Wilderness Times is a partnership between Broadview and Bri-anne Swan.
The world feels messy. Wilderness Times leans into that mess with both faith and curiosity. It’s about learning to navigate uncertainty and remembering that the wilderness can be a place of holy transformation.
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Hi! I'm Bri-anne Swan, a diaconal minister with the United Church of Canada, serving East End United Regional Ministry in Toronto. I am also a singer-songwriter, a digital media creator, and a cook who should never be trusted with anything that requires timing.
Much of my work circles the death penalty as it’s practiced in the United States since it is such an extreme example of how easily those in positions of power scapegoat the ones who reveal our institutional failures.
That thread runs through a lot of the words she stitches together. Who is being forgotten? Who benefits? How does God call us to respond?
Wilderness Times is co-created with Broadview, an award-winning Canadian publication known for thoughtful journalism that attends to spirituality, justice, and the questions that tug at our collective conscience.
Broadview is a registered charity and has made this Substack and Podcast freely available because we believe that thoughtful, justice-seeking journalism should be accessible to everyone. Creating this space—and keeping it free—takes time, skill and resources. If this space nourishes you, please make a tax-deductible donation.
Your support empowers Broadview to tell more courageous stories and helps build a more just and compassionate world.
The Premier of Ontario is all about building more prisons, getting rid of encampments and shutting down safe comsumption sites. Like a lot of things, Jesus has a story for that.
Link to "A Safer Ontario (https://www.reddit.com/r/waterloo/comments/1u5o5jc/anyone_find_this_new_government_of_ontario_ad_a/)" ad from the Government of Ontario.
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Wilderness Times is co-created with Broadview (https://broadview.org/), an award-winning Canadian publication known for thoughtful journalism that attends to spirituality, justice and the questions that tug at our collective conscience.
Broadview is a registered charity and has made this Substack freely available because we believe that thoughtful, justice-seeking journalism should be accessible to everyone. Creating this space — and keeping it free — takes time, skill and resources. If this space nourishes you, please make a tax-deductible donation.
Your support empowers Broadview to tell more courageous stories and helps build a more just and compassionate world.
Donate to Broadview (https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/adaptive-donor-form/?formId=7a552459-9c6a-4fda-a47a-eed62150d793&envid=p-VGPxgZku5Uu_kcJFCtkU7g&zone=can)
2 Jun 2026
The state killed a man on behalf of the people. Almost none of the people came.
Some messy thoughts as Bri-anne attends Texas' 600th execution carried out in the Modern Era of the Death Penalty.
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Wilderness Times is co-created with Broadview (https://broadview.org/), an award-winning Canadian publication known for thoughtful journalism that attends to spirituality, justice and the questions that tug at our collective conscience.
Broadview is a registered charity and has made this Substack freely available because we believe that thoughtful, justice-seeking journalism should be accessible to everyone. Creating this space — and keeping it free — takes time, skill and resources. If this space nourishes you, please make a tax-deductible donation.
Your support empowers Broadview to tell more courageous stories and helps build a more just and compassionate world.
Donate to Broadview (https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/adaptive-donor-form/?formId=7a552459-9c6a-4fda-a47a-eed62150d793&envid=p-VGPxgZku5Uu_kcJFCtkU7g&zone=can)
8 Mar 2026
When “protecting women” is really about power
On this episode, we ask a difficult question: what happens when the language of protecting women is used to harm others instead? Through politics, scripture, and the story of Dinah in the Book of Genesis, we explore how easily protection can become a mask for power.
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Wilderness Times is co-created with Broadview (https://broadview.org/), an award-winning Canadian publication known for thoughtful journalism that attends to spirituality, justice and the questions that tug at our collective conscience.
Broadview is a registered charity and has made this Substack freely available because we believe that thoughtful, justice-seeking journalism should be accessible to everyone. Creating this space — and keeping it free — takes time, skill and resources. If this space nourishes you, please make a tax-deductible donation.
Your support empowers Broadview to tell more courageous stories and helps build a more just and compassionate world.
Donate to Broadview (https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/adaptive-donor-form/?formId=7a552459-9c6a-4fda-a47a-eed62150d793&envid=p-VGPxgZku5Uu_kcJFCtkU7g&zone=can)
22 Feb 2026
The lentiest Lent
There is a particular kind of loneliness that comes from being the only awake person in a house where someone is dying. This episode tells the story of my father’s final year during COVID and asks what happens when grief is carried without witnesses.
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Wilderness Times is co-created with Broadview (https://broadview.org/), an award-winning Canadian publication known for thoughtful journalism that attends to spirituality, justice and the questions that tug at our collective conscience.
Broadview is a registered charity and has made this Substack freely available because we believe that thoughtful, justice-seeking journalism should be accessible to everyone. Creating this space — and keeping it free — takes time, skill and resources. If this space nourishes you, please make a tax-deductible donation.
Your support empowers Broadview to tell more courageous stories and helps build a more just and compassionate world.
