“Whenever Methodism forgets Sin and Grace, it turns into sentimentalism. Thank God for Crackers and Grape Juice!” - Bishop Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School
If ever there was time to repeat the promise of God’s grace and the lightness of Christ’s yoke, it’s been 2020, a year that has wearied all of us and left many of us feeling like “everyone else is handling the pandemic better than me.” Without consulting any of the podcast posse, Will Willimon nails exactly what we’re trying to accomplish at Crackers and Grape Juice— that is when we’re being a tiny bit self-reflective about it. Across our different channels and with a variety of conversation partners, we aim to give you the historic goods of the Gospel without stained glass language.
In a year when we’re all battling loneliness and isolation, thank you for being a part of and contributing to our community.
This year we released two books, Every Easter is an Advent: Reflections on the Seven Signs at Calvary and Election: Reflections on First Peter. We did a new series called You Are Not Accepted, working our way through the work of Stanley Hauerwas. Over the past 365 days, we’ve racked up over 226,000 downloads. Our best year ever.
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve hosted live online classes with some familiar guests, such as Beverly Gaventa, Diana Butler Bass, David Fitch, Jeffrey Pugh, and Malcolm Foley. This fall we launched a biweekly newsletter called Crackers and Grape Juice+ that includes articles by the team as well as friends of C&GJ and a secret podcast episode not available elsewhere, and we added original swag to our online store. Our producer, Tommie, has had to hustle to keep up with all the bustle. Thanks to folks like you, we’re now able to pay her.
Coming up in 2021, we’ve got plans for additional books. We’re planning online courses with Douglas Harink on Romans, Ruben Rosario Rodriguez on Calvin as Liberation Theologian, and Phillip Cary on the Meaning of Protestant Theology. These are big deal thinkers and we’re lucky to nab them. (Her)Men*You*tics will begin series with Johanna leading us through the Gospel of John, and, for you Methodists out there, we will once again embarrass the denominational press by doing exception coverage of the UMC’s dysfunctional divorce proceedings.
No doubt your inbox is as full of end-of-year pitches as ours. But it never hurts to ask. If you like what we’re doing and want to help us do more, we would so love for you to consider C&GJ in that regard. Can you help? To make a one-time gift consider joining CGJ+, or sign up to become a monthly patron, please visit www.crackersandgrapejuice.com.
You can also support C&GJ (and find great gifts!) through the online store, where you will find our full catalog of our books and merchandise. Order early and make sure you get a sticker of Jason in his booty shorts in their stocking?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Jason, Johanna, Taylor, Teer, Tommie, and David (the minion)