Interview with Goodwin Prize Winner Ryan Duerr
We are thrilled to introduce you to one of our Goodwin Prize Winners, Ryan Duerr (University of Dayton) for his essay, “Eco-Lutheranism and the Hidden God.”
Essay Abstract: Recently, Lutheran theologians have started using Martin Luther’s theologia crucis to construct a uniquely Lutheran approach to eco-theology. While Luther’s theologia crucis has, indeed, proven useful in this regard, it has also been used to promulgate an ecological ethic which advocates the alleviation of nature’s suffering in such a way that ignores the scientific consensus concerning the necessity of predation, pain, and struggle for the overall health of biotic systems. In order to correct this trend, I argued that eco-Lutherans ought recover Luther’s notion of God hidden “behind” revelation in order to complement their emphasis on God hidden “in” revelation.
Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life?
My intellectual work is motivated, first and foremost, by a desire to understand my faith and integrate it into every aspect of my thinking. But also, having been raised in a Lutheran home as well as formed in Lutheran churches and schools, I like to think of my work as contributing (in a small way) to the religious culture that has always provided me with a deep sense of community and identity.
What inspired you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?
I grew up in a home that highly valued both faith and education. My dad was a pastor and my mom a teacher, so a desire to learn as much as possible about my faith was instilled in me from a young age. I studied theology as an undergrad and then went on to seminary where I became particularly interested in the question of what it means to think like a Lutheran in a contemporary American context. This question fascinated me so much that I decided to pursue a PhD in theology at the University of Dayton where their department of religion specializes in studying the American Christian experience through the twin lenses of historiography and cultural analysis.
How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background?
In 1967, historian Lynn White convincingly argued that modern ecological crises have roots in the moral attitudes towards nature that were fostered by Western Christian theology throughout its history. Since then, theologians from across the denominational spectrum have scrambled to critically reexamine their own tradition’s view of nature and sought to excavate conceptual tools from its past which might help “convert” their tradition to being more eco-friendly. A handful of Lutheran theologians have recently looked to Martin Luther’s so-called “theology of the cross” as providing an entry point into serious reflection on ecological crises from a distinctly Lutheran perspective. In particular, the theology of the cross emphasizes both the folly of human wisdom when it is divorced from the cross of Christ as well as the way God “hides” in suffering, ironically working life through death, wisdom through foolishness, and strength through weakness. An “eco-theology of the cross,” therefore, might be fashioned which condemns our modern technocratic paradigm as a form of human-wisdom-gone-awry-apart-from-the-cross and points to the suffering of nature as a locus of God’s redemptive work which demands Christian attention.
My paper is supportive of such efforts to construct an “eco-theology of the cross,” but it cautions that it can (and has) been used to promote an ethic of love towards nature which is incompatible with the scientific consensus regarding the necessity of suffering and death for the overall health and well being of biotic systems. I argue that this should not deter Lutherans from using the theology of the cross to address ecological issues, but it should push them to recover another aspect of Luther’s theology, namely, the way that God hides “behind” suffering in addition to hiding “in” suffering. Not only did Luther understand God to be working in suffering to bring about healing, but he also recognized that God operates behind suffering in inscrutable ways which often seem, from a human perspective, to be at odds with God’s way of working redemption through suffering. For Luther, such ostensible paradoxes should be seen, not as a cause for despair but as an opportunity for faith. By integrating this second form of divine hiddenness into their eco-theologies of the cross, I contend that eco-Lutherans can coherently foster a qualified ethic of love towards nature that promotes and encourages ecological activism while also recognizing and respecting God’s inscrutable work “behind” the suffering which is integral natural systems.
How might this award make a difference in your life and what might your future look like?
This award helps validate my decision to pursue an advanced degree in theology. It also gives me the confidence to keep on with the work I have been doing and continue to put my work out there for others to read.
As a graduate assistant at UD, I get to teach an introductory level class on theology and religious studies. While doing so, I have learned that the old saw about teachers learning more than their students is 100% true. I continue to be amazing by how much I learn from my students each semester. Upon completion of my degree, I hope to continue teaching theology and religious studies at an undergraduate level so that I can keep on learning from students for many years to come.
How do you spend your time when you are not studying?
I spend pretty much all of my free time with my favorite person in the world, Kaellyn, who also happens to be my wife. We can usually be found walking to a local coffee shop, spoiling our adorable little puppy Malcolm, or playing board games with the many friends we have made at UD.
Any other comments?
Thank you to the people at Theological Horizons for providing opportunities in which young, aspiring theologians can get their work read and recognized by established scholars in the field. Thank you to Dr. Vincent Miller for putting together the fantastic seminar on eco-theology that inspired and incubated my essay. And finally, thank you to all of the professors and graduate students in UD’s department of religion for creating a highly intellectual yet deeply spiritual environment in which I have been able to grow both as a student of theology and as a person of faith.
