The never-ending drone of commentary across the channels. The blue and red map of the “United” States of America that is in actuality more divided than ever. The roller coaster of hope, fear, and outrage. The prolonged, nail-biting suspense without final resolve. Election week has not been for the faint of heart. 

Admittedly, I may have succumbed to copious consumption of comfort food, profuse pumpkin candle burning, and an inordinate intake of media. How did you get through?

Along with the election madness, I was simultaneously pushing through mounds of classwork for my master’s program, trying not to be distracted with news cycles and social media alerts. And midst the pile of weekly required reading was the classic text by Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination. And of all the weeks to read such words! Words still as relevant and provocative as ever. Words that I believe we desperately need to hear right now.

For certainly, we are living in a time of imperial totality, not unlike Old Testament Egypt. With the religion of static triumphalism manifested in much of the American church today and the politics of oppression and exploitation, we surely are in need of deliverance. If only we can fight through the enculturation and amnesia of our present state, perhaps we can remember and reclaim God’s new work of liberation found in the Exodus story. On one hand, we see the dismantling of the oppressive empire of Pharaoh; and on the other hand, the formation of a new community oriented around God’s freedom, justice and compassion.

And as I read Brueggemann’s words, his call to action resonates. In order to live into God’s vision of freedom, we must grieve and we must hope. And this week, as the newscasters drawled on and on and on, this felt appropriate. Left and right. Rich and poor. Rural and urban. Black, brown, and white. We are divided and polarized. We are incensed and outraged. We have demonized each other in lieu of the imperial gods of our enslavement.

Perhaps I was channeling the insanity of the moment, I can’t be sure. But I shouted at the television, “We must reclaim the narrative!”
​
Grief That Dismantles
For I felt grief. In spite of my candidate of choice pulling ahead. In spite of the ground-breaking, glass-shattering of Madame Vice President-Elect. I felt joy and relief for sure. I even shed some tears. But the grief remained. For while I welcome back sanity to the office of the president, I know many others don’t see it this way. And here we all are, part of the same family, “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) Yet we are divided more than ever, and it hurts that we cannot hear one another. Even more, it hurts that we remain deeply committed to white supremacy in spite of horrific and enduring injustices. There was no landslide of repudiation for our black brothers and sisters. Our deep fragmentation remains.

For I’m afraid we have sold our souls to the American Dream of consumerism and individualism predicated on the violence of racism. Regardless of your politics, I think we can agree. Trump is not an aberration, but a mirror of a society given over to narcissism, greed, and the evils of white supremacy. We have been promised a counterfeit “freedom” that leads to death — that puts individual rights over the common good, that dehumanizes others in pursuit of power, and permits our consumption without regard for oppression and exploitation. 

But “what good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

Prophetic Critique
The mythic claims of the gods have been exposed — America is anything but great. We have worshipped the gods of empire, ease, success, and satiation, and we are now formed primarily as consumers and not creators, colonizers and not co-laborers. Numb people do not discern or fear death. We work and we shop. We click and we watch. We consume products, and in doing so, become the very products consumed. We are slaves to the machines we build for ourselves. 

We have taken what is not ours. We have raped and pillaged, killed and maimed. We have violated, extracted, and depleted as if people, creatures, and resources are disposable. And now we wonder why there is fire in our streets and fire across our land with no air in which to breathe.

We must grieve and lament and tear our clothes like the prophets of old. We must weep and wail as a prophetic critique of the looming death all around us. People are in the streets. Hospitals are full. Graves are in mass. Families are at war. The world is on fire. So many suffering, oppressed and dying. The earth is groaning, heaving, and sighing.

“History consists primarily of speaking and being answered, crying and being heard. If that is true, it means there can be no history in the empire because the cries are never heard and the speaking is never answered. And if the task of prophecy is to empower people to engage in history, then it means evoking cries that expect answers, learning to address them where they will be taken seriously, and ceasing to look to the numbed and dull empire that never intended to answer in the first place.”(Brueggemann, p.13)

We must stop looking to the numbed and dull empire for answers that only a God who is truly free can answer. The radical new vision of liberation that Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated birthed an alternative community in which the oppressed were lifted up, the ostracized were embraced, the prisoners were set free, and the broken were healed. God’s good and just kingdom upends not only the religion of the day but dismantles the imperial politics of oppression and exploitation.

