It's our 5th birthday here at The Word Is Resistance!  And incredibly, the gospel reading is about a party!  Mary insists that Jesus liven up the party at a wedding banquet.  Is this a frivolous magic trick, or was Mary on to something important? Join Rev. Anne Dunlap for this take on John 2:1-11.

Join us for our first-ever virtual meet-up! Register here: https://bit.ly/twirmeetup

Transcript available here:
https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/

TWIR 1.16.22 Let's Liven Up the Party!

Join Rev. Sarah Howell-Miller as she follows Jesus in the wake of his first act of public proclamation in Luke 4:21-30 and asks why the good news of liberation for the poor and oppressed is so hard for people of privilege to receive.

Transcript available here:  https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/

TWIR 1.30.22 No Prophet Is Accepted

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד
בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד

Shema

Fighting antisemitism is key to our work of dismantling white supremacy.  And fighting antisemitism during Lent, when the lectionary editors ramp up what they *think* the conflict is, is crucial.  Join Rev. Anne Dunlap to learn what an alternative reading of Luke 13:31-35 might look like -- we might just find that the Pharisees are on Jesus's side.

Resources to learn more about how to fight antisemitism are here:
https://bit.ly/CounterASResources

Transcript available here:
https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/

TWIR 3.13.22 Reject the Deflection

Mary Magdalene is a fierce, pissed off, visionary whose power and story have been silenced by the sexism and whorephobia of the church. Join Blyth Barnow and Chanelle Gallant in this incredible conversation and homage to the Original Bad Bitch Apostle.

Transcript available here:  https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/

TWIR 4.17.22 Easter, Sexuality, and Self-Determination

Rev. M Barclay (they/them) finds the story of Pentecost rich with imagery of mutual interest. Differences are not a barrier but an opportunity to deepen into understanding and authentic relationships while working toward the common goal of collective liberation.

Transcript with action links available here:
surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/

TWIR 6.5.22 #MutualInterest: Pentecost Miracles and the Turning of the Era

This Trinity Sunday, Dr. Sharon Fennema explores the ways in which the mystery of the Trinity invites us to take a posture of wonder.  This practice of wonder and curiosity not only helps us cultivate a growth mindset that counters the logics of supremacy, but also nourishes the roots of revolutionary love.

Transcript available here: surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/

TWIR 6.12.22 Trinity, Mystery, & Wonder: What We Cannot Bear

To begin our new #Disability Justice series, Rev. Anne Dunlap re-visits the story of the "Gerasene Demoniac" in Luke 8 and discovers the man from Gerasa is already whole, and Jesus's commitment to disability justice.

Transcript available here:  https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/

TWIR 6.19.22 #DisabilityJustice: Getting Liberated from Legion, Again

On this episode, Rev. M Jade Kaiser (formerly Barclay) and Rev. Anna Blaedel talk through the scripture together, considering greed and riches in a multitude of forms. In their conversation, they weave in intimate reflections on sharing in life and chronic illness together and how forms of supremacy and collective possibility unfold in all of it.

TWIR 7.31.22 #DisabilityJustice: Take Care.

Where do we turn when the bottom drops out? This week's episode with Nichola Torbett is about salvation in those moments and how we can begin building the safety net we need now, a safety net big and broad and voluptuous and "unreasonable" enough to support everyone. Join us!

Visit https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/twir/ for transcripts, resources, and copyright information.

TWIR 9.18.22 #DisabilityJustice: Unreasonable, Voluptuous Accommodations!

We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice?

In this episode, Nichola Torbett feels around in this question:  How do we create in our movements the kind of heartbreaking beauty that makes dismantling white supremacy irresistible for all white Christians? 

The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward.

For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.

Donate to support the work of SURJ and Soulforce: https://bit.ly/SURJSF

Transcript available here:  https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

TWIR 3.7.21 Signposts in the Wilderness: A Beauty That Will Break You Open

From January 2017 to December 2023, “The Word Is Resistance” was a weekly podcast from SURJ-Faith by white anti-racist Christians based on the Christian lectionary, offering an anti-racist Word for other white Christians -- though all are welcome to check it out.  We are pleased to keep this incredible resource alive here as an ongoing resource to help us all get free.

What do our sacred texts have to teach us about living, surviving, even thriving, in the context of empire, tyranny, violence, repression - the times in which we are living today?  What do they have to teach us, as white Christians, about our role in resistance, in showing up, in liberation?  They teach us this: 

Our traditions were made for these times.  They come from these times.  So we have resources in our texts, our practices, to help us right now.  We can reclaim our stories and re-tell them to nourish our resistance against white supremacy and our work for collective liberation.

TWIR 3.7.21 Signposts in the Wilderness: A Beauty That Will Break You Open

The Word Is Resistance

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