The Pastoral is Political: Resurrection Courage

Last Wednesday, April 4th, I had the privilege of taking part in a silent prayer walk through the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. It was my first time there. I was filled with mixed yet deep emotion being there on that day, especially. This silent sojourn was both a commemoration of Dr. King’s… Read More

In our space: a statement from the President of RevGalBlogPals

RevGalBlogPals includes clergywomen, members of religious orders, and women discerning a call to Christian ministry, as well as supportive clergy and lay people. Our online settings, from this blog to Facebook, also include men as well as people who do not identify as either male or female. Our criteria for membership are 1) support of… Read More

RevGals Anti-Racism Project: The Train to Crystal City

Racial relations are more complex than the dualities to which we reduce them, and the history of racial relations even more so. Jan Jarboe Russell’s The Train to Crystal City is a history book, but she also highlights dangerous rhetoric and sentiment that prevails in our own time. Russell, a native of San Antonio, traces… Read More

RevGalBookPals: The Hate U Give

This is the book: The Hate U Give.  The picture is linked. You can buy the book today. You can be finished with it by Saturday. At the latest. And when you’re finished, you will have read a powerful first-person fictional narrative about a 16-year-old named Starr who is in the car when a police officer… Read More

RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Intentional Reformation

I was born in 1954, in northeast Ohio, the same year as Brown v. Board of Education. My school district integrated with little fanfare, or so it seemed to me, by the time I was in middle school. I think my early understanding of race was mixed up in my privileged understanding of vocational and… Read More

RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Book Discussion recommendations

We would like to continue discussing books that raise awareness of racism and other forms of prejudice and oppression, including religious bias. We are looking for both recommendations and volunteers to write for this feature. Book discussions will now be monthly on the 4th Wednesday, with a full book up for discussion each time. Books… Read More

Monday Extra: Great Thanksgiving for Black History Month

God of hope and grief, God of power and strength, God of the widow and the orphan, God of the imprisoned and impoverished, God of the poor in spirit, the merciful, the mourning… God who sees the proud and arrogant, God who does not forget those who turn away from the one in need, God… Read More

RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Intersectionality and the Women’s March

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion in our Facebook group about intersectionality and the Women’s March held last Saturday. Today we’re sharing excerpts from posts by members of our community, with their permission. Alicia Crosby, Co-Founder at the Center for Inclusivity in Chicago, blogs at Chasing the Promise, where… Read More

RevGals Anti-Racism Project: “Waking Up White” wrap-up

We’re wrapping up our discussion of “Waking Up White” by Debby Irving this week. You are invited to reflect on the questions here, or at our Facebook group, or to join us for a Zoom video chat at 2 p.m. Eastern (US) today. We commend to you the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s new resource developed to be… Read More