The Word Is Resistance: Recent Episodes
The Word Is Resistance
"The Word Is Resistance" is a weekly podcast by white anti-racist Christians based on the Christian lectionary, offering an anti-racist Word for other white anti-racist Christians -- though all are welcome to check it out!
What do our sacred texts have to teach us about living, surviving, even thriving, in the context of empire, tyranny, violence, repression - the times in which we are living today? What do they have to teach us, as white folx, about our role in resistance, in showing up, in liberation? They teach us this:
Our traditions were made for these times. They come from these times. So we have resources in our texts, our practices, to help us right now. We can reclaim our stories and re-tell them to nourish our resistance against white supremacy and our work for collective liberation.
This live recording of Dr. Vincent Harding’s song for the freedom movement is of a multi-racial “movement choir practice” in Denver, CO in December 2014, being led by Minister Daryl J. Walker. We are deeply grateful to the Freeney-Harding family for letting us use the song for this podcast.This song has been the theme song of our podcast since the beginning. Enjoy it now in its entirety.Lyrics:1 - We are building up a new world (3x)Builders must be strong.2 - Courage, sisters, don't get weary,courage, brothers, don't get weary.Courage, people, don't get weary,though the way be long.3 - Rise, shine, give God glory (3x)Children of the light!
As "The Word Is Resistance" comes to completion, enjoy this final episode from Rev. Anne Dunlap, which includes brief reflections on the Magnificat and highlights offerings from 2 of our long-time listeners. Much gratitude for your presence with us over these 7 years!Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
As "The Word Is Resistance" podcast comes to completion, we are wrapping up with 4 special "Parting Gift" episodes. For this episode, enjoy a group conversation with Liz Kearny, Jean Jeffress, and Brigitta Vieyra, hosted by Anne Dunlap, as they reflect on how the podcast has changed them and what parting gifts they hope listeners take with them as we all go home by another way.Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir
As "The Word Is Resistance" podcast comes to completion, we are wrapping up with 4 special "Parting Gift" episodes. For this episode, enjoy a group conversation with M Jade Kaiser and Sharon Fennema, hosted by Anne Dunlap, as they reflect on their how the podcast has changed them and what parting gifts they hope listeners take with them as we all go home by another way.Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir
As "The Word Is Resistance" podcast comes to completion, we are wrapping up with 4 special "Parting Gift" episodes. For this episode, enjoy a group conversation with OG contributors Rev. Anne Dunlap, Nichola Torbett, and Rev. Margaret Ernst, as they reflect on their how the podcast has changed them and what parting gifts they hope listeners take with them as we all go home by another way.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Paul is writing to his dear ones in Thessalonica about how to keep up their resistance under Roman occupation. Spoiler alert: This work involves 1) debunking the lie empire tells them (us) about “peace and security” while 2) depending on the beloveds around them (us) to fight off the numbing spell of this lie so we can keep resisting together. Tune in for this episode with Rev. Liz Kearny to explore the connections between the themes of this text, the toxic theology of Christian Zionism fueling so much of the violence of this moment, and our role as white Christians in taking action to stop the genocide unfolding in Gaza.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
In this episode, Rev. M Jade Kaiser wonders what it means to spiritually prepare individually and collectively for both times of disaster and openings of freedom. What wise or foolish actions or non-actions are we taking in the present that will serve us come what may - tomorrow, next year, or generations to come?Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Rev. Anne Dunlap and Rev. Liz Kearny for a conversation about facing, embracing, wrestling with, and healing our lineages as white folx who seek to build up a new world. As we observe All Saints Day, where are the places of trauma in the stories of our own ancestors? What did they give up to assimilate into whiteness? Where did they show us how to resist oppression? With grounding in the lectionary's psalms for this day (1 and 90), how might we follow the path to the water that will impact the generations coming after us?Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
In a world that wants to force us into either/or thinking, wants to push us to choose - with us or against us - Dr. Sharon Fennema explores Jesus' invitation to discern our callings beyond the binaries. Join in lamenting all that we have given over to Caesar, and in imagining what it would look like to give ourselves and our world over to Love.Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Rev. Liz Kearny was in Italy this month on a family trip and recorded these reflections from her hotel room in Rome after touring the Colosseum. After witnessing these remains of Rome’s death machinery, Rev. Liz wanted to share some #WrestlingWithRomans bonus content as she connects what she saw at the Colosseum with what we’ve been learning together in this series on Paul’s anti-empire missive to Gentile Christians. Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Paul doesn't shy away from practical matters in his letter to the Romans and this week's episode takes a look at his admonitions against letting differences divide us. Dr. Sharon Fennema explores contemporary and historical examples of the ways solidarity is a threat to empire and asks what these have to show us about resisting "divide and conquer" tactics and building the kind of community we are called to create as kindom-makers and Jesus-followers.Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Rev. Jean Jeffress as they wrestle with Romans 13:8-14. Paul is beginning to finalize his argument to the Roman Jesus-followers. He needs them to understand that what the love of Christ Jesus offers is belonging. And he really, really wants God's people to act like it.
What does grace mean? What does grace mean for white Christians hoping to resist white supremacy? Rev. Margaret Ernst wrestles with Romans 6:12-23 to help us get a view of grace as grounded in Paul's Jewish understandings of God's love, and as the gift of being invited to take action for liberation.Note: This episode for Pentecost 5A was posted late into the series. Sometimes wrestling takes longer than we think it will.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
This new reality Paul’s been sharing with us - about everyone being included in a mighty tree as one beloved community - seems a long way off, doesn’t it? Join Rev. Liz Kearny as she asks, “How do we get from here to there?” We can imagine that Paul’s Gentile audience in Rome is asking the very same question. In response, Paul gives the church in Rome - and all of us - daily practices and ways of being that disrupt empire and help us build up a new world. Note: The opening and closing grounding moments in this episode use the words of Silvia Federici, quoted in an Instagram post from Chiara Francesca (linked in the transcript).Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What is Paul saying about what it means to be a people of transformation? Join Brigitta Vieyra in an exploration of how radical tenderness is a liberatory spiritual disposition of interdependence.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
All means all. Join Rev. Anne Dunlap as she sorts through trees and branches and calluses and grafts in Romans 11 to discover that what Paul really does mean is: All. Means. All.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What is the good news that Paul longs for his beloveds to tell each other again and again, in the midst of Rome’s lies? Join Rev. Liz Kearny in unlearning what the empire’s religion has taught us about “confessing with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead,” and find out what Paul says will actually save us. Content warning: Mention of suicide
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What does Paul actually think about his own Jewish people? Does the love song he sings in Romans 9: 1-5 offer us some clues? (Hint: it is a love song, after all). Join Rev. Anne Dunlap for this episode that definitely required some wrestling with so many layers and burdens of interpretation that she needed multiple metaphors to find a way through.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Romans 8:26-39 is a beloved scripture for many, including Dr. Sharon Fennema. Join her as she wrestles and swirls with this text to find liberative meanings that can help us as white Christians untangle ourselves and our imaginations from imperial theologies of domination.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Who do we imagine when we read "us" in the book of Romans? When is "us" just a substitute for dominant and normalized? When is "us" collective liberation? Sharon Fennema explores these questions in starts and stops as she wonders what it means for God to be "for us" as white Christians with access to privilege and dominant culture.
Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
So many of us were taught that Paul teaches us that our bodies are shameful, sinful even. Is there any other way to understand Romans 8:12-25? What would it mean if there were? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap for our latest episode in our #WrestlingWithRomans series!
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Wrestle with Romans 8:1-11 with Brigitta Vieyra to dissect how race is a modern, colonial invention that Paul urges divesting from as a daily act of resistance. Together, we’ll also consider how the sacred, holy work of reimagining oneself beyond and away from whiteness requires us to become spiritual revolutionaries needed for our time.
Consider with Rev. Liz Kearny all the ways we have felt hopeless or overwhelmed by despair when we realize how thoroughly systems of oppression have saturated our very ways of being. How does Paul make space for us in Romans 7 to get honest about that? What is the first step from those places of despair onto the pathway towards transformation?
*Note: This podcast is for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, not the 3rd Sunday as Rev. Liz misspoke in this recording.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Jean Jeffress and Nichola Torbett as they talk to a live audience at the Northern Californa Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ Annual Gathering. We explain to people unfamiliar with the podcast what it is and what it does. And we have a conversation from Paul's letter to the Romans as part of our #WrestlingWithRomans series
Explore Romans 5:1-8 with the Rev. Liz Kearny as she learns how to reclaim this heavyweight text of the New Testament from the ways it has been co-opted by empire. What does it mean to remember with our whole selves that Abraham and Jesus are indeed our ancestors? How can we follow them in the path of faithful resistance to every system that seeks to destroy life?
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Our new series, #WrestlingWithRomans, starts off with Rev. Anne Dunlap wrestling with the concept of justification and what Paul could possibly mean by invoking the faith of Abraham. Hint: It's not about arguing that Christianity is better than Judaism.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
"The Great Commission" in Matthew 28: 16-20 has long been used as a harmful loyalty oath to empire and a punishing god. Rev. Anne Dunlap asks if we can understand this text in a way helps us declare our loyalty to the ways of justice and community and intimacy and liberation.https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Dr. Sharon Fennema to feel into what these pentecosts of tender breath in the Gospel of John are offering us in this moment.Transcript available here:https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What can a generative framework for holy resistance look like when we start thinking of Jesus less as martyr and more as witness? Join Rev. M Jade Kaiser as we ask how orienting ourselves towards attending our mistakes and failure, even when we feel guilt and shame by being a witness is a radical work of repair.
Ponder with the Rev. Liz Kearny what Jesus has to teach us about following our failures, limitations, and frailties to the truth: that it's community that holds the work of liberation.
Join Jean Jeffress as they discuss navigating and failure to navigate their own privilige and the ways in which the church is a hot mess during our Eastertide #FailureLab series.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
How do we recognize resurrection in a world that so rarely recognizes people as children of God? Join Nichola Torbett as she explores the failures and mistakes in the Emmaus Road story from the gospel of Luke.GoFundMe for Ralph Jarl: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nf36y-cover-medical-expenses Donate to SURJ: https://surj.org/give/ Support #JusticeForJayland on-the-ground Black organizing in Akron, Ohio: https://www.thefreedombloc.org
In this episode, Dr. Sharon Fennema engages doubting Thomas in a failure lab, exploring the ways we often require proof before believing the truth of someone’s experience with racism and racial harm. How can we stop demanding proof of wounds in our antiracist work?
"Attention is the beginning of devotion." (Mary Oliver) On Easter, what resistance lessons can Mary Magdalene teach us about the power of waiting and weeping? Join Brigitta Vieyra in reflecting on how the act of bearing witness can open us up to surprising possibilities of new beginnings.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Center your hearts and minds for Holy Week by listening to the stories of the women who walked alongside Christ in his final days. This beautiful episode is from Rev. Kelsey Beebe.1st reading: Woman Anointing Jesus' Feet (based on Matthew 26: 6-13; Mark 14:3-9) 2nd reading: Women Watching & Ministering to Jesus When He Died (based on Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:33-41)3rd reading: Jesus' Mother With the Beloved Disciple (based on John 19:25-30)4th reading: Women at the Burial (based on Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56)Transcript available here:https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Palm Sunday was not a celebratory parade, but a confrontational protest. Together, we go searching to find a symbol of resistance to sustain us in this movement for these times. Join Brigitta Vieyra in exploring how the donkey in the Palm Sunday story invites us all to untie ourselves from empire in a collective spirituality of revolt. Transcript available here:surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Ruby Sales says that empires destroy intimacy. Join Rev. Anne Dunlap as she applies that declaration to our understanding of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus, and how the binaries there might not be what we've been taught at all.Transcript available here:https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Journey with Rev. Liz Kearny as she gets into some real talk with John, the Gospel writer, about the way he tells the story in John 9. How might understanding John’s context help us see our own patterns of trying to find belonging in who we are against, rather than in solidarity with one another? As we resist anti-Jewish rhetoric in this text, how might we find our way back to each other? Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Rev. Jean Jeffress as they examine different interpretations of the story of Jesus and Samaritan women. From Musa Dube's post-colonial interpretation, to Rev. Anne Dunlap's organizing against Rome interpretation to the I'm just so f***ing thirsty for justice interpretation. Rev. Jean throws in a little Good Friday for just to be thorough.
In this bonus episode, M hosts Rev. Dr. Tyler Schwaller for a discussion on the Genesis text. Tyler shares about ancient and creative interpretations that draw out power struggles, gender, and the divine within all of us.
