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Displaying 1 - 20 of 249

  • The hands of a Black person cradle the new lettuce leaves growing in their garden.
    Growing connects me to ancestors who had their hands in the dirt because it was keeping them alive.
    Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | May 25, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Abundance, Earth, Earth-Centered, Family, Food, Food Justice, Generations, Growth, Humanism, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • Against a strong sun, the silhouette of a person in a strong stance with a raised fist.
    Discomfort /in the name of holy wholeness / Bring all of ourselves / in the name of holy, of wholeness
    Poetry | By Kiakiali Bordner | May 23, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Justice, Leadership, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A woman stands, eyes closed and hands up in a meditative pose, on a crosswalk with the blurred impressions of passersby around her
    I was often being a stern taskmaster over my mind. I yearned for more openness and joy.
    Reflection | By Lynette Yetter | February 9, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Buddhism, Creativity, Direct Experience, Mindfulness, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • Witness pairs grief and rage with remembrance. Pride pairs joy with a determination to be visible.
    Reading | By Eli Clare | January 24, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Disability, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Prophetic Words & Deeds, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Against a black background, a white egg rests on its side. A second egg, standing on its end, has had its top removed and green sprout grows out of the egg.
    I am no longer a victim of change: I am shaping the world that is to come.
    Reflection | By Martha Durkee-Neuman | April 28, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Change, Direct Experience, Ending, God, Patience, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Worship
  • An open hymnal, most of the text and music blurred.
    Writing in a book—a hardback book! with pen!—goes against everything we’ve been taught, but now is the time to do it.
    Ritual | By Margy Levine Young | March 18, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Gender, Inclusion, Prophetic Words & Deeds, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A black man in a dark space looks sideways into the camera. Across his face, in colored light, the letters A G C T represent DNA nucleotides.
    I've adopted the practice of spiritual reconnection with my ancestors to heal intergenerational trauma.
    Reflection | By Jabari S. Jones | February 10, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Diversity, Generations, Healing, History, International, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Transformation, Trauma, Worship
  • A Black woman, with her back to the camera, speaks into a microphone in front of a large audience outdoors, which appears to be a rally or protest.
    Black Queens saved our democracy. We owe them a great deal.
    Reflection | By Carol Thomas Cissel | January 20, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: America, Democracy, Humanism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Women, Work, Worship
  • A close-up of U.S. Congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis at the U.S. Capitol on June 28, 2017.
    Can you imagine what it was like to be inside of that house, afraid that it might fall all apart from the destructive force of the wind and the rain, from the whole storm?
    Time for All Ages | By Karen G. Johnston | January 7, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Interdependence, Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Relationships, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Sitting cross-legged on a bed, a person holds a guitar and appears to sing. Next to them is a musical keyboard and an open laptop.
    I experience the creative impulse as living just under the surface of the daily grind: tugging; imploring, When do we all get to sing together again?
    Reflection | By Erin J. Walter | January 6, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Arts & Music, Creativity, Direct Experience, Humanism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Self-Care, Worship
  • A U.S. flag and a pair of hands intrude into a picture of bubbles against an evergreen tree
    The soul of America has yet to be born.
    Reading | By Peggy Clarke | November 16, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), America, Democracy, Generations, History, Humanism, Indigenous Peoples Day, July 4th, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular
  • A black person holds a jagged piece of mirror, looking into it, as the camera captures the reflection oftheir eye.
    I do not believe the acts of oppressors are my people's shame.
    Quote | By Imani Perry | October 27, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Culture, Direct Experience, Generations, History, Humanism, Identity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Self-Respect
  • Birmingham church bombing
    I was born nine years after four little girls were killed in Birmingham, Alabama, and two other boys later the same day.
    Reading | By Imani Perry | October 27, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, History, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • The harder things are to say, the more necessary they are to say.
    Quote | By Adrienne Maree Brown | September 29, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Conflict, Direct Experience, Discernment, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Respect, Responsibility, Trust, Truth, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Serious judge about to bang gavel on sounding block in the court room, with a US flag behind him
    It often feels like we’re shouting into the void. It was a gift to be reminded that sometimes someone is listening.
    Reflection | By Jodi Cohen Hayashida | July 8, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, America, Belief, Democracy, Direct Experience, Imagination, Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity, Truth
  • A 9-cell montage of Angel DeVida, Drag Queen, in amazing make-up and jewelry.
    The drag show was heaven broken open, given to us for the evening. Everything for a little while was perfect—and I saw the face of my God.
    Reflection | By Jami A. Yandle | July 1, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Freedom, Gender, God, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Sacred, Sexuality
  • Fist with a word cloud: liberate, empower, progress, transcend, let go, set free
    "I believe firmly that to practice love is to disrupt the status quo which is masquerading as peace." —posted on Austin Channing Brown's Instagram, June 17, 2020...
    Quote | June 27, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Activism, Direct Experience, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Solidarity, Transformation
  • In a suburban neighborhood, a girl lies stomach down on a lawn, holding a camera up to her face.
    I hope that this Great Silence, which has come alongside the suffering, holds the beginnings of our healing.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | May 6, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Balance, Beauty, Body, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Hope, Humanism, Imagination, Nature, Presence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Spring
  • A white person, kneeling in front of a basin, is seen washing the foot of a black person as part of a Maundy Thursday service.
    Jesus had no political power. He lived his whole life in the shadow of the Roman empire, and that empire killed him. Yet Jesus healed the sick, he listened, he moved among the ordinary people, in the lowly places.
    Reflection | By Myke Johnson | April 8, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Calling, Caring, Christianity, Democracy, Easter, Evil, Good Friday, Healing, Hope, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility
  • A heart carved into the trunk of a tree, colored in red.
    So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one, in the end—not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we...
    Quote | By Brian Doyle | March 4, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Healing, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Vulnerability
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