February 2007 - New Beginnings

New Beginnings

From The Executive Director

“In the beginning, O God,
your Spirit swept over the chaotic deep like a wild wind
and creation was born.
In the turbulence of our own lives
and the unsettled waters of the world today
let there be new birthings of your Spirit.
In the currents of our hearts
and the upheavals of the world today
let there be new birthings of your mighty Spirit.”

This Celtic prayer is a prayer of new beginnings, an apt prayer for this time in the life of The Beatitudes Society. It’s only February, but it feels like spring has sprung, as my father used to say. There are signs of fresh new growth, new beginnings popping up all over the Beatitudes landscape:

First, a welcome to TWO NEW CHAPTERS this month:

• Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, D.C. the eminent African-American theological school with strong faculty commitment to ethics and justice curricula, including the Biblical Institute for Social Change founded by Cain Hope Felder; and
• The Divinity School at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a campus with Baptist roots and innovative projects in urban ministry, the role of religion in public life.

These new chapters had their origins with two of last summer’s Beatitudes Fellows, Lauren Phelps at Howard and Chad Crawford at Wake Forest. These graduating seniors are passing leadership along to others, and we look forward to great things at Howard and Wake Forest!

More early signs of growth can be found at the Chapters Page on our website.Our students have just launched this feature of our national network of emerging leaders, and now they are linking up with each other through posts to their individual School Chapter Pages. They are sharing news and ideas about their activities and challenges and hopes, and will be updating their pages with more posts of their local materials. I’m delighted to see this virtual sign of real-time growth and networking!

Our Summer 2007 Service Trip to the Gulf Coast - "Hearts, Heads, Hands" - is taking shape. We will soon be sending out the word on how you can join with us the week of June 10 for some post-Katrina hands-on hard work and daily deep learning with Students, Faculty and Friends of The Beatitudes Society! This will mark the beginning of our Beatitudes Society Alumni Network, connecting students and grads with activists and thinkers and supporters, and building relationships among all for the long haul of progressive justice work.

We welcome a new member to our Beatitudes Society Board: Joe Jennings, who brings great skill, energy and commitment for our work, as well as a fearless ability to put his faith into action for social change. He walks the walk.

Fellowship Applications are coming in each day, as students across the country are seeking to spend Summer 2007 “Practicing What Jesus Preached”. If you are a student who would be interested in a life-changing eight weeks at a faith-based social change organization, meeting with mentors and peers, and developing skills for changing the world, click here. If you know someone who would be interested, forward this email to them.

Our Beatitudes Blog has some new voices: Dave Batstone from The Beatitudes Society Board and Chad Crawford from Wake Forest. Alex Carpenter keeps us on the cutting edge of the blogosphere, and I try to pitch in with a word now and then (I think of the blog as a new kind of pulpit!) Please check it out, and give us your feedback. We would love to have more partners in these conversations!

Sixteen students from our school chapters are heading to Washington D.C. in March as Beatitudes Society Scholarship recipients for Advocacy Days. These students will join with other emerging young adult leaders to participate in two days of solid skills training in a variety of key policy "tracks": environmental justice, economic justice, domestic children's justice issues, and key international policy areas: Latin America, Africa, Asia, Middle East.

And this month Dave Batstone is launching not only his new book Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade and How We Can Fight It but also the new campaign that we can all join in the effort to end human trafficking (and the poverty that leads to it!) I’m pleased to offer you below the launch announcement for the NOT FOR SALE CAMPAIGN.

 

In Christ's Peace,

The Rev. Anne S. Howard

 

Strengthening the progressive Christian network for justice, compassion, & peace