It seems to us that in the world we find ourselves in today, our need for genuine, loving human connection is greater than ever. And, also, that learning how to be in community with one another has the power to both enrich our own lives and to help bring healing to the world. Church — especially a diverse one like the River — can be a great place to practice being in and building community!

At the end of her sermon, Alison quoted from an essay by Rev. John J. Thatamanil, professor of theology and world religions at Union Theological Seminary and ordained Anglican priest. In the essay, titled "Recovering trust in humanity in these perilous, uncertain times," Thatamanil wrote about the peril of losing faith in one another and the power of real human connections to help us co-create a more just and loving world. He argues that small steps to build community are essential and that they are our way forward in these challenging times.

​Consider giving the full essay a read and joining us at the River as we seek to build life-giving community together!

On Sunday, Maddie preached a sermon about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and what it looks like to reconstruct our faith and communities after exile. We looked at what it meant for the Israelites to come home after exile in Babylon and face the hard work of rebuilding their lives. They had lost so much — their temple, their land, their sense of who they were as a people. What they had left was a remnant, a small community that had to decide whether they could still belong to one another. Their task was not only to put stones back in place but to reimagine how to live together as God’s people in a changed world.

Maddie suggested that many of us know something about exile. Sometimes it looks like overwork that leaves us drained and disconnected. Sometimes it comes from systems that push us to hide who we are. For many, it has meant leaving churches that caused harm. Like the Israelites, we find ourselves asking what it looks like to start again: what can we carry forward, what needs to be left behind, and how do we build something new together? This week’s resources expand that conversation.

Ezra and Nehemiah Deep Dive
This article offers a helpful overview of the books we explored on Sunday. It sets the stage historically — Cyrus of Persia allowing the Israelites to return home, the rebuilding of the temple, and the restoration of Jerusalem’s walls. But what I found most striking is how the article shows that the real heart of the story isn’t about architecture at all. It’s about identity.

The Israelites had spent fifty years in exile, scattered and shaped by very different experiences. Some had blended into Babylonian culture, others had clung tightly to their old traditions. When they returned, they had to figure out whether they still shared enough to call themselves one people. Ezra and Nehemiah capture the messiness of that process — the disagreements, the compromises, and the fragile unity that slowly emerged.

This is what we reflected on in the sermon: exile changes people, and there is no way to simply go back to what was. The work of rebuilding is really the work of deciding who we are now, after loss. The Israelites had to take stock of the remnant that was left and trust that God was present in their fragile community.

Post-Evangelical Christians (Christian Science Monitor)
The second resource looks at a very different context, but the echoes are clear. The Christian Science Monitor recently profiled Christians who describe themselves as “post-evangelical.” This is a movement that has resulted in the formation of the "Post-Evangelical Collective" — a collection of churches that The River has joined, who share a common history. For many who identify with this movement, exile hasn’t meant a forced migration but the painful experience of leaving behind churches where they no longer felt at home. Some grew up in environments that excluded women or queer people. Others were disillusioned by hypocrisy or by a version of faith that left little room for honesty.

Post-Evangelical Christians aren’t giving up on faith altogether. They are rebuilding — sometimes in small house gatherings, sometimes in new church plants, sometimes simply by finding one another and learning to pray and worship again. Their journey is marked by questions: What of the old faith still holds true? What must be left behind? How can a remnant form a new community that feels faithful to God and to themselves?

That is the same challenge the Israelites faced, and it’s the same challenge many of us face at the River. We may not all be coming out of the same tradition, but we know what it feels like to emerge from exile and to risk building again.

Questions for Reflection
Both of these resources remind us that exile is never the end of the story. The Israelites could have scattered forever. Post-evangelicals could have walked away from church entirely. Instead, they gathered what was left and chose to start again. As we consider their stories alongside our own, here are a few questions to hold this week:

• Where have you experienced exile — from God, from community, from yourself?
• What do you sense is worth carrying forward as you rebuild your faith?
• What might need to be left behind?
• Who is the “remnant” you are being invited to commit to right now?

Our hope at the River is that, like the Israelites, we would be able to look around at one another and say: yes, we’ll do this together. God is in the work of rebuilding.

Last Sunday, Alison closed her sermon by sharing some beautiful words from fellow post-evangelical pastor Rebecca Bell. Rebecca — Lead Pastor at Threads Church in Kalamazoo, MI (a church that's similar to the River in a lot of ways!) —spoke about the power of church to act as a "resistance community" and how gathering together week after week in the presence of God and one another allows our hearts to be realigned (again and again) to the Way of Jesus.

If you are interested in hearing more from Rebecca, you can check out a powerful essay she wrote recently titled "When Injustice Reigns." Here's an excerpt:

"These themes - the downfall of the rich and arrogant and the exaltation and vindication of the humble - are woven throughout all of Scripture. Hannah’s song and psalms like the ones I’ve referenced here were prayed consistently and affirmed confidently through many centuries of Israel’s suffering and exile. They knew that, even when their circumstances seemed to indicate otherwise, God was indeed their deliverer and their champion. And Mary’s song, with all its triumph and exaltation, would be sung and celebrated and claimed by countless members of the early church, even as they experienced brutal persecution and, at times, an unimaginable likelihood of martyrdom. 

We Christians of the West have so frequently misunderstood what the 'way of God’s commands' and decrees were all about. We read these pleas for God’s help, these professions of adherence to God’s decrees or commands, and we think our spiritual predecessors were seeking to find their way into God’s good favor by admirable adherence to a list of rules. And then we read the songs of ill-portent for the strong and a coming exaltation of the poor, and we think: yes, in the sweet bye-and-bye. When the martyrs and the faithful poor die and go to heaven, then they will get to live like the rich. 

But the truth of the Gospel is incomparably richer than these anemic distortions, and its warning for those who align themselves with the arrogant are far more grave. We are each invited - and perhaps it has never been so critical for us to boldly embrace and enter - into the mystery and beauty of God’s decrees that Hagar, Hannah, Mary, and the Psalmists all knew: the schemes of the oppressors will always fail, the false worship of the arrogant will never be acknowledged by the Almighty. Instead, the scorned of the earth are the very ones who are most highly honored in the courts of the Most High. If you stand against the weak, you stand against Almighty God. If you find yourself among the vilified, cast-out, and dehumanized, then you can be certain that God has drawn near to you, sees you, values you, and will not remove the Divine hand of loving care from you."

Check out the full essay on Substack!