Your Body is Already Talking (S12 E3)

Curt Thompson (0:12)

Welcome to the Being Known Podcast with my friend, Dr. Curt Thompson, and my friend, the most beautiful man in the world, Pepper Sweeney.

Pepper Sweeney (0:21)

Here we go, baby.

Curt Thompson (0:23)

Dude.

Pepper Sweeney (0:24)

We are here to discover and explore what it means to be truly known. Hello, Curt.

Hey, Pep. How are you, buddy?

Curt Thompson (0:32)

Always good, man. Good to be with you. We were just commenting before we started.

I'm looking at you, looking at me. I'm looking at you over your shoulder and just noticing that you received from Wendell Berry.

Pepper Sweeney (0:45)

Yes.

Curt Thompson (0:46)

And dude, I mean, it's like receiving a letter from God, a letter from Wendell Berry. I mean, it's going to get to, I'm thinking about that as we're even, as we're going to talk about what we're going to talk about today.

This wasn't a text, this wasn't an email. And just to get started, I wonder, like, could you say a little bit about that story?

Pepper Sweeney (1:10)

So another podcast that I produce, I was, I've always wanted to try to, you know, somehow connect with him. And, you know, honestly, he's, my family has a little cabin in the country on the Kentucky River, maybe a mile up the river on the same river. That's where his writing cabin is. That's where his farm is.

Curt Thompson (1:30)

And for our listeners, or for listeners who might not know.

Pepper Sweeney (1:33)

Wendell Berry is an amazing poet and writer and also an environmentalist farmer. And his words have inspired me to, Me as well, yeah. I would highly recommend poetry.

His books as well, Jay enjoyed. And anyway, so he's been an inspiration to me.

Curt Thompson (1:58)

And he's now in his what?

Pepper Sweeney (2:00)

Yeah.

Curt Thompson (2:01)

Base, yeah, easily, yeah.

Pepper Sweeney (2:03)

So I tried to get a hold of him to get him guest on the podcast. And trying to figure out, he has a, there's a place down in, down in Kentucky, the, it's like the Wendell Berry, it's like a museum or something on his work. I can't think of the name of it right now. He only replies by mail. So I sent him a letter telling him about myself and asking him if he would possibly be a guest on this podcast and, and all these things. And so lo and behold, I went to my mail and I had a letter from Wendell Berry. It says, the stationery is Wendell and Tanya Berry. And the, and it says, Dear Pepper Sweeney, I'm not sorry, but I am sorry to have to tell you that I long ago quit giving interviews and taking part in public conversations.

I thank you for asking me sincerely, Wendell Berry. Sorry, sorry, not sorry. Wendell Berry, right?

Curt Thompson (3:07)

And there it is. But it's a handwritten letter.

Pepper Sweeney (3:10)

It is a handwritten letter. And I cherish it. I mean, it's, you know, he's definitely one of my heroes. And for him to have taken the time, right?

To sit down, probably in his, in his, you know, I'm imagining him out in his little writing studio, out by the river and writing to me. And putting in an envelope, sealing it up, stamping it, addressing it, and sending it back. And for someone to take the time to do that, meaningful, right?

Curt Thompson (3:50)

Yeah, right on.

Pepper Sweeney (3:50)

Yeah, right on. So yeah, it's awesome.

Curt Thompson (3:56)

And I, I'm just highlighting that because of the, you know, the, the grounding of what it means for somebody to write a letter, like who writes letters anymore? To write an actual letter with a pen and an actual mail, which brings us to today's episodes you were introducing.

Pepper Sweeney (4:14)

Yeah, the, we are in episode three, and this is the, and this is episode three, part one, and we are going to be speaking on presence before words today.

Curt Thompson (4:32)

This is all part of this season on belonging to become, and we are tracking with one verse in John's gospel, as we pay attention to what does it mean for us to be, to fully become as we fully belong? How are those two things continually in conversation with one another? And as how do we become more deeply, how do we more deeply belong to people? And how do we more deeply, and as such, how do we then therefore more deeply become?

And we are now in the part of the verse, we've, Jesus opens with these things I have spoken to you. And last episode, we talked about these things and how all these things that he's talked about is not just what's in that one conversation with his disciples, it's all the things of this text of scripture, which is, what does it mean for us to be in this large story that God is telling and is inviting us to join our stories with him, bringing alignment to our stories with him, which is not easy for me to do.