Lent 1 | The Far Side of the Wilderness
“Then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help and God will say, ‘I’M HERE.’”
“Moses led the flock he was tending to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush...Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight -- why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that Moses had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:1-4
On the far side of the wilderness -- that out of the way, untamed place, Moses slows down; tends his flock in quiet. The ideal place, really, for God to capture his attention. Alone with his sheep, Moses can’t help but notice the steadily burning bush. As the curious man draws closer, God calls him by name: “Moses! Moses!” In this intimate meeting, God touches Moses at his heart.
During this time of Lent, you are invited to travel to the far side of the wilderness, a place where nothing much is happening. In those moments away from the everyday chatter, manifestations of God’s strange blazing beauty wait for you. God just may call you by name in hopes of your simple response: “Here I am.”
Ash Wednesday | The Slow Way
ASH WEDnesday | The Slow Way
Lent arrives in winter -- yet “lent” is from the Old English word “springtime.” Amidst cold, dark days, Lent promises the arrival of spring, all in good time. In Latin, “lente” means “slowly.” Indeed, this is a season for slowing down.
Lent re-orients, re-grounds, and re-centers us, turning us back toward the God who is here with us – along the Slow Way. Over the forty gradually lengthening days that lead to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection day, Lent calls us to face ourselves, to acknowledge the wounds in our own souls. To take time to taste the earthly experience of our humanity.
On this Ash Wednesday, the Slow Way begins with a cry for God’s mercy, broken as we are. God will redeem us out of the dust.
This is the litany to earth and ashes,
To the dust of roads and vacant rooms,
To the fine silt circling in the shaft of sun,
Settling indifferently on books and beds.
This is a prayer to praise what we become:
‘Dust thou art, to dust thou shalt return.’
Savor its taste—the bitterness of earth and ashes.
— from “The Litany” by Dana Gioia
TH Inaugural Days of Service & Learning
THEOLOGICAL HORIZONS | DAYS OF SERVICE & LEARNING!
Throughout the Spring of 2023, our Perkins Fellows will be hosting days of service and learning with their respective community partners. Perkins Fellows are 2nd-4th years who commit to a year of weekly service and learning with local non-profits. They also meet monthly as a cohort to support one another and discuss books around issues of faith and social justice. As we look to introduce more students to the community outside their UVa bubble as well as share about the Perkins Fellows program, we hope these days will be valuable opportunities. Learn more and sign up below.
Sat, Feb. 25th, 10am-1pm | Charlottesville Abundant Life. Join us as we do yard work with CALM! Staff will introduce us to the organization’s mission and their work within the Prospect Ave community. We will then help clean out the yard near the CALM buildings, and hopefully get to hang out with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Following this we will reconvene at Common Grounds to have a short conversation about the intersection of faith and social justice as well as the importance of community development. Contact Grace Jackson or Megnot Abebe to learn more and sign up.
Sat, Feb 25th, 12-2:15pm | Vinegar Hill Documentary viewing and discussion. Trinity Episcopal Church, Preston Ave. Simply show up if interested!
Sat AM, Feb. 25th, 9am | Kindness Cafe visit. YMCA 151 McIntyre Park Drive. Contact Ashley Prillerman to learn more and sign up or just meet there!
Thurs, March 16, 8pm | IX Art Park Visit & Karaoke. Contact Ava Flory to learn more and sign up.
March TBD | The Haven food sorting. Contact Baillie McNitt to learn more and sign up.
Thanks to Vintage Lunch Sponsors, Chick Fil A!
This spring, we are asking our community to consider sponsoring a Vintage Lunch. Each lunch is catered by a local Charlottesville eatery and helps feed 30-40 students who come hungry for food and community and spiritual nourishment.
Tim Tassopoulos is the president of Chick Fil A. His son Luke attended Vintage Lunch as an undergrad and his wife, Maria, was a TH board member. They sponsored our January welcome back lunch. Learn more about their partnership with us below:
Why did you choose to sponsor a Vintage lunch? How are you connected with Theological Horizons?
Maria and I support Vintage Lunch because of the engaging environment that is created for all students. The Vintage Lunch provides a terrific way for students to connect, learn, grow and share.
What blessing, quote, or advice would you like to share with a UVa student?
My encouragement for students is to lean into relationships as they navigate college. It is vitally important to have a close group of friends that can help the student both in and out of the classroom.
THANK YOU TIM & MARIA & THE CHICK FIL A TEAM!
Ask Me Anything: Wisdom on Mental Health, Faith and Race with Dr. Jessica Brown
OVERVIEW
A diverse group of students, mental health practitioners and community members gathered together for an intimate and candid conversation at Common Grounds. Author, therapist and VCU professor of psychology Dr. Jessica Young Brown shared wisdom on mental health, faith, and race.
4 Pillars of Mental Health
Dr. Brown discussed how these four pillars are essential for well balanced mental health:
1) Positive self concept - thinking of yourself as inherently good not because of what you do but simply because of who you are.