What's going with Jesus and the tempter in the wilderness? Join M as they dig into how the tempations are readying Jesus for the work to come.This Lent, #TheWordIsResistance crew will be focusing on pushing back on antisemitic and anti-Jewish interpretations of the lectionary gospel readings. For more resources on fighting antisemitism, go here: bit.ly/CounterASResourcesTranscript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What happens when we read the Ash Wednesday gospel selection in the context of ashes? Join Sharon Fennema in considering what ash makes possible, and what they can teach us about fighting antisemitism.This Lent, the Word Is Resistance crew will be focusing on pushing back on antisemitic and anti-Jewish interpretations of the lectionary gospel readings. For more resources on fighting antisemitism, go here: https://bit.ly/CounterASResourcesTranscript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
In the Transfiguration story, Jesus meets his ancestors to resource him for the fight to come. Nichola Torbett reminds us that our ancestors are familial, spiritual, and also the land itself, and that we as white christians can and must also call on our ancestors to resource us in these challenging times.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Contrary to what we are traditionally taught about Matthew 5:21-37, Jesus is honoring and deepening Torah: teaching his community how to fulfill it, not abolish it. Join Rev. Kelsey Beebe to learn more about what Jesus is actually up to in this part of the Sermon on the Mount, and how that can help us as white Christians committed to anti-racism.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What does it mean to be the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world," in Jesus's teaching in Matthew 5? Join Nichola Torbett in this exploration of how white folks can remember and recover our own saltiness as we navigate towards freedom.Transcript with action links available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What happens when we crack through surface readings of the Beatitudes that seem to mean we're supposed to just be nice and not complain? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap as she explores this famous and often sanitized set of teachings from Jesus.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/Info and action to #StopCopCity and demand justice for Tortuguita available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UNZfP4CKioMhDev6iZtRnMUspLk54awl0jswxHAvsDo/edit?usp=sharing
Join Rev. Jean Jeffress as they nerd out on the Magi, looking at the story from a literary perspective, and anwering the question, why were they needed for us to know who Jesus is?Focus passage Matthew 2:1-12
Join the Rev. Liz Kearny as she immerses us in the story of King Herod, the magi, the holy family and their communities in Matthew 2. Find yourself in the narrative and ask, “What choices can I make today to resist empire wherever I am? What decisions in my daily life will add to our collective movement towards liberation?"Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Nichola Torbett for an exploration of the ways that patriarchy and white supremacy contribute to lovelessness in our body politic and what it means for love to be born anew amidst all of that. The focus scripture is Joseph's dream in Matthew 1: 18-25.
What do Isaiah's words of disruptive joy have to say to a weary, wounded people living through exile? How can practices of abundance sustain and renew us during seasons of heaviness in our movements? What do white folks have to gain from joining the communities most impacted by systems of oppression as they embody the new world Isaiah imagines, right there in the midst of the old one that is languishing all around us?Join Rev. Liz Kearny for a resistance word from Isaiah 35:1-10 on this Advent Sunday of Joy.Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What kind of repentance are we being called to in order to prepare the way for love and justice to become flesh and dwell in our midst? Inspired by a workshop at Canticle Farm in Oakland, this week Dr. Sharon Fennema invites us to make connections between decolonial land tending practices, indigenous land return and John the Baptist's call to repentance. As newcomers, how can we find the ways our presence can benefit the ecosystem and discover what it looks like to practice becoming medicine?Watch “Land Return: Return to Land” hosted by the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://youtu.be/RGhozWoSLgw Pray with the Eco-Beatitudes by Rev. Anna Blaedel and Rev. M Jade Kaiser: https://enfleshed.com/liturgy/eco-beatitudes/Learn more about Canticle Farm: https://canticlefarmoakland.org/Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
It's a heavy one this week! Luke takes us to the site of state execution where Jesus and two others are punished cruelly and in public. M Jade Kaiser engages the text through the onslaught of anti-trans legislation and campaigns and holds the heartache of the text in the context of Trans Day of Remembrance.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
In the wake of the 2022 mid-terms, what are we to make of this moment? And what are we to make of these lectionary selections that claim both victory and violence? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap for her post-election reflections.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Remembering our ancestors can help us remember we are all connected to one another. Join Rev. Kelsey Beebe for this reflection on Luke 20: 27-38 and All Saints Day.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Who deserves to participate in movements for healing and liberation? In this episode, Audrey Gale Hall wonders how Zacchaeus, the wealthy tax collector and collaborator with empire, fits into our narratives about which white people are worthy of belonging and capable of transformation.
Transcript available here:
https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
The parable of the Persistent Widow wraps up our series on disability justice. Join Rev. Anne Dunlap, with some wisdom from Min. Blyth Barnow, to hear how this parable can help us not lose heart in hard times.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Register for our virtual meet-up here: https://act.surj.org/a/nov-2022-podcast-meetup
This week Rev. Anne Dunlap is joined by Sam Heath with Equal Justice USA. Enjoy their conversation about wellness, belonging, and everyone getting what they need as they reflect together on Luke 17:11-19, the healing of the ten lepers.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Do you ever feel like you are not doing enough? Like you are not enough? in this episode, Nichola Torbett explores the ways that capitalism, ableism, and white supremacy culture encourage us to burn ourselves out in ways that, maybe not coincidentally, end up reinforcing those systems we are trying to dismantle. How does Jesus' teaching in Luke 17 offer an alternative way to 'build up a new world'?
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What does it mean that there is an uncrossable chasm between the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16: 19-31? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap as she uncovers the many layers of this chasm to find the disability justice reading of this parable.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Where do we turn when the bottom drops out? This week's episode with Nichola Torbett is about salvation in those moments and how we can begin building the safety net we need now, a safety net big and broad and voluptuous and "unreasonable" enough to support everyone. Join us!
Visit https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/ for transcripts, resources, and copyright information.
Sometimes this world weighs so heavily it can bend you over double.
What can we learn from Jesus' setting free of the bent-over woman (and the religious leader's annoyed response!) about what it means to get free? This is the question Nichola Torbett takes on in this week's episode. (Also, if you've ever wondered what the heck "binding and loosing" is, there might be a hint here.)
In this episode, Sharon Fennema explores Jesus' divisive ministry in the context of a lineage of prophetic voices resisting false peace, including disability justice activist Imani Barbarin. What is the ableist status quo that we are tempted to keep peace with? Where do we want to hold on to a negative peace that is complicit with and upholds racialized ableist capitalism? Where might we be failing to perceive the ways that the peace we long for was really the comfort afforded by able-bodied privilege?
Support Disability Visibility Project founder and disability justice activist Alice Wong: https://gofund.me/acc13f11 Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
How do you sense God in your body? This is just one of the questions Rev. Kelsey Beebe invites us into in this new episode in our #DisabilityJustice series.
On this episode, Rev. M Jade Kaiser (formerly Barclay) and Rev. Anna Blaedel talk through the scripture together, considering greed and riches in a multitude of forms. In their conversation, they weave in intimate reflections on sharing in life and chronic illness together and how forms of supremacy and collective possibility unfold in all of it.
As we continue our series on Disability Justice, Sarah Howell-Miller reflects on Luke 11:1-13 through an unexpected hermeneutical lens--the 2003 Disney/Pixar movie Finding Nemo--on disability as diversity, what it means to be disability's construction workers (per Amy Kenny), and how to build a world that can hold and meet all our needs.
What if sitting and listening is what Mary had spoons for?
As we continue our series at the intersections of Racial Justice and Disability Justice, Sharon Fennema explores the connections between racialized capitalism and the ways of being in the world that are afforded value and acceptance in the story of Mary, Martha and Jesus in Luke 10.
Check out "The Divine - dreams of disabled gods" online exhibit by Samir Knego as part of this week's call to action too: https://samirknego.wixsite.com/here/the-divine
Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What if we celebrated, not Independence Day, but Interdependence Day this week?
Join contributor Nichola Torbett as she explores some of the fears, taboos, and blessings of having and acknowledging needs--our own and others--and working together to get them met. This episode places in dialogue Luke 10: 1-11 and 16-20 with some of the writings of disability justice organizer Mia Mingus.
In the second episode in our series on disability justice, Rev. Sarah Howell-Miller reflects on a tough text from Luke chapter 9.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
To begin our new #Disability Justice series, Rev. Anne Dunlap re-visits the story of the "Gerasene Demoniac" in Luke 8 and discovers the man from Gerasa is already whole, and Jesus's commitment to disability justice.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
This Trinity Sunday, Dr. Sharon Fennema explores the ways in which the mystery of the Trinity invites us to take a posture of wonder. This practice of wonder and curiosity not only helps us cultivate a growth mindset that counters the logics of supremacy, but also nourishes the roots of revolutionary love.
Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Rev. M Barclay (they/them) finds the story of Pentecost rich with imagery of mutual interest. Differences are not a barrier but an opportunity to deepen into understanding and authentic relationships while working toward the common goal of collective liberation.
Transcript with action links available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Rev. Margaret Ernst introduces us to the story of Lydia, a seller of purple cloth, through the lens of radical hospitality and mutual interest in collective liberation.
For action, donate to Black Love Resists in the Rust, who are organizing on the ground in Buffalo against white supremacy and anti-Black racism, including coordinating mental health and emergency food support for their community impacted by the white supremacist shooting: https://tinyurl.com/yc23389v
For the full song referenced in this episode, "Everything to Gain", by Allison Beyer (co-written with Devon Sproule), visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yISqAlE1-8
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Rev. Kelsey Beebe for this exploration of Revelation 21: 1-6, mutual interest, belonging, and anti-imperialism. How do we bring the Beloved Community here and now?
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Sharon Fennema for the story of the raising of Tabitha in Acts 9, with a direct connection to the importance of the resurrection work of abortion care. "What might be raised up in our midst if we recognized that to be a part of God’s body is to be invested in each other’s flourishing life, not to help or save someone, but because it is essential to our own flourishing."
Transcript with action links available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What happened to Paul on the Damascus Road? Was it a conversion experience, or was it something else? What does any of it have to do with white Christians mutual interest in joining in the fight for collective liberation? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap as she unravels the traditional reading of this story in Acts 9: 1-20.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Nichola Torbett this week for the first in a series of episodes in which we explore our mutual interest, as white people, in dismantling white supremacy. This week, we meet up with Peter and the other apostles during a time when they were being heavily surveilled, policed, and frequently jailed. What can we learn from this passage about what it means to show up in the face of repression and to refuse to succumb to the divide-and-conquer tactics of the powers-that-be?
Transcipt available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Mary Magdalene is a fierce, pissed off, visionary whose power and story have been silenced by the sexism and whorephobia of the church. Join Blyth Barnow and Chanelle Gallant in this incredible conversation and homage to the Original Bad Bitch Apostle.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
For Good Friday, join 7 of our contributors as they each reflect on one of the Seven Last Words of Jesus as he is executed by Rome, and the meanings of these Words for us as white anti-racist Christians.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
How might the imagery of Palm Sunday invite us to imagine new ways to resist and subvert oppressive systems? How can we continue to liberate our language from patriarchy? Join Rev. Sarah Howell-Miller as she leads us in a reflection on Palm Sunday and the potential of Luke 19:28-40 and Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 to help us plant seeds of liberation.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
The story of the prodigal son - a beloved and complicated one. Drawing on both the work of Dr. Amy-Jill Levine and the writing of Mia Mingus, M talks through the ups and downs and all arounds of this passage including both its problem areas as well as one of many of its invitations into a more life-giving way together.
Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
How does white supremacy shape who draws our compassion and empathy? How do colonial logics limit our imaginations and what can we do about it? Join Dr. Sharon Fennema to explore how we might reimagine and re-sing Psalm 63 by expanding our practices of empathy and solidarity.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Fighting antisemitism is key to our work of dismantling white supremacy. And fighting antisemitism during Lent, when the lectionary editors ramp up what they think the conflict is, is crucial. Join Rev. Anne Dunlap to learn what an alternative reading of Luke 13:31-35 might look like -- we might just find that the Pharisees are on Jesus's side.
Resources to learn more about how to fight antisemitism are here: https://bit.ly/CounterASResources
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
How can our Lenten practice contribute to collective liberation? And how might it inadvertently contribute to the shoring up of white supremacy? Join Nichola Torbett in this exploration of the relationship of personal spiritual practice to creating the world we long for. (Content note: This episode discusses relationship to food and fat phobia, with some reference to eating disorders.)
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten journey. Join Rev. Jean Jeffress as they explore what the prophet Joel has to do with ashes and weeping and God's love.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/
In this week's episode, Nichola Torbett gets real about the impulse toward supremacy and offers up an antidote in the scriptural concept of "glory." (Hint: It's not what Bruce Springsteen was singing about.) Be sure to stay for an embodied practice of glory.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Love your enemies? Forgive them too? Luke 6:27-38 has be used to excuse harm for too long. Join Rev. Kelsey Beebe as she re-orients this text to ground it in the practices of restorative justice.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
This episode takes a big-picture view of what Paul is up to in 1 Corinthians 15. It's officially the "resurrection era." This helps Paul answer activist philosopher Grace Lee Bogg's critical question, "what time is it on the clock of the world?" For Paul, for Corinth, for all of us - on this episode, Rev. M Barclay wonders what it means to live in right-relationship to the era we find ourselves.
https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
In Luke's telling of the call to the first disciples, Jesus says those who follow him will "catch people." Which people and how many when we're in the business of dismantling systems of oppression? In this episode, Rev. Seth Wispelwey also asks what our personal thresholds are, as white Christians, for determining when we leave "everything" and follow him. Do not be afraid!
