THE WORD IS RESISTACNE is focusing on biblical origin stories for the next few weeks. Join Jean Jeffress as they look past Jacob's distracting behavior, and turn a critical lens on this nation-building narrative in light of our own nation-building narrative. As always, it's God who moves the story forward, then and now.

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

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Rev. Anne Dunlap starts our #JourneysToFreedom series with the "origin story" of Jacob and Esau. What wisdom does this messy, conflictual story have to help us understand "freedom" and how to get there?

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

How do we know what true peace is, when the "peace" most white folks are used to is the violent repression of Black and Brown people? Rev Margaret Ernst unpacks the political and prophetic context of Jeremiah's conflict with Hananiah, and pulls out critical questions this text may ask white people resisting racism.

To move towards peace with justice, learn about the Movement for Black Lives' platform to defund the police, take action, and talk with other white people about abolition: https://m4bl.org/defund-the-police/

To move resources, consider making a donation to our friends at Soulforce to resist Christian supremacy: https://bit.ly/SURJSF

Transcript on our website here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

Genesis 21: 8-21, Hagar & Ishmael, Juneteenth, M4BL

Abraham and Sarah laughed at God's vision and promise of new life.

Before we write them off, we are called to remember how white Christians - yes, liberal/progressive ones - have "laughed" at the idea that chattel slavery could be abolished, that segregation could be ended by militant nonviolent civil disobedience, and more.

Are we laughing at the idea of defunding, dismantling, and abolishing the police now? Or do we have faith, commitment, and strength enough to make real the "impossible" dreams of God again?

In this episode, Rev. Seth Wispelwey takes us into a place of rest and challenge through where we locate ourselves in this seismic living moment in history.

Oh, and defund, dismantle, and abolish the police.

Transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

No fancy exegesis this week; nothing to add to the ongoing analysis of the deep racial inequities in this country. Join Jean Jeffress as they speak from Genesis 1-2:4a on the importance of imagination - of speaking and creating during this time of pandemic and global uprisings against white supremacist police violence.

Link to my last podcast

https://soundcloud.com/thewordisresistance/maundy-thursday-is-canceled

This week we sit with the heartbreak--the disciples' and our own. With contributor Nichola Torbett, we sit with our longing to be community together across racial lines, and we lament the all-to-real barriers to living into that. And we pray and lean into a trust that power is becoming available to us that will explode those barriers.

A transcript, including credits, references, and links, can be found at

www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word…nce.html.

Join Rev. Drew Bongiovanni for a discussion on Acts 1:6-14 exploring how white folks can combat the belief in individualism that keeps us from remembering that our liberation is bound up in the liberation of others. How can we use the power of gratitude and prayer to dismantle white supremacy? She also shares action steps you can take alongside SURJ members nationwide to call for Justice for Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.

In this commentary on Acts 17:22-31, Rev. Margaret Ernst calls out racial capitalism as a god "made by human hands" that demands the sacrifice of black, brown, and poor bodies - and contaminates the White american imagination of freedom. What have you learned about freedom during the pandemic, and what kinds of freedom dreams can we invite our white family and church members into that are in solidarity with people of color? She also shares action steps you can take alongside SURJ members nationwide to call for Justice for Ahmaud Arbery.

Transcript available here:

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

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God except through me."

In this episode, Rev. Seth Wispelwey discusses one of the most famous (and most misappropriated) sections and verses in Christian scripture, and how it's really a call to locate ourselves: our own belovedness and our own commission to manifest Godly goodness in today's world, even and especially during the pandemic and with our urgent call to dismantle white supremacy.

Ours is a call to know and love ourselves - to say and embody I AM.

Transcript can be found here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html