Hope That Energizes
This is where hope comes in. For Brueggemann insists that it is not only the prophetic critique of grief that brings liberation, but the prophetic energizing of hope to imagine an alternative reality. To be clear, there is plenty of reason for despair. In the midst of a global pandemic, it is hard not to feel a sense of powerlessness. The reigning consciousness militates against hope or any prospect of change on the horizon. There is no room for anything outside the dominant narrative of totality and permanence. Thus, despairing people do not anticipate or receive newness, nor do they believe they have to power to move toward new life. And yet hope persists in a God of resurrection in which “all things are possible.” This is why we must fiercely hold on to hope, to call upon the artists, the poets, and the dreamers to imagine an alternative reality of God’s good and just kingdom.

“Hope, on one hand, is an absurdity too embarrassing to speak about, for it flies in the face of all those claims we have been told are facts. Hope is the refusal to accept the reading of reality which is the majority opinion; and one does that only at great political and existential risk. On the other hand, hope is subversive, for it limits the grandiose pretension of the present, daring to announce that the present to which we have all made commitments is now called into question.” (Brueggemann, p.65)

What if…our present reality is not the only reality? What if… this kingdom is not the only kingdom? What if…there is another way to live? What if…we are called to be creators, not consumers? What if…there is an alternative community of freedom, justice, and compassion?

An Alternative 
I believe with all of my heart that there is hope — for the church, for our neighborhoods, and for society as a whole. God’s future is here and is unfolding in a people who turn away from the false gods of empire and who imagine and orient themselves around a new social reality that includes and liberates the most vulnerable and oppressed. God’s kingdom is demonstrated in authentic, incarnational communities that are embodying compassion and justice on the ground, creating a new social fabric in the neighborhood.

So midst the mind-numbing hopelessness of polarization, dehumanization, and fragmentation, I am holding stubbornly onto both grief and hope. For there is no relief in the empirical binaries of black and white extremes. Rather, there is a third way, another way. A way of love and mercy, repentance and forgiveness, compassion and justice. 

To be sure, it is a way of disruption. It is disruptive to grieve and to offer prophetic critique when peace is maintained at all costs. It is subversive to hope midst the crushing clench of empire. And yet we are invited into a vision for the beloved community of God whose practices of lament, protest, and complaint give rise to fierce hope and imagination for a new social order —a prophetic demonstration of God’s revolutionary kingdom of resistance, restoration, and liberation.

​So let us begin to imagine a new world for the poor, the persecuted, and the pure in heart — where the grieving will be comforted, the meek will inherit the earth, and those who hunger and thirst for justice will be filled. (Matthew 5:3–10)

"We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was never normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, My friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature." — Sonya Renee Taylor


by Jessica Ketola

Cultivating A Daily Practice of Love

In difficult times, how do you stay grounded? The onslaught of 2020 continues with the ferocity of pandemics, protests, and politics. It is challenging to maintain our equilibrium in the midst of so much chaos, change, and loss. And yet we know the harshest seasons push us to grow. During winter, a tree is dormant to the naked eye. But underneath the surface, it is hard at work growing and expanding its root system in search of valuable nutrients. So it goes with our souls. It is precisely in times like these that we are invited to root and ground ourselves in deeper ways.

But how you ask? In the midst of work deadlines, spinning plates, and bleak headlines? How?

Love. Love is the answer.

Love has the power to strengthen, nourish, and ground us in the midst of all the fray. The tumultuous storm that surrounds us is not of our own choosing. And yet, we can choose to surrender to love in the midst of its pounding waves. These are the waters of transformation.

Cultivate a Daily Practice
In order to access the power of love, you will need to cultivate a daily practice to ground yourself. This is easier said than done. So much competes for our time and attention. And yet in the midst of the fray, how are you making time for what is most important? Or do you find yourself scattered and weary from the demands of the urgent? There is plenty of research about the health benefits of prayer and spiritual meditation that make us less anxious and more resilient, present, and hopeful.

Are you finding some minutes of your day for stillness, reflection, prayer, or meditation? Are you sitting in the loving gaze and tender affection of God?

If you are daily immersing yourself in love, most likely you are beginning to experience what it feels like to be grounded in what is most true about your life. Love has a way of ordering and reordering our lives. The unimportant things begin to lose their pull and what is most core to our being increases in its desire.

Curiosity Can Cure Our Cynicism
If a daily practice eludes you, you may be feeling a sense of frustration, guilt, or cynicism. But guilt does us no good. And self-flagellation moves us away from love, not towards it. Here is where curiosity can cure our cynicism.

What do we believe that is keeping us from abiding and resting in love? What are we afraid of?