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Rev. Sarah Howell-Miller as she follows Jesus in the wake of his first act of public proclamation in Luke 4:21-30 and asks why the good news of liberation for the poor and oppressed is so hard for people of privilege to receive.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Rev. Jean Jeffress as they explpore Paul's weird anatomy lesson in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. Paul calls for unity in discipleship - we are all one in Christ. But unity is hard - find out why in this episode.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
It's our 5th birthday here at The Word Is Resistance! And incredibly, the gospel reading is about a party! Mary insists that Jesus liven up the party at a wedding banquet. Is this a frivolous magic trick, or was Mary on to something important? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap for this take on John 2:1-11.
Join us for our first-ever virtual meet-up! Register here: https://bit.ly/twirmeetup
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Gathering, healing, restoring, calling: God’s love and compassion are not just abstract concepts or ideas or feelings. Join Rev. Kelsey Beebe as she explores why it matters that God loves through embodied actions.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What would be good news to low-wage workers in first-century, occupied Palestine? This Christmas, join Rev. Margaret Ernst as she reflects on the news of Christ's birth from the standpoint of the shepherds, and why it’s okay to have the Christmas blues.
To get involved with SURJ Faith’s Community Safety for All campaign in 2022, visit https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/cs4a/
To listen to Pastor Margaret’s “Sadvent” playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5XHk1HJ1BqCvt5AzHtqN5g?si=e716aef130904e25
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
On this week's Advent episode, Rev. Seth Wispelwey looks at The Magnificat and examines specifically what place, if any, (white) men have there. Why might it be good news for (white) men to be sent away with nothing, as Mary's exultant song says is God's holy purpose and plan for the powerful? Living in a system of violent patriarchy means men have hard questions to face about our "place" in the Christmas story. Indeed, in our sacred texts, Advent tells us solidarity looks like silence...
"Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape."
―bell hooks
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What all is happening at the Jordan River when John the Baptist baptizes the crowds and preaches with such, shall we say, intensity? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap with special guest Rev. M Barclay as they talk about Luke 3: 7-18. And don't worry, we don't call anyone a brood of vipers!
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Suddenly! Something’s coming. Something good. "Suddenly" is always right there, in the next moment, if we are willing to join in the heavenly host—the conspiracy of all that is—if we are willing to undergo the vulnerability we have been avoiding, if we are willing to step into the refiner’s fire.
Join Nichola Torbett for this dive into Malachi 3: 1-4 for the 2nd Sunday of Advent.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What if apocalyptic texts aren't about the world ending, but about the world turning? God is breaking in, disrupting things, and creating something new.
Join Rev. Kelsey Beebe in an exploration of this "apocalyptic" text from Luke 21 for the first Sunday of Advent.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Call to Action: Support BLOC: Black Leaders Organizing for Communities: https://www.blocbybloc.org/
How are we as white Christians questioning what has been told to us about, well, everything? Who are we listening to to build more liberatory futures? Join Rev. Sarah Howell-Miller as she digs into the questions around Christ the King Sunday, and where those questions can lead us as white Christians.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
When things are falling apart and it feels like the end times, how can we as white folks not get distracted, not be led astray from the work of liberation, and tend to the birthpangs of a new, more just, world being born? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap and new contributor Dr. Sharon Fennema for this conversation on "Mark's Little Apocalypse" (Mark 13: 1-8).
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Hey, everyone, this is Nichola. It seems as if half of the communities I know are in turmoil right now, mired in conflict or exhausted by the demands of holding together through the forced distancing, grief, and stress of a global pandemic. In this episode, I explore what the book of Hebrews--written during another divisive and stressful time--might offer us to help us navigate the strains and heal our relationships.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
White Christians, what layers of meaning have already been defined and forced on us as we grapple with the call to manifest dignity, solidarity, and liberation for and alongside all God’s beloved people? Join Rev. Seth Wispelwey as he wrestles with all these questions and more.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
"Sell what you own and give the money to the poor." What wisdom does autumn hold to help us as white folks better understand this famous story about a rich man, a camel and a needle's eye, the first being last, and Jesus? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap on this week's episode!
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What if the story in Genesis 2:18-24 of the Divine creating humans from one earthy being is not a story about binaries, or gender roles, or a hierarchy of men over women, but about wholeness? And community? And divine generosity? And what does any of that have to do with anti-racism? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap and special guest Rev. Kelsey Beebe for this fascinating conversation!
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Nichola Torbett (she/her) and Rev. Jean Jeffress (they/them) as they engage in a conversation on James 3:13 - 4:3, 7-8a about spiritual practice, checking our motives, and the ways white supremacy seeks to control us from the inside out.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
In this episode of The Word is Resistance, Min. Blyth Barnow brings reflections on substance use, stigma, and how the drug war defiles us all.
In this special episode of The Word is Resistance, we hear from Margaret Ernst about her experience at the the Treaty People Walk for Water on Anishinaabe land in present-day Minnesota, where indigenous leaders are leading the fight to Stop the Line 3 pipeline that threatens waterways and tribal sovereignty. This week is a critical moment in the struggle, and there are many roles to play.
**If you are in the Twin Cities region, join at the State capitol this Wednesday, August 25, or in Washington D.C on the same day: https://www.treatiesnottarsands.com
**Amplify this struggle to your networks and call on President Biden to step in and direct the Army Corps to cancel the Line 3 pipeline’s permits.
**If you're part of a congregation, you can organize an hour of action, with the tools and support of GreenFaith https://greenfaith.org/take-action/join-the-movement-to-stop-line-3-in-the-united-states/
Join Jean Jeffress as they explore different ideas about resisting the deathly forces of empire. Imagination, reclaiming language, and fabulous outfits feature in this episode, inspired by Ephesians 6:10-20.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
What would it mean for the land to rest? What would have to happen for that to be possible? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap as she explores the layers ofJudges 4-5, the story of Deborah and Jael defending their people.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Join Rev. Will Green as he asks what we want to put up on the walls where other images have been? If white supremacy and all of its associated accoutrements won’t protect us, what will?
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Let's be honest: The body of Christ is traumatized, and so are nearly all the people who make it up, and this makes it really hard for us to work together across systemic power differences. What might the disability justice movement have to teach us, in light of this reality, about what it means to "come to maturity to the full measure of the stature of Christ"?
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Rev. Margaret Ernst looks at Jesus’ feeding of the 5000 through the lens of mutual aid, and in a cautionary tale about supremacy in the guise of hospitality, unpacks Susan Raffo’s essay about how white, Christian women from the North moved on from abolition work to become staffers of Indian boarding schools - becoming arbiters of cultural genocide.
For Susan’s essay, “the lineages healers have to contend with.... working with ancestors of purpose” see: https://www.susanraffo.com/blog/the-lineages-healers-have-to-contend-with-working-with-ancestors-of-purpose
To take action, see resources for churches from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/healing/for-churches/
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Celebrate our 200th episode with 5 of our contributors! Each offers a reflection on Psalm 85:8-1, and what we’ve learned through our work on this podcast. What have we learned about ourselves, about the Bible, about white supremacy and the work we need to do? How has working on this podcast shaped us over time? What do we hope you, our audience, have learned? What commitments do we hope you’re holding now?
Join us in celebrating #200! Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Sometimes, when someone talks about a spiritual experience that seems "out there," I have dismissed it as "too woo." But what do we really mean when we call something "woo." Where does that designation come from? Who does it serve? And what political work does it do? Join Nichola Torbett in an exploration of the woo, in 2 Corinthians and beyond.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
"Where life is precious," says abolitionist Ruthie Wilson Gilmore, "life IS precious." Join Rev. Anne Dunlap as she explores what's happening in the healing stories of Mark 5:21-43. Hint: it is not what Christians have been taught!
Transcipt available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
In this episode, Rev. Claire thinks about the cosmic significance of Jesus calming the storm, and invites us to consider what our boats, storms, and fears might be in this season.
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
Petrosomatoglyphs are images of humans and animals carved into rock. What does this have to do with the Gospel of Mark's parables about good soil, seeds, and sowing, and our task as white Christians? Join Rev. Seth Wispelwey to find out!
Transcript available here: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/
How do we reckon with our history? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap and special guest Rev. Jennifer Butler, Executive Director of Faith in Public Life, as they talk about 1 Samuel 8, what happens when we choose kings over God's vision for just relationships, and how we reckon with the aftermath of that choice.
Transcript (partial) here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
How does the Acts 2 Pentecost story call us to action in solidarity with Palestine? Join Revs. Anne Dunlap and Claire Brown as they explore this story together.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Palestinians and people across the world are rising up for an end to Israel’s apartheid practices and its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. In this special episode of The Word is Resistance, Rev. Margaret Ernst features an interview with Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg. Rev. Margaret and Rabbi Jessica talk about being religious leaders in solidarity with Palestine, how that ties to working for racial justice and abolition in their own home communities, and the essential role for Christians to disrupt and take responsibility for the impact of Christian Zionism: an anti-semitic, anti-Muslim political project that fuels the occupation on the basis of a dangerous end-times vision of Christian supremacy.
Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg is an organizer, writer, and early-riser, currently rerooting on Dakota land in what is now known as south Minneapolis. She became a rabbi in order to learn her people’s diverse and nuanced histories, and to create spaces, rituals, tools, and organizing that help transform our relationships to past, present and future. She is on the rabbinical council for Jewish Voice for Peace.
To take action: call or take action at your lawmaker's office to support H.R. 2590, and the House Joint Resolution to block the proposed sale of $735 million in U.S. weaponry to the Israeli government.
For more information on Christian Zionism, see the countering Christian Zionism toolkit from Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)at https://countercufi.yuvi.in/ and sign up for SURJ’s webinar on Thursday, May 20th: Palestinian Liberation is a Racial Justice Issue. Register at www.bit.ly/PalestinianLiberation
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"The Movement for Black Lives is asking for us to abide in our love, deepen our moral imagination, and ask what God really wants for us. Does God want no knock warrants? Or does God want neighborhoods made safe by abundance? Made safe through enough food to eat, enough homes in which to sleep, enough money for rent and leisure, enough helping hands."
Join Blyth Barnow in this exploration of all the ways it means to abide in God's love.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
There is no well-paved highway between here and Beloved Community. Travel this week with Nichola Torbett out onto a wilderness road that might, just might, move us closer to the tender, tenuous possibility of mutual relationship and collaboration across racial lines. Warning: There are no perfect stories here!
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In this week's episode, Rev. Seth Wispelwey unpacks Jesus' words in John 10.11-18. We are asked to understand these words in context of our most recent litany of horrors on the streets as police continue to murder Black and brown people - adults AND children, and also what it means to be a Good Shepherd at the systemic and institutional level in the arena of health care - something we are all invested in and impacted by.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In Luke 24:36b-48, Jesus shows up to the disciples, resurrected. He eats some fish with them, and explains everything that has happened. He tells them they are his witnesses. Join Rev. Jean Jeffress as they as the question: how can there be witness in the whiteness?
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
What does the witness of Thomas speak to white folks embarking on antiracism work? Join Rev. Claire in this mini episode for some Eastertide reflections.
https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Margaret Ernst tells the Easter story from Mark through the fear and amazement of the women who find Jesus’ empty tomb. What if we lived as if Jesus were alive?
"What if systems of extraction and violence towards the earth and each other - including when it’s done in the name of Jesus - are not the only way?
What would it require of me? What if we lived as if God has rolled away the stone?"
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice?
For our Good Friday episode, Rev. Anne Dunlap discovers 3 signposts for our work as white anti-racist Christians in the long and terrifying story of Jesus' arrest and execution by Roman authorities in John 18-19.
The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.
For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice?
Palm Sunday is the story of the protest processional of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a Donkey and of an Imperial Parade with swords and shields gleaming in the desert sun. Join Jean Jeffress as they meander their way from last year's Pandemic Palm Sunday to this year's Pandemic Palm Sunday.
The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.
For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice?
In this episode, we welcome back Allyn Maxfield-Steele, in conversation with Seth Wispelwey, about John 12:20-33 and why (and how) white people need to get liberated from the lie of white supremacy.
The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.
For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice?
In this episode, we welcome back Blyth Barnow, in conversation with Anne Dunlap, about John 3:14-21 (yes, including lots of talk about that verse!), shame, and what's possible when we organize our people out of love for them, rather than fear of them.
The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.
For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice?
In this episode, Nichola Torbett feels around in this question: How do we create in our movements the kind of heartbreaking beauty that makes dismantling white supremacy irresistible for all white Christians?
The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.
For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.
