Here are our top picks for joining a broader community in worship, arts, community engagement, contemplative practice, and/or social justice – around the state, the region, and the nation:
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SUMMER WELLNESS FAIR
Bridgemakers and Realtime invite folx to a BIPOC-led safe space to celebrate life and heal from the traumas of systemic inequality and police brutality.
Enjoy an afternoon of musicians, informational booths, vendors, healing circles and a meditation tent – with free food!
3737 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55406
Register here.
Saturday, July 31, 2021; 2:00-6:00 PM CST
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JOURNEY TO FREEDOM: SOLIDARITY
The Ministry Lab and United Theological Seminary are honored to join First Covenant Church Minneapolis for the learning and worship series, Journey to Freedom: Solidarity. The six-week series is designed and organized by Rev. Jia Starr Brown.
This year’s preachers include:
- Rev. Dr. DeWayne Davis, Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis
- Rev. Dana Neuhauser, racial justice organizer for the MN Annual Conf. UMC
- Rev. Nicolette Penaranda, First Trinity Lutheran Church, Chicago
- Rev. Tyler Sit, New City Church, Minneapolis
- Rev. Christian Briones, Mayflower Church UCC, Minneapolis
- Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs, Minnesota Council of Churches
Bible Study, Book Study, and Listening/Workshops round out this incredible six-week series.
Find sermons, artists, and learning opportunities from last year’s series here.
Learn more and register here.
July 18 – August 22, 2021
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HEALING MINNESOTA STORIES: SACRED SITES TOURS
As part of Healing Minnesota Stories’ effort to create dialogue, understanding, and healing between Native and non-Native peoples, Minnesota Council of Churches offers Sacred Site Tours of the Twin Cities area. The tour includes information on Dakota history, culture, and sacred sites, as well as the oppression and genocide they faced, and ultimately their exile.
As the topics are quite serious the tours are considered age appropriate for high-school age or older.
Learn more and register here.
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FOREST RESTORATION FOR CONGREGATIONS
Congregations can join the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration through the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative. The Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and UNEP’s Faith for Earth Initiative published a primer, Forest Restoration: Healing Tropical Forests for Spiritual Renewal, for religious leaders and faith communities on the issues around forest restoration.
Learn about the issues and how your congregation can participate in rainforest restoration here.
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Clinicians Anton Armstrong and John Ferguson present new seasonal music, host a hymn festival, lead workshops and more!
Augsburg Music’s FREE virtual Summer Music Clinic is available wherever you are. The two-day event includes:
- 2 Handbell Reading Sessions
- a Keyboard Repertoire Session
- New Choir Music and Vocal Solos Session
- a Hymn Festival
- An Introduction to New Liturgical Song in All Creation Sings
Register for the 2021 Virtual Summer Music Clinic here.
Wednesday, July 28 – Thursday, July 29, 2021; 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM CST
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HANDBELL CHOIRS: GLIDE & DAB YOUR WAY TO BETTER MUSICIANSHIP
We all want our musical offerings to be worshipful and to reflect our best efforts. We often get so caught up in playing the right notes and rhythms that the musicianship isn’t as polished as it could be. This session will incorporate some basic ideas of how to improve the musicianship of any group. The ideas for this session are based on Rudolf Laban’s movement theory as applied to handbells by Kimberly Strepka, led by Michael Joy, Traditional Music Director of First Presbyterian Church, Ambler, PA.
Register as part of the Summer or Full Year webinar series here.
Friday, July 30, 2021; 1:00 PM CST
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The Upper Room’s Academy for Spiritual Formation is offering a stand-alone half-day online retreat: Cuando el Trauma Habla: La Espiritualidad de la Autocompasion / When Trauma Speaks: The Spirituality of Self-Compassion; facilitated by Giovanni Arroyo.
Non-Spanish speakers are encouraged to spread the news of this opportunity with Spanish-speaking friends and neighbors.
Learn more here.
July 31, 2021; 9:00 AM – 1:15 PM
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SUMMER OF SONG
The Presbytery of MN Valleys invites folks to celebrate our connection to one another through the gift of music with a free Summer Concert Series. Available on YouTube, the series features vocalist Elizabeth Stockton Perkins, the Stillman College Choir, and the Mission Musicians of the PC(USA). Enjoy at home or with a viewing party (or contact Deidra)
Now through September.
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PRIDE CHATS
Communities interested in learning more about LGBTQI+ youth homelessness are invited to host an Avenues speaker for a Pride Chat!
Schedule your guest speaker and learn more here.
Now through July.
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UNITED METHODIST DAY AT LINE 3
Indigenous leaders invite United Methodists to be present, helpful, and prayerful at the Water Protector Welcome Center in Palisade, MN, which is directly adjacent to the proposed crossing under the Mississippi River of the Line 3 oil pipeline. MN United Methodist Women and MNIPL are hosting this gathering. Learn more about the resistance to the Line 3 oil pipeline as you serve and pray together at the Mississippi River. Only peaceful, legal activities are planned.
Tell Pres. Biden and other federal officials to take action to #StopLine3 here.
Learn more here. Register here.
August 21, 2021; 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
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FOR GOODNESS SAKE: MUSIC FOR THE NONVIOLENT FUTURE
From the struggle for racial justice, to the existential call to heal the earth and its inhabitants, a global nonviolent shift is needed more than ever.
Musicians from around the world will promote the power of this urgent nonviolent change via the online music festival, For Goodness Sake: Music for the Nonviolent Future. This Campaign Nonviolence international music festival, includes local artist, Brother Timothy and features Robert Robinson, along with a number of Peace Activist Musicians.
Musicians can join the landmark event by submitting videos by July 1, 2021.
August 21, 2021; online
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ENFLESHING WITNESS
Encounter distinct voices, speaking from their own communities, enfleshing witness for this moment of challenge and creativity in the church and in the world in this short-form, intentionally crafted free virtual event. Between witnesses, encounter liturgical experiments and collaborations to help digest the call of the divine.
See here for a Library Giveaway from participating authors/leaders.
Learn more here.
Register here.
August 26, 2021
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Espiritualidad de Resilience en la Comunidad Hispana y Latinx
The Upper Room’s Academy for Spiritual Formation is offering two new opportunities for Spanish speakers: The Spirituality of Resistance within the Hispanic and Latinx Community: An Online Offering for Spanish Speakers will consist of six half-day online retreat sessions of liturgical prayer, teaching from wisdom guides, intentional silence, and community sharing. Sessions are one month apart on Saturdays, with covenant groups meeting between sessions.
Cost: $225 per participant; scholarship up to $120 available
Find more details and apply here.
Non-Spanish speakers are encouraged to spread the news of this opportunity with Spanish-speaking friends and neighbors.
Saturdays, September 18, 2021 – March 22, 2022
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TREATY PEOPLE GATHERING: RISE. PROTECT. STOP LINE 3
Individuals and communities can still participate in the on-going actions to stop Line 3. Learn what happened and further actions here.
Find additional opportunities across the Twin Cities Area and the state on the MNIPL events calendar.
See Matthew Fox’s Indigenous Wisdom and Moving Beyond Sadness for a local conversation starter and Molly Taft’s Gizmodo article on the future of legal action against Line 3.
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CIVIL RIGHT PILGRIMAGE
Join this journey across the South, from Atlanta to Memphis, to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement, visit the sacred sites where lives were lost and freedom won, and be inspired for the work that must still be done so that all people are guaranteed the rights and privileges of citizenship.
Learn more here.
Register here.
November 5-13, 2021; in person.
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