November on Freedom Road
What do we mean when we say we have hope for a better future?
What do we mean when we say we have hope for a better future? Poet Jarod Anderson points out that hope is messy, and hope is a call to action. If we think things can get better, we have work to do.
So let us hope together as we step into this Advent season, a season of waiting and watchfulness, remembering that everything looked bleak a few thousand years ago, and most people didn’t see that a single child was in fact, hope for the ages.
In the name of that child, and all the children in peril right now, let’s get to work.
This Advent, Embark on a Journey to Gender Justice
As women and LGBTQ+ folks have faced heightened attacks in recent years, Lisa Sharon Harper has been proud to serve as a board member of Justice Revival and to support their work defending human rights here in the U.S.
We at Freedom Road are especially passionate about Justice Revival’s #Faith4ERA campaign, which is mobilizing interfaith support for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution. Once the ERA is recognized as the 28th amendment, women, girls, and LGBTQ+ Americans will have equal legal rights and protections for the first time in U.S. history.
As we enter the holidays, we want to share with you a unique and free 2023 Advent Guide that focuses on gender justice. Created by the #Faith4ERA campaign and the North Carolina Council of Churches, A Journey Towards Justice for Women and the LGBTQ+ Community will be a meaningful companion through the Advent season—providing opportunities to reflect, pray, and take action for equality.
Advent starts on Sunday, December 3, so we encourage you to join us in downloading a copy today! Forward this email to a friend to share the Advent guide with them, too.
Q&A with Lisa Sharon Harper
What resources do you need going into 2024? What do you want to see from Freedom Road? Curious about Lisa’s take on current events? Come sit down with Lisa on a zoom call that is just for our subscribers!
If you are a paid subscriber to Substack or a Patreon patron at the James Farmer level or above, you are invited to participate in a quarterly call with Lisa Sharon Harper.
Mark your calendar for the next call, and if you aren’t a subscriber or Patron, upgrade your subscription today, or join our Patreon!
December 13: 7-8pm ET
Global Writers’ Group Annual Showcase
Come spend an evening with members of Freedom Road’s Global Writers’ Group. You’ll hear stories, poems, and other pieces around what it means to hold on to hope in turbulent times. Hope is messy, and hope is a call to us because if we have hope that things might get better, that means we have work to do!
Come imagine with us as we seek to write a new world into existence.
Editors, agents, and publishers welcome.
You’ll hear from Lisa Sharon Harper, Deborah Masten, Stephanie Hanrahan, Dasia Olivares, Terri Fullerton, Anna Howard, Steven Wright, Julia Devoney Weaver, and Felicia Melian.
When: January 29th, 2024 @ 8pm eastern US
Build a Better World: A Learning Community from Freedom Road
Have you read one of Lisa Sharon Harper’s books? Or one of the books from our Global Writers’ Group authors? Have you been a part of one of Freedom Road’s Webinars either live or purchased one on demand? We have just launched a learning community on Facebook for anyone who wants to chat with like-minded people about the material they’ve been reading or watching.
Join us today and we will grow together to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly into a better world!
Join the Facebook Group
To make things easier in these difficult times where everything seems to be more expensive, we have lowered our individual pricing on all our courses to make them accessible to more people. And don’t forget there’s a couple of free offerings to get you started as well! Check out our institute page and the course archive now.
Rather read a book? Check out The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can be Made Right or Fortune: How Race Broke my Family and the World… and How to Repair it All both by Lisa Sharon Harper.
Or check out the list of books written in our Global Writers’ Group here.
On the Freedom Road Substack
Fly
Download Fly now on Apple or Amazon Music or stream on Spotify and take it with you wherever you go!
Truth-Telling is the Work of Right Now
As we find ourselves in a pivotal moment in the history of both our nation and the church, truth-telling is the call of the moment. For a limited time (now - April 2024) Lisa is offering discounted speaking rates for truth-tellers like you!
Talk Title: “Truth-Telling is the Work of Right Now”
In a world that hungers for honesty and clarity, Lisa's talk delves into the pressing need for all of us to seek, listen to and tell the truth about who we are as a nation and as the church. With intimacy, humor and power Lisa models her truth-telling process by sharing her own quest to untangle her family’s 300 year story on American soil. She addresses the urgency of this moment, emphasizing how authentic storytelling can catalyze positive change. Lisa's powerful and engaging delivery leaves a lasting impact on her audiences, inspiring paradigm shifts that catalyze change.
For more information about Lisa Sharon Harper and her impactful message, please visit her website.
If you are interested in booking Lisa for your event, please fill out the Speaking Engagement Form to get started.
Lisa's schedule is filling up quickly, so we encourage you to act soon to secure her presence at your event. This is an opportunity to empower your audience with insights that are both enlightening and transformative.
On the Freedom Road Podcast this Month
Global Writer’s 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, have several writers who’ve recently become agented and/or are under contract for upcoming books, and many, many journal articles over the past three years with several more books in the works.
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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