Often times, it is our subterranean fears and hurts that unconsciously drive us. We are afraid we won’t be productive “enough” if we take moments of stillness out of our busy day. Many of us have distorted images about who God is and what God demands. We are afraid that God cannot be trusted. Or perhaps we are afraid we are unworthy of love.

It is here in the rawness of our wrestling where love comes rushing in. God meets us right where we are, not in the place we want to be. In all our frustration, desire, avoidance, longing, and unbelief — God is near.

So don’t give up. Lean in with curiosity, honesty, and vulnerability.

Love Awaits.
​Love is calling and inviting you. The lovingkindness of God chases after you. This is not a duty, but a gracious invitation to live life in union and communion with Love — to let love heal you and empower you to bring healing to others.

Imagine for a moment that you lived fully, authentically, and vulnerably out of a deep and abiding love. What would be true about your life? Imagine what would be possible if you were free from all the fear and self-doubt that constrains you. Imagine the powerful good of a life given over to Love. Is there any other pursuit more worthwhile?

The Miracle of Practice and of Becoming
So this is the opportune time to cultivate a practice of love. New practices take time to establish, so give yourself plenty of grace (There is so much grace!). Keep on keeping on; and whatever you do, don’t give up!

No one becomes a marathon runner, concert pianist, or “saint” overnight. Over time, as new neural pathways are formed and new “muscles” are developed, consistent practice gives way to proficiency. What once was hard becomes automatic. This is the miracle of practice and of becoming.

They say you become what you practice. So let us practice love, and in turn, become people of love.

Love is the most powerful force in the universe, and there is no storm — no pandemic, politics, racism, quarantine, hurricane, or fire — that can overcome it. Though we will continue to lament, to work for change, and insist on justice, we will rest in Love. For we know that the tumult of this season will do its work if we let it — to secure us, nourish us, and ground us in Love.

by Jessica Ketola

Hope As Resistance In An Election Season

Now is not a time for despair, but for hope. We know all too well the insanity of reasons for anxiety and gloom. But pessimism does us no good. If ever there was a time to hold onto faith, it is now. This election season is one of heightened anxiety, fear, and division. And never before have the stakes felt so high. Whatever your politics may be, it feels like the earth is collapsing underneath our feet. And perhaps it is. Kingdoms rise and fall, but that which is eternal endures forever.

I don’t mean to trivialize your anxiety. I feel it too. Rumors of voter fraud and intimidation, gun stockpiles, conspiracy theories, and civil war have us all unnerved. There are no trite answers sufficient to meet the magnitude of suffering. That would only be unkind, adding insult to injury. No, what I am suggesting is that there are truths that are deeper, wider, longer, and higher than every fear, every abuse, and every lie.

These three things endure forever — hope, faith, and love; and the greatest of these is love. When everything is said and done, love wins.

Love Wins
As a follower of Jesus, I am angry and heartbroken over the suffering and denigration of so many across our country. We are enduring overwhelming grief and loss in this time of pandemic; and it seems to be a piling-on of epic proportions. This election, I find myself sick with the greed, the violence, and the racism of our times. Our country is broken, divided, and reeling. I long for a world that is just, where the vulnerable are cared for, the oppressed are lifted up, and every human is shown dignity. I believe God calls us to stay attentive to the policies and leaders that impact our collective well-being. We must not only vote for ourselves, but for the common good. Love insists that we use our vote to work toward creating God’s beloved community on earth.

But will love win in this election?

We can only hope.

Hope As Resistance
Along with our voting, our mobilizing, our outreach, and our organizing, we must hold onto stubborn hope. Hope is resistance. Faith is protest. Love is defiance. We must resist the powers of violence, hate, and greed. We must not let fear have the last word. If the empire is falling, let it fall. But let us resolve to rebuild and co-create the world that we dream of.

No matter what happens in this election, I can assure you that the deep polarization and fragmentation of our day will persist. There is no magic wand. It will take you and me and everybody coming together across the divides to tear down unjust systems. We must not abdicate our God-given responsibility and creativity to steward a world in which all can flourish. For now is not a time for despair, but for hope.
​

​by Jessica Ketola

​The chaos continues this week in the aftermath of a presidential debate that devolved into a debacle of a shouting match. This and a million other issues under the category, “things gone wrong with the planet” threaten to incite ulcers, high blood pressure, anxiety disorders, or worse. We find ourselves living in dystopian times of plague, quarantine, civil unrest, demagogues, hurricanes, and fires. And as the election looms, the madness of divisiveness and power-grabbing escalates.