2) Healthy relationships - ones that are reciprocal, safe and caring
3) Awareness and management of emotions
4) Awareness and management of stress
Dr. Brown also engaged questions like:
Have you noticed any pattern of mental health struggles in professionals who experience a dissonance between their career and their vocation?
Would you talk about race and generational trauma? What do we as students need to know about how this plays into our experiences and others’ experiences at UVA?
How can people of color reduce anxiety when seeing hate crimes on social media or the news?
How can we explain racial based trauma to those who don’t understand?
How can the primarily white student/faculty body at UVA support Black folks’ mental health and well-being?
quotes from Dr. Brown
“There’s a richness in the way our sacred texts contradict themselves.”
“I don't have to be certain to be faithful."
"As a state, we have to start telling the truth of our history."
UVA RESOURCES
Wahoowell - WahooWell consists of a confidential well-being survey and two or more confidential, one-on-one follow-up meetings with a well-being facilitator. In your meetings, you will have the opportunity to be heard, encouraged, and validated in a way that motivates you to accomplish personally meaningful goals.
Women’s Center - The Women’s Center is a vital hub of resources and opportunities on Grounds. We work every day at the intersection of social justice issues that affect our students, faculty and staff on Grounds, our neighbors and friends in Charlottesville, and women and men globally. When you are in need of extra support, we offer free and flexible counseling, as well as digital resources to help you address the problems you’re facing.
CAPS - CAPS is the primary student mental health clinic on Grounds. We are committed to providing a safe and affirming environment for all students seeking to improve their mental and emotional well-being. In addition to direct care, we provide consultation and referral services for students, faculty, and staff. You are welcome to contact us about emergency or ongoing concerns about yourself or another student you care about.
BOOKS
Dr. Brown recommended the following books on mental health, trauma and specifically race-based trauma:
Rest is Resistance : A Manifesto, Tricia Hersey
Sensual Faith: The Art of Coming Home to your Body, Lyvonne Briggs
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, Dr. Joy DeGruy
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies, Resmaa Menakem
Homecoming: Overcoming Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self, Thema Bryant
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity, Nadine Burke Harris
Making Space at the Well: Mental Health and the Church, Dr. Jessica Young Brown
OTHER RESOURCES
Kindergarten Hotline - Dial 707-873-7862 and you'll hear a cheerful voice listing your options: “If you're feeling mad, frustrated or nervous, press one. If you need words of encouragement and life advice, press two. If you need a pep talk from kindergarteners, press three. If you need to hear kids laughing with delight, press four.
Open Path Collective - As long as there is a financial need, our lifetime membership will allow you to see anyone in our network for the rates listed above. This is our guarantee. A lifetime membership only costs $65.
Region 10 Hotline - Dial 434-972-1800 - Region Ten Crisis Services support individuals who are in acute mental distress and in need of immediate help. Services are provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a variety of capacities throughout the agency.
New City Counseling - New City Counseling’s mission is to bring hope in the struggle—whether this be the internal struggle of depression and self-doubt that rages inside many of us, or the relational struggles that often divide marriages and families, or even larger structural issues that make living with the necessities of life difficult.
Beloved | Reflection by Perkins Fellow Ashley Prillerman '25
What does it mean to be Beloved? In her book, Dear White Peacemakers: Dismantling Racism with Grit and Grace, Osheta Moore first introduces “Beloved” to us through an invitation to a table of hard discussions. Here she says that at this table “you are seen as Beloved and your curiosity is honored”. Beloved? Then she keeps referring to the Beloved community, a description of “Dr. King’s vision for a community fully invested in each other because of a commitment to agape love”. This to me immediately sounded like the body that God invites us to be a part of. Well, what does “beloved” even mean? Merriam Webster says that to be “Beloved” means to be “dearly loved.” Was Osheta calling us dearly loved? I guess it makes sense then to call a community committed to agape love, a Beloved community. How much more it means not to only be loved, but to be dearly loved. Not only that, but she also challenges us to call others dearly loved.
Seeing the word Beloved being used to describe somebody has made such an impression. I hadn’t even thought of myself as being Beloved, but the God of the universe has called me such. How wonderful! The God of the universe has called me Beloved. Me? I am called “dearly loved” by my creator. Then I felt even more challenged. To be called “dearly loved” made me feel that I had to act as if I was “dearly loved”. What did it mean to know that I, myself, was Beloved? Then what does it mean to think and act as if others are Beloved too? Beloved is not merely an adjective but a fact. No matter how much I mess up or do well, I am Beloved. No matter how much somebody hurts me or builds me up, they, too, are Beloved. It simply is.
Matthew 22:39 says “Love your neighbor as yourself”. It's the second commandment that the Lord gives to us, after the first – to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (v. 37). See, if you love God, you will love others. Jesus gives us an example of this commandment in action to Peter in John 21, when he asks him: “Simon [Peter] son of John, do you love me?” When Peter answers that he does, Jesus tells him to “feed my sheep”. This is Jesus’ command. If you love me and follow me, you will love my people. So “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will,” that we too may be called Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4-5)
Essential PhotoVoice Project | Gustavo Santos
Gustavo Santos lives in a Christian conservational community called A Rocha. He heard about our Photovoice cohort through a colleague at UVA.
