Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community
Youth Ministry Forum: Helping Hurting Kids
Teens and young adults face many challenges today and Youth Workers find themselves on the front lines needing to identify and address issues through theologically informed responses. Our full day training will include sessions with Dr. Mueller and Dr. Robbins, as well as sessions with other youth ministry experts to provide resources and strategies for youth workers and parents of teens.
We invite you to a special night at the Cory Johnson Trauma Program, Thursday, 12/13/18 at 6 pm.
Please join us as we have a special guest who is an expert in trauma recovery, Joe Spinazzola, Ph.D. Through clips of the movie, The Horse Whisperer, he has a unique and very helpful way of explaining about the impact and recovery journey of trauma. There will be time for conversation and questions. This is FREE, we start with dinner at 6 pm, and we have free childcare available as well. Feel free to invite anyone you know – just show up!
Advent is a time of preparation. It’s a time for seeking the presence of God in our world and watching for the “renewal of all things” (Matthew 19:28). In Advent, we recognize that God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). God walked among us and went to the margins to become one with the oppressed, the vulnerable, and the persecuted.
In Advent, the incarnation inspires us to reflect on how we are called to be Christ’s hands and feet to one another, and work towards alleviating systems of injustice. This week, we feature a blog by J. Wu, who is a Life Together Intern within the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern MA serving at Church Of Our Saviour in Milton. J. attended a recent gathering by Courageous Conversations Toward Racial Justice, which is a monthly series of dialogue-centered programs designed to address racial healing and justice in our community. The leadership of Courageous Conversations has five clergy from four different churches! Read about J’s experience attending this gathering below.
Also, this month the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) put forth a statement: “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love – A Pastoral Letter Against Racism.” They describe: “The entire body of bishops felt the need to address the topic of racism, once again, after witnessing the deterioration of the public discourse, and episodes of violence and animosity with racial and xenophobic overtones, that have re-emerged in American society in the last few years.”
Click here to read the full pastoral letter
Courageous Conversations: Dissolving Silence with Authenticity, Openness, and Awe
As I stepped into the Church of Christ, I could hear the crisp clattering of metal chairs
being unfolded. This was my first time helping to coordinate an event held by Courageous Conversations Towards Racial Justice. Caught in a grip of self-consciousness, my shoulders wanted to fold up like a stacked chair. Despite joining the Steering Committee, I could scarcely believe that I could have productive interactions around the topic of racial justice with people I barely knew.
Wrestling against my urge to sink into the wallpaper and blend out of sight, I stammered
some offers to help set up chairs for the event. As I did my job, my nervous glance darted from new face to new face, before tentatively perching on the rack of colorful bolts of cloth that were arranged up front and center in the middle of the chairs.
My stomach sank. Soon, I would be called to interact with people of different racial
backgrounds and age generations than my own. Picking out a seat, close to the front but not too close, I exhaled as a clear musical note rang across the air and announced the start of the Bystander Learning Event. My eyes widened.
Nothing prepared me for an innovative form of Bystander Learning, in which the form of theater became a conduit that focused discussions about systemic injustice. Even the tight grip of my nervous jaw gave way to awe and laughter. This event illuminated the tense multitudes of emotion, compelling volunteers to eagerly share their experiences of discomfort around privilege and disadvantage.
Soon, we all practiced techniques of Bystander Intervention with True Story Theater, a
trust made possible by sharing our personal stories pertaining to interactions of racism and privilege in our everyday lives. In an almost complete opposite of my initial reactions, I leaned into the experience rather than flinching away. By the end, I carried newfound clarity as to how I can be a more involved in implementing my justice-based values rather than freeze up as a passive bystander in situations of social inequality.
Since then, I can proudly assert that Courageous Conversations Towards Racial Justice
makes space for justice-oriented learning through monthly programming. More than ever in our current political anxiety, compounded by constant media reports of inhumane actions, I need a space like Courageous Conversations that welcomes all people to participate in understanding, interrupting, and ending systems of racial injustice.
