Contemplating Now

Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows,  of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis is from New York City. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture with a minor in urban studies from Smith College, an M.A. in historic preservation planning from Cornell University, and an M.Div. degree from Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) in 1997. Before being elected bishop in 2016, she served in the Dioceses of Newark, and Chicago. Bishop Jennifer’s expertise includes historic preservation of religious buildings, stewardship and development, race and class reconciliation, and spiritual direction.  

In the Episcopal tradition, she was elected and consecrated as the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis in 2017, making her the first Black woman to be elected as a Diocesan Bishop. In an interview with Sally Hicks in Feb of 21, she said, “I just think racial justice is the work that has to be done 24 hours a day, all the time, every place.” 

In this conversation, Bishop Jennifer and I discuss contemplation, mysticism, and activism. We discuss the need to intellectualize less and remember that the work of social injustice is also heart work, and work that requires us to, “Feel the feelings and let’s get to work to make the world better.”

Sensei Zenju Earthlyn Manuel is an ordained Zen priest and the dharma heir of Buddha in the Suzuki Roshi lineage through the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC). Sensei Zenju’s practice is influenced by Native American and African indigenous traditions. She was raised in the Church of Christ where she was an avid reader of the Bible and adored the true mystic teachings on Christ’s path well into adulthood.

She is the author of several books including The Deepest Peace: Contemplations from a Season of Stillness, Sanctuary: A Meditation on Home, Homelessness, and Belonging, The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality, and Gender, and Be Love: An Exploration of Our Deepest Desire.
In this conversation we explore the ways mysticism cannot be embodied, the importance of sanctuary as a place of safety, and the value of rage. On being a contemplative, Sensei Zenju says, “Practicing to be a contemplative… you’re learning to be embodied and to be boundless at the same time.”

TW: In this episode suicide is briefly mentioned in the context of dealing with rage and racial injustice. If this would be difficult or problematic for you, please let me know and I can work to get you a version with that portion edited out, no questions asked. 

Sophfronia Scott grew up in Lorain, Ohio, a hometown she shares with author Toni Morrison. She holds a BA in English from Harvard and an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She began her career as an award-winning magazine journalist for Time and People. 
When her first novel, All I Need to Get By, was published in 2004 Sophfronia was nominated for best new author at the African American Literary Awards. Her other books include the novel is Unforgivable Love, an essay collection titled Love’s Long Line, and a memoir, This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World, co-authored with her son. 
Her most recent book, The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton, was published just this year in March of 2021. In her chapter "Hopeful Eyes on a Hopeless Issue: How to Resist Racism," she writes "If we don’t become the truth-tellers, then a different kind of erosion can happen in which resentment breeds, a resentment that would threaten the wholeness of my heart and soul. If nothing else, I must be whole and respond to racism in a way that is true to the depths of my being. What does that look like?" In this episode, author Sophfronia Scott and I discuss the power of truth-telling, encounters with mysticism, and the ways in which contemplation can lead to mystical encounter. Of mysticism she says, “There is something all around us that sustains us and the mystical is when we can reach for that and to know that there is something beyond the veil.” More about Sophfronia.Support the podcast.

Sister Barbara Jean LaRochester is a Carmelite nun in Baltimore, where she's been a Catholic sister since 1972. Previously, she spent 17 years in Philadelphia as an active nun working in a Catholic hospital and teaching on the weekends. She was also a board member of the National Black Sisters Conference and was active in the civil rights movement during the height of the race riots in 1968. She’s been a spiritual director since 1982.

Sister Barbara told the Washington Post,  “There comes a point when you have to get off the merry-go-round. I could only do so much with my two hands. Through prayer, I feel I can touch the world.”
In this interview I ask Sister Barbara about mysticism's role in activism, and we talk about Black Lives Matter, the insurrection of January 6th, and more. She defines a mystic as “someone that observes mysteries or experiences but their intuition is held by God. And so they’re able to understand beyond the human understanding, beyond it.”
Sister Barbara Jean's writings
1983 NY Times piece
1983 Washington Post piece

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The Rev. Dr. Pamela Lightsey is the author of "Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology." She is a scholar, social justice activist, and military veteran.Since January of 2018, she has served as Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs and Associate Professor of Constructive Theology at The Meadville Lombard Theological School. 
Before that, Dr. Lightsey served as Associate Dean of Community Life and Lifelong Learning, Clinical Assistant Professor of Contextual Theology and Practice at the Boston University School of Theology.
Her work centers on the causes of peacemaking, racial justice and LGBTQ rights. In her book, she writes, “Queer womanist theology makes the claim that those bodies of LGBTQ persons are important for the tasks of helping build a peaceable and just world. That happens in relationships.” and “At the end of the day, eradicating oppression is the heart of queer womanist theological reflection. We must examine not just racism but sexisms, not just homophobia but transphobia, not jut poverty but war, and not jut the fluidity of boundaries but the hegemony of the status quo.”

More about Rev. Dr. Pamela Lightsey

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A conversation with Therese Taylor-Stinson. Therese is the co-editor of "Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color," and the editor of "Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around — Stories of Contemplation and Justice." She is an ordained deacon and elder in the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), a lay pastoral caregiver, and a graduate of and an associate faculty member of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, where she previously served as a member of the board.

She is the founder of the Spiritual Directors of Color Network, an international, ecumenical/interfaith association of persons of color with a ministry of spiritual accompaniment. A native of Washington DC, she now lives in Maryland. Her ministry, like her books, explores the intersection of contemplative spirituality and the ongoing struggle for social justice and the dismantling of racism.

Spiritual Directors of Color Network

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