Gustavo: I live in a community called “A Rocha,” which means “the rock” in Portuguese. This organization was started in Portugal in 1983 and is in 20 or so countries now. Each branch of the organization deals with a different issue in their respective communities. There are 3 total centers in Canada. Mine includes a farm, a conservation center, education programs, and internship programs. Other countries do not have as many activities as we do or as many people living at the center.
The picture above is a screenshot of a jamboard from our final Photovoice session. We each had time to consider all the photos we’d taken from previous meetings and create a larger narrative from them. You can see questions that came up for us as a group as we brainstormed.
Q: What do the photos in your compiled slide/series mean to you and how do the photos connect to each other?
Gustavo: The first picture in my compiled series is of produce and represents how my community is flourishing. We share our produce with our brother community and bring it to markets. I find it very inspiring how we can serve other groups of people with the crops that we grow.
Gustavo: The second picture is related to the first one–in order to share our produce, we have a lot of people who work really hard to cultivate it. Everyone has a role at A Rocha. The role can change, we are all ready to adapt and take on whatever job needs doing. The person in my photograph has done education, maintenance, yard work, all sorts of things because she is the type of person who can serve the community in diverse ways. In order to flourish, we all have to be invested in the work. I see a dialogue between serving and being served.
Gustavo: The third picture is of a baptism in a river that is being threatened by the development of our area into warehouses for industrial production. I saw a tragic and intense irony in celebrating someone’s life in a river that might die soon. Further, baptism for Christians can also mean life and death. For me it was so meta about these things on top of each other: life, death, the river, our lives. This came up when we were talking about community challenges in the Photovoice cohort.
Gustavo: The fourth and final picture represents a question stirred in me: going forward, how do I serve the A Rocha community? The wheelbarrow represents engagement with the body: you have to be physically connected with the thing to do work, pushing and pulling with a lot of energy. We moved here about a year ago when my life was employed by the community and I have only recently started working here officially as well. I’m still discerning what exactly that looks like, along with how I want to be a resident. I want to be a part of the flourishing and the hard work. The Photovoice process helped by considering my community in ways that I probably would not have otherwise. Looking at my community through the lens of my camera, intentionally guided by the weekly prompts and meetings, helped me see it from a new perspective.
Q: What questions/grey areas did your photos/compiled slide bring up for you?
Gustavo: I realized while I was taking these photos that yes, this community is beautiful, but it’s really a privilege to be able to live in a place like this; not everyone has a chance to live in a community producing its own food and focused on conservation, and some people wouldn’t want to live here even if they did have a chance. What do the things I learn here mean for someone who lives in a city? How do we help people who have no access to a life like this engage with our practices?
These questions make me think about the writings of Wendell Berry. Berry lived on a farm in Kentucky and pointed fingers at everything that was wrong with the world and the urban landscape, which frustrated me because I thought his perspective was so narrow. When I came to live at A Rocha, however, his writings began to feel more prophetic, like he did have the authority to hold such opinions.
The question that persists for me is: what now? How do we connect with city dwellers who don’t have access to land? Do we keep pushing for a return to an agricultural lifestyle? I don’t think that’s the answer, but at the same time I see such problems with how spaces are cared for in the city. I feel a lot of tension around balancing my belief in the importance of our work here at A Rocha and knowing that not everyone can participate in it.
Q: What question would you like to propose to TH blog readers?
Gustavo: The question I invite you to consider is: can we define ourselves as human beings apart from nature? The answer might seem obvious–of course we can’t be fully human apart from nature–but are we acting accordingly? I’m not 100% convinced that we are.
Q: What did you discover about yourself, your community, or your life through PhotoVoice?
Gustavo: One thing I realized about myself was how much I missed being in direct contact with creation–not just nature, but knowing where my food comes from, working with my hands to make a fence, sitting down to have lunch with people. I didn’t realize how much I was missing these rhythms until I was looking to take photographs that captured the essence of my community. Photovoice helped me realize how crucial it is to be thankful for these moments going forward.
Q: What is your biggest takeaway from the PhotoVoice experience? How was it overall?
Gustavo: The PhotoVoice experience helped me develop my attention to details and my ability to capture scenes that I found engaging. I think it awoke some of the artistic side in me. I think I saw the very core of what the photograph was meant to be when it was invented–capturing a moment that will never repeat.
February Prayers | Pray without Ceasing with Rosa Parks
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
”
DEAR FRIENDS,
We enter into a new month, one that often feels like the bleakest. News of violence abounds. Spring seems far off. Our Black sisters and brothers know this space all too well and have a robust history of radical and hopeful defiance against despair. Let’s thank God for saints like Rosa Parks to help us find the language for hope.
-Christy Yates
“During the civil rights movement, we were troubled by hatred. We would pray a lot.”
“I have problems just like everyone else. Whenever I do, I think about my grandmother and my mother. They were such strong women, who always taught me to place my faith in God and to read the Bible.
I remember when I got married, I stopped reading the Bible.
When my mother found out that I had stopped, she told me that one should not stop reading the Bible; there was always something new to learn by reading it. On that day, I started back reading the Bible and have not stopped since.