Donate to support the work of SURJ and Soulforce: https://bit.ly/SURJSF
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? In this episode, join Rev. Will Green as he ponders Psalm 22 and how we hold our pain without turning away from each other.
The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.
For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
For special episodes of The Word is Resistance, listen in as podcast contributors join in self-reflection in community with each other. What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? In this conversation, Revs. Claire Brown and Jean Jeffress reflect on Mark 1:9-15, Jesus being driven into the Wilderness.
The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.
For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
For special episodes of The Word is Resistance, listen in as podcast contributors join in self-reflection in community with each other. What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? For our first conversation, Rev. Anne Dunlap, Nichola Torbett, and Rev. Margaret Ernst, reflect on Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, this years New Testament text for Ash Wednesday.
The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.
For an awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.
What are we to make of Jesus coming into the middle of multiple pandemics, and taking our hand and easing our fever? Why might the urgency of healing be so deeply felt by his community? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap for her take on Mark 1:29-39.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Margaret Ernst celebrates the Black, indigenous, and people of color-led movements and multi-racial coalitions which under Trumpian tyranny, succeeded in getting him out of office and which have put racial justice at the center of national public policy. In the spirit of that celebration and with belief in what can happen when we organize with clarity and purpose, she invites White Christians into supporting these movements for the long-haul and to align our own political strategy to stop how our identities as White Christians are weaponized to keep powers and principalities in place that hurt us all.
"Take a breath. The Good News of a world without White Christian Supremacy is real. It may seem impossible. But that’s what faith is for."
To learn more, explore the work of Political Research Associates, Catalyst Project, and SURJ's recent webinar "White Backlash" with Robin D.G. Kelly, available on SURJ's Facebook page from 1/13: https://www.facebook.com/ShowingUpForRacialJustice
Meanwhile, Take action to become a community co-sponsor of the BREATHE Act: https://breatheact.org/ and check out SURJ Faith's toolkit "Community Safety for All" at https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/community-safety-campaign.html
Join Jean Jeffress as they have no idea what to say in the wake of the attempted violent take over of the Capital. The chickens of hundreds years of white supremacist violence are coming home to roost. The love talked about in Psalm 139 is a resting place to which we need to invite our white cousins (perhaps after they are all held accountable). Did I mention they didn't know what to say?
Download the SURJ “Community Safety for All Congregational Action Toolkit” at https://actionnetwork.org/forms/community-safety-for-all-toolkit/. There will be a bit more info about it in the resource section of the transcript, which can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In a moment of national terror hiding behind giant crosses and "Jesus 2020" banners, it is more important than ever that we articulate as clearly and open-heartedly as possible the meaning we derive from the life, ministry, and death of Jesus. In this episode, Nichola Torbett explores baptism as a an entry point to a community of solidarity that has nothing to do with triumphalism and everything to do with vulnerability and risk.
Transcript available here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
SPOILER ALERT Hark! Jesus is Born!!!
After #AbolitionAdvent, Rev. Margaret Ernst shares a Christmas message for 2020: including stories of feeling shame at needing support and solidarity after loss, and reflections on something Rev. Lynice Pinkard said in a recent bible study that she can’t get out of her head: that in a world full of Empire and suffering, it’s not that God is not powerful. It’s that God needs more friends.
Our solidarity with God. God’s solidarity with us. Our solidarity with each other.
For a Christmas call to action, raise your voice to call for safety, and justice, for those who are incarcerated in a rapidly growing COVID-19 outbreak in Pennsylvania prisons, in a holiday season that has left so many of us isolated, but in drastically different ways. Learn more: https://www.decarceratepa.info/COVID-demands
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Join Rev. Drew Bongiovanni as she explores the annunciation text in the gospel of Luke for our series on advent. How is confession and repentance part of advent? How do we build love up inside ourselves to counter the culture of whiteness? How does Mary show us the way?
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"If Advent is about anything, it’s about the heartbreaking longing in the midst of despair because of oppression. It’s about looking at the world and longing for something different, something better than the violence of Babylon, or of Rome, or of the US."
Join Rev. Anne Dunlap for this week's episode in the #AbolitionAdvent series.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
What if COVID-19 is our King Cyrus, inviting us out on that highway back home to right relationship with sacred land, our God, and each other? What is the cost of our return, and how do we begin to pay it?
Buckle up; according to Nichola Torbett, "It's demolition time."
Transcript available here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
This is the first week of Advent, and we join with Isaiah and Jesus in asking God to intervene in our world for justice and flourishing.
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
How does white supremacy cloud our usual readings of the parable about the sheep and the goats? What are we to make of this idea of Christ as a ruler on a throne passing judgement? What sustenance might this parable give us for the marathon effort of holding president-elect Joe Biden accountable to the people? And what does all of this have to do with Christmas pudding?
To find out, join Nichola Torbett for this week's episode of The Word Is Resistance!
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Voices from the past can call us forward. Joshua tried to do that: with clarity and singularity of purpose. White people on this journey to freedom need to be clear and grounded too. Who invited you to antiracist collection action? Who are you calling in? Rev. Will Green reminds us this is a good time to return to our core truths and to grow this movement.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We're at a river crossing time, transitioning into new territory and work ahead. Rev. Claire Brown reminds us we can take hope in the knowledge that God is with us, and that God's people have been here before.
Check out the transcript at showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
We are in a time of much dying. How do we navigate it? What does it mean to get free of Egypt in such a time as this? Join Nichola Torbett in exploring these questions with help from the story of the death of Moses just outside the Promised Land.
Transcript available here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
"What do we do when everything falls apart? When stress and fear and uncertainty are running high? What happens then? Do we pull farther apart, Isolating ourselves away, Or do we do something else?"
In this take on Exodus 33:12-23, the tail end of the book of Exodus, Rev Anne Dunlap takes us on a journey with the people and Moses as they come into more vulnerable relationship with a God that shows up right among them, dwelling in a movable tent - not just on a mountaintop. What does intimacy in our covenants with each other, and with God, have to do with abolishing police and building community safety for all?
Get the Community Safety for All Toolkit here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/community-safety-for-all-toolkit/
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
The kingdom of heaven is like a wedding banquet. All are invited. You are invited. But not everyone honors the invitation. Some actively mock it. Some try to violently crush those who throw it. Good news: There is an end date to this evil. Hard news: we white folks especially don't know exactly how to feel about evil (white supremacy, etc) getting its comeuppance.
In this episode, Rev. Seth Wispelwey walks through a challenging text with some challenging, necessary words from Black Christians on this moment we find ourselves in, and where we are called to locate ourselves at the wedding party that dismantles evil systems and celebrates God's invitation to liberation and love for all...while letting God be God. And yes, we are discussing how the COVID pandemic plays into all of this.
Guiding scripture: Matthew 22.1-14.
Transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Jean Jeffress compares the covenant between God and people, and the covenant of white supremacy, and determines the white supremacy covenant asks us to forget who God is and who we are meant to be to each other.
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Get the Community Safety for All Toolkit here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/community-safety-for-all-toolkit/
Blyth Barnow continues our #JourneysToFreedom series by digging into a personal story of loss, the war on drugs, and its roots in white supremacy.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Speaking on the story of manna in the wilderness from Exodus 16:2-15, Rev. Margaret Anne Ernst opens up an honest conversation about money, divesting from white supremacy, and struggling to live into our values. What is the true scarcity that white supremacy creates, and what is the illusion of scarcity we can come to internalize that makes us believe there's not enough for all?
Transcript is here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
The people of Israel crossing the Red Sea to freedom has to be one of the most famous scenes in the Bible. It's the moment we've been waiting for in this #JourneysToFreedom series. Rev. Anne Dunlap finds lessons for white Christians in the exultant freedom song led by Miriam on the seashore.
Want to support SURJ-Faith and this podcast, as well as our brilliant movement partner JFREJ? Give here: https://bit.ly/JFREJSURJ
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Transcript
Dig into the description and instructions for Passover and consider what truths and symbols might speak to preparation, community connection, and adaptability in our work.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Moses is tending his flock in Midian when the God of his ancestors shows up in the form of a bush that is blazing yet not consumed, asking him to lead his people to freedom. Like the redwoods in California that are scorched but still standing, what can we learn from this image of God that can strengthen our commitment to fight for racial justice even - and especially - when sh*t hit gets real? In this next episode in our #JourneysToFreedom series, Rev. Margaret Ernst explores toughness and resilience for white folks in the work to end racism.
To take action, call for justice for Jacob Blake by calling Kenosha District Attorney: 262-653-2400, Michael.Graveley@da.wi.gov, Kenosha Mayor City Administrator: 262-653-4000, and mayor@kenosha.org, cityadministrator@kenosha.org Wisconsin DOJ: 608-266-1221.
Donate to support communities impacted by the August 2020 California fires:
Central Valley Mutual Aid & Collective Care Network https://centralvalleymutualaid.org
Undocufund https://undocufund.org
Transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Join Drew Bongiovanni for a discussion of Genesis 45:1-15 during our continued #journeystofreedom series. Let's talk about the moment when Joseph reunites with his brothers after so much betrayal, trauma, and anger. How do we as white folks rebuild relationship and trust when we have caused so much harm? How do we honor the grief of people of color as we work towards liberation?
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Seth Wispelwey offers a reflection on the occasion of the third anniversary of white supremacist violence in Charlottesville on August 11-12, 2017, with some lessons learned about how the call to show up then is very much still with us now.
Transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In this week's episode of our #JourneysToFreedom series, Nichola Torbett explores Jacob's wrestling match with an eye toward trauma, midlife, bodies, and disability justice. Whatever the future holds, it is likely that we will not arrive intact. And maybe that's not a bad thing.
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
When Rev. Anne Dunlap notices the editing, both original and modern, that silences the women in Genesis 29:15-28, she explores what happens to our understanding of the story and how it impacts our ability to envision and embody deeper freedom.
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
THE WORD IS RESISTACNE is focusing on biblical origin stories for the next few weeks. Join Jean Jeffress as they look past Jacob's distracting behavior, and turn a critical lens on this nation-building narrative in light of our own nation-building narrative. As always, it's God who moves the story forward, then and now.
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
DONATE TO SURJ https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/donate.html
Rev. Anne Dunlap starts our #JourneysToFreedom series with the "origin story" of Jacob and Esau. What wisdom does this messy, conflictual story have to help us understand "freedom" and how to get there?
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
How do we know what true peace is, when the "peace" most white folks are used to is the violent repression of Black and Brown people? Rev Margaret Ernst unpacks the political and prophetic context of Jeremiah's conflict with Hananiah, and pulls out critical questions this text may ask white people resisting racism.
To move towards peace with justice, learn about the Movement for Black Lives' platform to defund the police, take action, and talk with other white people about abolition: https://m4bl.org/defund-the-police/
To move resources, consider making a donation to our friends at Soulforce to resist Christian supremacy: https://bit.ly/SURJSF
Transcript on our website here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Abraham and Sarah laughed at God's vision and promise of new life.
Before we write them off, we are called to remember how white Christians - yes, liberal/progressive ones - have "laughed" at the idea that chattel slavery could be abolished, that segregation could be ended by militant nonviolent civil disobedience, and more.
Are we laughing at the idea of defunding, dismantling, and abolishing the police now? Or do we have faith, commitment, and strength enough to make real the "impossible" dreams of God again?
In this episode, Rev. Seth Wispelwey takes us into a place of rest and challenge through where we locate ourselves in this seismic living moment in history.
Oh, and defund, dismantle, and abolish the police.
Transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
No fancy exegesis this week; nothing to add to the ongoing analysis of the deep racial inequities in this country. Join Jean Jeffress as they speak from Genesis 1-2:4a on the importance of imagination - of speaking and creating during this time of pandemic and global uprisings against white supremacist police violence.
Link to my last podcast https://soundcloud.com/thewordisresistance/maundy-thursday-is-canceled
This week we sit with the heartbreak--the disciples' and our own. With contributor Nichola Torbett, we sit with our longing to be community together across racial lines, and we lament the all-to-real barriers to living into that. And we pray and lean into a trust that power is becoming available to us that will explode those barriers.
A transcript, including credits, references, and links, can be found at www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html.
Join Rev. Drew Bongiovanni for a discussion on Acts 1:6-14 exploring how white folks can combat the belief in individualism that keeps us from remembering that our liberation is bound up in the liberation of others. How can we use the power of gratitude and prayer to dismantle white supremacy? She also shares action steps you can take alongside SURJ members nationwide to call for Justice for Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
In this commentary on Acts 17:22-31, Rev. Margaret Ernst calls out racial capitalism as a god "made by human hands" that demands the sacrifice of black, brown, and poor bodies - and contaminates the White american imagination of freedom. What have you learned about freedom during the pandemic, and what kinds of freedom dreams can we invite our white family and church members into that are in solidarity with people of color? She also shares action steps you can take alongside SURJ members nationwide to call for Justice for Ahmaud Arbery.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God except through me."