Interview with Goodwin Prize Winner Rene Guo
We are thrilled to introduce you to one of our winners of the 2021 Goodwin Prize in Theological Writing, Chengyuan (Rene) Guo (Yale Divinity School) for the essay, “A New Realism: First Generation Chinese American Theology of Liminal Complicity.”
Paper Abstract: In the context of COVID pandemic and Sino-American strategic competitions, Chinese Americans have been singled out by our kin and racialized as contagion. However, Chinese American Christians from the PRC should not be considered as pure victims of racism in this Thucydidean circumstance because we are also complicit with perpetuating oppression against other weaker groups. This essay explores liminal complicity as a theological alternative to liberation and reconciliation, which prioritizes our endless entanglements with structures of violence. This essay develops a new approach to Christian realism that bypasses the danger of liberation-themed grammar and the oppressed/oppressor binary in the Chinese American context.
What led you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?
I have always been passionate about political theology since my undergrad at Denison University. I devoted my senior research to black liberation theology and mass incarceration. During my master studies at Yale, I began to explore my own embodied theological voice through investigating state-church relations in the context of Chinese Christianity. My interest in political theology has allowed me to rediscover myself and my relationship to Chinese culture. Currently, I am pursuing a doctoral degree in world Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, researching the intersections between family, state, and religion in China. I had determined that my path would be to offer the Chinese church a pragmatic voice of reform that allows Chinese Christians to recalibrate our critical distance to political power.
How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background?
My paper formulates a first-generation Chinese American theological response to the structural competitions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. During the COVID pandemic, Chinese bodies became racialized as the ultimate threat to American security. It is easy for some to deploy a critical race lens without situating this episode in the great power conflicts that is going to define this decade. Rather than portraying us as pure victims of racism, I used a “liminal complicity” model to analyze our collusions with Empires—both the US and China. Through which, I modified Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism to allow us to speak theologically from the place of complicity and compromise. No great power is morally pure, and free of sin in the interconnected body of God. Both Chinese and Americans as imperial subjects remain complicit, implicated and tied to things we abjure. Instead of relying on one empire to combat the other, we should recognize the incredible price of nuclear power conflict to the creation as the body of God, and discover constructive ways to initiate dialogue and deescalate.
Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life?
My faith is impacted by the heritages of both awakenings and enlightenments. For me, faith and intellect are two sides of the same coin. I hope my pastoral training and research will have tangible effect on my work with seminarians in the future. In the past, I have written extensively about interfaith dialogue and theology of religions. I do this so that I may continue to prepare clergies to engage with religious diversity in their daily work through emphasizing the abundance of divine wisdom that exceeds our expectations. Since no one has the final say on the knowledge of God, we could all learn from each other while refusing to reduce our differences and the uniqueness of Christ.
How might this award make a difference in your life?
I am incredibly grateful to have received a Goodwin prize. It not only helps with my PhD budget, but also encourages me to continue to explore my authentic theological voice. Specifically, I hope my research could help the Academy and American churches to better understand Chinese Christianity, to see us as equal dialogue partners with real agency rather than helpless victims. I hope my work could enrich the theological dialogue and reduce misunderstanding in this turbulent era and raise the awareness about the racialization of Chinese people in American public imagination.
What do you hope to do with your degree?
At the beginning of my career, I thought I would either be ordained as a pastor in the United Church of Christ or pursuing tenure positions. Due to COVID pandemic, the structural collapse of the tenure market and struggling church finance made me reflect on my potential career path. I am deeply passionate about the faith development of seminary students and training future church leaders. In the future, I hope to work as a seminary administrator. I care deeply about preparing clergies with the fast-changing religious ecology, with the knowledge that immigration and growth of Christianity in non-western countries will greatly impact the pews. It is my hope that our next generation of church leaders will be well versed in African, Asian, Latin American, and diasporic theologies.
How do you spend your time when you are not studying?
I love cooking and I like to explore different styles of cuisine. Additionally, I like to enrich my knowledge by listening to different lectures on Youtube, including security studies, international relations, archaeology, history, literature, and law. As an international student, I also like to talk to my parents and younger brother, so I can always feel at home.
Psychologist Meg Jay speaks to our 20Somethings
Dr. Meg Jay declares that twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misunderstanding, much of which has trivialized the most transformative time of our lives. So what is the wisdom of twentysomethings? Watch Dr. Jay in conversation with students at a weekly Vintage Lunch, a Theological Horizons tradition.
Meg Jay, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist, and an Associate Professor of Human Development at the University of Virginia, who specializes in adult development and in twentysomethings in particular. She earned a doctorate in clinical psychology, and in gender studies, from the University of California, Berkeley. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review and on NPR and BBC. Her TED talk “Why 30 Is Not the New 20” is among the most watched of all time. Visit her website. Discover her book. The Defining Decade: Why Your 20s Matter and How to Make the Most of Them.