The Bible is such a source of strength for me that it is hard to say which Scripture I look at for any one thing. But when I feel discouraged, I read Psalm 23 to restore my soul:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
During the civil rights movement, we were troubled by hatred. We would pray a lot. One thing we used to keep us going was the moving words of certain hymns, many of which had been passed down from the slave days. They gave us a sense of togetherness with our people. Singing gave us the feeling that — with God’s help — we could overcome whatever we were facing.
One of my favorite hymns is ‘Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Jesus.’ We would sing, ‘Woke Up This Morning with My Mind on Freedom.’ Another is ‘I Am Bound for the Promised Land.’ Often we would substitute the word “freedom” for a key word of the hymn….
These moving songs gave us the strength to keep our dreams of true freedom alive. Whenever we sang them, we knew there would be no turning back.”
Essential PhotoVoice Project | Mary-Dryden Maio '23
Over our six Essential Photovoice sessions, we were continually drawn to the image of a table. I think it was at the end of our first session when one of the participants, Gustavo, pointed out that almost everyone’s set of photographs had a table in it. As we tried to define community during a time when most of us were transitioning from college to “the real world,” a focal point continued to be this place of communal dining and craft.
The picture above is a screenshot of a jamboard from our final Photovoice session. We each had time to consider all the photos we’d taken from previous meetings and create a larger narrative from them. You can see questions that came up for us as a group as we brainstormed. Two of the photos in this set are my own, and the other three were taken by Talia, Gustavo, and Sam.
The Quiet Table is on the back porch of a house called Common Grounds that is the home of several Charlottesville ministries' offices and where I work for Theological Horizons. This is also where we had Vintage Lunch gatherings my first year, and where they will be held during the coming year as well. Returning to the space has been comforting. The light on the white wicker furniture made me think of my grandmother's home--something about it seemed soothing and inviting, even though no one was sitting there at the time.
The Didactic Table features a group of international students participating in the English for Academic Purposes program during the summer of 2022. I worked with this group and grew quite close to them. Here we were eating lunch and one of my coworkers, Neha, was explaining some cultural norms about etiquette and tipping in restaurants. The table in this shot represents beginnings to me--a new space, new acquaintances, new cultural information being learned not only by the students but also by us TAs as we asked about how our restaurant norms are different than theirs.
About Gustavo’s Roast Table he writes: “My table was a more or less impromptu attempt to take advantage of good weather. As proud Brazilians, my wife and I love barbecuing, so we invited the people who live on-site to bring whatever they wanted to grill and share with others as we would offer the meat. The people in the photo decided to come. It was late afternoon, early evening.”
About Talia’s Sister Table she writes: “The table emerged through my photo documentation as an object that facilitates gathering. Though my family’s life is busy and often disparate, we all come together for rest, fellowship, a meal, or game night in this central location multiple times per week. Sharing meals is also an important part of inviting people into our family, so there is an invitational aspect to the table as well. Because the table is both invitational and relational, it is significant to the building of community for my family.”
About Sam’s Hungry Table they write: “The table I captured is one of abundance, that holds the gifts of Solitary Garden’s community garden. After harvesting one evening after work, we arranged all of the vegetables that we picked and divided them among us, talking about different recipes and who we’ll share everything with. The evening I spent gardening with others for the first time felt like planting seeds of my own- seeds of connection to the people and natural world around me.”
The questions I invite you to ponder are: where are you making your table? Who do you invite? How can you be intentional in this practice? Where are you finding community right now?
- Mary-Dryden Maio
American Religion is Not Dead Yet | Atlantic essay
This article highlights the vibrant role that Theological Horizons plays in the shifting landscape of American religious life. As a committed Christian “chaplaincy” we are actively responding to Americans’ urgent yearning for meaning-making, community, practices, prophetic action – and encounter with God. Theological Horizons serves within and beyond the walls of the congregational church, and we are right where God calls us to be in this moment: at the intersection of faith, thought and life amidst the university and the community.
American Religion Is Not Dead Yet
Participation in traditional houses of worship is in decline, but innovation and growth are happening elsewhere.
By Wendy Cadge and Elan Babchuck | JANUARY 16, 2023
Take a drive down Main Street of just about any major city in the country, and—with the housing market ground to a halt—you might pass more churches for sale than homes. This phenomenon isn’t likely to change anytime soon; according to the author of a 2021 report on the future of religion in America, 30 percent of congregations are not likely to survive the next 20 years. Add in declining attendance and dwindling affiliation rates, and you’d be forgiven for concluding that American religion is heading toward extinction.
But the old metrics of success—attendance and affiliation, or, more colloquially, “butts, budgets, and buildings”—may no longer capture the state of American religion. Although participation in traditional religious settings (churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, etc.) is in decline, signs of life are popping up elsewhere: in conversations with chaplains, in communities started online that end up forming in-person bonds as well, in social-justice groups rooted in shared faith.
For centuries, houses of worship have been the center of their communities, where people met their friends and partners, where they raised their kids, where they found solace, where they broke bread, where they organized around important issues.
As Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell demonstrated in their 2010 book, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, most Americans no longer orient their lives around houses of worship. And that loss is about more than just missing out on prayer services. It means that when people move to a new city, they have to work much harder to find new friends than previous generations did. When someone falls ill, they might not have a cadre of their fellow faithful to offer home-cooked meals and prayers for healing. This reorientation away from houses of worship is one of the factors that has led to the decline of a sense of community, the rise of social isolation, and the corresponding negative effects on public health, especially for older adults.
Religion has historically done four main “jobs.” First, it provides a framework for meaning-making, whether helping our ancient ancestors explain why it rained when it rained, or helping us today make sense of why bad things happen to good people. Second, religion offers rituals that enable us to mark time, process loss, and celebrate joys—from births to coming of age to family formation to death. Third, it creates and supports communities, allowing each of us to find a place of belonging. And finally, fueled by each of the first three, religion inspires us to take prophetic action—to partake in building a world that is more just, more kind, and more loving. Through the pursuit of these four jobs, religious folks might also experience a sense of wonder, discover some new truth about themselves or the world, or even have an encounter with the divine.
So rather than asking how many people went to church last Sunday morning, we should ask, “Where are Americans finding meaning in their lives? How are they marking the passing of sacred time? Where are they building pockets of vibrant communities? And what are they doing to answer the prophetic call, however it is that they hear it?”
There have never been more ways to answer these questions, even if fewer and fewer people are stepping into a sanctuary. People are meaning-making in one-on-one sessions with spiritual directors and chaplains. One in four Americans—across racial and religious (and nonreligious) backgrounds—has met with a chaplain in their lifetime, according to a recent survey that Gallup conducted for the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, of which one of us, Wendy, is a founder. Most find their time with chaplains valuable. People are preparing for the end of life with the Shomer Collective , a group that helps people as they prepare for and navigate the end of life, offering wisdom from the Jewish tradition. Death doulas now work with people from a variety of backgrounds, giving hand massages, preparing food, and doing much more for dying people and their loved ones.
These spiritual offerings are not just for individuals. People are gathering in communities in new ways to celebrateShabbat rituals with OneTable , and mourning the loss of their loved ones with the Dinner Party. They’re joining small groups through the New Wine Collective, a movement helping people build spiritual communities, and the Nearness, a platform for nurturing your spiritual life while discovering community online. And they’re pursuing faith-driven justice work with organizations such as the Faith Matters Network and Living Redemption.
Many theological schools aren’t yet training their students to reimagine how to serve people outside traditional religious contexts. Most are still preparing clergy to serve in congregations, a job with diminishing prospects these days. However, a growing number of groups, many of them led by seminary graduates, support spiritual leaders who are fostering new kinds of spirituality in their flocks.
The Glean Network, of which Elan is the founding director, has incubated more than 100 faith-rooted ventures over the past seven years through its partnership with Columbia Business School. Some of these programs focus on meaning-making, many on building communities, others on creative rituals, and still others on answering a prophetic call. The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab brings chaplains traditionally siloed in the settings where they work—health care, the military, higher education, prisons—into a broader learning community. More than 4,000 chaplains belong to the Lab’s private Facebook group—what we believe to be the largest virtual gathering of chaplains in the world—sharing advice, insights, and improvisational rituals from around the globe. These networks and a growing number of others equip spiritual leaders from a broad range of faith traditions to do their best work, and challenge theological schools to make their education more responsive, expansive, accessible, and practical.
This swell of spiritual creativity comes at a time when Americans seem to need it most. We are more lonely, more divided, less hopeful, and less trusting than in previous decades. And while there is much to celebrate as these new offerings take shape, their growth comes alongside an unprecedented decline in religious affiliation, which does entail losing some things that are unlikely to be replaced by these creative efforts.
We are witnessing a tectonic shift in the landscape of American religious life. Putnam was right when he declared a decade ago that religious disaffiliation has “the potential for completely transforming American society.” But he also predicted that it “has the potential for just eliminating religion,” and we beg to differ. Before we conclude that this transformation is solely about decline, let’s make sure we’re looking in all the right places.
Wendy Cadge is a sociology professor at Brandeis University and a founder of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab. Elan Babchuck is the executive vice president of Clal —the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership—and the founding director of the Glean Network.
www.theologicalhorizons.org
Three Bright Stars | New Song by John Kelly Honoring UVa Slain UVa Students
Local singer-songwriter, John Kelly, was inspired by the candlelit memorial on the Lawn to commemorate the three slain UVa football players, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry. After attending and being moved by the images of 3 stars in a photo of the event, he created this song. Read more about the song’s creation below.
Introduction to the Essential PhotoVoice Project
For six weeks, five participants and I met for several hours and shared photographs that we took in response to prompts about our communities: their problems, their strengths, and how we fit into them. The prompts were:
Share a picture/or pictures to help people understand something meaningful about you.
Share a picture/or pictures that would help people understand something about your community - however you define that.
As you think about your community (the people and place where this project is unfolding), where/how is your community flourishing?
What are your community's deepest challenges?
What has been done or could be done to address your community’s challenges?