This disruption is rocking people’s faith. Many are leaving the church as the American Church is largely flailing and failing to step up to this moment — either by our silence, our complicity to white supremacy, our nationality posing as Christianity, or by our politics that seem to be the antithesis of Christ-likeness. I get it. This is madness!

But I urge you, don’t give up on Jesus. Because Jesus’ self-giving love is the antidote for the present-day ills in our society. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, even Gandhi practiced this powerful way of love, meeting injustice and violence with soul force. They believed that you cannot fight hate with hate — only with love. This ideology came from Jesus himself.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing right,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 5:3–10

This is why I implore you — don’t leave faith.
​Because faith, hope, and love are what the world needs more of right now, not less!

And don’t give up on Jesus either.
Because Jesus has shown us the way, defeating the darkest evil with love, forgiveness, humility, and sacrifice.

And please don’t walk away from the church altogether.
There are many followers of Jesus on the ground, living the way of love and peace in very ordinary and yet extraordinary ways. We’re here. You just got to find us. Love cannot exist without community. And we’re going to need each other to work together to create a better world.

For this is not the first time the human race has faced challenges. And as followers of Jesus, we understand that a whole new world is being birthed. In spite of all the suffering and the tumult of these times, our triune God who has set the world in motion is at the center of the universe pulling everything and everyone into Love.

Love is the most powerful force in the cosmos.

This is why now, more than ever, we need to ground ourselves in the love of God. Love is everything.

If this crazy world and compromised church have got you spinning, choose Love.

Love is the lens through which all of the gospel is to be interpreted. Jesus said it himself in his greatest commandment to love God with all of your being and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37–40) All of the scripture can be summed up in this.

Love liberates the oppressed, heals the brokenhearted, bestows mercy to the undeserving, welcomes the outcast, embraces the untouchables, reverses power structures, and lifts up the poor. Love is why we signed up to follow Jesus in the first place. And Jesus’ revolutionary love is still as compelling as ever. So how are we to be faithful to love in such a time as this?

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” — Micah 6:8

DO JUSTICE
As the deep roots of racism and white supremacy have been exposed in this hour, the church must not be silent. When our own president refuses, we must unequivocally condemn white supremacy. It is demonic. And as the church, we must repent from our complicity to whiteness, defined here as a “death-dealing, anti-life, anti-God system of dehumanization (Deuteronomy 12:3).” Donelle Wyche [Read Full Article: In Search of White Partners: What BIPOC Need]

“Christ calls us to repentance…for allowing whiteness to exist, to flourish, to victimize, to terrorize, and to oppress. We need to repent of the ways we have remained silent as whiteness has destroyed God’s creation, God’s image-bearers, and God’s vision for humanity.”

It is not enough to merely acknowledge this present evil. The way of love commands that we do justice and act justly.

When there is so much animosity and fear towards the “other” — resulting in hate crimes, children in cages, and horror and violence of all kinds, the Biblical call to love the stranger and the alien is paramount. In this era when so many deny climate change and actively ignore issues of environmental injustice, our faith requires us to care for the earth and advocate for God’s love toward all of creation. When the rich continue to get richer off the backs of the poor in the face of rising poverty, displacement, and unemployment, the upending-powerful love of Jesus calls us to create new communities and economies where all can flourish. Love does not consume; it creates. Love gives up power for the greater good.

Self-giving love conquers evil. Jesus showed us the way.

LOVE KINDNESS & WALK HUMBLY
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (I Corinthians 13:4–8).

As we find ourselves in the midst of the mania of a heated and polarized political election, love is essential. For it is important to stay faithful to love midst the rising tensions. Eugene Cho, who wrote Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian’s Guide To Engaging Politics encourages us.

“Stay engaged. Remain hopeful. Love anyway. Walk with integrity. Fight for the vulnerable, and bear witness to the love, mercy, and grace of Christ. For it’s not only WHAT we believe, but HOW we engage.”

The end never justifies the means, lest we become the very thing we hate. This is why Jesus called us to the radical act of enemy love. Love is supreme. For we do not put our hope in political parties or empires, but we put our hope in the loving and peaceable kin-dom of God. And we follow Christ’s example to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.

