Clemenz With a ”Z” Podcast

EP 207 Golden Buzzer Gospel: Finding Joy, Awe, and Belonging in the Most Unexpected Places

What do you do when the world feels too heavy? When you're tired, discouraged, or just numb from the noise?
If you're me… you watch America’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer moments on YouTube.And you cry. Every time.
In this episode, I’m sharing a surprising ritual that’s become one of the most healing parts of my life. We’ll talk about how a talent show, yes, a talent show has become a space for emotional release, joy, defiant hope, and sacred connection. We’ll explore the deeper psychological and spiritual reasons why these moments hit so hard, why they make so many of us weep, and what they reveal about our deepest longings: to be seen, to be celebrated, and to belong.
This episode is a love letter to awe.A confetti-covered sermon.And a reminder that joy is not weakness, it’s resistance.
If you’ve ever cried during a viral audition clip, this one’s for you.
If you would like to reach out to me you can drop me a line at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or drop a DM at the clemenz with a "Z" instagram page.  
You can head over to clemenzwithaz.com to grab something from the shop and help support the podcast. If you'd rather just drop a few bucks to keep this work going, you can do that through the GoFundMe link here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524 every bit helps.
And if you’re looking for more reflection, honesty, and spiritual wrestling, check out my Substack:Devotionals for the Deconstructing & Disillusioned, it’s a space for people who still have soul, but no longer fit in the boxes they were handed.
Thanks for being here.

EP 206 The Village Is Sick: Grief, Belonging, and the Possibility of Healing Together

Sometimes a song finds you when you need it most. I had never heard Wrabel’s “The Village” until I stumbled across a dance group performing to it on Britain’s Got Talent. What started as a quick break from writing turned into something deeper, a mirror for the world we’re living in right now. The song, originally written for the trans community, echoed wider truths as I watched dancers of all different backgrounds embody it on stage. And it left me with a haunting thought I can’t shake: there’s something wrong with the village. In this episode, I sit with that lyric, wrestle with what it means for us today, and ask where we go from here.
If this episode meant something to you, I’d love it if you’d take a second to like, subscribe, and leave a review, it really helps more people find the show.
If you would like to reach out to me you can drop me a line at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or drop a DM at the clemenz with a "Z" instagram page.  
You can head over to clemenzwithaz.com to grab something from the shop and help support the podcast. If you'd rather just drop a few bucks to keep this work going, you can do that through the GoFundMe link here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524 every bit helps.
And if you’re looking for more reflection, honesty, and spiritual wrestling, check out my Substack:Devotionals for the Deconstructing & Disillusioned, it’s a space for people who still have soul, but no longer fit in the boxes they were handed.
Thanks for being here.

EP 205 Comfort, Not Bruises: God’s Discipline, Parenting, and Why Spanking Only Breeds Domestication

This episode started as a response to something I heard on a Christian podcast about God’s discipline. The words weren’t new, I’ve heard the same script my whole life, but they brought back memories of how deeply this theology shaped me. Growing up, I learned to see every disappointment and setback as punishment, every “no” as God disciplining me. What really grabbed me, though, was how seamlessly the hosts moved from talking about God’s discipline to how they plan to spank their child, as if one naturally flowed into the other. That hit me hard, because I know the damage that both of those messages can cause. In this episode, I share why spanking doesn’t produce wisdom but only breeds domestication, what scripture actually means when it talks about “the rod,” and why a God of love can’t be confused with a God of fear. At the heart of it all is this question: what kind of legacy do we want to leave? One rooted in control, or one rooted in trust and love?
If this episode meant something to you, I’d love it if you’d take a second to like, subscribe, and leave a review, it really helps more people find the show.
If you would like to reach out to me you can drop me a line at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or drop a DM at the clemenz with a "Z" instagram page.  
You can head over to clemenzwithaz.com to grab something from the shop and help support the podcast. If you'd rather just drop a few bucks to keep this work going, you can do that through the GoFundMe link here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524 every bit helps.
And if you’re looking for more reflection, honesty, and spiritual wrestling, check out my Substack:Devotionals for the Deconstructing & Disillusioned, it’s a space for people who still have soul, but no longer fit in the boxes they were handed.
Thanks for being here.

EP 204 Off the Island: Thomas Merton, Mirrors, and Learning to Affirm Others

In this episode, I sit with the words of Thomas Merton, an American Trappist monk, writer, and mystic whose reflections on faith, identity, and community continue to resonate decades after his death. Merton warns against what he calls “the heresy of individualism,” the temptation to define ourselves only by what we’re not, to build our lives on separation and judgment. His challenge struck me deeply, because I’ve lived that temptation:  shrinking myself, building an island of “no,” and cutting myself off from connection. In this conversation, I explore what it means to move off the island, to see others as mirrors, and to rediscover the breath of the Spirit by starting with yes.
If this episode meant something to you, I’d love it if you’d take a second to like, subscribe, and leave a review, it really helps more people find the show.
If you would like to reach out to me you can drop me a line at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or drop a DM at the clemenz with a "Z" instagram page.  
You can head over to clemenzwithaz.com to grab something from the shop and help support the podcast. If you'd rather just drop a few bucks to keep this work going, you can do that through the GoFundMe link here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524 every bit helps.
And if you’re looking for more reflection, honesty, and spiritual wrestling, check out my Substack:Devotionals for the Deconstructing & Disillusioned, it’s a space for people who still have soul, but no longer fit in the boxes they were handed.
Thanks for being here.

EP 203 Sanitizing Our Heroes: What We Lose When We File Down the Edges of Truth

I was on a plane recently watching the new Bob Dylan movie when a scene with Pete Seeger stopped me in my tracks. Why in the world would a folk singer be in court over a song? That moment opened up a hidden history I had never been taught: “This Land Is Your Land” wasn’t just a patriotic anthem, it was a protest. And it made me start to see a bigger pattern. We do this all the time. We take prophets, revolutionaries, artists, even Jesus himself, and we sanitize them. We file down the edges until all that’s left is a safe version that won’t disrupt us. In this episode, I want to ask: what do we lose when we do that? And what might happen if we went searching for the verses, the voices, the truths that were cut out?
If this episode meant something to you, I’d love it if you’d take a second to like, subscribe, and leave a review, it really helps more people find the show.
If you would like to reach out to me you can drop me a line at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or drop a DM at the clemenz with a "Z" instagram page.  
You can head over to clemenzwithaz.com to grab something from the shop and help support the podcast. If you'd rather just drop a few bucks to keep this work going, you can do that through the GoFundMe link here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524 every bit helps.
And if you’re looking for more reflection, honesty, and spiritual wrestling, check out my Substack:Devotionals for the Deconstructing & Disillusioned, it’s a space for people who still have soul, but no longer fit in the boxes they were handed.
Thanks for being here.

EP 202: Who’s Right? And is that even the right question anymore?

This episode started with a reel:  Two pastors, loud and confident, claiming they were standing in the footsteps of Jesus by resisting culture and government control. And while I disagreed with their message, something deeper stirred in me. Because I’ve heard that same level of certainty on the other side too, in the progressive voices I often align with. And honestly? I’ve heard it in myself. So the question that kept echoing wasn’t just “Who’s right?” it was “Is that even the right question anymore?” In this episode, I explore the danger of certainty, the ways we all use scripture to back ourselves up, and the spiritual cost of needing to always be right. But more than that, I ask: Is any of this moving us closer to something good? Something more free, more human, more like Jesus?
If this episode meant something to you, I’d love it if you’d take a second to like, subscribe, and leave a review, it really helps more people find the show.
If you would like to reach out to me you can drop me a line at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or drop a DM at the clemenz with a "Z" instagram page.  
You can head over to clemenzwithaz.com to grab something from the shop and help support the podcast. If you'd rather just drop a few bucks to keep this work going, you can do that through the GoFundMe link here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524 every bit helps.
And if you’re looking for more reflection, honesty, and spiritual wrestling, check out my Substack:Devotionals for the Deconstructing & Disillusioned, it’s a space for people who still have soul, but no longer fit in the boxes they were handed.
Thanks for being here.

EP 201 Speaking to the Human: The Radical Act of Seeing the Person Before the Problem

In a world where everyone seems to be talking past each other,  online, in politics, and even in the church, what would it look like to slow down and actually see the person in front of us?
In this episode, I explore the word sonder, the realization that every person you encounter is living a life as vivid and complex as your own and how Jesus embodied that in every interaction. From the woman caught in adultery to Zacchaeus to the bleeding woman, Jesus saw the human before the problem, the wound before the wrong.
I also wrestle with my own struggle to do the same, especially in a culture addicted to clicks, likes, and quick takes. This isn’t just about changing the way we speak to others. It’s about challenging ourselves to speak from a place that sees, honors, and values the humanity of the person right in front of us.
If this episode meant something to you, I’d love it if you’d take a second to like, subscribe, and leave a review, it really helps more people find the show.
If you would like to reach out to me you can drop me a line at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or drop a DM at the clemenz with a "Z" instagram page.  
You can head over to clemenzwithaz.com to grab something from the shop and help support the podcast. If you'd rather just drop a few bucks to keep this work going, you can do that through the GoFundMe link here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524 every bit helps.
And if you’re looking for more reflection, honesty, and spiritual wrestling, check out my Substack:Devotionals for the Deconstructing & Disillusioned, it’s a space for people who still have soul, but no longer fit in the boxes they were handed.
Thanks for being here.

EP 200 Looking Past the Finger: How Marvel, the Bible, and Gollum Teach Us the Power of Metaphor

Episode 200! I can’t quite believe we’ve reached this point: two hundred conversations, stories, and reflections shared with you. And for this milestone, I wanted to talk about something that’s been weaving through all of them: the power of metaphor.
From Iron Man’s first suit to the parables of Jesus, from Joseph Campbell’s wisdom to Pete Holmes’ “finger and moon,” metaphors shape how we see the world and ourselves. In this episode of Clemenz With a “Z”, I explore why we need metaphors, how they sneak past our defenses to speak to the heart, and what happens when we mistake the metaphor for the thing itself. Along the way, I connect modern myths like Marvel movies to ancient scripture, and even take a surprising detour into The Lord of the Rings to unpack Smeagol’s haunting transformation into Gollum. Whether it’s a shepherd, a superhero, or a hobbit clutching his “precious,” these stories are pointing us toward something bigger, if we’re willing to look past the finger and see the moon.
If this episode meant something to you, I’d love it if you’d take a second to like, subscribe, and leave a review, it really helps more people find the show.
If you would like to reach out to me you can drop me a line at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or drop a DM at the clemenz with a "Z" instagram page.  
You can head over to clemenzwithaz.com to grab something from the shop and help support the podcast. If you'd rather just drop a few bucks to keep this work going, you can do that through the GoFundMe link here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524 every bit helps.
And if you’re looking for more reflection, honesty, and spiritual wrestling, check out my Substack:Devotionals for the Deconstructing & Disillusioned, it’s a space for people who still have soul, but no longer fit in the boxes they were handed.
Thanks for being here.