What is your next step or the next thing you want to do to address your community's challenges?
We were facilitated by John Sarrouf, Co-Executive Director of Essential Partners. While we have been using Essential Partners’ Reflective Structured Dialogue practice for the past two years for the Deeper Dialogues project at Theological Horizons, this was a completely new and experimental structure that we learned how to facilitate as we participated. Whereas the traditional RSD model has questions followed by individual reflection and responses in a “go-round” format, Essential Photovoice has each participant speak about their photos and how they related to the week’s prompt for 4 minutes, the rest of the group ask questions for 2 minutes, then the participant speak for another 4 minutes about whatever was coming up for them, related to the questions or not.
Four of the six participants graduated from UVA earlier this year and have been forging their new circles in vastly different contexts. Whether traveling alone in the American Southwest, transitioning into new work in a new town, or living with their family before getting married, they considered questions like: what exactly constitutes a community? What are the different levels or sizes of community that we are a part of? How does one transition from the intentional, temporary community of the University into the sometimes haphazard, perhaps more permanent community of post-college life? We felt that the confusion and turmoil could be shared by many college graduates.
Welcome Back! Ways to be & belong this semester.
We’re excited to welcome you all back to a new semester whether in Charlottesville or elsewhere across the globe. Our theme of being & belonging continues with an array of guest speakers to challenge our thinking around what it means to be healthy and whole with one another. Scan our offerings below to see what resources you might add to your toolkit.
VINTAGE LUNCH
Dr. Jessica Young Brown on Mental Health on the College Campus. 2/3
Jonathan Wood, Personal Finance for the Real World post-Vintage workshop. 2/24
Jerry Maynard, OneWay Ministries, on Lament & Good Friday. 4/7
Eddie Howard, ED of Abundant Life Ministries, on the Soul of Restorative Justice. 4/14
Spiritual Direction on Grounds with Kayla Allen and Laura Merricks. 4/21
Scoper Lecture
Bryan Stevenson on the heart of equal justice. 3/28
Faith & Work Lunch
Rich Dean on faith, law & vocation. 4/13
Deeper Dialogues
Coming together around the work of justice. April TBD
Saints of the City
Ongoing offerings of spiritual practices inspired by ancient saints.
HORIZONS FELLOWS
Dr. Angel Parham (UVa professor of sociology) on Loving our Neighbor through Place. 2/1
Adam Coleman, MSW, One America Movement, on Loving our Neighbor Amidst Deep Difference. 3/1
PERKINS FELLOWS
Perkins Fellows will be reading & discussing Just Mercy as well as planning days of service alongside their respective community partners.
Before the Rush resources
Sorority rush begins at UVa soon--a process that sparks many urgent questions: Who are my friends? Where do I find my identity? Am I beautiful? How do I deal with stress and disappointment? with judgement? Where is God in all of this? These are questions that we all ask throughout our lives!
As students return to the university, we want share two precious resources: short audio talks that are just one click away. Listen to these talks from our past "Beat The Rush" events.
These talks for ALL women students--whether you are rushing a sorority, in a sorority already, not in a sorority! Like me, you are seeking love, acceptance, friendship...and struggling with insecurity, fear and doubts. It is so important to be reminded of how very beautiful and loved you are. So do yourself a favor and listen up...
The first talk is by Susan Cunningham on "Finding Your True Identity". Susan was named Best Psychologist in Charlottesville, and her words are so wise and so kind...Don't miss the truth about who YOU really are. Click HERE to listen to Susan's talk.
The second talk is by Miska Collier on "Knowing the Light and Love of God". Miska is a spiritual counselor--30 seconds into her talk you'll be hooked. Click HERE to listen to Miska's talk.
Bryan Stevenson | Scoper Lecturer 2023
Please join Theological Horizons to welcome Bryan Stevenson for a conversation in the John Paul Jones ArenA.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at 7:00 PM
The Scoper Lecture in Christian Thought is an annual series building off the Capps Lectures that brings eminent speakers to the university to deliver public lectures exploring the breadth of Christian expression in the arenas of scholarship, science and medicine, the arts, and culture. The series is generously funded by Nancy and Stephen Scoper, M.D., through their gift to the University of Virginia, designated to Theological Horizons.
ABOUT BRYAN STEVENSON
Named “the most inspiring and influential crusader for justice alive today,” Bryan Stevenson is a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned.
Mr. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Montgomery, Alabama. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults.
Mr. Stevenson, featured in the Emmy-winning HBO documentary, True Justice, has received over 40 honorary doctoral degrees. He is the author of the award-winning New York Times bestseller, Just Mercy, now adapted as a major motion picture. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard School of Government.
This remarkable event will feature Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the acclaimed book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. He will speak on the spiritual sources that empower his lifelong commitment to transformative acts of justice and mercy. An on-stage conversation with UVA President Jim Ryan will follow the lecture.
General Admission tickets are on sale for $8/person. A discounted rate of $6/person is available for Community Partners and/or any groups of 20 or more. A limited block of FREE student tickets will be released on January 16. This special event will be live-only and will not be recorded.