It is time for followers of Jesus to reclaim this revolutionary way of Love, to reimagine a new kind of Christ-follower, and to come together to work toward a new world.


by Jessica Ketola

As we are assailed with bad news day after day, I thought I would take a moment to share some good news. Sure, we are tired of quarantine life (though it's become the new normal). We are tired of the hazardous smoke that has us on complete and total lockdown — the one respite we had of getting outside and moving our bodies now stolen. And now we are worried about the impending darkness and gloom that threatens to descend on us this fall. But here I told you I was going to give you good news!

The pandemic has been disruptive for all of us. As a faith community centered around faithful presence and embodied practices, it has certainly felt like a — WHAT!?! What do we do now? How are we to be when we are not able to be with each other and with our neighbor in the ways that we are accustomed to? At the very least, it's been challenging.

And yet...we know that the Spirit is at work even in, perhaps especially in, these times of difficulty, disorientation, and disruption. And as a community, we have leaned into the discomfort to see how God might be forming us in this time. We have collectively journeyed to find new-found interior freedom in the midst of Covid-constraint. We have had to dig deeper to find peace, hope, and joy. We have leaned into the discomfort of anti-racist work in lament and repentance as we have shown up to protests, listened to black voices, and engaged in hard conversations. And in the midst of it all, God has been at work!

G O O D / / N E W S / /
Here are some highlights over the last six months!

▪WIDER & DEEPER NEIGHBOR CONNECTIONS // Although we are so sad that we can't meet weekly for neighborhood dinners, we have seen more neighbors desiring to connect. The outdoor happy hours have been a hit on the street and it's been a beautiful thing to see more and more neighbors connecting! And as we are all stuck in our neighborhoods, the connections we do have are growing richer and deeper!

▪GENEROSITY TO NEIGHBORS // As our neighbors lost income, jobs, and security due to the pandemic, we stepped up as a community to meet needs as we could. We collectively gave $1200 to Turning Point to families in need and we also gave another $1800 in benevolence funds for rent assistance and small grants for those who were laid off. In addition to this, we met some very practical needs — like a bike and helmet for an 11-year-old who didn't have one, some balls and games for Turning Point students, gas and grocery cards for our unhoused friends, and helping a refugee mom navigate the unemployment system.

▪ANTI-RACIST COMMUNITY WORK // The pandemic of racism demands that we as followers of Jesus lament, repent, and then act to participate in the kingdom work of overturning systems of oppression and dismantling white supremacy. We have shown up at local protests. We have connected with Black Lives Matter Shoreline and other neighbors in the community who are deeply committed to this work. And we have hosted a discussion group around Unraveling Racism, doing the hard work of listening, lamenting, and learning. And this is just the beginning!

▪EQUITY IN EDUCATION // As school resumes online, the gaps for students of color and for those who are living at poverty only widen. Turning Point is strategically poised to ensure that all of our children have the opportunity to thrive. As a faith community, we are thrilled to continue to support this work and to continue to be faithful partners. In addition, we are connecting with others in the community who are actively working on educational equity and collaborating to be a part of the transformation in our community. And we are dreaming and conspiring to find funding for a new Turning Point site right here in the neighborhood!

▪FOUNDERS IN BLACK COFFEE NW! // We are also thrilled to let you know that One Cup Coffee has just been bought by black owners who have a vision for a community hub, youth empowerment, and anti-racist work right here in the neighborhood. Their new business, Black Coffee NW, will open in October and The Practicing Church has given $1,000 to be a Founder. After all the prayers and dreams around One Cup Coffee, we are overjoyed to see this goodness unfold before our very eyes! And we get to be a part of it!

▪COMMITMENT TO BE A BLESSING TO OUR COMMUNITY // What this means is that our small church has given away $4,000 in this season — which is over 20% of our total budget! Way to go! Thank you for your generosity. It takes all of us offering the little or plenty that we have to embody love, kindness, and generosity to our community. We hope all of you get in on the goodness! Generosity in the face of fear and scarcity is a powerful thing.

So although we don't know entirely what the future holds (this is 2020 we're talking about!) we can already see that the Spirit is leading us in this time to be a part of God's work of renewal and justice right here on the ground. Nothing can stop the work of God. Not pandemics. Not white supremacy. Not wild fires or hurricanes, politics or presidents.

NOTHING CAN STOP THE WORK OF GOD!

God's river of justice, grace, liberation, mercy, healing, and peace keeps rolling on.

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! - Amos 5:24

So be encouraged, my friends. The God who set the sun and the moon and the stars in place and yet who knows the number of hairs on your head is here, present, with us.

I hope you will continue this transformational journey with our community in this season. There will be lots of opportunity to connect - through online gatherings, spiritual direction groups, book discussions, neighborhood presence, activism, and service opportunities. 

