Introducing Season 8 (and our new co-host!) with Carmen Acevedo Butcher and Brian McLaren

About this sermon

In this opening to Season 8, Learning How to See returns with understanding how to see with the eyes of love. On this season, Brian McLaren introduces his new co-host Dr. Carmen Acevedo Butcher—a scholar, translator, contemplative teacher, and birdwatching chocolate lover—and together, they launch the theme for this season: Seeing Through Eyes of Love. This episode weaves together personal storytelling, embodied spiritual practice, and reflection to explore how love can transform the way we see ourselves, each other, and the world. Your Practice for the Week: Once a day, notice something you’re seeing with judgment or indifference. Pause. Shift your gaze to see it with the eyes of love. Then try to “telescope out”: • See yourself seeing with love. • See others doing the same. • Envision Divine Love witnessing it all. Connect with us: • Have a question you'd like Brian or Carmen to answer about this season? • Email us: ⁠⁠podcasts@cac.org⁠⁠ (mailto:podcasts@cac.org) • Send us a voicemail: ⁠⁠cac.org/voicemail⁠ (https://cac.org/voicemail) Resources & Mentions: • The transcript for this episode can be found here (https://cac.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/801_LHTS_Mix1.pdf) . In this episode, Carmen referenced the following: • Dorothee Sölle – Death by Bread Alone • Howard Thurman – Mysticism and the Experience of Love • Brother Lawrence – The Practice of the Presence of God • Meister Eckhart – on the “eye within me” Brian referenced the following: • Richard Rohr’s Cosmic Egg – a framework of nested stories: My Story, Our Story, The Story (This is located in his book, The Wisdom Pattern.) • 1 Corinthians 13 – closing reading on the nature of love