For those who observe the Christian traditions of Holy Week, Good Friday invites remembrance of Jesus’ crucifixion. Some Christians mark the day with rituals contemplating the Stations of the Cross or Jesus’ seven last words; grateful devotions to honor his suffering and death as a saving sacrifice that forgives human sin. But not all Christians approach Good Friday this way. For others, such as myself and many like me, Good Friday is a day to grieve the historical reality that the Roman Empire publicly executed Jesus to terrorize his disciples and to quell uprisings of Jewish resistance.
Nicole Oxendine: Featured Poet
Let us ask our ancestors — all who have made this road by walking before us — to be here, today & always. As Chrystos* reminds us — we walk in the history of our people. Those of our blood & those of our belonging. Some whose names we know & many whose names only whisper in the mysteries. We invite all who have served us with their experience, wisdom, strength & their longing. We are their wildest dreams & we are grateful for their conjuring.
The Power of Trusting the Universe
An important lesson I've learned is to trust the Universe at life's crossroads. This advice is common but hard to follow! Over the years, I realized listening to my deepest intuition often goes against my desire for certainty. Taking big, potentially life-changing risks can feel nearly impossible. Yet, every transformation in my life happened when I got out of my own way. I've been reminded again and again that valuing my inner-knowing, which connects me to greater forces, will always guide me where I need to go.
White Supremacy: What's Religion Got to Do With It?
“Everything!” people exclaim when I tell them I’m teaching a course this semester for ministerial students called “White Supremacy: What’s Religion Got to Do with It?” We see it in the prayer rally the night before the January 6 attack, to the insurrectionists storming the Capitol with flags for Trump and Jesus. White supremacy is evident in the presence of right-wing Christians on the Supreme Court, the election of a stalwart Christian Nationalist as Speaker of the House, and the disturbing rise of explicit white Christian Nationalism in U.S. life in our news cycles.
Harm Protection Spell
A reflection: to have your body the subject of national moral panic is both odd and familiar.
It’s odd because one’s body–the very fact of its existence or your relationship with it–should be uncontroversial. The intimacy of one’s self-concept, self-identification, and self-determination is so obvious that it should not invite public scrutiny.
From the Library of Congress, featuring our CEO and President of the Board Rev. Joanne M. Braxton, PhD: "At the Crossroads of Health and Spirituality."
"The 'Tree of Life' project examines the ways in which people of African descent create pathways to achieve resiliency and sustain health through their responses to the legacies and impacts of slavery and structural inequality. Scholars suggest that spirituality emerges as a protective factor for physical and social well-being (Chao 2010; Crowther, et. al. 2004). What can be learned from the legacies and traditions of African American communities as sources of survival and healing for body, mind and spirit?”
"A Sermon for Dangerous Times: How Do We Rest With Our Broken Hearts?"
“After great pain, a formal feeling comes – (372)
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’
And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’?
The Feet, mechanical, go round –
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –
From Colorlines, featuring attorney and Braxton Institute Board Member at-large, Richael Faithful: "Meet Richael Faithful, a Queer Black 'Street Shaman.'"
“I was seeking a spiritual cleansing, but I didn’t know that that was what I needed,” says Heidi Williamson, a black social justice activist who recently saw Faithful for a session. “The talk therapy alone was not working. The exercise, diet, meditation alone was not getting it either. I needed something else.” Faithful says this is a common thread among the people who seek out her services: “Sometimes I’m the person that folks seek out last because they’ve tried everything else.”
Writing the Sacred Self
There must be spaces where authentic selves engaged in interdisciplinary discourse can come together to address inequality and work for social justice. Dr. Nigel Hatton made this point when he spoke of the critical importance of the Braxton Institute at our October 27, 2014 “Recovering Human Sustainability in a Time of War” symposium. Nigel’s observations remind me of Parker Palmer’s essay “Now I Become Myself” and the importance of naming all of the fragmenting things that get in the way of that wholeness and that becoming: