February on Freedom Road
News and round-up of our collective journey this month
Dear Friends,
As we come to the end of February, we find ourselves at the beginning of Lent: a season for reflection, repentance, and renewal. To say the last few years have been turbulent is probably too mild as we have collectively been through so much that we still have yet to process. May we all move into this season with gentleness towards ourselves and each other as we emerge into spring in the northern hemisphere and transition towards fall in the southern.
There’s something about the ephemeral nature of these transitional seasons that calls us to sharpen our focus and stay present with each moment. The flowers of spring here for a moment are no less beautiful for their short time with us. They tell us that there is nothing too small to be important, no action too small to make a difference.
The blazing trees of fall where deciduous trees prepare for their long winter’s rest remind us that rest is an essential part of our life cycles, and we must plan for it. And what’s more, rest in a culture that treats people as commodities is resistence.
So this Lent maybe instead of giving something up, take something on. Take on a practice that heals you, restores you, and leaves you feeling more rested or more whole.
Because, after all, God’s Shalom is about total thriving for everyone.
Freedom Road Consulting and Courses
We’re working on multiple projects spanning the spectrum from truth telling, racial equity training, and diversity, belonging, and inclusion both in secular and religious settings. As we consider the work we are doing with many faith-based institutions and NGOs, we have growing hope for a future where truth, equity, and diversity will flourish. For more on our consulting work visit our website.
You can bring this work into your own lives and communities with our Power and Practice of Faith-rooted Organizing Course co-lead by Lisa Sharon Harper and Alexia Salvatierra. Available now on demand so you can complete it on your own schedule!
Lisa’s Travels and Speaking
Freedom Road’s founder, Lisa Sharon Harper, has had a busy start to the year speaking and traveling including:
Theo Ed: Four Words that Change Everything
Calvin University: Facing the Narrative Gap
Calvary Presbyterian Church San Francisco
Loving Black Men by Kerra Bolton on Freedom Road Substack
My father was the first man I ever loved. His stubbled skin balanced his smooth swagger as he walked into every room like the ancestors had sent him.
But his parenting skills were questionable. He arrived hours late during our visits after my parents’ divorce. I always forgave his tardiness as I ran down the steps and jumped in his arms, inhaling the scent of cologne on his neck.
Riding in the front seat of his freshly cleaned Cadillac, I bobbed my head to the latest R & B songs on the radio. Over an early dinner of cheesesteak hoagies (my then favorite), he made a series of unkept future promises I waited for the rest of his life to fulfill.
Ultimately, we’d end up at his favorite bar, “The Cubicle.” He sipped beer. My gangly legs dangled over the barstool while drinking some version of ginger ale with mountains of maraschino cherries.
My father planted the seeds of my future passions as a memoirist and international traveler. Despite our ups and downs, he knew dust would always be underneath my feet as I ran toward the next, uncertain adventure.
Global Writers Group
Since April of 2020 as the world closed down, the Global Writer’s Group has been meeting via zoom every Saturday, with time off only for Christmas and New Years. Early in our time together, Lisa Sharon Harper charged the group with the task of “writing a new world into existence” and over time we have truly seen this in action. We have taken on the task of changing the world, and of course what changed first was ourselves. We as a group have become better writers over this time, but also better people, finding true community in the sacred sharing of ourselves with each other and the world.
We accept members on a rolling basis: it’s never too late to join the community. Prepare to find your life changed for the better as you sharpen your writing skills and prepare to bring your words to the world.
Collectively, we have published six books and many, many journal articles over the past three years with several more books in the works.
Check out some of our recently published articles here:
The State Sponsered Murder of Tyre Nichols by Lisa Sharon Harper
The Importance of Being a Zebra by Anna Elisabeth Howard
Wally and Me: How Writing to a Stranger in Prison Changed my Life by Jill Richardson
Waiting in a Right Now World by Terri Fullerton
Freedom Road Podcast NOW with EXTRA Behind the Frontlines Conversations for Our Paid Subscribers
Don’t miss this exclusive conversation for our paid subscribers and Patreon supporters! Become a paid subscriber today to support the work of Freedom Road and look for an extra podcast conversation right here on the Substack every time a new episode is released! And for the full episode and transcript, visit our website.
The Narrative Gap, as coined by Lisa Sharon Harper, is the distance between the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves, including how we got here and what it will take to make things right. In our world today, competing narratives vie for our loyalty, dividing society and the church, therefore making justice impossible. Our mission is help communities shrink the narrative gap, by identifying core issues and building community capacity so they might work toward common solutions for a just world. Here on the Freedom Road Substack, we can converse together on ways to shrink that narrative gap and help ensure everyones’ stories are told.
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