Early in the morning, while it was still dark, women journeyed to honor the monks at sunrise. When I arrived, I met two women just before 6am. One traveled from Oregon. One traveled from Knightdale. The one from Knightdale is a veteran. The Oregon woman brought socks as an offering. The Knightdale woman brought flowers. […]
Do you remember last week when we complained about welcome events in August heat & humidity? I standby it was miserable for a good cause, but can we go back to that? Can we please go back to swag bags & stickers, QR codes & melted popsicles, bug spray & Liquid IV? Do you remember […]
Emmanuel, God with us, hear our prayers: For those who cannot bring themselves to sing with the choirs of angels this year, For those for whom there is still no room in any shelter, For those who long for an angel to appear in their dreams instead of PTSD flashbacks, For those who have no […]
Parent of all, We continue to give you thanks for coworkers who understand the parts of our collectively traumatized souls our families and friends will hopefully be forever spared. We, the cheered on superheroes of summer, are now the post holiday haggard heroes with dinners of protein bars & energy drinks. Yet we continue to […]
A meditation given December 21, 2020. Blue Christmas services are gaining popularity this year, as the world collectively grieves so very much. Yet for some of us, this service has always been sacred. Much like Good Friday services, it’s often one of the smaller ones, a more intimate one, one for those well acquainted with […]
“My roommate’s significant other tested positive for COVID. What do I do?” That’s the first student text I received one morning. It was not the only one like it in the last few weeks. By that afternoon, I’d directed three students to get tested and self isolate until they knew the results. I met students […]
In a conversation with Southern white pastors, one said, “I want peace and don’t understand why people can’t keep everything calm like MLK, Jr. suggested.” I responded, “He wrote about the problem of “white moderates,” those who “prefer a negative peace which is the absence of tension, to a positive peace which is the presence […]
Last week a white person asked if my “still being angry about Ahmaud was because I used to be married to a black man.” And I’m so privileged I was shocked they asked, and appalled at the notion that horror over the loss of his life should have a time limit. I replied, “I think […]
The Qwest West 2020 staff was originally planning to meet at Edisto this week to choreograph our May wilderness canyons trip for beloved college students. However, out of adoration for healthcare workers & each other, we are home working on our improv in this current wilderness instead. This photo is from December 2018, when that […]
God of acceptance letters, scholarships, and internships, we ask you to comfort: those whose “best years of their lives” were uprooted. those who dread going home. those who are savoring every minute of extra time with family. those whose family members are quarantined elsewhere because they are likely exposed. those who frantically packed up door […]
revaam 