What circumstances seem to make it difficult to believe that a better tomorrow is possible?
In a time when our news feeds and public discourse seems filled with hatred, violence, and victimization, how can we not only imagine a better future, but become agents of that future?
Are we doomed to hopelessness, or is resurrection possible?
This week at New Wineskins, we’ll wrap up our Eastertide series on resurrection and atonement with a conversation about what it takes to move beyond historic moments of conflict and strife into full flourishing for all human beings. Our video this week will feature Dr. Robyn Henderson Espinoza talking about “The Tyranny of the Now” and how oppressive systems and structures are destroying marginalized communities through greed and exploitation…and where hope can still be found.
New Wineskins is proud to once again be a sponsor for OutMOV‘s annual Pride in the Park celebration happening Saturday, June 4, at Parkersburg City Park in Parkersburg, WV. We’ll need folks to staff our tent during the day and items for the gift basket we’ll be giving away during the event. Contact us to let us know how you can help!
Invest in our community!
Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? New Wineskins has partnered with Affirm Fundraising to manage a new online giving platform to make it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!
What do you think about when people talk about “resurrection?”
For most of us, it probably means something along the lines of “life after death.” When applied specifically to the biblical narratives about Jesus of Nazareth, it likely invokes the notion that Jesus was raised from the dead, either as some kind of proof that death is not “real“ or to support a preferential brand of theology wherein “God” promises “eternal life” to those who believe the right things, think the right thoughts, and, by extension, go to the right churches.
But what if there’s something deeper going on? What if resurrection stories are meant not for some kind of postmortem evacuation from reality, but for a clearer representation of the reality in which all things—including us—exist?
What if theologians like Richard Rohr are right when they insist that resurrection is actually the observable pattern of all life, and that we get to participate in that pattern at the very deepest, most existential levels?
What if it’s not about escaping death, but about our role in the most elemental designs of life?
This week at New Wineskins we’ll take a deep dive into the theology of resurrection. We’ll talk about the things we’ve always been taught to believe, the options we might consider, and the implications of what that could mean for the way we live in the bodies we have in the here and now.
Join us this Sunday, May 15, in our New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub as we continue our Eastertide series on resurrection and atonement by asking the question, “What is resurrection?”
6:00pm EST: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time) 6:30pm EST: Presentation & conversation begin
Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? New Wineskins has partnered with Affirm Fundraising to manage a new online giving platform to make it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!
Many of us likely found ourselves “doomscrolling” through our social media feeds this week in the wake of the leaked Supreme Court draft ruling regarding the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We’ve probably experienced similar reactions to other news stories in recent years that seem to perpetually keep us in a state of anger, confusion, and unrest.
Neurological science is now telling us that our brains train our neural pathways to obsess or fixate over negativity in a way we seem unable to do with joy and positivity. In a very real sense, conflict and pessimism can easily become our default setting, while delight and happiness require a constant, conscious choosing.
And yet, people of deep faith—especially those who embrace contemplative practices—seem to be able to overcome these “natural” patterns.
So what makes the difference?
This week at New Wineskins, we’ll continue our Eastertide discussion on resurrection and atonement by taking a deep dive into the ways our spiritual practices influence the ways we see and interact with the world. Specifically, we’ll talk about the influence of resurrection on our ability to break long-ingrained habits and choose love.
Join us this Sunday, May 8, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub as we interact with a video featuring Fr. Richard Rohr on how embracing a theology of resurrection enables us to be people of transformation and life in a world that too often seems to be moving toward stagnation and death.
6:00pm EST: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time) 6:30pm EST: Presentation & conversation begin
Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? New Wineskins has partnered with Affirm Fundraising to manage a new online giving platform to make it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!
It’s the definitive bumper sticker slogan of all Christendom: ”Jesus died for our sins.”
Traditionally most of us have been taught that Jesus’ crucifixion was an act of atonement to a God who despises sin so much that it required a blood sacrifice to reconcile us pitiful, sinful humans to God’s perfect love.
But could there be a deeper meaning? What if Jesus’ death has less to do with atoning for our individual wrongdoings, but for the systemic sins of exploitation and dehumanization?
This week at New Wineskins we’ll begin our Easter Season with a discussion about the phrase “Jesus died for our sins” and what it means through a lens of liberation.
Join us in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub This Sunday, May 1, and be part of the conversation!
6:00pm EST: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time) 6:30pm EST: Presentation & conversation begin
Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? New Wineskins has partnered with Affirm Fundraising to manage a new online giving platform to make it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!
About once every quarter our community takes a Sunday off for a collective Sabbath…a time to rest, re-calibrate, and re-focus. As we begin this Easter season we invite you to take a break from the routine this weekend. Spend some time with family or friends, enjoy the outdoors, cook a great meal for someone you love, or just take a nap!
We’ll be back on Sunday, May 1, to begin a month-long series on the links between atonement and liberation, and how resurrection plays out in communities of justice.
Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? New Wineskins has partnered with Affirm Fundraising to manage an online giving platform to make it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!
Join us at 8:00am EDT Easter Sunday (April 17, 2022) for a Virtual Sunrise Service and Communion featuring a rendition of the resurrection story from John 20 as imagined through the eyes of Mary Magdeline and read by Kriss Bodnar.
We will also celebrate a Eucharistic liturgy led by Rev. Chris Wylie. Please provide your own elements for the Table (bread, crackers, wine, juice, etc.)
REMINDER: No gathering Sunday, April 24 as we celebrate our quarterly Community Sabbath.
