BLOG
As I prepare for disorientation in a few weeks, I can’t help but to think back to our orientation. Like many of you, my time this year has stretched me in ways that I never thought I would be stretched. I am much more thoughtful about my role in systems and much less excited by weekly taco nights than I was when I entered this program 10 months ago.
Dear Friends,
It’s been nearly 5 years since I said yes to joining Life Together and journeyed over 3,000 miles to join the 2011 cohort. I remember feeling skeptical; skeptical that this organization was really about building God’s dream for the church and for the world. I am so glad that, now, nearly 5 years have passed and I was so wrong. Life Together has been committed to raising up leaders that will do the work it takes to bring God’s dream into fruition and I am so blessed to still be a part of that work.
As Life Together journeys through this season of transition, it has given us an opportunity to dig deeper into our identity as prayerful and prophetic leaders who are faithful in the work of community building, contemplative reflection and peace making. This newsletter is filled with stories of that work: Micah Fellow Adiel Pollydore's reflection on learning from her young people's encounters with institutional racism, 2011-2012 LT alumnus Dalton Funkhouser's journey from self-reliance to community interdependence, and Micah Fellow Gabrielle Crossnoe's story of discovering new spiritual rhythms. Explore glimpses of fellows in action at their site placements and check out every fellow and staff member's answer to why they serve.
During this time, I am certain that God is with us and guiding us towards His dream: a dream that involves each of us to do our part. I am blessed to be doing my part by serving as the Bridge Program Coordinator while Life Together discerns its next steps.
Almost 5 years ago I walked through the doors of the office of Life Together, skeptical and nervous. Today, after the pouring out of so much love and resources, I feel certain and bold in my belief that it is indeed better to go far together. I am proud of Life Together for building God’s dream and I am honored to serve this community.
Blessings,
Hazel M. Johnson
"I serve because when I do, I become fully alive!" - Hazel Johnson, Bridge Program Coordinator & LT alumna 2011-2013
I came to Life Together at 21 and somehow already burnout, done with Christianity-- tired of being a sinner, scared of what I would have to give up to be a saint. I found life here, in the transformative power of community, I found new life! So in many ways, even though it’s May, I feel like it’s just the beginning.
Now that I’m back home in Oklahoma, managing a database at a hospital foundation, I am continually reminded of my community in Boston. When I am tempted to isolate myself, I remember their encouragement, support, and the challenge and reward of relying on more than yourself. Labor may conquer all things, but without community I know I can’t continue to work toward justice in our world.
I spent Easter in a cemetery.
To be fair, it wasn’t totally by design. I’d biked 8 city miles and still wasn’t at Arnold Arboretum, so Forest Hills Cemetery felt as good as anything else - after all, cemeteries have trees, too. It was waning light, so my partner and I found a spot still touched by sunlight and sat down to our Easter ritual: reading aloud news stories that broke our heart.
I have to say, it was an encouraging activity. I can’t stand the way we “consume” news, as if they were facts that everyone should be able to digest as they digest their breakfast toast, their coffee. I think reading of heartbreaking news should be accompanied by wailing, or it’s all an exercise in repressed pain.
But, wait! Where does gladness fit here? Easter teaches us to pay attention to the rejoicing, even as (not if - for it will) suffering continues. This rejoicing is a healing act, too, to spend time gladdening the heart with good news.
At this year’s Love Matters (May 14th from 4-6:30pm at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul...tickets here....), we hope to share both the suffering and the redemption, the brokenness and the hope - all of the stories that knit us together into a community of reconciliation. Come to feed your hearts, not to “consume” news but to be inspired and even transformed by the journeys of your fellow humans, all of us working together toward a vision of a more loving world. And come to thank the Rev. Arrington Chambliss, who has led Life Together for the past 8 years, co-creating this community with us.
In this Easter newsletter, find the good news of Hannah Pommersheim’s encounter with the School of Love; Life Together fellows preaching sermons; and Life Together fellows signing on for a second year of leadership development. We also mourn the passing of a great friend, mentor and supporter of our program, Tom Shepherd, as we celebrate new life in our community with little Hannah Louis Madsen Gelbtuch, Life Together site supervisor Dave Gelbtuch's brand-new bundle of joy! For the good news in our communities, and the profound support we’ve received throughout the years, we are grateful.
Rebecca Behizadeh is Life Together’s Director of Hiring and Development.
We are so excited to introduce our next group of Emmaus (second-year) fellows! In their Emmaus year, fellows take on servant leadership roles during Friday trainings and staff responsibilities in addition to serving at a church or non-profit site. Next year, we're even fortunate to have one of our Emmaus fellows work full-time for Life Together as her site placement. They will be forming an intentional community at St. Luke's and St. Margaret's in Allston. Here they are!
It has been eight years since Life Together formed in 2008, as a merger between the Relational Evangelism Pilot Project and the Micah Project. So much has happened in these 8 years, so much that I can hardly find the words to begin. One word does come freely, readily, and often, though: gratitude. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. And it is with that grateful heart that I summon the words to write my last newsletter before transitioning to the Episcopal City Mission.
In the fall of 2015, I joined four fellow young adults from the Diocese of Massachusetts on a pilgrimage to Ferguson, MI, with a group of young (mostly) Episcopalians from all over the country. During this pilgrimage, we explored the church's role in racial reconciliation and were left with a commission to “go, find your Ferguson.”
January 2016 Monthly Training Report
Overview of Training
The Prophetic Call : Rituals and Social Change
In the morning, beloved trainer Mariama White-Hammond led fellows in an exercise designed to awaken our connection with ritual and meaning-making as prophetic action/social change. Fellows journaled about places they felt called and challenges that stood in their way, brainstormed concrete practices that lead them towards their vocation, and committed to taking those practices on in an earth-centered ritual of sowing seeds and sustaining life. Throughout, White-Hammond shared some of her own personal experiences with ritual, with vocation, and with listening to the Spirit as the former Executive Director of Project Hip Hop and a social change activist who understands the critical role that personal transformation has on our work in the social change realm.
Public Narrative : the Story of Us and Now
By telling our personal stories of challenges we have faced, choices we have made, and what we learned from the outcomes we can inspire others and share our own wisdom. Because stories allow us to express our values not as abstract principles, but as lived experience, they have the power to move others. In the afternoon, Isaac Martinez from the Leadership Development Initiative led fellows in a training to continue developing public narratives with a focus on how teller’s Story of Self connects to the Story of Us the narrative of the community that is being addressed and the Story of Now the urgent actions that will lead to the hopedfor outcomes.
Isaac shared some of his own story, and taught how developing a narrative linking our stories of self, of us, and of now, can lead listeners into the world God dreams for us, building inspiration and trust in an organizer’s call to leadership.
Relation to Leadership
Healthy rhythms are critical to building strong and resilient systems, and Mariama WhiteHammond’s teaching underscored the power that ritual can have in building such rhythms. The art of narrative is also crucial to public leadership and community organizing. Isaac Martinez’s teaching on public narratives broke the act of speaking into digestible and easily customizable parts, and emphasized the personal connection that can turn a weak invitation to engagement into an impassioned, compelling narrative. The personal connection also helps draw listeners in. Self-vulnerability in leadership is central to Life Together’s understanding of the Jesus Way, a model of living and leadership that is counter-cultural to the dominant Empire Way.
Questions for Reflection
● What need of the world draws you into leadership?
● What are stories from your life that illustrate why you care about this?
● How is your call to leadership (Story of Self) linked to the values of the community you are serving (Story of Us) and why is it urgent that we act now (Story of Now)?
● What rituals help you connect with the ground of your being and keep you sustained in the work of social justice?
