Author: Chloë Westerfield
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Weaved to the Earth
7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. This summer my family and I spent a few days in L’Anse Township, located in Baraga County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. After months of living life within the confines of my home, where I spent most of my days at…
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Honoring Our Relations
There’s a memory of an impromptu holiday family gathering that I treasure. Outside of funerals, weddings, or life passages, that out-of-the-blue gathering stands out in my memory as the only time my family, a family that rarely managed the goodwill towards one another to invest time to be together, gathered in celebration. On that day,…
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Rev. Tandi Rogers: Ministry and Spiritual Direction
This fall, Rev. Tandi Rogers, Affiliated Faculty, will start teaching the Spiritual Direction Formation & Certification program offered by the Leadership Institute for Growth, Healing, and Transformation (LIGHT) at Meadville Lombard. We asked her about her ministerial journey, spiritual direction, and her vision for the future of Unitarian Universalism. ML: What was your journey to where you are…
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Weaving the Tapestry of Ministry
Our supporters’ generous gifts gave us opportunities to bring in outstanding scholars like Dr. Elyse Ambrose, who joined our faculty as Visiting Assistant Professor of Ethical Leadership and Society and Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow for two academic years starting in the summer of 2020. Dr. Ambrose’s research, community work, and art are intricately interwoven at…
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Student Story: Carrie McEvoy
Carrie McEvoy is a current student, expected to graduate in May 2022. She is also a donor to the school. We asked her about her experience at Meadville Lombard, her ministerial aspirations, her recent trip to Jordan, and why she thinks it’s important to support the school. ML: Now that you’re coming to the end…
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Joy Berry Named Interim Director of the Fahs Collaborative
Effective April 1, 2022, Joy Berry will serve as Interim Director of the Fahs Collaborative. Joy has served as Assistant Director since 2017 with Dr. Mark Hicks, Angus MacLean Professor of Religious Education, and Founder and Director of the Fahs Collaborative. “Mark and I have collaborated wildly in the sacred work of our shared…
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Building the Internet of Spirit
Congregations commune yearly at General Assembly and, on a more regular basis within regions, but individual congregations don’t regularly connect as consistently one with the other. This is due, in large part, to geography and resources. However, during this unprecedented time, when congregational life is almost entirely online, we have a precious opportunity to reimagine…
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Lamentation: Prayer inspired by Ahmaud Aubrey, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd
Spirit of Love, abide with me. There are no words to express the dread and rage that I am filled with today. Another Black man has been killed by the police. There is no understanding of these senseless acts of violence. We, your children, find no safety in a system that is meant to commodify…
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The Matrix of Whiteness
[Below is an excerpt from Dr. Michael S. Hogue‘s essay, The Matrix of Whiteness, published in the special #BlackLivesMatter issue of Currents in Theology and Mission, January 2022.] The provocations of #BlackLivesMatter Why must it be declared that #BlackLivesMatter? In what ways have Black lives not mattered? Does saying #BlackLivesMatter mean that other lives, specifically white lives, or…
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Reflection on Threshold
[This reflection was shared as the Closing Blessings for students at our Spring 2022 Convocation on January 24, 2022.] In life, we will cross many thresholds. The counting of our days on this earth begins with a crossing of thresholds, from wombs to arms, and we catch our first breaths, and we utter our first…