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This past Sunday, Maddie continued our sermon series "Advent through the Gospel of Luke" by preaching about the story of Anna and Simeon. One of the themes we explored through that story is that waiting is never neutral. While we wait, something is always shaping us.
In the story of Simeon and Anna, Luke shows us two people who have waited a very long time — and who have somehow not become numb, cynical, or closed off. They are able to recognize God when God shows up quietly, not because they are unusually holy or spiritually gifted, but because they’ve practiced showing up, praying, and paying attention over time. So this week’s resources are meant to help us practice the kind of waiting that keeps us open. A Simple Prayer Rhythm: The Book of Common Prayer The Book of Common Prayer is a collection of set prayers that has been used by Christians for centuries, and it’s still prayed today by a surprisingly wide range of people. It’s used by Episcopalians and Anglicans around the world — but it’s also used by people who didn’t grow up with liturgy at all. People pray the Book of Common Prayer today because:
This kind of prayer fits beautifully with the story of Anna and Simeon. Like them, it’s about showing up consistently, even when nothing dramatic seems to be happening. It’s about trusting that returning — again and again — keeps our hearts from closing. If you’re curious, you don’t need to do everything. Even praying a single psalm or the Lord’s Prayer once a day is enough. The point isn’t perfection — it’s presence. You can find a free online version of the book here or you can buy a copy here. Practicing Attention Through Poetry: Mary Oliver Alongside prayer, poetry can help train us in attention. This week, we recommend reading a poem by Mary Oliver, especially “Why I Wake Early”. Oliver’s poems don’t rush toward answers. They linger. They notice. They stay with what is small, ordinary, and easily overlooked. That kind of noticing is spiritual work. Simeon recognizes salvation in a baby. Anna recognizes redemption in a moment most people would have missed. Poetry helps us slow down enough to notice what we might otherwise pass by. You might try reading one poem slowly this week. Don’t analyze it. Just notice what line stays with you. Let it accompany you through your day. Advent doesn’t promise that our waiting will end quickly. But it does promise that our waiting is not empty. As we practice prayer and attention — as we keep showing up — we become the kind of people who can recognize God when God comes near quietly, humbly, without spectacle. That’s the kind of hope we’re practicing together this season.
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In her sermon this past Sunday, Pastor Alison shared an excerpt from Sarah Bessey's thought-provoking essay "Why Everything You Know About the Nativity is Probably Wrong." If you found Bessey's perspective to be interesting or helpful to you, we think you will appreciate learning more about her and engaging with more of her work! In this week's post, we want to share some more information about who Sarah Bessey is and where you can find her online. Who Is Sarah Bessey? Here is how Bessey introduces herself in her own words: "All right, let’s do the ‘official stuff’: My latest book, Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith (2024) was a USA Today, The Globe and Mail, Indie Book, McNally Robinson, Bookshop.org, and Publisher’s Weekly bestseller. I’m also the author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed books Jesus Feminist (2013); Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith (2015); and Miracles and Other Reasonable Things (2019). My collaborative book, A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal (2021) was also a New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and The Globe and Mail Bestseller. I write a weekly bestselling newsletter called Field Notes with exclusive essays, devotional series, conversations, and more. You can sign up for Field Notes here. Along with my friends, the late Rachel Held Evans and Jim Chaffee, I co-founded Evolving Faith. And I was also the co-host of The Evolving Faith Podcast with my friend Jeff Chu, which has been downloaded by millions of listeners worldwide. After seven years at the helm, I stepped away from that leadership role in 2024 but Evolving Faith is still going strong. You might have come across my work anywhere from an article in a magazine or newspaper to a favourite podcast, perhaps the occasional conference or church event, or maybe even my one-time blog back in the day. However you got here, I’m glad you’re here. I was born and raised in the prairies and foothills of western Canada. We lived in Oklahoma, Texas, and British Columbia over the years, but have returned home to Calgary, Alberta, Canada (on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in southern Alberta and the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3). This is where my soul belongs. My husband Brian and I have been happily married for 24 years (he’s Nebraskan so we are all contractually obligated to say, 'Go Big Red!' when that comes up in conversation). Together, we have four beloved children, formerly known as The Tinies (the older three are all taller than me now, it’s fine) who range from young adults/teenagers to a little middle schooler. We also have two cats named Amy and Rory and yes, they were absolutely named after Doctor Who companions." Where Can I Find Bessey's Work?