Courageous Conversations Towards Racial Justice is nearing the third year of holding
monthly events. The next event is on Tuesday, December 11th, 6:30 PM, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 112 Randolph Ave, Milton. At this gathering, they will be watching a documentary by Tim Wise, which examines what it means to be white in a nation where privilege seeps into every institutional arrangement, from education to employment to the justice system. Click here to learn more about Courageous Conversations Toward Racial Justice.
As we see the wounds in others, we gently encounter our own. And in growing in our relationship with each other, we grow in Christ. We offer no quick fixes or guarantees but by admitting our brokenness and lovingly bearing the pain of others, somehow, we all become more open to God’s grace.”
The Cory Johnson Program for Post-Traumatic Healing, led by Rev. Liz Walker with her team at Roxbury Presbyterian Church in Roxbury, MA, has been providing community trauma healing services for four years. Each week people are invited to the program that addresses the mind, body, and spiritual impacts of trauma. Below is Rev. Liz Walker’s pastors’ statement about God’s healing work that is taking place through this ministry. Through this program, eight participants have now become members of the congregation, which she describes is “a testament to God’s healing draw.”
To learn more, you can contact Colleen Sharka at colleensharka@rpcsic.org or attend their “Abiding in the Community” national-level conference on Saturday 11/3!
I have often wondered why there are so many churches along Roxbury’s busy Warren Street corridor between Dudley Square and Grove Hall and still so many lost souls on the streets; the homeless, drug and alcohol addicted and the mentally ill. This is the reality not only in our neighborhood but in many others overrun by poverty, violence and hopelessness. The problem is not that urban churches neglect our neighbors. We all commit to revivals, prayer walks, and door to door evangelism. The problem is a growing disconnect between the sermon and the streets. We are big on sin but too often we ignore the symptoms of profound pain.
The Cory Johnson Program for Post Traumatic Healing (CJP) is Roxbury Presbyterian Church’s way to bring light and air to these collective wounds. Trauma is a modern term for the deep suffering that has always been part of the human experience in a fallen world. It is considered an epidemic in urban American, rivaling far-away war zones. While psychologists and sociologists have tried many strategies in caring for the mentally, emotionally and spiritually wounded, we believe Christ’s redemptive words offer the true healing foundation, “Abide in me and I in you”.
By abiding or remaining with our wounded neighbors week after week in CJP trauma events, we, like Jesus, welcome them as they are. The program invites all, without entry requirements or judgment, to enter a circle of love made up of our trauma companions (trained church members), many of whom are struggling with their own wounds. After we break bread, we “open the floor” encouraging our guests to share their stories of violence, loss and healing…stories that are too often left festering and unspoken. Sometimes our guests speak and sometimes they sit quietly. Our most important role is simply to be with them in their darkness, as God is with us. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death….thou art with me.”
We never deny or try to fix someone’s suffering in CJP gatherings. We are there to “witness” through intentional listening. Our companions provide Kleenex and compassion. Our musicians, the balm of song. Our licensed onsite clinicians provide counseling when requested (the requests are growing) but above all our presence assures the suffering they are not alone. There is no preaching, no pat answer, no three-step redemption plan. We allow God’s Spirit to move. And people come, on average about 40 each week. Many join us based on word of mouth. Strangers walk in off the streets, others from far away. People return week after week. The community grows. As we see the wounds in others, we gently encounter our own. And in growing in our relationship with each other, we grow in Christ. We offer no quick fixes or guarantees but by admitting our brokenness and lovingly bearing the pain of others, somehow, we all become more open to God’s grace.
Just this year, a dozen program participants have started attending services at RPC and eight have actually joined, a testament to God’s healing draw. We are now in the process of replicating in seven faith communities around Boston and, amazingly enough, in Gary, Indiana. Our doors are open every Thursday evening at 6. We invite you to join us.
In Christ,
Reverend Liz Walker
