Courageous Conversations: A Lenten Antiracism Journey
This Lent, partner with Join the Movement toward Racial Justice and commit to engaging in courageous conversations with yourself, with a few dear ones, or with your community. On each of the 40 days of Lent, we will offer a conversation/journaling prompt to help you explore more fully your connection to racial justice and practices of antiracism, along with a breath prayer and scripture reading.
December 6 - Garlands Instead of Ashes
…who are alone, let this prayer come as comfort. To the ashamed, the traumatized, let this prayer sing with gladness. To the ones who feel disposable, let this prayer be a garland of honor and dignity. To the ones who are waiting, let this prayer become our abolition practice. Amen. Artwork: “Plunge” by Yohana Junker (discover more at: https://www.yohanajunker.com/)…
December 4 - Repent
…the drumbeat of justice. Hear us as we repent our complicity and our complacency with systems that harm, and strengthen our hands to lift the downtrodden, the lonely, the outcast, and the forgotten, so that your new realm of freedom may come. May it be so, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Artwork: “Repent” by Yohana Junker (discover more at: https://www.yohanajunker.com/)…
‘You Can’t Let the Fear Stop You’: Solidarity Prayers for Good Friday
…and activists have been working to #DefendTheAtlantaForest and #StopCopCity. These forest defenders and community builders have been met with police violence and arrests. In January, one of the police raids in the Weelaunee Forest resulted in the killing of 26-year-old Manuel Paez Terán, known by friends and comrades as Tortuguita. While this story is particular to Atlanta, we know that…
December 3
“Hope is a discipline.” – Mariame Kaba Abolition asks us to commit to birthing the communities we want to live in and want our children to be able to grow up in in the future. It asks us to imagine anew how we want to be in relationship with one another, with ourselves and with the world, far beyond the…
November 27 - Keeping Awake
…“keep awake” comes as tensions are rising between his ministry and the powers that be. It is part of Jesus’ last set of stories and teachings to his disciples before the events that led to his death unfold. I imagine the disciples had experienced so many awakenings, so many cataclysmic moments that changed and challenged them. Their complacency had been…
Stop Cop City Week of Prayer
Pray in solidarity with the movement to STOP the construction of a militarized police training facility funded by corporations on 381 acres of Weelaunee Forest leased by the City of Atlanta to the Atlanta Police Foundation. Stop Cop City.
Lent 2024 - From Minneapolis to Palestine: Nourishing the Rising Up Journey
…toward rising up, Lent reminds us that we are called to “stay woke.” If Jesus’ time in the desert teaches us anything, perhaps it is that there are risks to this heart-opening, mind-expanding, gut-wrenching, new life-awakening path of liberation. And we need those angels, those messengers and journey companions, who will meet us along the way, bearing comfort and strength….
December 12
…orientations, our neural pathways will strengthen and compel our actions in that direction. Prayer When punishment seems to be the only way to justice, teach us to sing, comfort, comfort. When harm seems to demand retribution, show us a more tender way. When the mountains seem unsurmountable, enliven our imaginations. When the valleys threaten to swallow us, lift us…