This past Sunday, we spent time with Mary’s Magnificat — her bold, beautiful song in Luke 1 where she praises God, confronts injustice, and imagines a world transformed by mercy. Mary’s song is courageous, disruptive, and full of hope for a world made right.
Because Mary responds to God with music, we spent part of worship listening to contemporary songs that help us enter her emotional and spiritual landscape. This week’s Resource of the Week is the full playlist, organized into five movements that mirror the structure of the Magnificat and bring its themes into our world today. Below is a guide to how these songs illuminate different parts of Mary’s song. Songs of Vulnerability and Honest Fear “He has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.” Before Mary sings about justice, she is still a young woman facing something overwhelming. These songs help us hear the Magnificat beginning from a place of fragility and courage held together:
These tracks echo Mary’s emotional landscape: stretched thin, uncertain, longing for assurance, and trying to take the next faithful step. Songs of Courage, Consent, and Praise “My soul magnifies the Lord . . . the Mighty One has done great things for me.” Mary’s praise is the praise of someone who has counted the cost and still says “yes.” These songs capture that complicated, forward-leaning trust:
Each of these songs reflects gratitude that lives alongside uncertainty, and the quiet bravery of stepping into a future led by God. Songs That Expose the World’s Love of Power “He has scattered the proud . . . brought down the powerful from their thrones.” Mary’s song includes a clear critique of systems of domination. These songs help us hear her words not as metaphor, but as a real challenge to the world as it is:
These tracks highlight the patterns of pride, control, and exploitation that Mary insists God disrupts. Songs of Liberation and Hope for a New World “He has lifted up the lowly . . . filled the hungry . . . sent the rich away empty.” The Magnificat is a song of liberation — a vision of a world turned right-side-up. These songs echo that longing for justice, healing, and freedom:
Each track helps us feel the Magnificat’s hope that oppression will not have the last word. Songs of Communal Struggle and God’s Promise “He has remembered his mercy . . . according to the promise made to our ancestors.” Mary’s song is not just personal. It is part of a long story of people crying out for God’s justice. These songs connect the Magnificat to global movements for liberation—especially the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
This Week’s Invitation As you move through Advent, let these songs accompany you. Play them while you cook, commute, rest, or pray. Let them help you inhabit Mary’s courage, her honesty, her longing, and her vision for a world remade by God’s mercy and justice. May these songs deepen your hope, broaden your compassion, and open your imagination to the upside-down kingdom Mary proclaims.
In her sermon last Sunday, Pastor Alison spoke a bit about the nature of Jesus's story in the Bible and the process by which the relevant texts were formed. There are four books in the Bible — or four gospels narratives — that tell the story of Jesus’s life through an ancient form of biography. These books — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — agree on many points, but they also have distinct perspectives and particular details that differ from each other and that cannot be reconciled. Some of the reasons for this are because these books were written by different authors, in different years, for different audiences, and using different sources.
In many cases, the differences were actually a result of intentional choices made by the gospel writers regarding how they wanted to present Jesus's story. Hearing this can be troubling for modern audiences with modern sensibilities around historical accuracy. But it's important for us to understand that ancient people did not have the same expectations. When it came to biography, they were more concerned with conveying the essence of a person (their essential characteristics and personality traits) than with conveying indisputable facts about the events of their life. With this lens in mind, we can approach the differences and contradictions between the gospels not as a problem to be solved but, instead, as an invitation to dive deeper. To be curious about what the author was trying to help the original audience, and now us, to understand about Jesus and about God in particular. To ask ourselves, “What truth about Jesus (or about God) was this author trying to convey?” To help you explore this topic further, we'd like to recommend an episode of The Bible for Normal People podcast with special guest Bart Ehrman (the New Testament scholar Alison quoted in her sermon). The details are included below: Episode 263: Bart Ehrman – The Gospels & Historical Reliability In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman joins Pete Enns and Jared Byas to discuss the historical reliability of the Gospels, highlighting the roles of oral tradition, authorial bias, and contradictions within the texts. Join them as they explore the following questions:
Tweetables Pithy, shareable, sometimes-less-than-280-character statements from the episode you can share.
