(We do not record the third Wednesday gatherings, and below are the resources we referenced this month and were requested to share.)
Land Acknowledgment links:
Telling the truth about the lands we inhabit: https://www.livinglutheran.org/2021/11/48330/
Labor Acknowledgment link: https://www.diverseeducation.com/demographics/african-american/article/15108677/on-labor-acknowledgements-and-honoring-the-sacrifice-of-black-americans
"I am a string in the concert of God's joy." -- Jacob Boehme
Here is a blessing for when you have a lot to rethink. -- Kate Bowler
Partial translation of Psalm 80 was used from Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness by Nan C. Merrill
Beautiful Things - Michael Gungor (Lyric Video)
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ELCA Coaching is collaborating with Jen Kunka and Rev. Carlton Rodgers to facilitate our gatherings on the third Wednesdays of each month through 2025 to help us live into our vision statement: Nobody Journeys Alone.
(Most other Wednesdays will explore additional elements of Creating Beloved Community.)
"Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion." -- bell hooks, All About Love
We will be co-creating a safe space -- and hopefully a brave place -- for all participants to feel and be supported. So, we will NOT be recording these gatherings on the third Wednesdays through 2025. As Lutherans, we have a reputation for being in our heads too much. Let's lean into the possible discomfort of connecting our heads to our hearts -- and do that intentionally, authentically, and vulnerably -- in community together. We envision this being like a support group, for anyone, in any season of life. Based on our history of hosting similar spaces, we anticipate participants will experience some, if not all, of the following: connection, care, spaciousness, relief, capacity, clarity, affirmation, and expansiveness, just to name a few of the most common responses shared with us.
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We began gathering online with faith leaders in March of 2020 to wrestle together with Being Church in a global pandemic, which transitioned over the summer of 2021 to Courageous Leadership, as COVID revealed our perceptions and misconceptions about most things in life. Jesus is our primary model as we move toward Creating Beloved Community: Healing Together to learn together and experiment in community with a variety of spiritual practices and focus areas.
We believe this is in attunement with our call as Christians from:
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Scripture and our expanding understanding and expression of love for ALL of our neighbors
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MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail and Vision of the Beloved Community
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ELCA Teaching, and especially our "connection to all of life"
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ELCA Truth and Healing Movement (as facilitated by Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations)
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Dr. Shawn Ginwright's The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves
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And so many other diverse voices and sacred ways we engage with each other and with the world.
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To answer some commonly asked questions about these regular gatherings:
"Why are you still meeting?" "Don't become too familiar with loneliness. Community is a risk, but liberation depends on the collective. Who can you trust to hold you?" -- Cole Arthur Riley, author of Black Liturgies