Meg Jay at Vintage Lunch, September 2021
October Prayers | For our longings & desires
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
Throughout the pandemic, there's been a massive movement of people in the US - leaving or starting new jobs, moving from here to there. Some transitions have been through a certain degree of privilege. For many, external pressures are the driving force. This month, let's consider the tender place of our desires amidst such upheaval. Where do our longings fit within our occupations and vocations?
“I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it”
Blessed be the longing that brought you here and quickens your soul with wonder.
May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire that disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.
May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease to discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.
May the forms of your belonging - in low, creativity, and friendship - be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul.
May the one you long for long for you.
May your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.
May a secret Providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.
May your mind inhabit your life with the sureness with which your body inhabits the world.
-John O'Donohue
More resources on vocation & longing:
Talk with Rev. Bill Haley for our Fellows.
Dr. Chris Yates on The Loss of Longing in an Age of Curated Reality
Announcing the 2021 Goodwin Prizes!
The board of directors of Theological Horizons is pleased to announce THE 2021 LOUISE & RICHARD GOODWIN PRIZES FOR EXCELLENCE IN THEOLOGICAL WRITING
A $2,500 prize has been awarded to Clare Kemmerer (Yale Institute of Sacred Music) for the essay, "Sisters in Complicity: Anti-Judaism at a Late Medieval Convent.”
Abstract: Building upon the frameworks developed by Stephanie Jones-Rogers and Elizabeth McRae which centralize the role of women in perpetuating racial violence and discrimination, this paper expands their application to the racial and religious persecution of Jews in late medieval Europe. Offering a case-study of a medieval German convent, this paper seeks to complicate both the study of medieval racial politics and that of medieval women religious. Using artistic, economic and written evidence from the fourteenth-century life at Kloster Lüne, this paper explores the ways that class, gender, and religion allowed the nuns to uniquely participate in a culture of anti-Judaism.
A $1,000 prize has been awarded to Ryan Duerr (University of Dayton) for the essay, “Eco-Lutheranism and the Hidden God.”
Abstract: Recently, Lutheran theologians have started using Martin Luther’s theologia crucis to construct a uniquely Lutheran approach to eco-theology. While Luther’s theologia crucis has, indeed, proven useful in this regard, it has also been used to promulgate an ecological ethic which advocates the alleviation of nature’s suffering in such a way that ignores the scientific consensus concerning the necessity of predation, pain, and struggle for the overall health of biotic systems. In order to correct this trend, I argued that eco-Lutherans ought recover Luther’s notion of God hidden “behind” revelation in order to complement their emphasis on God hidden “in” revelation.
A $500 prize has been awarded to Chengyuan (Rene) Guo (Yale Divinity School) for the essay, “A New Realism: First Generation Chinese American Theology of Liminal Complicity.”
Abstract: In the context of COVID pandemic and Sino-American strategic competitions, Chinese Americans have been singled out by our kin and racialized as contagion. However, Chinese American Christians from the PRC should not be considered as pure victims of racism in this Thucydidean circumstance because we are also complicit with perpetuating oppression against other weaker groups. This essay explores liminal complicity as a theological alternatives to liberation and reconciliation, which prioritizes our endless entanglements with structures of violence. This essay develops a new approach to Christian realism that bypasses the danger of liberation-themed grammar and the oppressed/oppressor binary in the Chinese American context.
We are deeply encouraged to see young scholars of such promise and commitment and we offer our warm congratulations to all who participated in this year’s competition.
Karen Wright Marsh | Executive Director, Theological Horizons
Meet our new Leadership Associate - Grace Medrano!
We are so excited to introduce you to Grace! She will be our first ever Leadership Associate, a one year position that offers a recent graduate a chance to learn the ropes of working at a non-profit campus ministry.
Tell us a bit about your background.
My family is originally from Honduras, but I was born and raised in Northern Virginia! I grew up attending a Hispanic church in Petworth, D.C. I hold my church so near to my heart -- it has been a refuge, a home, and a family for me. I grew up singing old worship songs in Spanish, eating pupusas in the lobby after service, and receiving hugs from a dozen different hermanas on Sunday. Coming to UVA and stepping into American Christian community was a pretty significant culture shock! I am so glad to be here though, and I'd love to talk more about my thoughts on culture, faith, and belonging.
What drew you to Theological Horizons? How is it different for you than other Fellowship groups at UVa?
I was drawn to TH because of its commitment to making a space for both Christians and seekers within academia. TH does a really great job of creating an environment where all are welcome to come together, discuss big ideas, and find a welcoming community. TH is also unique in that it allows students to explore faith while asking questions, engaging in dialogue, and engaging in self-reflection. It's awesome to have the opportunity to engage with faith intellectually.
What's your role at TH and what are some hopes you have within it?
This year I'll be a Leadership Associate with TH and I'm super excited! I'll be helping to plan and implement TH events and programs. I'm hoping to grow in understanding of my talents and abilities and have a better idea of what kind of career I want to pursue in the future. I'm also super excited to work alongside TH staff and students!