Amy-Jill Levine's "Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi"11/21/2025 In her sermon this past Sunday, guest preacher Leah Martens (Lead Pastor at Haven Berkeley Faith Community) explored the meaning of Jesus's "Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector" (Luke 18:9-14) for our world today. Leah spoke about the ways that superficial readings of this passage (where we automatically identify ourselves as the "good guy" tax collector) have led us to miss the challenge of Jesus’s words for us today and have also contributed to antisemitic narratives (by promoting stereotypes about the Pharisees and Judaism as a whole). By diving deeper into the parable’s original context, Leah was able to illuminate the ways that this passage invites us to reject bounded-set mindsets in favor of centered-set approaches to life and faith; the ways that Jesus invites us to focus less on who is in vs. out, good vs. bad, and more on what will help us move toward alignment with the ways of the Divine. If you appreciated Leah's exploration of this parable, then we think you’ll enjoy this book by Amy-Jill Levine: Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi. Details are included below. Feel free to check out the copy from the River Lending Library! Or, alternatively, you may enjoy this podcast episode from Amy-Jill Levine and The Bible for Normal People: "Episode 278: Amy-Jill Levine – Who Are the Pharisees Actually?"
About the Book
The renowned biblical scholar, author of The Misunderstood Jew, and general editor for The Jewish Annotated New Testament interweaves history and spiritual analysis to explore Jesus’ most popular teaching parables, exposing their misinterpretations and making them lively and relevant for modern readers. Jesus was a skilled storyteller and perceptive teacher who used parables from everyday life to effectively convey his message and meaning. Life in first-century Palestine was very different from our world today, and many traditional interpretations of Jesus’ stories ignore this disparity and have often allowed anti-Semitism and misogyny to color their perspectives. In this wise, entertaining, and educational book, Amy-Jill Levine offers a fresh, timely reinterpretation of Jesus’ narratives. In Short Stories by Jesus, she analyzes these “problems with parables,” taking readers back in time to understand how their original Jewish audience understood them. Levine reveals the parables’ connections to first-century economic and agricultural life, social customs and morality, Jewish scriptures and Roman culture. With this revitalized understanding, she interprets these moving stories for the contemporary reader, showing how the parables are not just about Jesus, but are also about us—and when read rightly, still challenge and provoke us two thousand years later. About Amy-Jill Levine Amy Jill Levine (“AJ”) is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, at Vanderbilt. Her publications include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi; six children’s books (with Sandy Sasso); The Gospel of Luke (with Ben Witherington III, the first biblical commentary by a Jew and an Evangelical); The Jewish Annotated New Testament (co-edited with Marc Brettler), The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (with Marc Brettler), The Pharisees (co-edited with Joseph Sievers), and thirteen edited volumes of the Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Literature. Along with Introduction to the Old Testament for the Teaching Company, her Beginner’s Guide series for Abingdon Press includes Sermon on the Mount, Light of the World, Entering the Passion of Jesus, The Difficult Words of Jesus, Witness at the Cross, and Signs and Wonders. The first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute, an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the first winner of the Seelisberg Prize for Jewish-Christian Relations, AJ describes herself as an unorthodox member of an Orthodox synagogue and a Yankee Jewish feminist who works to counter biblical interpretations that exclude and oppress. On Sunday, Maddie preached about what it means to be a community that doesn’t run on crisis mode. We looked at the ways urgency, pressure, and anxiety shape so much of our daily life, and how easily those patterns seep into our relationships, our work, and even our churches. Many of us know what it’s like to feel as if everything depends on us — as if the only way to keep things from falling apart is to push harder, say yes more often, and carry a weight that was never ours to begin with. The sermon invited us to imagine a different way of living together. We turned to the story of the Israelites in Exodus 16, newly freed from Pharaoh but still carrying the habits of slavery in their bodies. Instead of demanding more production or more effort, God meets them with manna — a daily provision that teaches them to live at a new pace. And we looked at Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, where he encourages early Christian communities to practice generosity not from guilt or fear, but from confidence in God’s abundance. In both stories, we see a God who leads people out of crisis and into trust, out of anxiety and into shared life. This week’s resources invite us deeper into those themes. The Liturgy of Abundance, The Myth of Scarcity In this article, Hebrew Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann offers a strikingly clear vision of the same dynamic we explored on Sunday. He describes how the Bible tells a story shaped by the generosity of God — a story where creation is blessed, where manna falls each morning, and where communities share what they have because grace keeps showing up. In contrast, he describes the “myth of scarcity,” the story our world tells us over and over again: that there is not enough, that we must compete, that security comes through hoarding, urgency, and control. What I (Maddie) found most compelling is how Brueggemann connects these themes across the whole arc of Scripture. The manna story becomes part of a larger pattern: God continually inviting people to trust that there will be enough for today. And the early church’s practice of generosity becomes a quiet rebellion against the empire’s logic of fear. This is the same invitation we heard in the sermon — to live not as people driven by crisis but as people grounded in God’s abundance, able to give and receive without anxiety. As you read, notice any places where the “myth of scarcity” feels familiar in your own life. Where do urgency, competition, or fear shape the way you move through the world? And what might it look like to lean into a different story this week? Grounding Prayer for the Week The second resource is not an article but a practice. One of the central questions of the sermon was: how do we retrain our bodies out of urgency? How do we step out of crisis mode long enough to notice God’s provision? This simple grounding prayer is one way to begin. You might use it in the morning before you check your phone, or at the end of a long day when everything feels stretched thin. Gracious God, You who fed your people in the wilderness and who still meet us with enough for today: Slow my breath. Steady my mind. Loosen the grip of urgency on my heart. Teach me to trust the gifts that come in your time, the provision that arrives one day at a time, the love that does not rush or demand. Help me to live from abundance, to give without fear, and to receive what I need for this day. Amen. Questions for Reflection
