Jenny McGrath is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Somatic Psychotherapist, Core facilitator at the Allender Center, and specializes in using movement, mindfulness and narrative work to help people find their way back to their bodies.
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Dan says it's a lot like "judging books by it's color," assuming someone is sick because of their race. Any race can get diseases, as shown throughout history. In fact, dominate culture has spread disease as was the case when Europeans came to this continent and decimated the Natives. Disease, when it originates in another culture, can be demonized... But that same narrative has not been told when the dominate culture brings the disease.
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Things are bananas right now.
Nothing feels normal.
For days and days our regular life has been out of sorts
with high levels of anxiety
and loneliness.
Uncertainty.
Confusion.
You could say "disrupted" but I'm not sure that really even cuts it.
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Rev. Dr. Susie Biel of Summit Ave Church in Bremerton, WA talks about the journey to inclusion that she and her congregation went on over the last few years that led to issuing a statement of inclusion at the beginning of this year. She tells about the process, resources, and obstacles that have lead to the tremendous hope that they have for this congregation and community.
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Matthias talks about his new book Beyond Shame, which addresses sexual shame and the coping mechanisms we use. He also talks about his podcast Queerology which engages conversation around being Queer and a person of faith.
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There is a growing question among Christians and non-Christians alike, “Is the Church relevant anymore?” People are looking around at our world and wondering if the Church is going to do something about injustice, systems of oppression, and the violence and harm that is ubiquitous. We had the great privilege of chatting with Rachael Clinton-Chen of the Allender Center about her role as a pastor working the field of trauma care. “That’s my job; To be the person tending to the fragmentation and the harm and bringing a healing presence. As a pastor, a lot of my role is to provide sanctuary to people who are in need of recovery and healing and a safe place to connect with God …”
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As Kobe’s life is celebrated today, I’ve been pondering on the lessons I’ve learned from the #blackmamba. Here’s EIGHT from the great 8:
Next Play Mentality: In life and sport, he never let failure hinder him from pursuing greatness. Whether it was making poor choices off the court, missing shots, having conflicts with coaches or teammates, he always looked for ways to make things better. Improvement by any means. Failure was never an option.
There seems to be a fear around sadness. And not just being sad, but truly grieving. Somehow these emotions were deemed bad or unhealthy; that we shouldn't embody them, feel them or allow ourselves to even have them. When we see someone hurting, someone deep in anguish and grief, we want to look away or minimize or offer a shortcut to escape.
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Pastor Ken Riley joins us for a discussion on racial relations and reconciliation, and how the church should lead the way. He talked about how to engage important conversations about race (and politics!) while still respecting each other’s human dignity. Ken shares some of this own stories about traveling Dakar, Senegal, his time serving as a Navy Chaplin and being wrongly incarcerated.
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Is it any wonder why black indigenous people of color whose cultures value oral tradition, place, narrative, movement, and harmony might gravitate to this type of theology; or why the oppression of this population (in the name of systematic theology)—would birth a counter theology of liberation based upon the biblical text?
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Read More"I used to think that all the big stuff was going to happen outside of normal life." - Kelly Welk