For regular updates, news and custom resources (including FREE book discussion guides, and more!) bookmark theologicalhorizons.org/stevenson and visit often.
Questions? Email erin@theologicalhorizons.org.
This event is co-hosted with UVA Arts and the Central Virginia Community Justice Program.
PARTNER WITH US!
A financial gift from you or your company and/or organization directly supports this special event to transform individuals and communities through Stevenson’s powerful testimony and teaching to advance the work of equal justice.
January Prayers | Let the work of Christmas Begin
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me….to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
DEAR FRIENDS,
As we awake into this new year, may we pause. May we pause to remember that we are beloved and our greatest calling is to indwell that love daily. We look forward to doing the work of Christmas together this year.
When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
CHRISTMAS EVE | SAVOR THE STORY
Image: Harmonia Rosales, Our Lady of Regla, 2019.40 x 40 in.
At long last the silent, starlit night has come --- when the Great Little One is born. We invite you to settle in for a few quiet moments and enter into the story once again, through word, song and poetry. What new wonder waits for you here?
And there were shepherds in that same dark country, abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
And God turned to his angel. And God said, Gabriel.
And the angel answered, Yes, Lord?
And the Lord God said, Go down. All of the people must know what I am doing. Tired and lonely and scattered and scared, all of the people must hear it. Go, good Gabriel. Go down again. Go tell a few to tell the others, till every child has heard it. Go!
And so it was that an angel of the Lord appeared to the weary shepherds. Their dark was shattered, for the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.
The angel said to them, Don’t be afraid.
But the light was like a hard and holy wind, and the shepherds shielded their faces with their arms.
Hush, said the angel, hush, like the west wind. Shepherds, I bring you good news of great joy, and not only for you but for all of the people. Listen.
So shepherds were squinting and blinking, and shepherds began to listen, but none of them had the courage to talk or to answer a thing.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David, said the angel, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
Suddenly, the sky itself split open, and like the fall of a thousand stars, the light poured down. There came with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly host, praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
And on Earth, peace—
Peace to the people with whom he is pleased!
But hush, you shepherds. Hush in your wonder. For the choral singing soon was ended. The host ascended, and the sky was closed again.
And then there came a breeze and a marvelous quiet and the simple dark of the night. It was just that, no terror in that then. It was only the night, no deeper gloom than evening.
For not all of the light had gone back to Heaven. The Light of the World himself stayed down on Earth and near you now.
And you can talk now. Try your voices. Try to speak. Ah, God has given you generous voices, shepherds. Speak.
So then, this is what the shepherds said to one another:
Let us, they said, go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
So the shepherds got up and ran as fast as they could to the city of Bethlehem, to a particular stable in that city, and in that stable they gazed on one particular stable in that city, and in that stable they gazed on one particular baby, lying in a manger.
Then, in that moment, everything was fixed in a lambent, memorial light.
For there was the infant, just waking, just lifting his arms to the air and making sucking motions with his mouth. The holy child was hungry.
And there was his mother, lying on straw as lovely as the lily and listening to the noises of her child. Joseph? she murmured.
And there was Joseph, as sturdy as a barn, just bending toward his Mary. What? he whispered.
And the shepherds’ eyes were shining for what they saw.
Exactly as though it were morning and not the night, the shepherds went out into the city and began immediately to tell everyone what the angel had said about this child. They left a trail of startled people behind them, as on they went, both glorifying and praising God.
But Mary did not so much as rise that night. She received the baby from Joseph’s hands, then placed him down at her breast while she lay on her side on straw. With one arm she cradled the infant against her body. On the other arm, bent at the elbow, she rested her head; and she gazed at her small son sucking.
Mary lowered her long, black lashes and watched him and loved him and murmured, Jesus, Jesus, for the baby’s name was Jesus.
Joseph? she said without glancing up.
And Joseph said, What?
But Mary fell silent and said no more. She was keeping all these things – all that had happened between the darkness and the light – and pondering them in her heart.
— “The Christmas Story” by Walter Wangerin
“Mary At The Nativity” by Tania Runyan
The angel said there would be no end
to his kingdom. So for three hundred days
I carried rivers and cedars and mountains.
Stars spilled in my belly when he turned.
Now I can’t stop touching his hands,
the pink pebbles of his knuckles,
the soft wrinkle of flesh
between his forefinger and thumb.
I rub his fingernails as we drift
in and out of sleep. They are small and smooth,
like almond petals.
Forever, I will need nothing but these.
But all night, the visitors crowd
around us. I press his palms to my lips
in silence. They look down in anticipation,
as if they expect him to spill coins from his hands
or raise a gold scepter
and turn swine into angels.
Isn’t this wonder enough
that yesterday he was inside me,
and now he nuzzles next to my heart?
That he wraps his hand around
my finger and holds on?
A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS!
From all of us at Theological Horizons
Advent 4 | DEFIANT HOPE
Our time of waiting is nearly done; soon we will tell, again, the Story: the Creator pulls on a garment of blood and bone; the Almighty is present in a fragile newborn. The Deliverer of humankind is delivered in a stable smelling of dung. If God has come here, amidst the shame and straw, God has come everywhere.