Both the article and the prayer ask us to pay attention to the stories we live by. The world tells us that urgency is necessary, that worth is earned, that security comes from control. Scripture invites us into a different imagination — one shaped by daily bread, shared life, and the quiet confidence that God is already here. As you move through your week, consider:
Our hope at the River is that we would be a community that helps one another live this out — not a people driven by crisis, but a people sustained by grace, moving at the pace of manna, trusting that God will give us what we need, one day at a time. For today's post, we want to connect you with two resources that Pastor Alison mentioned in her sermon on Sunday: 1) The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle, and 2) The Post-Evangelical Collective. In her sermon, Alison shared about Tickle's argument, from The Great Emergence, that we are living through a period of historical upheaval — marked by significant social, economic, political, and religious change. According to Tickle, “About every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity, whatever they may be at that time, become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur.” We currently find ourselves in one of those every-500-year periods, which means that we — as individuals and as a community — have the opportunity to help shape the "new, more vital form of Christianity" that is emerging in this historical moment. One of the ways that the River is doing this is through the Post-Evangelical Collective (or the PEC). For those who haven’t heard the term before, post-evangelical is a descriptive term that can apply to individuals or to faith communities. It describes former evangelical Christians who have experienced a break with evangelical subculture, beliefs, or practices. Although not every individual who is part of our community here at the River would describe themselves as post-evangelical — the River, as an organization, is a post-evangelical church. What we mean by that is that the River was founded as part of an evangelical denomination called the Vineyard. And then, over a decade ago, we experienced a break — leaving the Vineyard for reasons not limited to, but including our conviction that God affirms LGBTQ+ individuals and relationships. For many years, post-evangelical churches like ours were pretty isolated after choosing to leave or, in many cases, being forced to leave their previous denominations. The PEC set out to change that by building an ecosystem where churches like ours can connect more easily with one another. There are a number of ways they are doing this. Once a month, the PEC hosts a webinar devoted to a relevant spiritual topic. Anyone connected to the PEC can join these webinars — you do not have to be a pastor or work for a church. Past guests have included Zach Lambert (who wrote Better Ways to Read the Bible), Hillary McBride (who wrote Holy Hurt), and Andrew DeCort (who wrote Reviving the Golden Rule). If you are interested, you can receive information about upcoming webinars by subscribing to the PEC mailing list. Once a month, Alison joins a call with PEC pastors around the country to build relationships, to share ideas and resources, and to collaborate with and learn from one another. And, for the past two years, she's attended the PEC’s national gathering in the Spring. Next year’s gathering will be taking place in Cambridge, Massachusetts at our sister church, Reservoir. If you are interested in joining Alison and other members of the River staff who will be attending, please reach out for more information! In her sermon, Alison said this about the River's involvement with the PEC: "It’s been really exciting for me to see the variety of ways that this partnership has been bearing good fruit at the River. For example, there are so many resources that I have discovered through the PEC ecosystem. Ones that I’ve benefited from personally and have also been able to share with all of you in sermons, and Resource of the Week posts, and the Lending Library, and in one-on-one conversations. Brian Recker, the author of Hell Bent who came to speak here recently, is someone I got to know through relationships in the PEC. And at the book event we hosted, it was exciting to meet so many people in our region who are exploring similar faith questions. The church map on the PEC website has been a great way for folks to discover the River — I know of some folks here who found us that way! And the map has also been a really helpful resource when members of the River have moved away from New York City — it has allowed us to better support them in finding a faith community wherever they land. Engaging with the PEC has also helped me to feel more supported as a pastor. When navigating new or challenging situations, it’s been really wonderful to be able to reach out to other PEC pastors to hear about their own experiences and approaches. There are so many ways that we are benefitting from our engagement with the PEC, but perhaps, just as exciting to me are the ways that we are contributing to and helping to shape the movement. The same way that we are learning from other PEC churches — other PEC churches are learning from what we are doing here at the River. In addition to the official PEC churches listed on the website, we are also a resource for churches that aren’t quite there yet. Churches that are considering breaking with evangelicalism or becoming LGBTQ+ affirming but need some support to get there. Through our involvement with the PEC — and in various other ways — we are helping to shape the new, more vital forms of Christianity that are emerging in this historical moment. And our impact extends far beyond New York City."
