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An Anti-Racist Reformation

An Anti-Racist Reformation

This Reformation Sunday we have the opportunity to get our protest on. To challenge injustice. To stand up against racism. To commit to learning about our own place in a racially unjust system.

Maybe you, like me, and like the early reformers, feel a deep discomfort within and know things are not right. Are you ready to set out to change the world? If not the world, to change yourself? We have an opportunity to engage with the Chicago Metro Synod working toward long-term anti-racist congregational transformation. This weekend we will sign a covenant with Another Pebble, the Synod Anti-Racism team, for a two year process of learning, engaging, advocating and changing.   

Join our staff, congregational council, the anti-racism team and the rest of the community in wearing red this weekend to worship. Bring a red pen too. Let’s sign this covenant and begin the good, holy work of protest and reformation that will transform us, our congregation and our world.

Falling With Grace

Falling With Grace

While we might not have as much talent as Simone Biles, we can still be inspired to spot and stick our landings as we attempt to fall with style through life. And as people of faith, maybe our theological spin we could put on that phrase is to say, “falling with grace.”  I like that more. Because it’s hard to look as stylish as Simone Biles or Buzz Lightyear when we fall, but we can relax into our fall trusting in God’s abundant grace to catch us. Maybe knowing that, we’ll scream and flail a bit less because the gentle embrace of God will receive us and put us back on our feet.

Holy Envy: A reflection on my recent trip to Colorado

Holy Envy: A reflection on my recent trip to Colorado

Back in March of this year, Barbara Brown Taylor released a book called Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. I haven’t had a chance to read it just yet, but as I spent last week with students from the South Loop Campus Ministry, traveling through Colorado, I experienced my own case of holy envy. It happened to me at the Shambhala Mountain Center (SMC), a Buddhist retreat center, where the students and I spent two days immersed in nature, meditation, mindfulness, and yoga