With much faith, hope, and love,

Jessica

The deep seeds of racism continue to bear hate in our community. We must disrupt, overturn, and till the soil of systems that are perfectly designed for the results we are getting now with gross inequities and racial violence and terror.

People ask — how do we work for change? The answer is that change happens on the ground — in the very soil that has been cultivated and then stolen from our black and indigenous siblings. The battlegrounds are our neighborhoods. And this is being played out in vivid color here in the Ridgecrest neighborhood as a black, middle-school activist is being threatened by numerous racist neighbors. And it seems Shoreline Police are responding as the system is designed to — by favoring imagined threats from white folk and dismissing real threats from black folk. We must decide whose streets these are. Are these streets for the white, the privileged and the power-brokers or are these streets for everyone?

We have been told that we have little power to affect change and have thus given up the gift of what it means to be a citizen, to love our neighbor, and to be responsible to a place and to the flourishing of all the diverse people who live here. We must pick up our God-given vocations to be cultivators, creators, and architects of our own places. The power to create a new foundation of equity lies here on the ground.

Decisions that affect our entire community are being made by a small group of people - in school board rooms and city planning meetings. Decisions that shape and affect our lives together here — decisions about zoning and who owns the land, small businesses, walkability, parks and sidewalks, human services, mental health, and policing. If we do nothing, the powers of greed, white supremacy, capitalism, and imperialism will continue to wreak havoc all while singing us a siren song. We must WAKE UP and SHOW UP. We must no longer abdicate our power. We must begin to tear down and dismantle systems that are not working for all. And we must reimagine together a new future. One that I believe Dr. King imagined as God's dream for the Beloved Community and one that The Practicing Church embraces wholeheartedly.

If you live in Shoreline, I urge you to follow Black Lives Matter - Shoreline (or the chapter in your community) and show your support. Get involved, give, write emails, and attend rallies and protests. Use your voice to amplify the voices of black and indigenous leaders already on the ground doing good work in your neighborhood! Support courageous and passionate neighbors like these Shoreline youth who are putting their hearts, souls, and bodies on the line to reimagine a new future!

Together we can lean into the radical way of Jesus to love our neighbor, dismantle oppression, disrupt empire, and fight for justice!
​
Won't you join us?
​

by Jessica Ketola

​"For far too long, we as a society have ignored the cries of our neighbors of color, and many of us have been seduced to benefit from the status quo, marred by the sin of white supremacy. This reality has perpetuated the dangerous belief that we can live above place - disembodied and disconnected from the neighborhoods we inhabit, contributing to a disorganized and disempowered Church."

"Is it too late to reorganize the church in the neighborhood for a more equitable future?" -Parish Collective

For the past few years, we have been on a journey to reimagine the church in the neighborhood — to go beyond talking about love to actually embodying love together in real time and space. To reclaim the human and earthiness of our faith as we reconnect to the land and to each other following the command that sums it all up: Love your neighbor as yourself.

You see, we have a dream. To co-create a beautifully diverse and equitable community that reflects the wide and inclusive love of Jesus. This revolutionary love that turns greed and empire on its head, lifts up the poor and the oppressed, and heals all that is broken. A love that sets a table where all have gifts to contribute, difference is celebrated, and "the other" becomes family. Now, this dream is a beautiful dream that appeals to many. Sure to inspire, warm, and tingle. And yet while we all like talking about this dream, few will live it.

I know this too well. I am often misunderstood. My passion for joining God in the neighborhood has been misinterpreted as cute, niche, impractical, perhaps impossible in today's modern, high-tech, mobile world. Reimagining church as a rooted community versus a weekly gathering has proven anything but easy.

We are accustomed to living our individual lives without the burden of the common good. We are steeped in a culture of consuming rather than our God-given vocation of creating. We are used to floating above place, without much regard for the neighborhood in which we live and without truly knowing or loving our neighbors. And yet this pandemic has unveiled that we are all far more connected than we imagine. It has also revealed a pandemic of racism in our country, the wide and gaping cracks of inequity and injustice, and the deep roots of white supremacy at its very foundation. This is not a world we were meant for.

And yet I believe with all my heart, there is another way to live.

There is a new world that the Spirit is birthing in Jesus that frees the oppressed, heals the divides, and restores broken foundations.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." [Isaiah 58]

I believe that it is time — in fact, a holy moment in time — to reimagine the church.

