3 for 3: the I love you edition
Worship God, Love People, and Enjoy Beauty Curation For This Weekend
A curated list of what I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty.
First, a few photos from the past few weeks
This is my face a week ago. It’s the smile I had to offer in the middle of a family member’s mental health crisis. I was rocking on my loved one’s front porch, watching the hours, waiting for some peace to descend.
I took the photo because I needed to see if I could recognize myself on the outside even while my inner self felt so devastated. Beneath the dark circles and the puffy eyes, I see that I’m still there. Something good is emerging through the devastation.
In this season of upheaval, where the whole world feels tipped like so many rugs being pulled out from under us, what’s still standing? Take a look around, beneath, above, and within you. What’s actually being shored up right now? I’d love to hear what you see.
I feel more clear about the true meaning of love. I love this woman looking back at me. I love you, too.
Peace, friends,
Tamara
p.s., If you’ve noticed I’ve been missing here or at Patreon, this emergency trip to support and care for our loved one is the reason.
p.p.s. The disruption of normal rhythms due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantines is especially harsh for those who suffer with mental illness. May you and your loved ones not hesitate to get help early and often. May happened to be Mental Health Awareness Month and the Jesuit prayer movement Pray As You Go offers a wonderful collection of Mental Health Awareness Exercises and Prayers.
Now for some of what I’ve been working on the past few weeks.
Fifth Sunday in Eastertide: Shake Your Graveclothes Off (public post)
Mid-Eastertide Livestream! (patrons only post)
I recorded a live video during the fifth week of Eastertide. As we were more than halfway through the Great Fifty Days of the Festival of Eastertide and more than fifty days into the coronavirus shelter-in-place lifestyle in order to consider the tensions of living in Eastertide and "Coronatide" at the same time. I asked the question, “Where have you found hope and grief living next to each other?” I shared from my own experience and am grateful to those of you who shared bits and pieces of your own experience in the comment section. There’s still time for patrons to watch and share. I’d love to hear from you!
I’ve lost a few patrons recently - a normal event certainly. I’m a bit further from my goal of 50 patrons in order to publish my first e-book now, but still only need 10 more patrons to reach my goal. Will you join us?
NEW!
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised some hard questions for the Church. A team of clergy and lay leaders from the Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope (the diocese we belong to) will be tackling some those questions over the next few weeks.
First - Is COVID-19 a judgment from God? I’m grateful to be included in this conversation and particularly feeling the need today to highlight the point that those who are the most marginalized in society are and will continue to pay the highest cost of this dreadful pandemic. This reality must be weighed in the balance of any question about God's judgment: Who is bearing the weight?
Read Rev. Dr. Jeff Bailey's article first: http://ow.ly/Z6OA50zQcig
Then read three responses from Sally Breedlove, Rev. Tommy Hinson and me: http://ow.ly/6RUq50zTxOd
Read Rev. Dr. Jeff Bailey's article first: http://ow.ly/Z6OA50zQcig
Then read three responses from Sally Breedlove, Rev. Tommy Hinson and me: http://ow.ly/6RUq50zTxOd
In Case You Missed It:
What a privilege to spend some time in conversation with Bishop Todd Hunter and podcast host Erik Willits for their the third episode of the special series “Missional Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty” on their Intersection Podcast.
Here’s the show description: In this third episode of the “Missional Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty” series, Bishop Todd Hunter and host Erik Willits talk to spiritual director Tamara Hill Murphy about the gift of spiritual direction in liminal moments. Tamara shares why it’s important for leaders to receive spiritual direction in these uncertain times, some of the false beliefs the pandemic exposes about ourselves and God, and questions to help leaders process what they’re experiencing.
For show notes and past episodes, please visit teloscollective.com/blog
I’ve been delighted to collaborate with Brian and our church’s children’s ministry director Amy Willers in creating a guidebook to lead our congregation through Eastertide 2020 and you’re welcome to join us! We've heard from folks that this year especially feels more difficult to enter into practices of celebration and we wanted to help encourage each other to worship, celebrate, wonder, explore, and create in simple acts accessible to all ages.
You can use the guidebook digitally ) or download it for free from the home page of our church’s website: https://apostlesct.org/ Weeks 1 and 2 are available now and we’ll be updating the guidebook each Sunday throughout Eastertide. Please let me know if you’re following along or tag a photo on social media - #practiceresurrection2020 or #ChurchoftheApostlesCT
Some of the online truth, goodness, and beauty, I’ve enjoyed the past few weeks.