In this episode, Rev. Seth Wispelwey discusses one of the most famous (and most misappropriated) sections and verses in Christian scripture, and how it's really a call to locate ourselves: our own belovedness and our own commission to manifest Godly goodness in today's world, even and especially during the pandemic and with our urgent call to dismantle white supremacy.
Ours is a call to know and love ourselves - to say and embody I AM.
Transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Who are we meant to be to each other? And what do gates have to do with abundant life? Rev. Anne Dunlap offers wisdom from her time working on a goat farm to illuminate this week's gospel reading from John 10 -- Jesus claiming to be the gate to the sheepfold, and that he has come so that all may have abundant life.
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
It may be Eastertide liturgically, but it still feels very much like Good Friday right now. How can we hold the tension of crucifixion and resurrection in such a way that it releases us into a free-fall of repentance? In this episode, Nichola Torbett explores how the early church did just that, creating beloved community and a new economic reality.
The transcript is here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
For the Second Sunday in Easter, Grace Aheron walks us through what the "doubting Thomas" Gospel reading from John has to teach us about this pandemic moment. What appears to be a story about faith in Jesus alone might actually be a story about understanding trauma, somatic experience, and collective community care... things very much alive in this COVID-19 moment.
The texts for this week are: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Psalm 16 1 Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31
Throughout the season between Easter and Pentecost, we'll be exploring what the text has to offer about these questions: Who are we meant to be to each other? What is the pandemic revealing to us?
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
What does hope and justice mean to us during this time of global pandemic? How do we, as white folks, acknowledge our fear and anxiety while continuing to work towards a resurrected world? Join contributor Drew Bongiovanni in reflecting on Matthew 28:1-10 this Easter.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Today Jesus is tried. Today Jesus is convicted. Today Jesus is sentenced. Today Jesus is executed.
What and who is on trial today? In the time of pandemic? Today we explore how Jesus' trial and crucifixion connect with the disproportionate number of deaths being experienced in the Black community to COVID-19.
Transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Maundy Thursday has been canceled. Join Jean Jeffress as they retell the story of Maundy Thursday in the context of a global pandemic. Maundy Thursday is canceled, but the empire is still feasting.
We need to keep organizing. Please make a donation to SURJ. You can do that here https://secure.actblue.com/donate/surj-jfrej
Empires do not love our bodies. The stories of the Valley of the Dry Bones (Ez 37), Lazarus (John 11), and Paul's letter to the Romans teach us this, and so much more. Join Rev. Anne Dunlap for this reflection on Divine love for our bodies in the time of Covid-19.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
As we continue into the season of Lent, join Drew Bongiovanni in exploring Exodus 17:1-7. As the Israelites face thirst and discomfort in the wilderness, how do we acknowledge the discomfort of dismantling white supremacy in our lives? Drew discusses the dynamic of scarcity for folks who hold privilege, and how Lent calls us to embrace abundance.
Transcript available here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
The call to embody solidarity until all are free from the oppression, racism, misogyny, and exploitation of Empire is a call that can and does lead to the cross. How does that most famous of Bible verses, John 3;16, speak to that reality? Join Rev. Seth Wispelwey on this journey.
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In the first week of Lent, Jesus is tempted by the devil in Matthew 4:1-11. Join Jean Jeffress as they explore how whiteness is one of the greatest tempters from which white folks cannot escape. How can we resist the temptation of whiteness? It's always about the use of power. Always.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Ash Wednesday's readings traditionally cover piety-- how to do it and how not to. This year, Grace Aheron explores what the historic contexts of Third Isaiah and Matthew might have to teach us about their messages, grounded in the framework of understanding the text as an elder in our community.
Full transcript on our website: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rosemarie Freeney Harding's teaching that "all that remains is love" helps us understand the role of the ancestors Moses and Elijah showing up for Jesus on the mountain, the observance we call "Transfiguration." Join Rev. Anne Dunlap as she reflects on the importance of calling on the ancestors in the struggle for justice.
Transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week's lectionary readings are the proclamation of God's commandments, a way of understanding justice that claims a transformation of our whole selves and community. In this episode, the Rev. Claire Brown asks, how do we connect our soul work and our social action in light of these texts?
Find the full transcript here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
When we read Isaiah 58, it’s easy for people to say that the problem is some interior, spiritual problem. Join Rev. Will Green in this exploration of a powerful prophetic text that calls us to live differently.
Transcripts can always be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We welcome new contributor Rev. Seth Wispelwey, who explores the juxtaposition of the Beatitudes in this week's lectionary readings, with the "US High Holy Days" of the Super Bowl.
Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
There is something on the other side of the end of the world. Rev. Anne Dunlap discovers belovedness running like currents through the servant song of Isaiah 42 and Jesus's baptism.
Transcript with action links can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Special gratitude to Jan Richardson for her blessing "Beloved is Where We Begin," from her book "Circle of Grace" and on her website here: https://paintedprayerbook.com/2016/02/11/lent-1-beloved-is-where-we-begin/ (c) Jan Richardson janrichardson.com
The story of the magi, King Herod, and newborn Jesus can help us decide who we want to emulate. Rev. Will Green draws out lessons for white folks from the Epiphany story.
Transcripts available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
A vicious and unstable ruler and a refugee family fleeing violence—Matthew 2's story of the magi, Herod, child Jesus, and the flight to Egypt seems unnervingly insightful these days. The Rev. Claire Brown digs into this passage with a particular interest in what wisdom the Magi have to offer white folks resisting white supremacy.
Transcripts of each episode are available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"We need to have symbols that unsettle us." Join new contributor Grace Aheron in letting the symbol of a radical Mary unsettle us this Advent.
Transcripts are always available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
John the Baptist has questions from his prison cell about Jesus. Is he the one for whom John has been waiting, or should he wait for another? Jean Jeffress explores John's questions and has a few of her own as seeking the Kingdom of God in the deep racial and economic inequity of the "liberal" Bay Area is not always what it seems.
Transcripts of each episode are available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Everybody is gathering at the Jordan River with John the Baptist, including some folks we might be surprised to see -- Pharisees and Sadducees. Rev. Anne Dunlap reckons with her own surprise and learns that freedom movements are messy and we don't always agree, but we need all of us in order to survive the wrath of Rome.
Transcripts of each episode are available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Yes, a storm is coming, or rather, a storm is upon us. But someone's been building an ark! Listen in to hear how podcaster Nichola Torbett discovered Advent hope in the midst of an intense movement week.
Transcripts including references, copyright information, and additional resources can we found at www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html.
Telling the truth about the world also means celebrating our real successes. Are we lifting up the victories in our movements when they happen? Let's celebrate!
Transcript with action links here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Locust armies and blood moons -- what is the prophet Joel up to? Are we paying attention to the signs of the seasons? Are we listening to those with visions of a new world?
Transcript with action links here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
What if the only people who can see the way out of the crisis we are in are people we never listen to? What if our salvation, literally our salvation right here on this planet, relies upon our willingness to listen to what poor people have to say and to honor their self-determination?
In this episode, contributor Nichola Torbett seeks out the wisdom of Lisa "Tiny" Gray-Garcia, formerly houseless founder of Poor Magazine/the Poor News Network and Homefulness, at a moment when the White House is threatening more concentration camps, this time for poor people.
Transcripts including references, copyright information, and additional resources can we found at www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html.
Let's get real about climate destabilization and our future. Not naive. Not pessimistic. John Bergen invites us to consider honestly what we can win and what Jeremiah, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and our own moment can teach us.
Transcripts with resources and action links can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
What does reconciliation mean in the context of climate devastation? Rev. Anne reflects on her recent trip to Santa Fe and how that deepened her understanding of this week's lectionary texts.
Transcript with action links here as always: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Jeremiah 18 and Paul's Letter to Philemon are the texts this week. They are brought into dialogue with the recently released "1619 Project" and some definitions from Ibram Kendi's "How To Be An Antiracist" to help us better understand, and resist, racism.
Transcripts with action links are always available on our website: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
The fire of human sacrifice is raging, brought not by Jesus and not by the oppressed people who are rising up in resistance but by those who would worship at the altar of white supremacy and rely upon that idol for their safety and prosperity.
And we need to decide which side we are on.
This is what time it is.
Join Nichola Torbett for an exploration of what it might involve to fight fire with (refiner's) fire.
Transcript with action links here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
In Arkansas, a mother is radicalized into a Neo-Nazi group when the group pledges support to her son who is in jail. In Tennessee, a neighborhood joins arm in arm to block an ICE raid to prevent their neighbor from being deported. Reading Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 in the aftermath of yet more white supremacist terrorism, Margaret Ernst talk about these stories through the lens of choices white people can make in this moment towards drastically different ends in how we mobilize relationships and resources of love, hope, and faith: either towards collective liberation and racial justice, or violent white identity politics and genocide.
"You don't have to join the world of the lynchers. You have a choice." -Anne Braden
Transcript with action links here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"I gave my heart up to despair," say the Teacher who also claims all is vanity and there is nothing new under the sun. What might the Teacher in Ecclesiastes have to teach us about despair, and why is that important in the work for dismantling white supremacy?
Full transcripts with resources are always available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Margaret Ernst explores what happens when a unfunded farm worker prophet from the Kingdom of Judah dares to speak up at the capitol building. What might happen when we listen to those that tell the truth at centers of power in our moment in history, and dare to change our lives because of it? Because our problem is not civil disobedience, it’s civil obedience.(Howard Zinn)
Transcript with action links here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
With concentration camps on our border and dire climate projections coming out nearly weekly now, it can be hard to sustain hope. But what if the Kingdom of God really has drawn near, and all we have to do to step into it is to...welcome the stranger who will change everything?
Transcript with action links here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
John Bergen unpacks three stories of oxen, plows, fire, big asks, and leadership.
Transcript with action links here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Anne Dunlap asks, what if this story [about the Gerasene Demoniac] is about someone who recognizes they are caught in the middle of Roman imperial power plays, enjoying benefits -- peace, law and order, economic stability -- bought through violence perpetrated against others, and decides they don’t want to be a part of that anymore?
The transcript includes action links and resources: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
For Pentecost, Rev. Sarah Jordan digs into the story of the Tower of Babel, looking for the workers’ side of the story, and how God shows up to tear down empire's towers.
Plenty of resources for action are in the transcript, as always: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In this episode, contributor Margaret Ernst sings a little, and connects the function of water in texts from Acts and Revelation to global water struggles and environmental racism, from Honduras to Detroit. Take action by supporting the Berta Cáceres Human Rights Act: www.bertacaceres.org.
Why is imperial mainstream Christianity so anxious about replacing and being replaced? How might actually be going on in Acts 11 besides a replacement? John Bergen goes on a rant and then explores some alternatives.
In this week's episode, Nichola Torbett shocks herself with a revelation about Revelation 7: 9-17 that leads her into an extended meditation on love, "ugliness," and surviving apocalypse.
Transcripts of every episode, with action links and more resources, can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
At the end of John's gospel, Jesus makes breakfast for some of his community by the lakeshore. What can we learn from the grace he offers to Simon Peter in their exchange, which tradition says "undoes" Peter's triple denial of knowing Jesus during his mockery of a trial? Rev. Anne Dunlap offers her reflections.
Action links and other resources can always be found in the transcript: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
For the second Sunday of Easter, Margaret Ernst explores the role of trusting God as a practice of resisting white supremacy, and the difference between healthy doubt that keeps us vigilant and toxic doubt that leads us to obsess over proof of outcomes while missing signs of resurrection.
Check out the call to action for people of faith to participate in this year's Black Mamas Bailout: https://medium.com/@BlackLivesUU/black-mamas-bailout-a-call-to-action-to-all-people-of-faith-92d3b3ad308d
Other action resources and the full transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
How do we preach resurrection in Good Friday times? How do we embody resurrection when crucifixion still happens daily, multiple times a day? How do we live a resurrection that does not glorify a white, imperial, supercessionist, death-dealing victory?
These are the questions our podcast contributors are reflecting on in this episode. Will Green, Anne Dunlap, and Margaret Ernst each have a resistance Word to bring you this Easter.
The links to calls to action and other resources can always be found in the transcript: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
We are in Holy Week, and the story of Jesus’s last days are full of anguish, betrayal, denial, Pilate’s cynical manipulation of the situation to extinguish a threat to Rome...and, love and solidarity and women who refuse to abandon Jesus. The story is full of humanity, at its best and its worst.
For Good Friday, three of our podcast contributors -- John Bergen, Nichola Torbett, and new contributor Sarah Jordan -- will be reflecting on the crucifixion of Jesus and of brown and Black people today. What does crucifixion mean in his day, and in ours? What does it mean for those of us who are positioned as white? What should our response, our action be?
Check the transcript for links to take action: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
If the procession we read about on Palm Sunday was a direct action aimed at collective liberation, what was it meant to achieve, and where are we who are white positioned in relationship to it? What is the spiritual work we need to do in order to be more faithful participants?