About the Post-Evangelical Collective
The Post Evangelical Collective exists to connect, cultivate, and resource post evangelical churches. We are church leaders, artists, and other stakeholders who find ourselves estranged from the dominant expressions of American Christianity. Shared Values
Articles About the PEC
In her sermon last Sunday, Pastor Alison shared about how impactful it was — during her years at Union Theological Seminary — to learn from classmates who came from a wide variety of Christian traditions. Alison said this: "[Prior to seminary] I had primarily spent time in evangelical and post-evangelical contexts. So, while I had become quite familiar with how things worked in those particular worlds, I hadn’t had much exposure to how diverse Christianity really is — how many different expressions of Christianity have existed throughout history, around the world, and even in our own country right now. Part of what I found so exciting about this discovery was that it challenged the narrative that any one group of people — no matter how big or loud they are — owns the Way of Jesus. I also found it really heartening to realize that I wasn’t alone in the questions I was asking or the yearnings I had for a more beautiful, liberative expression of Christianity than the dominant versions we see represented in our media today. It was so encouraging to me to discover that Christians have been wrestling with doubts and questions since the beginning of the faith; that there is actually great diversity of thought within the Christian tradition; and that there is so much wisdom to be gleaned from fellow travelers who have walked and are walking the Way of Jesus in the world." This week's resource, Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints, is one that can help us learn from and be encouraged by a range of Christian role models, as well as "people of diverse faiths working for more love, kindness, and justice in their corners of the world, even when that means rocking the religious boat." The book is marketed as middle-grade nonfiction (ages 9 and up), but in our experience it is also great for teens and adults. We used the companion curriculum with RiverYouth a few years back and it was an enriching experience for our youth and our adult volunteers alike!  About the Book
Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints is an illustrated children's book about people of diverse faiths working for more love, kindness, and justice in their corners of the world, even when that means rocking the religious boat. With original portraits from more than two dozen artists and engaging profiles of people from different faiths and different eras, these are stories that inspire, educate, challenge, and encourage. (There is now a companion curriculum also available for home or church use.) Some of the people featured in this book are well known, like the beloved St. Francis of Assisi (a favorite of Hufflepuffs everywhere for his love of animals), who gave up a wealthy inheritance to serve the poor, Rumi, the Sufi poet, and Thich Nhat Hanh, the beloved teacher who developed the concept of engaged Buddhism. Some are well known, but the deep faith motivating their work is lesser known, such as Harriet Tubman, Florence Nightingale, and Mr. Rogers. Others are less known such as Bayard Rustin, an American Quaker whose role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s is often downplayed because he was a gay man; Maryam Molkara, an Iranian Muslim transgender rights advocate; and Regina Jonas, the first female rabbi to be ordained whose story was almost lost to history. In particular, Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints emphasizes the stories of women, LGBTQ people, people of color, Indigenous people, and others who are too often written out of religious narratives. These stories move us towards more love and a faith that works for the common good of us all. Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints is a middle-grade nonfiction (ages 9 and up) book. You can read several sample profiles here. About the Author This book is written by Daneen Akers, a writer, producer, teacher, and mother who believes deeply in the power of stories. Her past projects have explored faith, identity, and belonging. She is the mother of two children who are the true inspiration for this book. Daneen found that most of the books she’d read as a child that had anything to do with faith were not compatible with the type of faith she now has as an adult and parent. She knew she needed better stories for her own children, stories that help us transcend fears, connect with each other, engage in justice, and model an expansive and fully inclusive view of the Divine. She'd removed a lot of faith-based materials from her home that no longer fit, but she realized there weren't a lot of options for replacing those resources. As a storyteller, the clearest place for her to start adding back to their bookshelves was to tell stories about people of faith who have been motivated by a vision of a loving, just, and compassionate Divine, people whose faith works for the common good of us all. Some of Daneen’s previous projects include the Seventh-Gay Adventists documentary and Outspoken short documentary film series. About the Publisher Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints is published by Watchfire Media, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity. Watchfire Media produces life-affirming, spiritually expansive books and films for the spiritually unconventional who have children in their lives whom they want to be comfortable with the big questions of faith and meaning, awed by the beauty of the world and her people, and ultimately committed to love, kindness, courage, and justice. Free Copies As part of our non-profit mission, we are happy to be able to offer a free copy of Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints to anyone who would like this book as a resource but for whom funds are a challenge currently. Just use the Contact page to send us a mailing address (or an email to send a free digital version to for non-U.S. mailing addresses). Thanks to our donors who make this program possible.