We must repent for the ways in which the church has been shaped by western imperialism, systemic racism, colonization, patriarchy, consumerism, and individualism. We need to explore how white supremacy distorts our imagination for how we can reorganize the church together in the dirt and soil of the neighborhood. For this is where heaven meets earth. We must seek to embody the gospel and to co-create a new community of revolutionary love — and I don't think we can do this apart from being rooted in our places.

"As theologian Dr. Willie Jennings says, “race is a matter of geography.”

If the very ground we walk on is home for unjust systems and economies, then we must return to our Genesis vocation to join God's work of renewal and shalom for all people, plants and animals. We must disrupt the soil, root out the weeds that choke, plant seeds of peace and equity,  and cultivate new gardens of love, justice, and beauty.

Dr. Jennings expounds on this thought in a recent article in The Christian Century:

"These days I am trying to understand how to be Christian in the dirt. Which means I am trying to think theologically from dirt and trees, sky and water, ocean and animals—not as background to life but as the reality of connection that prepares us for the living of life together. I believe theology and theological education must be reframed inside a more expansive and invasive ecological awareness, one that magnifies the sinews of our connectivity—to plants, animals, the built environment, and each other—to the level of pedagogy, that is, to the level of guiding our teaching and learning. I have been helped by a number of indigenous thinkers over the years who have marked this path forward...

...I continue to be amazed at the resistance of people—especially Christians, and especially some scholars, Christian or not—to this hard work. Such avoidance is understandable but not acceptable given the constant machinations of a white supremacy that now enjoys the sunlight of its unmasking. Only by remembering the dirt can we challenge this avoidance, with its constellation of mental and emotional stratagems of refusal. This remembering brings us to the work of seeing connections between the places we’ve lived and what those places teach us about race and faith—and between how we need to live on the ground in place now and who we want to be in this world."

This is a beautiful prayer. 

May the Spirit reveal to us how we are to live on the ground in our places now and who we want to be in this world.
​
by Jessica Ketola
Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash

​INHABIT 2020 at Home // JULY 16-17 // 8:30A - 6P
Join us online and at home as we bring our neighborhoods together to discern God's hopeful and equitable future. We’ll leverage our online connectivity to bring us together in unique ways. For the first time in Inhabit history, we’ll engage in learning, stories, art, and connection from the neighborhoods each of us inhabit year around.  REGISTER TODAY!

This week has been a week like none other. We are collectively experiencing great upheaval, grief, and trauma across our nation. As we continue to be in lock down due to a global pandemic with almost 110,000 deaths in the U.S., we are simultaneously watching the whole country ablaze with outrage and protest in the wake of the brutal murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others. It is heavy. These apocalyptic times seem to be unveiling all the deep wounds of racism, violence and white supremacy in our country in a way that seem to have our attention.

And so amidst the grief and the lament, a stubborn hope persists. For right alongside the disturbing images of demagogues, contortions of faith, and military police using excessive force in the face of peaceful protestors, I see so many beautiful displays of repentance and solidarity. Sustained protests in all 50 states, made up of every shade of black, brown and white, coming together to see justice roll like a river in our streets. Profound images of protestors and officers taking a knee, crowds singing in unity, and children chanting in the streets. And while it will take much more than symbols or prayers to disrupt systemic racism and many rightly criticize a false peace, I pray that this movement toward one another continues.

For it is empire that wants to divide and conquer. It is a system of scarcity where violence, greed and fear reign. We fight one another and in turn, we all suffer. And in a time of extreme polarization and division across our country, we are all bearing the brunt of our fragmentation.

“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be...This is the inter-related structure of reality.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Structured racism MUST be abolished but we can't stop there! A tree has roots and so does the current American dilemma. The root of our problems stem from a warped Western worldview that values hierarchy over the dignity of every voice, binary choices over living in wise compromise or becoming comfortable with tension, and individualism instead of community ethics for the common good..." -Randy Woodley

Saint Paul said it like this, "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." -I Corinthians 12:26

​My prayer of repentance begins with acknowledging that as a white woman of privilege, I have not suffered with my black and brown siblings who are suffering.

Distance is a privilege that we must surrender. -Sunia Gibbs

My prayer is that we will LEAN IN.

Lean into the discomfort. Lean into the learning. Lean into the listening. Lean into the grief and the horror of solidarity. For those of you like me who are white, you may just be waking up to your complicity in these systems of oppression. You may be struggling to know how to join the fight for justice. I too struggle. What I can say is that we must lean in. Repentance looks like giving up the privilege of distance and listening to the black and brown leaders who have been in this work a long time.

