This is a thing that’s happening.
To be clear, it is indeed occurring at Glendale Baptist, which, to my mind, is one of the most morally exemplary church communities on the planet, but it’s being undertaken by St. Marys of Bethany which is, to my mind, one of the most morally exemplary church communities on the planet.
Y’all know Flo Oakes or Danny Bryant or Anna Caudill?
I wish I had a photo of Flo and Danny and me at Charles Marsh’s event at Parnassus almost a year ago. I wish I had a photo of everyone who came. It felt a like a holy assembly. Throw Anna Caudill in and we have A LOT of people in common. If all those people were to come out for our public convo and we took a picture and put it on God’s internet…it might make the news. It would include at least a few people who backed (publicly *and* privately) the attempt to overthrow election results a while back. Anyway, “faith.”
Like “politics” & “religion” & “media” & “safety” & “freedom,” it’s one hell of an abstraction. Let’s talk about it. Tell your friends. We’d like to hear from you (I think). Let’s consider what we still have common.
I just prayed on it and I think it’ll be amazing.
My hope for the evening is that everyone there might tap in (anew or for the 1st time) and into the moral resources we have in each other. Anna and Danny and I have decades-worth of relationships in our beautiful city across multiple organizations and communities. Over time, church organizations have become sites associated with trauma, toxicity, and normalized bigotry for lots of us. I'm hoping assembling together will serve as a reminder that beloved community remains an alive and signaling, biological fact among us.
My prayer is that it’ll be a big old...WE'RE ALL STILL HERE and THE GOOD THAT'S PASSED BETWEEN US IS REAL AND ALIVE and WELCOME TO THE ONGOING SITUATION and WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? and WE ARE A BEGINNING...That kind of thing.
Y’all come.
Bless you and Anna David.
Amped to attend!