Wind (Artful Devotion): Tomorrow if Pentecost Sunday! I’ll be sharing a Daybook post on Patreon, but I’m tempted to just copy and paste this beautiful curation from Victoria Emily Jones at Art & Theology!
5 Ways to Celebrate Pentecost At Home by by Flo Oakes, Director of Children’s Spiritual Formation at St. Mary of Bethany: We’ve got a couple of fun things in store for our church family as we celebrate the birthday of the Church from our homes, and I think Flo Oakes entire list helps us imagine what the rest of the day could look like!
Speaking of the Pentecost Sunday, here’s how Brian and I will be spending part of our evening: Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network (AMEN) Prays Pentecost (Click through for the Zoom link).
Description for the event: “Join us on Pentecost at 8pm EST/5pm PST for a special prayer gathering on Zoom.
This is the first of our AMEN Prays initiatives, opportunities to lift up our voices and concerns to the Lord in prayer. Between a global pandemic, violence against the Asian-American community, loss of jobs, and high profile examples of racial injustice like Ahmaud Arbery, the leadership of AMEN wants to bring Anglicans across our country together for a time of prayer and lament.
We are asking that the Holy Spirit would both comfort us in our grief and empower us to be witnesses to the mercy and justice of our God. There will be time for corporate prayer, songs of lament, and online break outs for more intimate sharing and prayer.”
Even though it might feel overwhelming, there’s so much clarifying and righteous content being written by people of color right now. (See my recommended list of people to follow here or here.)
I've been quietly attending school the past couple of years, a school where my primary educators are people of color who are actively influencing the world right now. I thought I'd share a few names from the list of people I'd consider the faculty* in this school. Each one brings their own voice and areas of specialty - overlapping in many themes and unique perspectives in others. Some names represent individuals - artists, writers, theologians, pastors, advocates, and more - with both global, national, or regional influence. Other names represent collectives, initiatives, and organizations led by people of color. It's a beautiful, complex, compelling and deep well of truth, goodness, and beauty. If you'd like to attend this school with me, here are the names of people I commend to you. Let these voices lead you into a deeper, truer understanding of the reality of our current world.
Before the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis this past week, I’d set aside these articles to share with you.
Ahmaud Arbery and the America That Doesn’t Exist Black Americans need more than a trial and a verdict. By Esau McCaulley, via NYT Opinion
Stare Racism in the Face by Dr. Michelle Reyes via Asian American Christian Collaborative
51 Questions To Get You Started via Feet Cry Mercy
“The black community lost another one of its own recently. In responding to the outcry of support that the victim received on social media, I suggested that there were a number of ways concerned white people could be involved outside of social media campaigns that would be quickly forgotten. Rather than answer the specific question of what those things are, I’d like to ask instead the below series of questions to hopefully encourage some deeper thought about (the cumulative effects of) personal choices.”
What Justice Requires: Bryan Stevenson on Jacob Lawrence via MOMA
Brian and I stumbled on a Jacob Lawrence exhibit at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts this summer while we were in town to tour Stevenson’s Legacy Museum. I’ve become a Jacob Lawrence novice and was completely delighted to see his work in person and in the context of Montgomery. In this link you can hear the human rights lawyer discusses the legacy of the Great Migration, as seen in Lawrence’s iconic Migration Series and the power of art to communicate justice.
Joy Harjo - Five Favorite Poems From the US Poet Laureate via Englewood Review of Books
During the month of May Joy Harjo was appointed to her second term as US Poet Laureate and she celebrated a birthday. If I were to add one more poem to this striking collection, it would be this: “Perhaps the World Ends Here”.
Related news: ERB has a new podcast!
His Love, It Makes Us Younger: A Review of All Creatures by Rain For Roots by Kelsey Miller via The Rabbit Room
Have you listened to the new album yet? It’s a beauty to enjoy!
Bonus: A few random items that I’ve been enjoying and think you might, too.
Brian and the kids enjoyed spending Sunday nights during quarantine watching the docu-series The Last Dance about Michael Jordan’s extraordinary (if somewhat enigmatic) legacy. Did you watch it? They counted down the days between episodes. As usual, I find the Jesuits have a pretty good take.
We rented Just Mercy this week. We kept meaning to rent it once it hit streaming and this week seemed like the right time. The book packed a more powerful punch for me, but the film is very good. Watch it, if for no other reason than the harrowing execution scene about mid-way through the film. The point of view is not gratuitous but completely empathetic. It’s astonishing and added an important layer to the story as I’d read it in the book.
Also, I rented Emma and it was delightful. I’m finally beginning to understand why people refer to Jane Austen’s work as comedy.