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Interwoven Congregations is honored to announce the addition of two committed leaders in the antiracism field to our Boards!  Monique Bryant is joining the Interwoven Congregations Governing Board and Anton Ahrens is joining the Interwoven Congregations Advisory Board!  Both are featured in the Fall 2023 issue of Interwoven Congregations Quarterly which focused on how congregations are doing racial justice. We look forward to benefiting from their passion and expertise for racial justice as we continue our mission of helping faith communities be agents for racial justice and healing!


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Monique (“Moe”) Bryant serves as the executive director of Challenging Racism, a dynamic organization based in Arlington, VA that equips individuals and organizations with the skills and tools to  disrupt racism.  Moe had served as a volunteer  leader for Challenging  Racism for a decade before becoming its executive director in 2023.  Moe shares:


I decided to join the Interwoven Congregations governing board because I am deeply committed to advancing racial equity and justice. Interwoven  Congregations represents a significant opportunity to partner with faith communities in this vital work. My dedication to racial equity is rooted in a belief that we are all entrusted with the responsibility to uphold the dignity and worth of every person. I view this work as integral to our personal responsibility and essential to kingdom building. By joining this board, I hope to contribute by fostering inclusive and just dialogue that reflects my values of equity, compassion, and unity. Interwoven Congregations is a powerful force for fostering these ideals, and I am honored to contribute to its transformative mission.


 Anton Ahrens, a lifelong educator who recently     retired from Topeka High School, acts as the co-chair    of the Topeka Justice Unity & Ministry Project (Topeka JUMP).  A collaboration of over 30 congregations,    Anton has twice served as the spokesperson during the  community-wide  Nehemiah Assemblies to press public officials for policies to boost racial equity around transportation, affordable housing and  other areas.  Anton says:


I decided to join the Interwoven Congregations governing board because today is the day the Lord has made for Justice to roll down like a mighty stream! Our call to do Justice, across the nation, is more powerful and effective when we become a true community, as God intends - a diverse community where we call each other by name and know something of each other’s       stories. Interwoven Congregations forms these communities.”  


Please join us in welcoming Moe and Anton to the Interwoven Congregations team!



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What whiz-bang Church marketing guru came up with the term "Good Friday" anyway to describe this day when Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus?


Some have suggested it's a variation of "God's" Friday, looking to the German. But Germans refer to the day not as Gottes Freitag but as Karfreitag (“Sorrowful Friday”). Other variations include "pitkäperjantai" ("Long Friday," in Finnish) and ദുഃഖ വെള്ളി ("Sad Friday," in Malayalam). The scholarly consensus seems to be, according to the good people at the Oxford English Dictionary and other linquists, that the use of "Good" Friday derives from an antiquated meaning of "good" as "holy" or "pious."*


This has all come to mind as I've been re-reading, with a group of clergy and lay leaders, "Jesus and the Disinherited" by Howard Thurman. Thurman opens his text, which Martin Luther King, Jr. reportedly carried with him at all times in his briefcase, with a pressing observation which, in Thurman's mind, had been largely unexamined by the greater Church. He wrote, thinking specifically of the African American experience, "The significance of the religion of Jesus to people who stand with their backs to the wall has always seemed to me to be crucial."




What does this Jesus mean for African Americans and others who find themselves with their backs against the wall? What does this Good Friday, Holy Friday, Sorrowful Friday, Long Friday, Sad Friday -- along with the the Good News to come on Easter Sunday -- mean for them?


The irony and tragedy for Thurman is the extent to which this religion of the Crucified and Risen One, which "was born of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless peoples."


That is a sobering indictment of the White church and leads me to re-phrase Thurman's observation as a question on this Good Friday: "What is the significance of the religion of Jesus to White people whose legacy and position in society (intentionally or not) causes others to stand with their backs to the wall?"


What is the significance of the religion of Jesus to me?


*Sources: Wikipedia and Slate posting by Forrest Wickman.

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