Already and Not Yet

A few weeks have passed since we celebrated Easter Sunday but I’m still reflecting on the meaning of Christ’s resurrection. What about you? What does resurrection mean to you and how do you embody it?

When I first wrote for Do Justice, I asserted that – in order to achieve true justice in churches for believers with diverse disabilities – Christians need to “write sermons to which people with intellectual and learning disabilities can relate,” amongst other strategies. More broadly, we need to create intellectual access to our words and actions in churches.

The following story contains descriptions of abuse.  Please hold this story with tenderness.

Some years ago I worked as an Enrichment Leader at Youth at Heart, a non-profit serving youth in under-resourced communities in Tulsa. Part of my responsibility was to provide programming for youth ages 6-12. One of our core themes was community service. If my memory serves me, we used a simple definition for volunteering: giving your time, talent, and treasure to help. Our goal in teaching this theme was to ensure youth knew they could be valuable contributors to their community.

We are pleased to share with you this devotion from our Advent series.  May it bless you this Christmas eve.  

Being the Justice and Reconciliation Mobilizer for the CRCNA is a position that demands, “heroic rebelliousness, humility, compliance and gratitude for the opportunity.”* I recently started reading this tiny but mighty book called, Towards Braiding which basically wrote about my experience in this role of raising the profile of and improving the church’s relationship to Indigenous-Settler responsibilities. The book was written as a result of experiences in a different institutional setting though. 

“What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? NOW! What do we want…” I heard, as I walked through the heart of downtown Ottawa. The cries of a nation in uproar and disgust at yet another death of an innocent body; a person who continually had experienced disregard and distrust in a system where they were trodden on, discriminated against, and continually and systemically put at a disadvantage in this society.  

During Congress’ August recess, members of the Office of Social Justice and the Climate Witness Project prepared for a handful of advocacy meetings with legislators. I attended four of these meetings—two on the topic of immigration and two with the Climate Witness Project to discuss climate action.

This September, we will see a back to school season different from any before. For many students, after enduring online learning for over a year, they will return to classrooms, to playgrounds, and to spending time with new teachers and friends.