The transcript for this and every episode may be found here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
While white supremacy and capitalism trap us in scarcity, God offers us a new (and very old) world already in the making.
Paul’s call for Christians to be reconciled with God implies structural change, not just interpersonal healing of division. In this episode, contributor Margaret Ernst claims that reparations are an essential part of the ministry of reconciliation called for by Paul in 2nd Corinthians.
A reflection on Luke 13: 1-9 from an anti-racist perspective. What is at stake when in our preaching and theological reflection we decide to engage current events, or not? When do we just need to take swift, clear action? When do we need to temper our passion with patience?
The transcript for this and every episode may be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
What happens when we look honestly at our problematic ancestors? How do we think and talk about Abraham, recognizing that he founded a people who would colonize Canaanite land? Is there a way that we can redeem our ancestors and become the ancestors our descendants need us to be? And what does any of this have to do with the college admissions scandal that broke this week?
John Bergen looks at how we must shed our theology of imperialism this Lenten season.
Transcript and resources for action can be found here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
Rev. Anne Dunlap offers an Ash Wednesday reflection and call to action that remind that we are made of the stuff of the earth, and that Ash Wednesday is the call to return to wholeness.
Transcript and resources for action can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"White supremacy, is a violent distortion of memory. It is why I did not understand the connection between a whitewashed Jesus and the occupation of Palestine." Blyth Barnow takes on Luke 9:28-36 and tells a story about Mt Tabor, Transfiguration, and the occupation of Palestine.
Check out the transcript here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
"Creativity is key...abusers, bosses, and colonizers are disturbingly creative, and so resistance must be creative, too." John Bergen takes on the challenging Luke 6 teaching, "Turn the Other Cheek," as a practice of defiance for asserting humanity and dignity in the face of violence and occupation.
Check out the transcript here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Podcaster Nichola Torbett recently discovered, much to her dismay, that she actually "trusts in the flesh" more than in God, and that white supremacy nearly guarantees that. What does this have to do with blessings, curses, beatitudes, and collective liberation? Listen in to find out!
The dominant history of what it has meant to be “fishers of men” has been laced with Christian Supremacy and colonialism. But what if instead we brought a fervor of evangelism to bringing white people into racial justice movement? In this episode, Margaret Ernst looks at how Luke 5:1-11 asks us to cast our nets deep and wide to catch our people for the work of liberation.
Transcript with credits, copyright information, and links to more resources available on our website: www.showingupforracialjustice.org.
A critique of Psalm 71 and making "emergency calls to God". Also, turning to the gospel reading from Luke 4, don't worry about being a badass. Organize instead.
"All the people means ALL the people." Rev. Anne Dunlap reflects on Nehemiah 8 (no really!)and Luke 4 as invitations to keep expanding our imaginations about what it means to be human, what it means to be free, and what "all the people" can really mean.
Action link to support folks impacted by the government shutdown: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N7vhcF7syIOv7vR4EZ5w1G7NzdRm9SVRJ8pplu_x3qc/edit?usp=sharing
Transcript here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
John Bergen explores strategies for building movements that welcome in differing gifts and strategies.
Transcript with credits, copyright information, and links to more resources available on our website: www.showingupforracialjustice.org.
Join Nichola Torbett in exploring the unclaimed radical power of baptism.
Transcript with credits, copyright information, and links to more resources available on our website: www.showingupforracialjustice.org.
This week's lectionary focuses on the Epiphany in Matthew 2. We explore and affirm "other ways of knowing" and imagine what it would mean to translate the politics of the body that surround the Epiphany into today's struggle for immigration justice, especially for children.
From contributor Haven Herrin of Soulforce. The transcript may be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Anne Dunlap's favorite Christmas carol asks "Shepherds, why this jubilee?" Rev. Anne reflects on the story of the angels announcing good news to the shepherds in Luke 2 and asks what "good news" might cause the shepherds to jubilee, and what that means for us as white folks in the 21st century.
Transcript here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"I can't think about the Magnificat this week without thinking about Jakelin." Rev. Anne Dunlap says that Mother Mary's revolutionary song, the "Magnificat," describes a world safe for children, including her own, and including children like Jakelin Caal Maquin, the 7 year old Maya Q'eqchi girl who died in US border patrol custody this month.
Take action to investigate Jakelin's death here: http://www.justiceforjakelin.org/
Transcript with other resources etc. is here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Will Green reads against the story of John the Baptist in Luke 3 to offer tools for white folks deepening our activism, and draws connections to immigration and the migrant caravan as well.
Transcript is available here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Can we find the courage to allow those things to collapse that must collapse in order for white supremacy and patriarchy to die?
In this episode, Nichola Torbett explores what our apocalyptic Advent text for this week has to teach us about radical letting go.
Find the transcript here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
The transcript with action links and references can be found here: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
In this week's podcast, Rev. Anne Dunlap takes on the mash-up of "Christ the King" Sunday and the national "Thanksgiving" holiday that fall within days of each other. How do we as white Christians start to reckon with 2 traditions that have caused so much harm?
The transcript with action links and references can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week Haven Herrin reflects on how the stories of Hannah and her child Samuel might offer white people tools for dismantling white supremacy and white privilege.
The transcript with action links can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Amidst the pain and grief of white supremacist attacks on Jewish people, black people, and trans and non-binary people, we are reminded that we still have the power of choice: To choose to resist, to welcome, to seek liberation.
For all those murdered in the past two weeks, may their memories be a blessing. Transcripts with links to the actions can be found at: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html.
Whiteness would have us avoid the situations, people and realities that the gospel calls us to engage. When there is conflict between whiteness and the call from God (as there always is), white people need to question and ultimately reject whiteness. This week's readings from Isaiah 53 and Mark 10 are good resources for such reflection. Also, BAIL EVERYONE OUT OF JAIL!
Transcript available here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
How can we make good use of the deepening crisis in the United States as Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court? Can this actually serve God's love and justice? In this episode, Job joins Christine Blasey Ford and others undergoing unearned suffering to point the way.
Transcripts with links to the actions can be found at: www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
Haven Herrin takes on the story of Job and makes connections to the violent legacy of columbus and how sexual violence is a tool of colonization. "Racial violence, sexual violence, and the violence of colonization are intrinsically bound."
Transcripts with links to the actions can be found at: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
The week Rev. Anne Dunlap works through the story of Esther and how power is used for both domination and resistance. Vashti and Esther's powerful "NO" is a prophetic vision of a different world from the one they live in. They prompt us to ask ourselves, "what is our resistance for, anyway? For better access to domination? Or for building up a whole new world?"
The transcript, with action links supporting local, grassroots recovery efforts in North Carolina and Lawrence, MA, can be found at: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In the age of #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #TimesUp, and so many other movements for justice, what does Wisdom, as a harbinger of the Divine Feminine, have to say to us about anger--its expression and reception?
Join Nichola Torbett as she explores this question in light of Serena Williams treatment at the U.S. open and the many movements currently afoot.
The transcript with action links and resources is here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
As always, the transcript of this episode is available on our website: showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
Join Blyth Barnow as she explores the story of Doubting Thomas. When it comes to racism and white supremacy, white doubt is often a wounding thing. So what would it cost us to believe?
See our website for the transcript of this and other episodes. showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
We are descendants of a lineage of people using what privilege they had to take on an unjust system, whether through advocacy, direct action, or revolution. Here, in this moment, and in the place where you are, what will you do?
Transcript with action links available here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
What do this week's texts have to offer us when the whole armor of white supremacy shows up to threaten our work towards collective liberation, and how we nourish ourselves for doing this work for the long haul? Check out what Rev. Anne has been reflecting on about all this.
Transcript with action ideas available here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Does the progressive church have a meaningful alternative to offer that can counter the pseudo-meaning people derive from white supremacy and white nationalism?
In this episode, Nichola Torbett takes an honest look at what we need to develop and who we need to become as followers of Jesus in order to defeat white supremacy in the longterm.
Community Safety for All Campaign https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DmDS5v0zjHckC77nF4JJUJZPLkgZ9tVPmnc8aKgNgZ8/edit SURJ Chapter List: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/chapters-and-affiliates.html Charlottesville Community Resilience Fund https://secure.actblue.com/donate/resilience-fund. 40 Ways to Fight Nazis http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/disrupting-white-nationalists.html. "We Need the Funk" by Rev. Lynice Pinkard: http://www.firstoakland.org/audio/2009/2009_08_16_pastor_lynice_we/
Transcript available at www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html
As the 1st Anniversary of white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, VA approaches, John Bergen interviews a Charlottesville organizer about how we got to this moment, what the community faced on A12, and how they have built networks of care and resilience in the aftermath of trauma.
Resources for supporting Charlottesville: https://congregatecville.com/call-to-action-for-people-of-faith/ https://secure.actblue.com/donate/resilience-fund https://cvilleresistance2018.wordpress.com/ https://www.facebook.com/surjcville/ https://twitter.com/surj_cville?lang=en
Transcript available at http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week's podcast, brought to the table by Haven Herrin of Soulforce, explores how the miracles, for example the manna in the desert and the fishes and loaves, function to bind a people together in a specific time and place. While we need to dream of the wild world of liberation and the end to white supremacy for sustenance, there is no substitute for doing the work....and our work and gifts are so needed right now as the one-year anniversary of white supremacist terror in Charlottesville nears.
This week, John Bergen interviews Betsy Morgan about her experience organizing her congregation in the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980s and how abundance shows up in our relationships.
"Come away and rest for a while." What might Jesus's collective call to rest have to teach us as white folks where our worth as human beings is rooted? Rev. Anne says, "If we’re doing the work in the hopes of proving our worth, Then get in the boat with Jesus."
Links to the Mr. Rogers song mentioned: “Sometimes I Wonder If I’m A Mistake,” from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Episode 1578. Lyrics: http://www.neighborhoodarchive.com/music/songs/sometimes_wonder_mistake.html Video: https://youtu.be/x6XAP_VThhk
Transcript for this episode available here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Reflections on the David's dance and the dance before Herod. How can these stories help us reflect on the ways we dance and demonstrate within the movement? Here is the link to the article "It's Not Civil Disobedience if You Ask for Permission". https://truthout.org/articles/its-not-civil-disobedience-if-you-ask-for-permission/ Here is a Jericho walk toolkit from the New Sanctuary Coalition. https://ravidefense.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/jericho-walk-toolkit.pdf
This week Rev. Anne Dunlap draws the connection between Jesus being unwelcome in his hometown and teaching his team to shake off the dust from their feet when they are unwelcome (Mark 6: 1-13), with some Langston Hughes and Dr. Vincent Harding to help us think about all of this in the context of the 4th of July.
"This empire that holds the truths of white supremacy and capitalism to be self-evident is a space where compassionate community is unwelcome. This empire is a space that tries to sap us of our collective power..."
Action links: *"Let America Be America Again," by Langston Hughes https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/let-america-be-america-again
***"Civil Rights Figure Talks Nonviolence and Faith in Today's Society," by John Dear, National Catholic Reporter, June 26, 2012. https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/civil-rights-figure-talks-nonviolence-and-faith-todays-society
***Mijente Immigration Policy Platform https://mijente.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Mijente-Immigration-Policy-Platform_0628.pdf
Transcript can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Haven Herrin, Director of Soulforce, explores how white folks can hold power as a resource in community–not over or under-selling our agency–by having courageous and vulnerable relationships that guide us in using privilege and access for solidarity and collective liberation.
Find the transcript for this episode here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
John Bergen discusses David and Goliath, throwing stones at oppressors, and how we so often turn to throwing stones at each other instead of building a movement that can transform this world.
The transcript for this episode can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week offers us a great opportunity to talk with other white folks about power--how we use it, abuse it, deny it, give it away, or harness it. Listen along as Nichola explores some of what the Israelites' request for a king has to say to our own relationship to power.
"Power is not a feeling but a systemic reality with which we must grapple. If we don't, we will abuse it."
In this episode Margaret Ernst looks at Isaiah's call story and ask what it means for truth to burn out of people's lips. What happens when prophetic fire and rage is directed at us when we are complicit with and perpetuate racism? Will we let it change and transform us, or put up our defenses? She also shares updates about an extreme anti-immigrant bill that is becoming law in Tennessee, called HB2315.
My name is Haven Herrin and I am excited to join The Word is Resistance crew with my first podcast for the project. This session focuses on Pentecost, a time of rejuvenation, gratitude, and full-body experiences. A good time to get out of our heads, appreciate different ways of knowing, and build strong relationship.
In this week's episode Rev. Anne Dunlap reflects on her homesickness for the South and the connections that might have to the reading from John's gospel: Jesus's prayer for his people before his arrest.
"Rather like John’s gospel, The South can be a complicated place. Though not really any different than any other place In this country, cuz let’s be real, white supremacy Is not limited to south of the Mason-Dixon line."