Donate to Broadview (https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/adaptive-donor-form/?formId=7a552459-9c6a-4fda-a47a-eed62150d793&envid=p-VGPxgZku5Uu_kcJFCtkU7g&zone=can)
21 Apr 2023
Repentence & Atonement on Death Row
Rev. Bri-anne shares an interview with her spiritual advisee in the days leading up to his scheduled execution. They talk about faith, his desire to donate one of his kidneys, and how he sees it as a means to atone for past mistakes.
More complete shownotes can be found on our website. (https://www.wildernesstimes.ca/)
BIBLE BITES
"Keeping Awake within in the Prison Cell" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Jail)
MUSIC
Gravity of Love (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCFQfakZGKc) - The Brilliance
Foxes & Birds (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQCD8nXoNig) - Amick Cutler
RELEVANT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE
A Texas death row inmate is seeking a 30-day reprieve to donate a kidney. An appeals court has issued an execution stay for a different reason (https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/11/us/ramiro-gonzales-texas-death-row-kidney/index.html)
On Death Row, He Is Grasping at Grace (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/opinion/death-penalty-texas-ramiro-gonzalez.html)
Broadview Magazine Article (https://broadview.org/ramiro-gonzales-death-row/)
WILDERNESS TIMES' LINKS
Wilderness Times Website (http://www.wildernesstimes.ca/)
Jubilee United Church Website (http://www.jubileeunited.ca/)
Jubilee United Church - Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/jubileeunited)
Jubilee United Church - Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/jubileeunited)
Jubilee United Church - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-JgfZqeel2txT6B9y0FRxA)
Jubilee United Church - TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@jubileeunited)
Resistance Church Website
(http://www.resistancechurch.ca/)Resistance Church - TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@resistancechurch?lang=en)
Resistance Church - Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/resistancechurch)
Resistance Church - Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ResistanceChurch)
Resistance Church - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgUK2C6FTr4Is9v4YIly_4g)
Wilderness Times and Resistance Church are digital ministries of Jubilee United Church, an Affirming (https://affirmunited.ause.ca/) (2SLGBTQ+ positive) congregation of the United Church of Canada (http://www.united-church.ca/), committed to the work of being an anti-racist congregation, as well as Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples. The space on which we work and gather is the land of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples from across Turtle Island.
Resistance Church (http://www.instagram.com/resistancechurch) reaches out to those for whom traditional church models are not always relevant or accessible. Rest. Hope. Community. Subversive faith & radical love in response to extraordinary times.
8 Feb 2023
L'chaim! Advocating for Life with Michael Zoosman
Rev. Bri-anne sits down with Cantor Michael Zoosman to talk about L'Chaim: Jews Against the Death Penalty and the importance of advocating against Captial Punishment.
16 Nov 2022
Faith, Identity, & Authenticity with Cynthia Vacca Davis
Rev. Bri-anne sits down with author Cynthia Vacca Davis as they discuss Cynthia's newly released book Intersexion, as well as Cynthia's journey of allyship, and the cost of being Intersex in a complicated church landscape.
26 Oct 2022
Naming the Complexities of Medical Assistance in Dying with Daniel Hayward
Rev. Bri-anne sits down with Rev. Daniel Hayward as they discuss disability justice, the United Church of Canada’s statements on Medical Assistance in Dying, and some thoughts about balancing the rights of the individual against the welfare of the collective.
12 Oct 2022
Humanizing the Incarcerated with Keri Blakinger
Rev. Bri-anne sits down with Marshall Project Investigative Reporter, Keri Blakinger. Together they discuss her new book, "Corrections in Ink", the dehumanizing nature of the criminal justice system, and how public safety might be best served by actually treating prisoners with compassion.
5 Oct 2022
The Christ Who Resists Empire with Damon Garcia
In this episode, Rev. Bri-anne sits down with progressive Christian mystic, Damon Garcia, as they talk about Damon's new book, "The God Who Riots: Taking Back the Radical Jesus." Anchored with the story of Jesus overturning the tables in the temple, we discuss the origins of Damon's book, the importance of understanding the context out of which the Jesus movement emerged, and how absolutely ridiculous it is to talk about Jesus being "cancelled."
28 Sept 2022
Imago Dei & Authentic Faith with Aurelia Dávila Pratt
Rev. Bri-anne sits down with pastor, author and sacred spacemaker, the Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt as they talk about Aurelia's new book, A Brown Girl's Epiphany: Reclaim Your Intuition and Step into Your Power. In this episode, Bri-anne and Aurelia talk about Imago Dei, the pressures of productivity culture, and how to live into our most authentic selves (just as God intended us to be).
21 Sept 2022
Creating Sacred Spaces with The Many
In our very first episode(!), Rev. Bri-anne sits down with musical group, The Many to discuss their origins, the power of pivoting when the world seems like it's on fire, and the role of the arts to disrupt us out of our comfort zones.
8 Sept 2022
Wilderness Times Trailer
Welcome to Wilderness Times, a new podcast brought to you by Resistance Church and Jubilee United Church in Toronto. Join me, Rev. Bri-anne Swan as we explore what it means to seek justice and love mercy in this often broken, yet beautiful world. Expect curious conversation, biblical reflection, music and more. Wilderness Times arrives on your favourite streaming platform on September 21, 2022. Engaged Faith and deep conversation for present times.
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