About Hell Bent A former evangelical pastor explains why we can stop worrying about hell and start focusing on love There is a black hole at the center of Christian spirituality: the doctrine of hell. No matter how hard we try to believe in a loving God, the fear of eternal torment always lurks at the back of our minds, warping our sense of what love means. Worse still, many churches act as if the point of Christianity is not to follow Jesus but to secure a get-out-of-hell-free card—and to “save” everyone you know by converting them to your religion. For many of us, the whole story of Christianity has punishment at the very center. But does the Bible really say we’re going to hell if we don’t do or believe the “right” things? In this taboo-shattering book, former evangelical pastor Brian Recker takes an honest look at scripture and reveals what has been true all along: Hell isn’t real, and God’s universal love is radically inclusive, in this life and the next. By removing punishment from Christianity's center, Recker boldly reimagines the core questions of faith, such as why Jesus lived and died, and what it means to be “saved.” It’s time to rediscover spirituality as Jesus taught it: loving God, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Whether you’re Christian, exvangelical, or anywhere along a deconstruction journey, Hell Bent is the perfect resource to help you replace fear and church hurt with healing and peace. In her sermon this past Sunday, Pastor Alison asked us to consider measuring our impact — as individuals and as a community — by measuring in love (à la "Seasons of Love" from the musical Rent). She told us, if following Jesus is all about the pursuit of unconditional love, then our pursuit of impact should be the same. Reflecting upon the events we see in Acts 10-11, Alison spoke about the power of the ripple effect. How the internal shifts that happen within each of us can lead to shifts in the ways we show up in the world -- in our relationships and workplaces and neighborhoods and so on. And how the people we impact will go on to impact other people, who will impact other people, and on and on. The ripple effect can be hard to quantify with numbers, but it’s a really beautiful image. It reminds us that every person — including each of us — has the power to make a difference. And that small actions are often more powerful than we believe. Alison encouraged us to: 1) Consider the possibility that our small acts of kindness are more powerful than we imagine. 2) Consider that, perhaps, “the world” that we hope to impact is not just out there, but also wherever we happen to find ourselves. To help us think further about the power each of us has to positively impact the world for the sake love, we want to point you to the inspiring work of two different individuals — Danielle Coke Balfour and Jane Goodall. During her sermon, Alison shared a few images from Danielle Coke Balfour of Oh Happy Dani. Balfour is an artist, activist, speaker, and entrepreneur who creates art about living a more just and hopeful life. Through content creation, resources, products, and experiences, she aims to inspire everyday advocates (like you!) to do good daily, right where you are. Balfour does an amazing job of "using art and words to help people seek justice and stay hopeful." She hopes to "inspire people like you to live a more just and hopeful life by doing good daily — right where you're planted." There are many ways to engage with Balfour's inspiring work!
Another resource we would like to share with you is the work of Jane Goodall. Goodall — world-renowned ethologist, conservationist, and humanitarian — died recently at the age of 91. Goodall is best known for her 65-year study of wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania. However, in later years her focus expanded and she became a global advocate for human rights, animal welfare, species and environmental protection, and many other crucial issues. Goodall's work lives on through her foundation; her prolific writings; her participation in many films, documentaries, and museum exhibits; through Roots & Shoots (her global humanitarian and environmental program for young people); through the impact she had on countless animals and people over the years; and through the inspiration of her life and memory. Goodall was famous for saying that “every single one of us makes a difference every day -- it is up to us as to the kind of difference we make.” Goodall truly believed that each of us has the power to make a positive difference and that small actions add up to big impacts. Through her words and example she reminded us that we are all connected in a tapestry of life and each of us has an important part to play in making the world a better place. There are many ways to engage with Goodall's inspiring work!
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