What kind of work could you see yourself doing 5 years from now?
I graduated undergrad having obtained a TESOL certificate. I'd love to work with adult English-language learners here in the US, maybe teaching English? I'm still figuring that part out! I studied Mandarin Chinese in high school and college and it's my ultimate bucket list item to teach abroad in mainland China or Taiwan. Overall, I'm passionate about providing support for adult immigrant populations and I'm also passionate about Christian ministry. We will see where I end up!
If you had a free day in Charlottesville, how would you spend it?
A friend took me tubing on the Rivanna earlier this summer! It was so restful and restorative to just float along with the current. I'd probably choose to go tubing at Riverview Park with some friends and then grab pizza at Mellow Mushroom.
September Prayers | For peace
There is much to be grieving and concerned about in our world today from the violence and instability in Afghanistan to the earthquake and hurricane ravaged Haiti to the ongoing pandemic. As we begin a new month, let us pray for God's peace within and among the nations.
Lord,
Lead us from death to life,
From falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Let peace fill our hearts, our world and our universe.
Let us dream together, pray together and work together,
To build one world of peace and justice for all.-spoken by Mother Teresa in 1981
Isaiah 9:7 “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this."
Summer Pause - August Edition
The Pond - A poem by Mary Oliver
August of another summer, and once again
I am drinking the sun
and the lilies again are spread across the water.
I know now what they want is to touch each other.
I have not been here for many years
during which time I kept living my life.
Like the heron, who can only croak, who wishes he
could sing,
I wish I could sing.
A little thanks from every throat would be appropriate.
This is how it has been, and this is how it is:
All my life I have been able to feel happiness,
except whatever was not happiness,
which I also remember.
Each of us wears a shadow.
But just now it is summer again
and I am watching the lilies bow to each other,
then slide on the wind and the tug of desire,
close, close to one another,
Soon now, I’ll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I’ll be singing.
Cole Arthur Riley | Black Liturgies
“God who rests,
It is difficult for us to imagine a Christ who, having all power and capacity to heal others, still at times walked away. Who napped unapologetically in the face of danger. Give us the courage to rest. The holy audacity to do absolutely nothing at all. And, as we do, allow us to hold vigil for the tombs of this world while honoring that we are neither savior nor slave. Grant us a slowness that allows us to feel what hurts and what makes healing possible. Let our rest be our liberation.”
KATE BOWLER PODCAST | Everything Happens
At age 35 enjoying her dream job and new son, Kate was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. As she's battled and written through her diagnosis, she has also gathered a community of fellow sufferers who reveal insights about life's unexplainable heartaches. Kate Bowler will be our Scoper Lecturer April '22! Listen to her podcast HERE.
golden rod glory, 36 x 24 in., oil on canvas
ARTIST CHRISTEN YATES | golden rod glory
“The golden rod are beginning to bloom here in Virginia spreading their gentle golden glow over our increasing back to school anxieties. My current show up at the new Dairy Market gallery here are quiet meditations on the natural world.” All work available for purchase. View here.
Watch the beautiful new music video by friends Daniel and Lauren Goans of Lowland Hum.
DR. CURT THOMPSON Beauty, Desire & Human Flourishing
Psychiatrist Curt Thompson examines the neuroscience of longing, beauty and community asking, “What is the role of beauty in our context of sky-high anxiety levels - and for the greater rhythms of our lives?”
This webinar was hosted in partnership with our friends at Coracle on July 29th.
An INVITATION | Welcome New Students
We are still welcoming new students into our community! Send us any names and contact information and we'll be sure to lavish them with love.
August Prayers | For the Church
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
Our relationship with the church has been challenged and stretched greatly during the pandemic. Some have found comfort and support, others have slowly slipped away. As we prepare to enter back into more regular and in-person rhythms, let us pray for our churches, that they could be a unified and powerful witness to the radically restorative love of Jesus.
John 17: 20-23 (NIV) “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Prayer for the Church from the common lectionary).
Some resources for church unity and renewal:
Essential Partners - These are our friends out of Cambridge, MA helping us with our new Deeper Dialogues initiative. “For three decades, Essential Partners has invested faith leaders and community members with the tools to address polarizing conflicts. [Their] approach has been proven to generate trust, understanding, and connection across unbridgeable differences."
The Living Church - TLC is a corporation governed by members of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion seeking to champion the catholic and evangelical faith of the one Church and to hasten the visible unity of all Christians. TLC publishes The Living Church magazine, in continuous publication since 1878.
Christian Community Development Association - An ecumenical association of churches and ministries to inspire, train, and connect Christians who seek to bear witness to the Kingdom of God by reclaiming and restoring under-resourced communities.
Summer Pause - July Edition
BEAUTY, DESIRE & HUMAN FLOURISHING with Curt Thompson
Dr. Curt Thompson
How might beauty play a role not only in our recovery, but also as an essential element in the ongoing, healthy rhythms of our lives? And what role does my desire play, now and always? And how do those things relate?
