Sojourn Grace Collective

We continue our Lent series, "Preparing for the Death of Your Religion," by writing letters to our past selves, preparing us for the upcoming death of our religious ideas, hopes, and expectations.

Today, one of our resident music leaders, Karyn Gilmore, writes a letter to her past self to prepare her for the death (and re-birth) of how she'll come to understand and think about marriage.

We continue our Lent series, "Preparing for the Death of Your Religion," by

writing letters to our past selves, preparing us for the upcoming death of

our religious ideas, hopes, and expectations. Today, Pastor Colby writes a

letter to his 20 year old self to prepare him for what is coming soon: a

total reimagining of what the Bible is (and is not).

For our Lent series, we are writing letters to past versions of ourselves to prepare us for the upcoming death (and resurrection!) of our religious ideas, hopes, and expectations. This week, join our co-pastors as they each write a letter to their past selves to say, “Get ready, little Kate… little Colby… because church as you know it is about to end. But fear not, for it comes back even better.”

Lent is a season of reflection, introspection, and preparation. In this message, Pastor Colby suggests that perhaps Lent is a time to prepare for an upcoming death—specifically, the death of our religious hopes, ideas, and expectations. Join us this year for Lent as we write letters to our past selves in which we write, “Say goodbye to…” some particular aspect of religion as we once knew it.

This week, in light of several significant events around the world (the Russian invasion of Ukraine) and here in the US (the aggressively anti-trans legislature coming out of Texas), we made the call for a Soul Care Sunday. Included was this Mindful Moment from Pastor Colby, reflecting on what he does when things start to feel out of our control.

Pastor Kate opens her heart to share one of her hardest things: her journey with the idea/term “surrender.” Listen in as she takes us through the hardest, scariest parts of surrender, and then frames for us a way to embody it with power and grace.

Pastor Colby shares how he’s noticed a phenomenon lately: he’s more quick to judge others. After sitting with this, he connects it in part to how the Fundamental Attribution Error is more prone to happen in us when we are under heavy cognitive load. And things like “pandemics” cause massive cognitive load. So what can we do about that (to be less judgey)?

In this Mindful Moment, Pastor Colby explores a Psalm written by King David about our inability to escape the presence of God. However, this is only “good news” if being in the presence of the Divine is, well, a good thing.

Pastor Colby shares what has been the most helpful for him in learning how to love his enemies. From the teaching of the recently departed Buddhist master, Thich Nhat Hahn, first we seek understanding, which leads to compassion, which opens the pathway to love.

PLUS: A guided Tonglen Meditation.

Pastor Kate reminds us that the pandemic has not “paused” our lives.

No, this moment—right now—IS our life. Let us do our best to live it to the full.