God entered the earthiness of human existence for the sake of every human soul - and so there are no insignificant or pointless lives; any average day carries eternal significance. Our hopes for meaning and purpose - for lives of courage and generosity - can take shape wherever we find ourselves, however unsettled or desolate.
This is the defiant hope of Christmas: God is for us. God is in us. God is with us. Can we live into this hope?
As you prepare for Christmas, during quiet moments stolen here or there, reflect upon three questions:
God came amidst shame and straw, a place unprepared for the Divine; how is my life or heart like that Bethlehem stable?
Jesus’ arrival overturned the world’s expectations of power and perspective; what expectations are clouding my own vision right now?
What if I truly believed the defiant hope: that God is with me, for me and in me; how might I live and see differently?
Read “The defiant hope of Christmas: God is with us” by Michael Gerson
Read “What Advent Means to Me as a Black Christian” by Taylor Harris
*Reflection adapted from Michael Gerson’s essay.
"Dear White Peacemakers" | Grace Jackson '24
“White Peacemaker, my prayer is you’ll do this nonviolent work within yourself, first by calling yourself a Beloved and then by acknowledging your fragility.” (170)
This semester as Perkins Fellows, we have been reading a book called Dear White Peacemakers by Osheta Moore, from which the above quote is drawn. Osheta’s book has been revolutionary for me in the way I view social justice and my faith. Osheta calls White Peacemakers to acknowledge both our Belovedness and our Brokenness as central to seeking social justice.
My experience of social justice prior to the Perkins Fellows was generally from a secular perspective and very works- oriented. I spent a lot of energy in high school striving to educate myself on the history of racial injustice in America and develop programming to share this information with others. I know the Lord used that time in my life to grow in me a vocation and a passion for racial justice work, but I did not often pursue this work from a gospel-centered perspective. I was often filled with shame about committing microaggressions, unintentionally contributing to systems of inequality, and even just being white. I was constantly filled with anger at the White American church for their apathy (at best) in addressing systemic racism and confessing their (our) history of racism. While the Lord does at times condone anger (James 1:19), he never encourages the kind of deep judgment I held for my fellow brothers and sisters in my efforts to distance myself from white apathy, redolent of the analogy of the plank and the speck we see in Matthew 7:3-5.
Osheta’s gospel-oriented way of viewing social justice is new for me. I am still very much working through my sins of saviorism, pride, and judgment of my white brothers and sisters. I am learning and growing to view even the most heinous white supremecists as both Beloved and Broken, as I unpack and confess my own sins which Jesus equally died for.
Osheta also gives us an example of what it looks like to confess racial sins. The idea of confessing racial sins is new to me and also very uncommon within both the church and our American culture. In a society which loves to cancel and cut away toxicity, what a witness it would be for the church to embrace an approach to social justice that is both radically just and radically merciful! In the words of Osheta: let’s “dismantle racism with both grit and grace.”
photo: Grace (right) with Perkins Fellows Ashley Prillerman (center) and Megnot Abebe (left).
Faithfulness amidst Division | Brandon Bonner '23
How can we Christians fulfill our calling to share God’s love in such a divided political and moral landscape? Polarization has been a glaring issue for the United States for quite some time. Recent events and their associated controversies, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the January 6th insurrection, have only proven the deep issues that we face as a nation
These issues are intensified by the design of social media and news media to keep users and viewers engaged with their content. The time one spends engaging in media directly relates to advertising revenue. So the truth is not prioritized because it’s not profitable. Companies have also found that fear is the emotion that will most likely keep us engaged. Social media and traditional media can’t take much of the blame though. The media has served as a reflection of social prejudice, amplifying them based on the user’s desires.
Why does this even matter? People will have their opinions, right?
It matters because truth precedes justice. Before a verdict is reached in court, the facts and evidence must be presented objectively. When we as Christians fail to observe pure, unadulterated reality, then we are overlooking the vulnerable. God cares deeply about justice. In the Old Testament, the prophets weren’t simply theologians, rather they served as God’s messengers, convicting kings and calling for the just treatment of orphans, widows, and the poor. In the same way, we are called to “thirst for justice” and be a “pillar of truth” in this world.
While this problem can’t be solved in a blog post and I’m still learning about my own weaknesses regarding this, there are two lessons I’ve picked up over the years that have been helpful to me that I’ll share.
1. Avoid foolish arguments
Paul wrote the following when advising Timothy on leadership:
“Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful” (2 Timothy 2:23-24).
From this we can see that, frankly, there are just some arguments that we don’t need to engage in. Growing in discernment will help us maintain our focus on the issues that matter. In this scripture, Paul is also calling us to have a general graciousness towards others in all of our conversations.
2. Use multiple, reliable sources
Secondly, we should gather our news from multiple, reliable sources. This allows us to get a fuller picture of specific events and their larger context while filtering out the narratives of particular biased sources.
My hope is for Christians to fulfill our calling and be resistant to any narrative that aims to divide us in our pursuit of truth and justice. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will be unhindered in his work of unifying the body of believers, that the name of Christ may be exalted.