Join us and our friends at Coracle for a webinar on Thurs, July 29th, 12:30-1:30pm EST.
PSALM 147:1-3
Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God:
For it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Bruce Herman.
A PRAYER FOR NOW
Saturate me in your presence,
safe from the lies of the enemy.
Saturate me in your Spirit,
casting all fear, anxiety, and doubt from my heart and mind.
Saturate me in your love, Lord God,
And keep me as the apple of your eye.
When I am tempted to fear, give me strength.
When I am tempted to anxious thoughts, give me peace.
When I am tempted to doubt, strengthen my faith with your very own.
- Kari Kristina Reeves
Facing Your Future, by Julie Robertson
When Julie graduated from UVA (Commerce ’13), she was on her way to a new city, a new career, new relationships. Eight years later, this is what she'd say to her younger self:
There is a season for everything. Accept and embrace your current season. Don't hurry through the different seasons of your life. Trust that God's timing is always right. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Prioritize this present moment. Henri Nouwen says "The real enemies of our life are the 'oughts' and the 'ifs.' They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the here and the now. God is a God of the present."
Start building habits for life. Make time to build habits and rhythms that will follow you beyond your college years. Be specific about what you treasure most and protect those activities, relationships, and practices. (Matthew 6:21) As Greg McKeown said, "If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will."
And here is Julie's original post from summer 2013:
God has shaped me for this moment. He has molded me and prepared me just for this journey ahead. Not only has He prepared me, but He has gone before me, paving a way, carving a path for me.
God wants me here. Today. Now. In this moment. He led me here and He has a plan. I need only trust He knows better than I.
There is no fear in perfect love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made in perfect love. I love because He first loved me. (I John 4:18)
I am defined only by God's love. His glorious, merciful, and abundant love overcomes the world. (John 16:33)
God gives peace. He gives unsurpassed peace that is powerful and mysterious. He gives me the Holy Spirit to accompany me in every moment, to calm my anxieties, to bring me into His presence. God will not forsake me.
Whatever your age or stage, may you hold fast to these truths through any transition!
“There is a Balm in Gilead” by Mahalia Jackson (1967)
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin sick soul….
“The Angel Stirring the Pool of Bethseda” by Nicholas Mynheer (2001)
“From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.” John 5:4
The artist says, “In my painting the vast and glorious angel is completely unnoticed; only the gentle ripples on the surface of the water reveal his touch. Perhaps it is that God only reveals himself in ways that we can comprehend at any given time, meeting us where we are.”
The Avowal, by Denise Levertov
As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
Fresh Air Prayer | Reflection by Fellow Caroline Kirk '21
What were the rhythms of a Covid year? A fourth year of college? Wake up, workout, live, breathe, eat, learn, and sleep, all from home. Be a roommate, be a friend, be a student still, though different, be a community member when I could.
I had additional and unexpected rhythm to my final year at UVA.
From September to May, I spent time under the Gingko tree every Thursday. “Fresh Air Prayer,” we called it. A time to take a break, step away from the other routines, and be together. Distanced and masked in the beginning, we eventually sat together in May as if it were normal. Maybe we still kept a few extra feet between us, but by then it was just what we were used to!
This random opportunity to engage with Theological Horizons became the catalyst for a new fourth year best friendship, a guaranteed hour on the grass, a time of contemplation and new prayers, a place for friends to come breathe together, and a place for people to share their prayers, hopes, and small struggles. We need these places of community.
This one was a community of truth. I did not realize it until our last gathering in May, but fresh air prayer became a space to simply be in whatever way felt right that day. Without much preparation, showing up together was all that mattered.
My own faith has been defined by questions, a desire to feel peace, and a need to depend on God. When I walk alone, my thoughts are questions, about who I am and where my feet are planted. This has been my natural tendency and this fourth year of different rhythms has engaged this part of my heart.
“She hung on, she trusted, she hoped against hope,” is a line from my Daily Reader for Contemplative Living that accompanied me in my final college semester. Fresh air prayer was a practice in this hanging on, trusting, and hoping against hope. Amidst this crazy year, we asked each other each week, “What is a small joy you’ve experienced today?” “What feeling does the beauty of the Gingko tree elicit in you?”
I believe these practices are urgent. We need the spaces to ask and answer without fear. The spaces to ask the most interested question, not the most interesting. The spaces to breathe and not say anything at all. I write this a month after graduation with gratitude for the way Theological Horizons created this space for all four of my years at UVA, and thankful for the opportunity to be in such a space with fresh air prayer this year. I think, as students, we should seek ecstasy and practice gratitude, seek spaces of peace and challenge our hearts to grow, seek friendship and practice an openness to whoever may end up sitting under the tree with us on any given day.
Each day is an opportunity to hang on, trust, and hope against hope.