Racism is traumatic. Black people are experiencing a collective trauma. Being heard is necessary to our healing. ⁣ -Latasha Morrison

Know that this is a costly and arduous journey that must go beyond toxic tears and social media spurts void of true repentance. As followers of Jesus, we are called to repent, to live another way, and to join in the revolution of love. So let's roll up our sleeves, do our work, and lean in.

Know that The Practicing Church is committed to the long road of repentance, the dismantling of white supremacy, and the co-creation of the beloved community. Though we admit our profound ineptitude and ignorance to do so, we fall upon the leading of the Spirit who alone can bring the transformation needed in our hearts and our communities. And over the coming weeks and months, we will commit ourselves to journey together.

And so as you lean into your own discomfort this week, as you perhaps attend an anti-racist webinar, or dive into your anti-racist book, attend a protest, or have hard conversations, I leave you with this blessing from writer, pastor and author, Dominique Gilliard who contemporized this classic Franciscan prayer for this kairos moment.

May God bless you with holy anger at white supremacy, police brutality, and racial oppression, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from systemic racism, xenophobia, and anti-blackness, so that you may sacrificially reach out to them in love, learn how to stand in solidarity with them, and work alongside them to transform broken systems and structures.

May God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we really CAN make a difference in this world, so that we are able, with God's grace, to help the Church do what others claim cannot be done: truly become an interconnected Body, where when one part suffers, every part suffers with it. -Dominique DuBois Gilliard


by Jessica Ketola

I woke up this morning with the word WAIT impressed upon my heart and my mind. Wait. It is a word both comforting and uncomfortable all at the same time.

Wait. Not something we like to do. We are insta-gratification, get-'er-done kind of folk. And yet in a time when we feel much powerlessness and constraint, it is something we all can and must do.
Wait. Wait on God. Wait for the curve to flatten. Wait for a vaccine. Wait for the death toll to stop climbing. Wait for gatherings, community, shared meals, travel and all the previous freedoms we enjoyed in our pre-corona-existence.

Of all the invitations to wait, waiting on God seems to be front and center. The longer this quarantine continues, the greater my need and dependency grows on the presence of God to sustain me. This is hard. There is no way around that. We are all experiencing losses now compounded over time. To be clear, as Coronavirus deaths have reached 100,000 in the U.S. in just over four months, we are experiencing a collective trauma. And so we must be gentle with ourselves. We are exhausted. We are tired. We are spent.

Aside from the overwhelming grief and constraint, we simply are not receiving what we are used to receiving in community. A touch, a smile, a look of understanding, the synergy of a room, a warm embrace, the delight of a shared meal, the feeling that it's gonna be okay because we're all in this together. Instead, we are having to settle for Zoom screens and phone calls and we are giving everything we've got to be present and to stay connected. And it's good and we're trying and doing the best we can. But it's not the same. And so we find ourselves depleted and worn down. All the energy expended bouncing against the walls of our screens and little being transmitted across the digital waves. So in a time of much giving and depletion, we've got the figure out ways in which we can receive.

And this is why we are committed to practices of presence, present to God, our neighbors and ourselves — for we are created for connection and communion. So don't miss out on the gifts of presence available to you right here and right now — look, listen and wait.

This week is Pentecost Sunday and we find Jesus' followers waiting too. Waiting to receive. "While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise." [Acts 1:4] For Jesus knew that as he would no longer be physically present with his disciples, they were receiving a new gift of presence. A presence that now would be poured out on all who would receive, awakening, sustaining and empowering them.

And so in these challenging times, we must wait. We must wait to receive. The life-giving power of the Spirit. The very breath of God. This is what will sustain us, strengthen us, encourage us, and empower us. On Pentecost, the Spirit transformed a motley crew of disciples who were confused, doubting, disillusioned, and hiding into the emboldened and empowered apostles of the early church.

The Spirit ignited a revolutionary fire in the midst of great oppression and persecution. And God's purposes of hope and renewal unfolded in spite of much upheaval and even the demise of their beloved Jerusalem. So in the midst of tumultuous times, we must not despair. We must wait to receive. For surely, the Spirit of God is at work in the world even in our current birth pains.

I pray even in the midst of the hard, the uncomfortable, and the uncertain, that we will be filled, empowered and awakened to the work of the Spirit that is unfolding in us and in our neighborhoods.

May we receive — everything we need and more.


by Jessica Ketola