A Call to Worship on 9/11

Remembering God and Remembering Each Other on Today

God be a fortress and a comforter for your people. 

Sometimes we escape, sometimes you protect, 

Sometimes we rely on your comfort in the midst of destruction. 

We travel a world of uncertainty, where we can lose our footing, our faith, and sometimes ourselves. 

Lord, help us not lose sight of each other or of you. 

God, we seek your strength to rebuild our communities, our lives, and ourselves.

Grant us the courage to remain open to transformative possibilities in the wake of devastation.

We are often seized by hopelessness, fear, and despair.

When we cannot see the path to safety, 

Hold us in your loving arms and show us your way.

We offer eternal thanks for all the ways that you abide with us.

Healer, comforter, deliverer, protector, miracle worker;

You are the God of benevolence, Christ of redemption, the Spirit of peace.

#AdventUreWithMary December 2nd

So often, looking at our circumstances logically and practically could lead us to believe that we’ve already lost. If faith  is the substance of things hoped for, then the decisions to organize, to move forward against powers that seek to destroy you, to build when you know some force is already plotting to tear you down, to run the campaign even though you know you’ll be outspent and double crossed are decisions based on hope. This radical faith is the will do something about the world that we hope for until it manifests. Hope for something different drives us to keep showing up. Hope is at the core of that kind of radical faith. It is the desire for something better.


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Why I Do This Work

 

Over the past fourteen years much of the work I’ve been involved in, I’ve been able to consider it a ministry. Community outreach and social justice in its intent and practice is, indeed, ministry. However, what I’ve come to notice is a need to minimize the politics and polarization of these things and increase the focus on the human aspects of the work. So often, jaded activists and political strategists are crafting the messages and mechanisms for positive change that most directly impact who the Bible describes in Matthew 25:40 as the least of these. Unfortunately, these efforts are frequently lacking the necessary spiritual and personal components of social change. The disconnect between the urgency for change and the love, affirmation and wellness needed to reach, mobilize and transform aggrieved communities and individuals is great. In essence, we are sending wounded soldiers back into battle with no care or restoration. I've been fortunate enough to use my time of study to help create a vision and a practice for bold, faith-rooted, transformational social justice that helps to empower and make whole those who are broken, even while we challenge structural and societal oppression. I believe the opportunity to engage in deep, analytical and critical study of the scriptures, devoid of a hegemonic, patriarchal lens allows us to develop an approach to God’s social mission that speaks to the underserved while creating spaces for the personal and societal healing needed to help break down the spiritual walls that block our communal advancement.