Summer Pause with TH - June Edition
Dear friends.
From the beginning, our lives were created out of a rhythm - there was day, and there was night, and then the Sabbath; creation, work, rest. Now we invite you into a pause with us as we enter the summer months. Enjoy these 3 monthly installments of some favorite sensory gifts - poetry, film, music, books, art, theological enrichment.
Karen & Christy
Pray the Scriptures with Jodie Berndt
“For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (Zephaniah 3:17) May I always be full of the joy of the Lord. I say it again: rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)
Learn more about our friend Jodie’s new book, Praying the Scriptures for your Life.
A Poem by John Clare
God looks on nature with a glorious eye
and blesses all creation with the sun
Its drapery of green & brown earth ocean lie
In morning as Creation just begun
That saffron east fortells the rising sun
And who can look upon that majesty
Of light brightness & splendour nor feel won
With love of him whose bright all seeing eye
Feeds the days light with Immortality
Blessing for a Gentle Summer
By Kate Bowler (our Scoper Lecturer, April 3, 2022)
Blessed are we,
coming into this summer
of in-between.
We are glad to shelter here awhile.
where there can be some recovery
from all that our eyes have seen
and our hearts have borne.
We are wondering…
what just happened?
The tragedy on slow-release,
the shock of sudden outrage,
the variants of unusual size,
the sweet sense that normal
maybe isn’t obsolete.
We are wondering….
what could happen?
We are at a threshold,
a season that holds
liminal space for what was,
and what might be.
God, gather us close,
and in this small and cradled space
may we let the whole weight
of our very selves rest secure.
Be the peace that settles our bodies,
that we might awaken each day,
curious as to what new thing
You are doing,
what beauty might yet be.
Dive Deep With SeminaryNow
Karen Marsh has joined the advisory board of SeminaryNow, a new online streaming service with video courses from leading professors and authors like Scot McKnight on “Jesus and the Gospels”; Esau McCaulley on “Reading While Black”; and Sandra Richter on “Scripture and the Environment.” Visit SeminaryNow.com for a free preview of any course. Save 40% off annual unlimited access with discount code
ANNUAL40
Movie Night
“My Octopus Teacher”
A South African filmmaker learns lessons on the fragility of life, our connection with nature, the preciousness our human bonds—all from an octopus. For all ages. On Netflix.
Summer Reading with Natasha Sistrunk Robinson
A Sojourner's Truth: Choosing Freedom and Courage in a Divided World (IVP, 2018)
Natasha Sistrunk Robinson’s compelling story sets us on a liberative path towards personal change, dependency on God, and faithful action. Save Nov. 4 & 5, 2021, for Natasha’s talks in Charlottesville!
“Five Points”
by Irene Mathieu
Irene Mathieu is a poet and a UVA pediatrician. Explore her work here.
Summer Prayers
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
As summer officially begins, the Church moves back into Ordinary Time. Now is an opportunity to take increased delight in our natural world, in our Father-figures, and in the ‘quotidian mysteries’ of our more ordinary days.
Enjoy this prayer for June from Tess Ward's The Celtic Wheel of the Year:
Praise to you Maker of the Summerland,
who sends the sunshine, bringing ease and light.
Praise for the outside days with doors and windows open, neighbors' music, children playing, racquet thwacking, when the birds sing out the pleasure of ordinary all through the day.
You bring your balm as well, to those for whom the sun changes nothing, their struggles undiminished by windless warmth.
For loving all under the sun, praise to you.
The blessings of God in ordinary time be upon me.
Blessings when I take a bath or take the bin out.
Blessing when I am doing nothing in particular.
Blessings on the little things that catch my eye.
Blessings on the quirkiness of the thoughts that belong to me that you alone know and love this day.
Amen.
Prayers for Endings & Beginnings | Graduation
This month finds many of us in some kind of transition whether it be a graduation or the opening up of our country. These are welcome transitions, but they aren't without their share of fears and concerns. Be gentle with yourself and others and and remember as the author of Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the sun.”
Savor and share these blessings as you step into a new season! We begin with a Theological Horizons favorite…
May the Lord Christ go with you
wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness
protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders he has shown you.
May he bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.
May Jesus who is the living Bread feed you, and give you strength to do his work.
The Light of the World shine on you and shine through you.
The Good Shepherd guide you safely through the green pastures
and through the dark valleys.
The Resurrection and the Life raise you up to newness of life.
The Way, Truth and the Life lead you in His Way, feed you with His Truth,
heal you with His Life.
The True Vine bear fruit through your living as you abide in Him.
The Alpha and Omega Be your be-all,
your end-all
your glory now
and through all eternity. Amen.
from ‘A Book of Blessings’ by Ruth Burgess
Each year we send off our Fellows with this prayer honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.Amen.