Check out the links for action in the transcript, which can be found at http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
The story of Paul and Cornelius is one of those stories that shows a lack of interest in the long-term transformation of the privileged. John Bergen asks us how we show up after the moment of transformation, after we have been invited into struggle.
The transcript and links for resources is available here: http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
A beautiful reflection from Blyth Barnow on the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch asserting their power and worth; Barnow draws powerful connections with the demands white supremacy impose on us and harm reduction strategies for drug use.
See our website for the transcript of this and other episodes. http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
This week Rev. Allyn Maxfield-Steele reflects on what it means to be sheep protected by gates and good shepherds - that we as communities are meant to be whole, and not torn apart by systems of state violence. The action alert ties in to ICE raids that are happening around Appalachia.
Links for the action alert can be found in the transcript here: http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
Rev. Will Green has some thoughts about the story of Thomas told in John 20.
Transcript will be available here: http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
In this episode, contributor Nichola Torbett muses about how the Easter appearance stories give us an opportunity to explore our relationship to bodies--our own and others'.
In our Easter podcast, Rev. Anne Dunlap explores the grief of Mary Magdalene as a key to understanding the resurrection of Jesus.
"And it is The Magdalene, Grieving from the depths of her shattered heart, Who gets to see Jesus. The Magdalene, Whose grief is affirmed by angels And by Jesus alike. The Magdalene who is given a message, The Magdalene who is sent, The Magdalene who announces -- "
The call to action this week to to check out SURJ-Faith's "Community Safety for All" campaign: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith
Transcript is available here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
This week we take on Holy Week texts for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday in the final podcast with contributors to RESIPISCENCE: A LENTEN DEVOTIONAL TO DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY. Listen in! (And thanks for your patience with some sound issues).
To order the devotional, visit www.transformnetwork.org/bookstore/
To learn more about the SURJ-Faith campaign "Community Safety for All," visit www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith?pl…ootsuite
Here are more resources to support your work to end racialized policing:
Campaign Description Resource+FAQs: docs.google.com/document/d/1SP0Lb…lpgWTwY5mue8/edit
Political Ed Resource List: docs.google.com/document/d/110e_1…1cHPvxyPD8Vg/edit
Whew, we had some church in this episode! This week we take on Palm Sunday and Passion texts with contributors to RESIPISCENCE: A LENTEN DEVOTIONAL TO DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY. Listen in!
To order the devotional, visit www.transformnetwork.org/bookstore/
To learn more about the SURJ-Faith campaign "Community Safety for All," visit www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith?pl…ootsuite
Here are more resources to support your work to end racialized policing:
Campaign Description Resource+FAQs: docs.google.com/document/d/1SP0Lb…lpgWTwY5mue8/edit
Political Ed Resource List: docs.google.com/document/d/110e_1…1cHPvxyPD8Vg/edit
In this Lenten episode of our podcast, we continue to hear from contributors to RESIPISCENCE: A LENTEN DEVOTIONAL TO DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY. This week, Vahisha Hasan and Nichola Torbett discuss the lectionary scriptures for March 18 with four of this week's writers.
To order the devotional, visit www.transformnetwork.org/bookstore/
To learn more about the SURJ-Faith campaign "Community Safety for All," visit www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith?pl…ootsuite
Here are more resources to support your work to end racialized policing:
Campaign Description Resource+FAQs: docs.google.com/document/d/1SP0Lb…lpgWTwY5mue8/edit
Political Ed Resource List: docs.google.com/document/d/110e_1…1cHPvxyPD8Vg/edit
Countering Anti-Semitism Resource List: docs.google.com/document/d/1__EmY…7YtrAxI2PTCY/edit
In this Lenten episode of our podcast, we continue to hear from contributors to RESIPISCENCE: A LENTEN DEVOTIONAL TO DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY. This week, Vahisha Hasan and Nichola Torbett discuss the lectionary scriptures for March 11 with six of this week's writers.
To order the devotional, visit www.transformnetwork.org/bookstore/
To learn more about the SURJ-Faith campaign "Community Safety for All," visit www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith?pl…ootsuite
Here are more resources to support your work to end racialized policing:
Campaign Description Resource+FAQs: docs.google.com/document/d/1SP0Lb…lpgWTwY5mue8/edit
Political Ed Resource List: docs.google.com/document/d/110e_1…1cHPvxyPD8Vg/edit
Countering Anti-Semitism Resource List: docs.google.com/document/d/1__EmY…7YtrAxI2PTCY/edit
In this Lenten podcast to accompany the devotional RESIPISCENCE: A LENTEN DEVOTIONAL TO DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY, Vahisha Hasan and Nichola Torbett discuss the lectionary scriptures for March 4 with all seven of this week's writers.
To order the devotional, visit www.transformnetwork.org/bookstore/
To learn more about the SURJ-Faith campaign "Community Safety for All," visit www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith?pl…ootsuite
Here are more resources to support your work to end racialized policing:
Campaign Description Resource+FAQs: docs.google.com/document/d/1SP0Lb…lpgWTwY5mue8/edit
Political Ed Resource List: docs.google.com/document/d/110e_1…1cHPvxyPD8Vg/edit
Countering Anti-Semitism Resource List: docs.google.com/document/d/1__EmY…7YtrAxI2PTCY/edit
In this first Lenten podcast to accompany the devotional RESIPISCENCE: A LENTEN DEVOTIONAL TO DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY, Vahisha Hasan and Nichola Torbett discuss the lectionary scriptures with five of this week's writers.
To order the devotional, visit https://www.transformnetwork.org/bookstore/
To learn more about the SURJ-Faith campaign "Community Safety for All," visit http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith?platform=hootsuite
Here are more resources to support your work to end racialized policing:
Campaign Description Resource+FAQs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SP0LbKKEnnJm_IJq-SqkFRoxGgWXo_TlpgWTwY5mue8/edit
Political Ed Resource List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/110e_1eVJm9eUHI2rXS01Pw68IPDK67u1cHPvxyPD8Vg/edit
Countering Anti-Semitism Resource List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1__EmYAp9wp83p2orbDRUaP-yZmpCNmT7YtrAxI2PTCY/edit
In this week's episode, Nichola Torbett discusses Jesus' healing miracles as nonviolent direct actions intervening in the social systems that create isolation and suffering.
Transcript available at showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
Rev. Anne goes back to the Epiphany story and wonders what lessons there are for white folk in the mistake the magi make by taking their eyes off the star and talking to Herod. What lessons from Rev. Dr. King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" help us as white folk to stay on the path that leads to freedom for all?
Transcript available at http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
The Snatch Back: When Christian Supremacy is Stealing Your God
Audio recording of our SURJ-Faith training call on Jan 8, 2018.
Our friends at Soulforce explored with participants the important role of the church in reclaiming the Divine from systems of power and violence. We worked together to connect our ethics and theology to a paradigm shift in the imagination of community security.
Topics of discussion included: How is God being co-opted by systems of power (like white supremacy and heteropatriarchy) that perpetuate violence and death, especially in policing? How can we tease out the difference between police officers and the larger policing system? How have churches been complicit or coerced into participating in the policing system, and what is the role of churches to change this disturbing reality and to create a different future that is truly in line with our politics, ethics, and theology?
Such good stuff we wanted to share as widely as possible. No transcript available at this time.
Reflections from Will on this week's lectionary texts: the call of Samuel and how Jesus calls us to "come and see". It can be confusing and cause great conflict when we are called, especially as we do not know what the future will bring.
Transcript available at http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
In the season of Christmas, we renew ourselves with joy and recommit to justice. Reflecting with Isaiah, Simeon and Anna helps us to stay focussed on our calling to resist white supremacy and racism.
Several of our contributors got together to chat about what they find to be radical about the Christmas story, including the downward mobility of God, the importance of the particularity of Jesus's identity, and Mary's revolutionary lullabies. Our text for the conversation was Luke 1: 26-56, which includes Mary's consent and the Magnificat.
The transcript may be found here: http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
Bethlehem is real. It is an occupied city in the West Bank of Palestine.
This week Blyth Barnow reflects on the city of Bethlehem, after having been able to visit there last year.
Below are resources mentioned in the podcast.The transcript for this episode may be found at showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
Additional Reading - Read the Kairos Document by Kairos Palestine http://www.kairospalestine.ps/index.php/about-us/kairos-palestine-document - Learn about the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign https://bdsmovement.net/ - Learn about Christian Zionism http://www.christianzionism.org/article/wagner02.asp - Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes by Mitri Raheb - Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation by Naim Stifan Ateek - The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life - The Ancient Practices Series by Joan Chittister
Action Steps - Donate to Kairos Palestine: http://www.kairospalestine.ps/ - Dontate to YWCA in Palestine: http://www.ywca-palestine.org/support-ywca-palestine.php - Learn about IJAN (International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network): http://www.ijan.org/ - Learn about Jewish Voices for Peace: https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/
What does it mean that the "Son of Man coming on a cloud with great power and glory" is not white? (Because He's not.)
What if we really took that seriously? How would we spend this Advent? How might we reorient our lives?
The transcript for this episode may be found at http://showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
Join Nichola Torbett in this exploration as we enter into this first week of Advent in Year B.
Check out the transcript with action ideas and resource links here: showingupforracialjustice.org/podcast
On this week's special episode, 3 of our podcast team talk together about how they learned the true history of "thanksgiving" and how we as white Christians can imagine and practice alternatives to perpetuating a narrative that legitimizes colonization and erases genocide.
"I also was thinking about the fact that this idea of coming to table is so deep within Christian tradition, and that the Eucharistic table, the communion table, has been both a place where stories are told of that God has done or what we understand God to have done, and also what God will do, as sort of an eschatological imagination, and that table also has been a tool of empire, and also, at its heart, was a site of imperial memory. And so I don’t know if this is leading to any kind of concrete suggestions for what folks should do, but I think what I’m holding is the importance of memory and eating together and really just sinking into the anti-imperial sides of our traditions and the places where we gather at table."
Check out the transcript with action ideas and resource links here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Will Green considers the story of Deborah in the Book of Judges and finds resources to offer white people being called in to fight racism.
"Think of the chant you might have learned in the streets, “When Black Lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” The answer to that call “When Black Lives are under attack” is not, “we ask the leaders to use less violent sounding phrasing because our feelings are more important than what other people are suffering under.” No, it’s stand up fight back. We fight back.
There is something for me that resonates with this simple truth and the story of Deborah calling people into battle."
The transcript for this episode can be found at http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
On this week's episode, Rev. Anne Dunlap looks at the lectionary texts and wonders why the reading from the Wisdom of Solomon doesn't seem to fit in.
"What if Lady Wisdom is meant to be at the center, Casting the other texts into contrast with Her, Instead of the other way around, Where She is compared with the patriarchal center And found wanting?... But what if Lady Wisdom is meant to be at the center, And we read the other texts through Her radiance? What happens then?"
The transcript with links for action, resources, and credits can be found at http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In this podcast on Matthew 23:1-13, Margaret Ernst reports back on counteractions to white supremacist rallies in Tennesee - and calls us to question the gospel of Matthew's prejudices against the scribes and Pharisees to evoke a deeper vision of what it means to be a "servant," or "diakonos," to movements for liberation.
You can find the transcript with links to actions and resources here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Allyn Steele on Matthew 22: 34-46 -- "There are some interpersonal and structural things among white people that I think are worth acknowledging in light of this text. If you’ve ever been in activist spaces where white people are trying to work through steps to take, then you’ve experienced—either personally or in someone else—the thick anxiety of “having to offer the right answer.” But the notion that “answering right” all the time is a trick of the empire, not a goal of the mystery of God."
Links to the action items are available in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor?" In this week's podcast, Margaret Ernst draws on the gospel of Matthew and Psalm 96 to stretch our imaginations about what it means to "Give to God what is God's" and to turn away from the idol of whiteness in the context of colonization and white supremacy.
"This text intends to question our allegiances in all places. It intends to not let us be satisfied. I think one of the major ways it pushes us in our empire context today, is to help our people, to help White Christian folk, to turn away from worship of whiteness."
Transcript here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Anne reflects on freedom, the Exodus story of the Golden Calf, and the 10th anniversary of an anti-columbus day protest in Denver.
"And in no way is it easy. In no way is it a one-time-deal. Over and over Israel freaks out in the wilderness. Over and over we will too. How will we stay safe? How will the babies eat? How will we ever get home?
Those are real questions. And the temptation to turn back to Egypt When the answers are unknown Is strong. It’s built into everything we know. Let Egypt provide…let Egypt provide…"
Find the transcript and resources etc. at http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week Blyth explores the parable of the "wicked" tenants, who may not be wicked at all. How does the way we title things shape them and change them? What is really behind words like Lone Wolf, Explorer, and Wicked Tenant?