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Hung in a Tree
by Phuc Luu
On that day That Friday He was made to suffer Inflicted by our transgressions Burdened by our iniquities Tortured by our violence More than what he could endure Hatred made real and palpable Anger and cruelty against the body, lashed out on the skin Against all that was true, and good, and beautiful A mob lynching of the innocent Against the divine son who just wanted to be one of us
Cutting down the tree to carve out a cross Grown from a seed, A plant whose life’s goal was to reach sun And give air to this world But people of power Made it into an instrument and tool To execute a political prisoner Someone who was deemed a traitor because he sought a world better than our own One where we sit at the table together Where the sick are healed their wounds mended And liberation is pronounced to the imprisoned To speak against the principalities of this world Resisting their strategies of violence Declaring the Day of the Lord
But all these dreams were dashed on hardened hearts Hearts not able to see God with us Present Breathing the same air
Laughing Crying Sleeping Being with Standing beside Needing us, as much as we needed him
He was abandoned Left to die Except for the few women Who followed him to the end Until he breathed his last Until he forgave his offenders And hung with thieves Death row inmates Hanging their heads with him Until the clouds darken Their chests sunken
Until the light of the world Was extinguished By merciless hands making the brilliant sky dark Eclipsing Crucifying God Open God Vulnerable God Tender God
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Water to Wash Feet
by Phuc Luu
Across deserts and dunes Over hills and valleys They journeyed for miles The teacher and his disciples Into the domains of untouchables The undesirables Where demonized dwell Where the outcasts are abandoned Their feet treading across The terrain of their hearts
Sometimes uncertain where he would lead them Sometimes into questionable situations and encounters They were always together To co-create the world Joining his hands with theirs One space at a time One step at a time Into boats across the Galilean waters and unfamiliar territories piecing lives together mending the tattered and broken
They would also become the teachers And would tend to others As they tended to themselves To bring healing to their own wounds And wholeness to their hurts
But the road came to an end for their Master And as a sign of love for his disciples, He tied a towel around his waist, knelt down and washed their feet, a symbol of his love
Palm Sunday path from the Mount of Olives to Old Jerusalem (Photo by Joe Webb)
Is there a more subversive act in all of scripture than Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem the week before his execution…the event we call “Palm Sunday?”
Theologians and commentators have long remarked about how Jesus upended Roman imperial tradition by riding in to the Holy City on the back of a humble donkey, mocking the exultation of conquest and colonization.
But what if there’s more to the story? What if this drama isn’t just about spiritual victories over the forces of evil in the afterlife, but about liberation for the marginalized in this one?
Join us this Sunday, April 10, as we wrap up our Lenten series on humanizing spiritual practices by taking a closer look at Palm Sunday through the lens of justice and liberation…and discuss the parts we can all play in overturning the imperial triumphalism of our own time.
6:00pm EST: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time) 6:30pm EST: Presentation & conversation begin
Join us at 8:00am EDT Easter Sunday for a Virtual Sunrise Service and Communion featuring a rendition of the resurrection story from John 20 as imagined through the eyes of Mary Magdeline and a Eucharistic liturgy led by Rev. Chris Wylie. (Use our regular Zoom link to access the service)
NO GATHERING Sunday, April 24 (Community Sabbath)
Looking ahead…
What is the meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection for a liberationist community? Join our gatherings through the Easter Season (May 1-29) as we discuss various atonement theories and how they fit into a theology of liberation.
Invest in our community!
Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? New Wineskins has partnered with Affirm Fundraising to manage a new online giving platform to make it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!
Lent has traditionally been marked as a season when we reflect on our mortality during the weeks leading up to the observation of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
But after two full years of a global pandemic, domestic dis-ease in the US, and now an unprovoked war in Ukraine, we’ve all had enough of death and dying.
So this year the New Wineskins community is going to take a slight shift in focus for Lent. Rather than focusing on mortality, we’re going to focus together on our shared humanity.
Every week during Lent, we encourage you to engage in some sort of spiritual practice centered on what it means to be fully human. You can pick a new practice for each week, do one practice for the entire season, or pick and choose two or three over the course of the Lenten period from Ash Wednesday (March 3) through Palm Sunday (April 10).
Be as imaginative as you like! Some folks may choose to observe traditional practices like meditation, prayer, fasting, Bible study, etc., or something more creative like reflecting on items in nature, art, writing, or some combination of disciplines. You may wish to pick one or more social justice issues to learn more about and/or support each week. (See below for a list of possible practices or create your own!)
During our Sunday night gatherings, we’ll spend some time in small breakout groups to talk about our practices, what we’re enjoying and/or struggling with, and what meaning we’re finding in them.
One of our core values is a community is to be a people shaped by spiritual practices that inform the way we interact with the various spaces we occupy in the world and the people within those spaces. We hope this year’s Lenten practice will be one that strengthens your own spiritual experience and helps lead you to deep, authentic encounters with the world and Divine Presence.
Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? New Wineskins has partnered with Affirm Fundraising to manage a new online giving platform to make it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!
If you need help coming up with an idea for your Lenten practices, here are some ideas. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it may help you find something you’re interested in or spark an idea for something else you might like to do.
Bible Study/Daily Devotionals (a number of online and app-based devotionals are available)
Fasting (including intermittent fasting for a set number of hours each day, fasting one or more das a week, or abstaining from something besides food for a set period of time)
Yoga
Contemplative exercise (prayer walking, focusing on a piece of imagery or music during exercise, etc.)
Social justice engagement
Environmental disciplines (recycling, reducing water/electrical use, walking or biking vs. driving, etc.)
Intentional silence/solitude
Iconography/studying holy images
Writing/journaling
Music
Time spent in nature (hiking, bird watching, sitting under a tree, etc.)
Sharing a meal with someone new
Image credit: Pascal Deloche / Godong on pond5.com