A Blessing for a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure,
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
— John O'Donohue
Horizons Fellows’ final time of reflection and blessing, Bonhoeffer House garden, May 12, 2021
Mother's Day: Poetry & Prayers
"As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you." Isaiah 66:13
“Blessing the Mothers” by Jan Richardson
Who are our
first sanctuary.
Who fashion
a space of blessing
with their own being:
with the belly
the bone and
the blood
or,
if not with these,
then with the
durable heart
that offers itself
to break
and grow wide,
to gather itself
around another
as refuge,
as home.
Who lean into
the wonder and terror
of loving what
they can hold
but cannot contain.
Who remain
in some part of themselves
always awake,
a corner of consciousness
keeping perpetual vigil.
Who know
that the story
is what endures
is what binds us
is what runs deeper
even than blood
and so they spin them
in celebration
of what abides
and benediction
on what remains:
a simple gladness
that latches onto us
and graces us
on our way.
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“A Prayer for All Women on Mother’s Day” by Amy Young
I want you to know I’m praying for you if you are like Tamar, struggling with infertility, or a miscarriage.
I want you to know that I’m praying for you if you are like Rachel, counting the women among your family and friends who year by year and month by month get pregnant, while you wait.
I want you to know I’m praying for you if you are like Naomi, and have known the bitter sting of a child’s death.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you are like Joseph and Benjamin, and your Mom has died.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if your relationship with your Mom was marked by trauma, abuse, or abandonment, or she just couldn’t parent you the way you needed.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you’ve been like Moses’ mother and put a child up for adoption, trusting another family to love your child into adulthood.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you’ve been like Pharaoh’s daughter, called to love children who are not yours by birth (and thus the mother who brought that child into your life, even if it is complicated).
I want you to know I am praying for you if you, like many, are watching (or have watched) your mother age, and disappear into the long goodbye of dementia.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you, like Mary, are pregnant for the very first time and waiting breathlessly for the miracle of your first child.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if your children have turned away from you, painfully closing the door on relationship, leaving you holding your broken heart in your hands. And like Hagar, now you are mothering alone.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if motherhood is your greatest joy and toughest struggle all rolled into one.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you are watching your child battle substance abuse, a public legal situation, mental illness, or another situation which you can merely watch unfold.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you like so many women before you do not wish to be a mother, are not married, or in so many other ways do not fit into societal norms.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you see yourself reflected in all, or none of these stories.
This mother’s day, wherever and whoever you are, we walk with you. You are loved. You are seen. You are worthy.
And may you know the deep love without end of our big, wild, beautiful God who is the very best example of a parent that we know.
Amen.
Rev. Dean Borgman on loving our neighbors amidst tension & in hope
Listen to the audio of our friend (and Christy Yates’ dad!) share with our Horizons Fellows over Zoom from last year about his vocational journey to love alongside some reflections on the readings below. (note: recording starts a minute or two after Rev. Borgman begins and there are some slight technical difficulties after his sharing and before our discussion).
LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS AMIDST TENSION AND IN HOPE with Dean Borgman
Christen Yates - The Oxymoron of Proximate Justicehttps://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/23/the-oxymoron-of-proximate-justice/
Pope Francis – Evangelize with the Gospel of Joyhttp://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/07/07/pope_francis_evangelize_with_the_gospel_of_joy/1156692
How do I handle holding despair and hope? Given the complexity of pain and division in the world and in my own life, how do I move forward in hope and joy?
Am I Cultivating A Garden Or Am I Just Here? Priscilla Boateng '21
I have always been extremely obsessed with the fruits of the spirit. Embodying them, living by them, being them. Having a life that centered around these spiritual fruits have been my goal since I truly became a Christian my senior year of high school. I thought and still think each characteristic is more than beautiful.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Against such things there is no law because how could any person, country, state, city be against qualities like this? They couldn't! Although I have this strong desire to embody these fruits, at times I’ve wondered if my yearning is anything more than just that:
… yearning…
A desire that stays a desire and never leads to any resemblance. Am I cultivating a garden or am I just here? What does it ACTUALLY look like to be loving, joyful, peaceful, etc. and why after all these years of being a Christian do I feel like I still don’t know?
Saying this year has been difficult one for all of us would be a huge understatement. I am sure ten years from now we’re all going to look back and realize just how hard it truly was. This year has brought a storm of emotions that at times I can’t identify. With those emotions have also come a desire to want to navigate them properly, but even more than that to not let my turbulent emotions affect how I interact with the people I care about and care for. Instead, I desire to demonstrate patience, self-control, gentleness, and kindness when I speak of, interact with, and think of others even if at the moment I may be frustrated or angry.
As Christians we are called to look more like Jesus.
To have a heart like his.
And Jesus perfectly and wholly embodied the fruits of the spirit.
I want to look more like that.
At times, I believe my belief that I’m not growing fruit is due to society's views of black women, that maybe I am hyper-criticizing myself because I feel as though I need to always be the kindest or the gentlest in the room in order to not automatically be seen as mean, angry, or insensitive. And very often that is true and I am being over critical. But there have also been many times when I have just failed, maybe not externally but internally.
