A Sabbath Summer, Part 2: Play, Disappointment, and Daring to Hope

The Allender Center Podcast

The Allender Center

Psychology, Religion & Spirituality, Mental Health, Christianity, Trauma, Health & Fitness, Theology

4.6 • 628 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, we talked about dreaming—giving ourselves permission to hope for delight and rest this summer. But what happens when those dreams meet reality?

In Part 2 of the Sabbath Summer series, Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen explore the tension between desire and disappointment—the beautiful and the broken that live side by side in us, in others, and in the world. Because Sabbath isn’t just about dreaming and planning. It’s about participating. Living into the play.

But here’s the truth: Things rarely go exactly as we imagined. Disappointment is often inevitable. And delight—true delight—often comes not in spite of brokenness, but within it.

This episode is a deep invitation to stay in the story even when plans unravel. Dan and Rachael reflect on the paradox of Sabbath as a commandment that calls us not just to rest, but to remember what we’re fighting for: connection, restoration, joy, and relationship—with ourselves, each other, and with God.

Sabbath isn't an escape from the world’s urgency—it’s a radical act of resistance and reconstruction within it.

As you listen, consider: How might you make space this summer not just for fun, but for redemptive play—play that embraces imperfection, disappointment, and still dares to hope?

*This episode contains some explicit language. Listener discretion is advised.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You don't have to look far to see it.
0:07.6	Heartache is everywhere.
0:09.9	In your workplace, in your community, and with the people you love.
0:14.7	There's a quiet but steady weight of trauma, grief, and untold stories.
0:20.7	And if you're someone others turn to, someone who listens, holds space, and shows up,
0:27.1	then you've probably felt the limits of what you can carry on your own.
0:31.5	That's where narrative-focused trauma care comes in.
0:34.7	This training from the Allender Center is designed to equip you to engage the
0:39.1	effects of trauma with wisdom and compassion. Starting with narrative-focused trauma level one,
0:45.6	you'll receive rich teaching that explores trauma, identity, shame, attachment, and family of origin,
0:53.6	integrating psychological insight with a theological
0:56.6	understanding of God's redeeming work in our lives. But what makes this training truly transformative
1:03.6	is your small facilitator-led story group. These groups are where concepts become personal.
1:10.4	It's where you begin to see how your own
1:12.6	story connects to the kind of healing and care you want to offer others. Because at the Allender Center,
1:19.2	we believe you can't guide others where you haven't gone yourself. Narrative-focused trauma
1:24.8	care level one training is for anyone ready to grow in clarity, capacity, and care, for your own story, and for the stories entrusted to you.
1:34.5	Applications for our next training cohort are now open.
1:38.5	To find out more about narrative-focused trauma care training with the Allender Center. Visit the Allendercenter.org
1:45.4	slash trainings.
1:49.7	Thank you for listening to the Allender Center podcast. I'm Dr. Dan Allender.
1:54.7	And I'm Rachel Clinton-Cent. We're fiercely committed to providing hope and healing to a fragmented
	...

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