Turning to One Another
May 2, 2024
“There is no greater power than a community discovering
what it cares about.
Ask ‘What is possible?’ not ‘What’s wrong?’ Keep asking.”
“There is no greater power than a community discovering
what it cares about.
Ask ‘What is possible?’ not ‘What’s wrong?’ Keep asking.”
“In our world today, the economics of exploitation, conquest, and extraction still hold sway. But the church has not lost its calling to be an alternative household, community, and economic reality.”
O God, our times are in your hand: Look with favor, we pray, on your servants as each of them begins another year.
Singing in the choir brings us unexplainable joy and an emotional fulfillment which is difficult to put into words. It also gives us community and the chance for spiritual union with our fellow choir members and congregants.
“If Mr. Ochieng had not had access to the quality care at St. John’s Kayoro Health Center II, where he learned about his diabetic condition, he would have most likely died from his diabetic wounds. His healing has been seen by his family and friends as a miracle.”
“Then the question comes, ‘What do you teach them?’ That is when I get the looks like I am absurd. Because I don’t teach them. They teach me. I grow more spiritually when I experience God through the eyes, ears, and minds of young people.”
“My adult understanding of leadership was shaped primarily by Black role models, mentors, and leaders. In my exit interview from Howard University, faculty told me to take what I had learned at an HBCU and go back to white communities to address the source of racism. My leadership is marked by a sense of calling to disrupt whiteness and work for racial justice with a vision for reconciliation.”
“Anne is a lifelong Episcopalian. She ran into Sue Mercier at Marvella where they live and discovered they were both Episcopalians. Sue had been attending St. John’s and invited Anne to join her.”
“In 2022, we initially came together out of concern for one issue and quickly realized that we have many passions, many concerns, many hopes. However, it is in gathering together that we are nourished the most. So we went forward, gathering together—sometimes a few of us, at other times the whole group—when undertaking the issues that engaged our attention.”
“First, a caveat — like any other community, disabled people are not a monolith. Every member has their own relationship to their disabled identity. But it is a fact in my experience that many, many disabled people do not want to get rid of their disability.
If you haven’t heard this fact before, it’s understandable that you might feel resistance to believing it unconditionally. Please realize, as you read this article, that the resistance comes from the messages we’ve heard from our society and its systems of power.”