I have no ending to this blog post, it was more of a reflection than anything. But, a part of me wrote it because I’m sure other Christian’s also struggle to embody the fruits of the spirit. And, I want to let you know that it’s a process, it’s picking up our cross, it’s remembering that meditating in the Lord's words is the only proper soil for our seeds to prosper and it’s asking yourself everyday: “Am I cultivating a garden or am I just here?”
Habits of Faith in the Workplace with Dr. Steve Scoper & Dorothy Castelly '21
On April 15, 2021, we hosted our spring Faith & Work lunch once more over Zoom and, while we look forward to returning to these in person, we’re grateful for the many who could attend who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to. Fourth year Horizons Fellow and pre-med student, Dorothy Castelly (‘21) hosted this spring’s conversation with Dr. Steve Scoper, a renowned ophthalmologist based in Virginia Beach, VA and beloved TH Board Chair. You can enjoy this hour long conversation by listening on Soundcloud or by watching on Vimeo.
“I love the word intersection. That is part of the theme of Theological Horizons. And so... my faith was one little compartmentalized area and a little box off to the side and my work and career and preparing for that was the big box. But, there was really not much intersection at all. Some of us have faith from when we were children and it slowly, slowly grows into something very powerful and some people have an experience that they go, ‘wow, this changes everything’! And so I’m one of those people that had an experience 15 or 20 years ago, had an encounter with the Holy spirit that just changed everything and made me realize that faith was so important. So at that point, the faith was one road and parallel. My work and my career were on another road. But, slowly with time, it happened that I started to get this intersection of the faith in the work and then, come see, [God] becomes even closer. ”
Lydia's Deeper Dialogue Experience
Deeper Dialogues was a fantastic experience that I’d recommend to anyone, whether you’re a regular attendee to Theological Horizons events or not (I’m not)! It was so refreshing to be able to talk openly and honestly about struggles and resilience, and a good reminder that we’re not alone this semester or any other time.
My group was made up of me, another undergrad student, a grad student, and a professor - none of whom I would have met outside of Deeper Dialogues. We spent an hour having a fantastic discussion led by a facilitator who guided the conversation with a series of tough - but rewarding - questions that left me feeling refreshed and restored.
Deeper Dialogues managed to, in just an hour and a half, create a sense of care and community the likes of which I’ve rarely felt during COVID, and which I can’t recommend enough. If you’re on the fence about going, I would definitely give it a shot! I’ll be there at the next one for sure.
Lydia Smith (she/her) UVA '22CLAS | Foreign Affairs majorCLAS | Russian and Eastern European Studies, French minor
WHAT IS THE DEEPER DIALOGUES INITIATIVE AT UVA?
Deeper Dialogues @UVA is a series of facilitated and structured small-group conversations around five topics of human flourishing taking place through June 2022. It is sponsored by Theological Horizons in partnership with Essential Partners. ALL ARE WELCOME.
Learn more at theologicalhorizons/dialogues
EASTER | STONES
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.” Luke 24:1-2
I believe transformation is possible. The women going that third day to Jesus’ tomb expected to find a stone blocking their way to the body of their beloved teacher. Instead, they found an open entrance. Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James brought spices and oil to anoint a dead man. Instead, two angels appeared, and the body of Jesus was nowhere to be seen.
Often our anticipation of death, defeat, and endings gives way to God’s plan for life, resurrection, and new beginnings. I believe transformation because I follow the One who was raised from the dead and now sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
When others see insurmountable barriers, boulders impossible to move, people of faith see the possibility of God’s glory revealed in life-giving ways. That’s why we go to the grave singing, “Alleluia.”
All of us encounter seemingly immovable stones. We face loss or illness, disappointment or depression, oppression or exploitation, grief or separation. Circumstances unimaginable become all too real and we feel the pain of slamming into a boulder that refuses to budge. If we remember Jesus’ resurrection, and all he taught and lived, angels whisper, “Jesus is risen. Transformation happens. Death does not have the final word.”
All of us struggle with the unanswered question of “why?” Yet, knowing that the stone has been moved and Jesus lives reminds me that transformation is possible and that resurrection, even when all I see is the empty tomb, is surely coming. Alleluia!
Questions for Reflection
When have you faced what felt like insurmountable obstacles? What happened?
When have you experienced transformation? What changed and how?
How do you maintain hope in circumstances that leave you bereft and afraid?
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Morning has broken on the dawn of redemption. Reconciliation has been won. Death has been defeated. Surely nothing is impossible with God. The stone once blocking access to our Lord has been removed, forever. No longer can anything separate us from the love of the triune God. Transformation not only is possible; through Christ’s resurrection, transformation is inevitable. Rejoice, give thanks and sing! Jesus Christ is risen today! Amen.
Thank you you for journeying all the way to Easter with us. And thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects.