Interfaith Delegation: Stop Line 3 | Treaty People Gathering June 5–8, 2021

Indigenous water protectors are inviting people to come to Minnesota June 5–8, 2021, for a massive action to stop the Line 3 pipeline. They have requested an interfaith delegation. Might this include you? Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light and GreenFaith are partnering to form an interfaith delegation to peacefully protest the building of this pipeline.

This tar sands pipeline has received its permits from the state, so activists are calling on President Biden to cancel the pipeline. Ensuring that the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from that pipeline’s construction never reach the atmosphere is of utmost importance, as is making sure that a pipeline does not cross waterways, does not illegally cross lands that by treaty belong to the Anishinaabe people, and does not disturb the wild rice—sacred to the Anishinaabe—that only grows in that region of Minnesota.

Learn more and register for the Treaty People Gathering, and also register for the interfaith delegation. You can see the schedule here. This interfaith delegation will include cabins for many people to stay in, as well as space for tent camping.

Those who attend will engage in peaceful actions to draw attention to this pipeline and put pressure on President Biden to cancel its construction. You can also add your name to this letter to the president.

Are you interested in learning more? You can attend an info session with GreenFaith on Thursday, May 20, 2021, and/or leave comments with questions. Shared transportation is being arranged from many parts of the United States.

Actions in solidarity and other ways to support this endeavor will be available soon.

Celebrate MLKJ with a special (online) gathering

What a week it’s been! Epiphany indeed shed light on toxic white supremacy, challenging us to go deeper in our discipleship of decolonization and racial justice.

As we prepare for our upcoming Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute 2021 online next month, we invite you to the second of two pre-Institute “stepping stone” programs: celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. this Sunday, January 17, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 PST.

Read more

BARTIMAEUS KINSLER INSTITUTE | February 12–15, 2021

Registration and Information

The BKI2021 theme is “Deepening Practices of Restorative Solidarity.” For a third consecutive year we’ll explore the work of decolonizing discipleship. We’ll look at how white settlers can build just relations with Indigenous and other communities of color in North America, hearing from seasoned faith leaders who are theologian/activist/pastors. This online BKI will include “community mixers,” book and film debuts, and for the first time two pre-Institute Zoom gatherings and several post Institute workshops for ongoing engagement. Schedule and resource persons will be announced as they are confirmed.

–BKI program planning committee

Image above: Braided River, Blue Green by Robert Valiente-Neighbours, Lino-Monotype. artbyrvn.com As a braided river, we diverge and connect. We contour the land we travel through, shrinking and growing with each season. And we are shaped by our journey, from the peaks of our source to our destination in the oceans. This piece was created through a linocut monotype process.

 

Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute 2020 | February 17–21, 2020

Unsettling Histories | Decolonizing Discipleship | hukišunuškuy

Forest Home Camp, Oak View, CA

Register now through January 29, 2020 for this year’s Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute (BKI) hosted by Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. This year’s BKI builds on last year’s theme (although you don’t need to have gone to the Institute last year to gain much from this year’s experience). The gathering will focus on: Read more

Eco-Stewards | Richmond, VA | June 29, 2019

The Eco-Stewards Program, an organization that uses a week-long, place-based learning program to create community among young adult leaders (ages 20-30) who care about the importance of the intersection between their faith and environmental stewardship, will be in Richmond, VA on June 29, 2019. This year’s experience will be a little bit different: Eco-Stewards is inviting alumni, those interested in networking with Eco-Stewards, and those interested in participating as an Eco-Steward in the future to join together for an afternoon along the James River.

You may recall the reflection Vicki Machado wrote about the Eco-Stewards Program‘s last visit to Richmond. If that sparked your interest and you’re able to get to Virginia for a gathering of prayer, reflection, storytelling, and connection, learn more here or RSVP here.

Indigenous Justice & Christian Faith: Land, Law, Language | February 18–22, 2019

[Artwork: Wowasake kin slolyapo wowahwala he e: Know the Power of Peace, Diptych icon of Black Elk by Robert Two Bulls, artist-in-residence at this year’s Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute.]

This year’s Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute will consider the topic, “Indigenous Justice & Christian Faith: Land, Law, Language.” Held February 18–22, 2019 at Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries (BCM) in Oak View, CA (unceded Chumash Territory, Ventura River Watershed). Regular registration is open through January 27, and late registration will be available through February 3 (with a 10% extra fee). Read more

Rooted & Grounded Conference | September 27–29, 2018

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, IN will hold its fourth annual Rooted & Grounded conference September 27–29, 2018. With keynote speakers Karenna Gore on Thursday, Valerie Bridgeman on Friday, and Randy Woodley on Saturday, the conference will be filled with conversations at the intersection of creation care and social justice. The AMBS campus is closely connected with Goshen College’s Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, which includes a sustainable farm and areas for research and native species habitat.

The conference will bring together academic, practitioner, and justice lenses, and will provide opportunities for networking with other ministers interested in creation care.

The full conference costs $110 for regular attendees or $35 for students, and single day rates are also available.

Register soon! The deadline is July 16.

Carnival de Resistance Photo Essay: reclaiming our sacred stories from Disney

Photos and article by Tim Nafziger, Watershed Discipleship Editorial Team Member
Incorporating quotes curated by Jay Beck, Carnival de Resistance

 

Much of the landscape of America has been shaped by big brands. A strip mall in Boston is little different from one in Houston. McDonald’s has displaced the greasy spoon. Target has replaced the local clothing store. And in everyone’s hand is a smart phone from Apple or Samsung or Google.

This homogenization has warped our faith as well. Kelly Brown Douglas in “Black Christ” looks at how “slaveholder Christianity” become dominant among white evangelicals in the US through the 1700s and 1800s and has persisted long after the end of slavery. The focus on right belief (orthodoxy) over right practice (orthopraxy) began at least 1300 years ago when the emperor Constantine decided things would work better for the Roman empire if there was one “correct” line of belief rather than a variety of Christianities. Read more

ReMembering for Life

by Sara Wolcott
Guest Contributor

“Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?”
— Matthew 8:18, King James Version

So much has been disMembered in our current United States society that when we come to the process of ReMembering, it can feel like a bit of a surprise. Even overwhelming. We come to see the world around us differently. We hear words or songs differently. Everything changes even as it all stays the same. Except it is not the same. At least that is my experience of ReMembering.

I capitalize the words because I want to differentiate it from the rest of the English language — try to jar it a bit, create a bit of dissonance in a world of so much noise that sometimes it is uncertain if anyone hears anything, if we ever have. Read more

Sacred Earth Youth Camp, Vancouver, BC, July 29-August 10

Youth ages “13-25ish” are invited to attend the third annual Sacred Earth Camp, organized by Salal + Cedar, a watershed discipleship community in Vancouver, British Columbia (Coast Salish Territory). Salal + Cedar hopes other watershed discipleship communities will send young people to learn together and build community. Read more