Being Light to Each Other

Land Acknowledgment links:

https://elca.org/indigenous

Telling the truth about the lands we inhabit: https://www.livinglutheran.org/2021/11/48330/

https://resources.elca.org/ministries-of-diverse-cultures-and-communities/land-acknowledgement-guide/

https://native-land.ca/

Labor Acknowledgment link: https://www.diverseeducation.com/demographics/african-american/article/15108677/on-labor-acknowledgements-and-honoring-the-sacrifice-of-black-americans

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Music credits:

Would You Harbor Me - Sweet Honey in the Rock

This Little Light of Mine - Etta James

This Little Light of Mine - Fannie Lou Hamer

This Little Light of Mine - Sister Rosetta Tharpe

This Little Light of Mine - Listener Kids

This Little Light of Mine - Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band (cut from recording due to copyright reasons with YouTube)

This Little Light of Mine - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air TV series

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Recommended resources:

45-minute interview with Audre Lorde: https://hunter.cuny.edu/news/audre-lorde-now-series-self-care-as-political-welfare/

Reclaiming Audre Lorde’s Radical Self-Care: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/05/10493153/reclaiming-self-care-audre-lorde-black-women-community-care

Why acknowledging and celebrating the Black feminist origins of ‘self-care’ is essential: https://www.mentalhealthtoday.co.uk/blog/awareness/why-acknowledging-and-celebrating-the-black-feminist-origins-of-self-care-is-essential

A Burst of Light: Audre Lorde on Turning Fear Into Fire: https://www.themarginalian.org/2018/03/01/audre-lorde-a-burst-of-light/

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ELCA Coaching is collaborating with Rev. Brenda Smith (ELCA), Deacon Tammy Devine (ELCA), and Rev. Candy Holmes (MCC) as we discern where Spirit might be collectively leading us as people of faith. We began gathering online with faith leaders in March of 2020 to wrestle together with Being Church in a global pandemic, which transitioned over the summer of 2021 to Courageous Leadership, as COVID revealed our perceptions and misconceptions about most things in life. Jesus is our primary model as we move toward Creating Beloved Community: Healing Together, gathering the first Wednesday of each month (with a focus on healing together) to learn together and experiment in community with a variety of spiritual practices and focus areas.

"Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion." -- bell hooks, All About Love

Most other Wednesdays will explore additional elements of Creating Beloved Community.

We believe this is in attunement with our call as Christians from:

• Scripture and our expanding understanding and expression of love for ALL of our neighbors

• MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail and Vision of the Beloved Community

• What Is the Beloved Community and Why Is It Important?

• The Idea of the Beloved Community: The creative friendship of Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh

• ELCA Teaching, and especially our "connection to all of life"

• ELCA Living Our Baptismal Covenant

• ELCA Truth and Healing Movement (as facilitated by Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations)

• ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations

• Dr. Shawn Ginwright's The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves

• And so many other diverse voices and sacred ways we engage with each other and with the world.

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To answer some commonly asked questions about these regular gatherings:

"Why are you still meeting?" "Don't become too familiar with loneliness. Community is a risk, but liberation depends on the collective. Who can you trust to hold you?" -- Cole Arthur Riley, author of Black Liturgies