Here are some resources for this weeks podcast: - Information on the West Berkeley Shellmound : http://ipocshellmoundwalk.homestead.com/West-Berkeley-Shellmound.html - Article - The White Privilege of the “Lone Wolf” Shooter : https://theintercept.com/2017/10/02/lone-wolf-white-privlege-las-vegas-stephen-paddock/ - Article - Columbus Day : http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day - Article - History of the word Redneck: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25474784?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Transcript here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In this episode, Nichola Torbett examines the "meat pots of white supremacy," the survival benefits we receive in exchange for participating in injustice and explores what would be required to walk away from them.
"The meat pots! I want to talk about these meat pots because they feel so familiar me! They stand in for something that at some level I think we all know about. The meat pots represent the tangible, material benefits—and we’re not talking about perks, or frivolous extras, but real survival benefits—that we receive in exchange for participating in exploitative and unjust systems. These are painful realities that I spent most of my life as a white American trying not to think about."
The transcript, with resources, references, and copyright info, can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Big shoutout to Paul Stewart, who did some emergency sound work for us on this one!
This week Rev. Anne reflects on her recent trip to Puerto Rico, and the discoveries she made about her own limited imagination while there, and what that taught her about this week's lectionary texts.
"I began to imagine, Not only defending the fort, But also how you’d ever go about Trying to breach it. You’d need mortars on ships, I thought, Not just cannons, To bomb the interior of the fort, A dual attack from sea and land, A siege of some sort.
I imagined myself imagining warfare. I imagined myself into the mind of a colonizer."
Part of the call to action this week is to support local, grassroots, POC-led rebuilding efforts post Hurricanes Harvey and Irma - organizations that are imagining a new world and committed to rebuilding with those values. Here are those links, which are also in the transcript: • The New Florida Majority (a coalition of groups): http://newfloridamajority.org/wp/get-involved/donate/irmacommunityrecoveryfund/ • The Miami Foundation includes the Caribbean in their recovery efforts: http://miamifoundation.org/ • South to South: http://southtosouth.org/harvey/ • Hurricane Irma Solidarity Network: https://coalitionforracialjustice.net/campaigns/hurricane-irma-solidarity-network/
The transcript, with more resources, references, and copyright info, can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Blyth Barnow reflects on Matthew 18: 15-20 and her experience of being in her Ohio hometown when the Charlottesville protests happened, and the importance of being persistent in our resistance.
"We have many strategies at our disposal. If one doesn’t work, try another. And then another. In continuing to try we build new muscles, we learn, we grow. Gentle persistence, a persistence rooted in holy love, in healing, and not only in productivity, brings new strength, insight, and determination. So that when we return to the beginning, we are able to yield new results. These days requires the persistence of our resistance."
The call to action is a beautiful spiritual practice to go deeper into the white supremacy that lives in our own lives. The transcript can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Our first contribution from Rev. Allyn Maxfield-Steele takes on Matthew 16: 21-28 as a useful resource for white folks wanting to resist white supremacy.
"I think this passage speaks very clearly to the problem of resistance against white supremacy, especially as white supremacy plays out theologically. The logic of white supremacy distorts our consciousness of what it means to be created; instead, we think we are creators. We project that logic of dominance onto the land, onto people of color, onto other cultures, onto conceptions of life & death. We are not the farmer in the Wendell Berry poem whose hands grow sprouts when they reach into the soil; rather, we believe we are the originator of growth itself, and with that the end of growth."
The transcript has info for the Call to Action: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Will Green asks us: What if Jesus were to ask us to share what is said when only White people are in the room? How would we respond to Jesus asking us questions about what people are saying and what we really think?
Check out the transcript, along with references and copyright/permissions: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week Rev. Anne notes that by lashing out against the Pharisees, Jesus is performing "wokeness" that leads to him harming the Canaanite woman who demands that her child's life matter. There's a lesson here for white folk as we deepen our work towards collective liberation.
"What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. In the aftermath of Charlottesville, We have to ask ourselves, Do our actions align with the words on our lips? Are we doing the hard work of dismantling white supremacy Every day? In every space? That’s the question for us, Not how woke or good we are, But are we doing the work? Our work? Cuz it’s our work To dismantle white supremacy."
Our call to action is to support the resistance in Charlottesville. Links for that can be found in the transcript, along with references and copyright/permissions: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In this episode, Margaret Ernst journeys through Matthew's telling of Jesus and Peter walking on water. What does this story have to teach us about white fear and the work we must do as white folks to name our fears, confess them, and move into liberation, even when we're afraid?
"Since we’re here in this story with Peter’s fear, and Jesus’, I want to zoom in particular on fear. Because what I know from doing work with lots of white folks, both in faith settings and not in faith settings, from being alongside friends and family in processes of waking up to racism and seeking to act against it, and, in working with the person I see every morning in the mirror: I see that it’s true. White folks operate with a lot of fear."
As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Anne Dunlap finds lessons from both Jacob's story and Jesus's as they wrestle with strangers and the realities of murderous regimes -- lessons that can help white folk stay with our discomfort in confronting white supremacy rather than reacting with "white fragility."
"The point in engaging in the wrestling, you see, Is to not stay the same. The point, as white folks, in wrestling With the reality of white supremacy And how it is embedded in us Is to not stay the same.
The wrestling should change our behavior. It should change our practice. It should change our self-understanding."
As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
In this week's episodes, Nichola contemplates what it might mean to be "more than a conqueror," whether Christian scripture can be decolonized, and what mustard has to do with it. She also does a little theologizing of city hall.
Transcript here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Anne Dunlap has been fighting with Jesus about why there are enslaved people in the kingdom of heaven, in Jesus's parable of the Weeds and the Wheat. And she makes a confession of her own.
"I have never preached about this. I have never talked about this. Until sitting down with these texts, This week, It had never occurred to me To find out just what enslavement in the Roman empire looked like."
Links referenced in the call to action: https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/ https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/report/ https://eji.org/
As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week, drawing on Matthew's telling of Jesus' Parable of the Sower, Margaret Ernst asks us to go beyond simple metaphors when hearing Jesus' parables - and to consider what these seed and soil stories may have to do with finding our roots in struggles over land and power in today's Empire.
The phrase "dirt wisdom" comes from James Perkinson's book Messianism Against Christology.
As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week, using the story of the Binding of Isaac, Blyth Barnow thinks about the weight of white supremacy that we carry, but don't understand.
As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"I've come not to bring peace, but a sword." This week Rev. Anne Dunlap says that to be a follower of Jesus, to be an ally as a white person to people of color, is to stay losing.
"What Jesus is telling us in this text is, You’ve gotta be willing to make the people mad. The point of being a disciple, The point of being one of Jesus’s organizers, Is not numbers, is not a hefty budget, Is not the 300-member church on the corner. It’s losing your life, So that you can find it."
The link to donate to GetEQUAL to support QTPOC-led liberation work is here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/getequalsurj
As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Nichola Torbett takes on the potential power of "justification by faith" to root us in the humility and self-assurance needed to avoid white fragility and co-optation.
As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Anne Dunlap takes on "Trinity Sunday" and questions why we celebrate this doctrine, meditating on the words of Dr. Vincent Harding: "Love trumps doctrine, every time."
"What I am saying is, I am not interested in celebrating A doctrine thrust at me On the point of Constantine’s sword... ...I’m thinking now about how Every time someone is baptized, We inscribe them with doctrines About what power is What maleness is What whiteness is We re-inscribe a doctrine Of white maleness as divinity Every time we repeat that formula."
As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Rev. Will Green joins The Word is Resistance to reflect on the second chapter of Acts from a racial justice perspective. Pentecost is more than a multicultural fair about "diversity"! It is a chance for White people to question and critique our identity, get out of the way of other conversations that need to happen and find a language that people can actually understand.
As always, resources, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
A special episode in memory of Dr. Vincent Harding (July 25, 1931 – May 19, 2014), from the National Association of Pan African Students special service in his honor at Iliff School of Theology, 5/17/17.
Texts are: • Psalm 46: 1-7 • Excerpts from “There Is A River” and “Remnants
"Dr. Harding, How did you do it? With all that you saw and lived and bore, How were you not just angry all the time, bitter?
Dr. Harding, How did you love us, The magnificent mess that we are, as you liked to say, How did you love us so much, So much?
There is a river, A river that moves towards freedom."
Links to learn more about Dr. Harding and Rosemarie Freeney Harding are included in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"So here’s my question. If Jesus is the gate, If having life abundantly is the gate For anyone and everyone inside the sheepfold …and there’s no reason to believe he doesn’t mean Anyone and everyone as in ALL of us,
Then is the letter of 1st Peter a good shepherd? Or is it a thief and a bandit trying to climb over the back fence?"
That's the question that bugs me on this week's edition of "The Word Is Resistance," as I sat with the lectionary texts: • Acts 2:42-47 • Psalm 23 • 1 Peter 2:19-25 • John 10:1-10
As always we offer a couple of practices for you in response to the texts.. As always, resources, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Guest Contributor Margaret Ernst offers a provocative Holy Week reflection.
"Beloveds, Kill White Jesus and maybe we can get free. Kill White Jesus and maybe things can be holy.
That’s why I think maybe this year we should have a Good Friday service for White Jesus."
As always, resources, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
"Palm Sunday." Why do we tell this story? Matthew’s story this year, to be exact, Matthew 21. No palms, no stones crying out, Just a procession, and some questions.
Maybe we know this by now, That this thing we call Palm Sunday Is actually a protest A counter-demonstration. But...why do we tell this story?
We offer a Holy Week spiritual practice for you in response to Palm Sunday. As always, resources, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week we tackle the whole letter of Romans, looking at how Paul is dismantling Roman Imperial propaganda, reminding the Roman community members that it’s not enough to say you follow Jesus, but depend on the Empire to save you.
The lectionary texts are as follows, though the whole of the letter is covered. • Romans 5:12-19– 3/5 • Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 – 3/12 • Romans 5:1-11 – 3/19 • Romans 8:6-11 – 3/26
We offer a couple of practices for you in response to this reading of Romans. As always, resources, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
This week we go deeper into resisting anti-Jewish oppression in Christian scriptures by looking at all four stories of encounter in John's gospel that are used over the next 4 weeks of Lent: • John 3:1-17 (Nicodemus) – 3/12 • John 4:5-42 (Samaritan Woman) – 3/19 • John 9:1-41 (Blind Man) – 3/26 • John 11:1-45 (Mary, Martha, Lazarus) – 4/2
Resisting white supremacy also means resisting anti-Jewish oppression, too, including when it's in our sacred texts. We'll have more resources for that as well as references and copyright/permissions info in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
March 1, 2017 Ash Wednesday A Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12 • Psalm 51:1-17 • 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 • Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
What if, on Ash Wednesday, we start giving up something that actually matters? On Ash Wednesday, when the ashes are imposed on our heads, let the words of all these prophets be also imposed on our hearts.
Our call to action this week is 3 practices for Lent to help us give up whiteness. The transcript includes resources for those practices as well as references and copyright/permissions info. The transcript can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Working with texts for February 26, 2017, Transfiguration A Exodus 24:12-18 • Psalm 2 or Psalm 99 • 2 Peter 1:16-21 • Matthew 17:1-9
What, if anything, does Transfiguration Sunday have to do with the violent repression happening all around us every day? Spoken word artist Mallory Everhart offers a piece that helps guide our reflection.
Our call to action includes action items to support Jeanette Vizguerra, and immigrant leader who went into sanctuary last week. o https://action.groundswell-mvmt.org/petitions/jeanette-s-family-needs-her o https://www.gofundme.com/JeanetteVizguerra o https://www.metrodenversanctuary.org/visit_us
The transcript includes resources for community defense and sanctuary efforts for cities, schools, and churches, as well as references and copyright/permissions info. The transcript can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Working with the texts for February 12, 2017, Epiphany 6A Deuteronomy 30:15-20 • Psalm 119:1-8 • 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 • Matthew 5:21-37
We dive deep into Deuteronomy and the erasure of Canaanites from the Exodus story, and what that means for us today. Lady Gaga may be mentioned.
Our call to action includes fundraising for the defense of indigenous sovereignty at Standing Rock. Donations may be made to: --Lakota People's Law Project: https://secure.everyaction.com/GKhPKap1OEisQft2qcms4Q2 --Last Real Indians: http://lastrealindians.com/donations/ --NoDAPL Global Solidarity Campaign: PayPal.me/VoicesoftheSacred
Full transcript, including Call to Action details, lots of resources, and references and copyright/permissions info can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
Working with the texts for January 29, 2017 Epiphany 4A: Micah 6:1-8 • Psalm 15 • 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 • Matthew 5:1-12
On accountability, small-town prophets, and the foolish un-empire of the Divine.
Full transcript, including Call to Action details, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html
The Word is Resistance inaugural podcast. Working with the texts of January 15 2017, Epiphany 2A: Isaiah 49:1-7 • Psalm 40:1-11 • 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 • John 1:29-42
Talking about resistance leaders, where Jesus stays, and Martin Luther King.
More on #ReclaimMLK: https://m4bl.net/
The transcript may be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html