unitarian Universalism.  This wonderful phrase jumped off the page to become Soul Talk’s closing tag line, “Love the Good and live the Good.”  It comes from Things Commonly Believed Among Us composed in 1887 by William Channing Gannett.  The complete quote is “We believe that to love the Good and to live the Good is the supreme thing in religion.”

Damn good and Damn hard to beat!

Soulfully,

Chuck Freeman