"Be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud" - Maya Angelou
From Our Partners
United Theological Seminary: Social Transformation Lunch: “Pre-Inauguration Conversation”
January 14 at 12:15 pm – 1:00 pmCST, Zoom
Gather onsite and online with Rev. Dr. Ry Siggelkow, director of United’s Leadership Center for Social Justice, and Rev. Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis, director of our Social Transformation program, for a conversation about this fraught moment in US history and how we can move through grief and anger to affirm the exigency of justice.
United Theological Seminary: Queer & Trans Theology Salon
January 22nd, 3:30 – 5:30 PM, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, the Common Area
Join us on Wednesday, January 22, for the next Queer & Trans Theology Salon. Enjoy conversation, dialogue, and connection with others. Trans and queer academics, clergy, students, and community members are all welcome. This event is free.
Interfaith Action: Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast
January 20th, Viewing locations in link
Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul is partnering for the 24th year with General Mills and UNCF to bring to the greater twin cities communities the live broadcast feed from the Minneapolis Convention Center of this annual event. This event will be a community based effort in honoring the legacy of Dr King. Keynote Speaker: Michele Norris. This year’s event will also feature musical entertainment by Grammy award winning Sounds of Blackness and a special collaborative performance by Threads Dance Project and Vocalessence. More information here.
Join a community viewing of the event livestream at one of the locations listed in the link.
Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light (MNIPL): Community Climate Resilience Network January Gathering
January 21st, 6:30-7:30pm, Zoom
Join us as we kick off a year of building a new Community Climate Resilience Network (CCRN) of communities and organizations that are interested or open to becoming resilience hubs!
Resilience hubs are strong social networks like a neighborhood organization or community of faith, conscience, or spiritual practice that can respond to people's needs in time of weather emergencies from heat waves to flooding to climate-charged super storms. But resilience hubs are much more than a resource in emergencies – they have a role to play in rejuvenating communities throughout the year by providing resources, support in decarbonizing, and a safe space for people to gather.
MNIPL: Winter Session for Quarter Community Gatherings
Thursday, January 30th, 7-8:15pm,
In 2025, we’re launching our Quarterly Community Gatherings, with each one tied to rhythm of the seasons around the time of solstice and equinox. These Quarterly Community Gatherings will:
Offer a framing of the climate justice movement in Minnesota;
Provide an orientation to MNIPL’s work and campaigns in ways that speak to seasoned activists and new folks who are wondering how to become involved; and
Invite you into opportunities for concrete and meaningful action.
We are so excited to launch this new experiment in January, and we hope you’ll join us. Details and RSVP below – please spread the word, tell your friends, and invite your community!
Institute for Islamic-Christian-Jewish Studies(ICJS): Unpacking Bonhoeffer's Legacy Today
Wednesday, January 15th, 12:00pm-1:00pm EST, Zoom
Dietrich Bonhoeffer has long been celebrated as a powerful symbol of moral resistance to the Nazi regime, with his legacy claimed by Christians across the religious spectrum, from liberal Protestants to Christian Nationalists. Historically, though, he was not a major figure. What do his writings mean in that context?
In this online conversation, Dr. Victoria Barnett will delve into the historical complexities of Bonhoeffer’s life and legacy, warning against the dangers of reducing his life and work to simplistic, “momentary” lessons for contemporary Christian activism. Instead, Barnett will argue for a deeper, more nuanced engagement with Bonhoeffer’s theology, emphasizing his unwavering commitment to faith and ethical action in the face of injustice and crisis.
January 19th, 2025. 6:30pm, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Bloomington Chapel.
World Religion Sunday 2025 will take place on January 19 at 6:30 PM at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Bloomington Chapel. With the theme "One Humanity: Many Paths to Harmony," the event will feature a diverse program celebrating the richness of various faith traditions. Attendees will experience a vibrant mix of song, prayer, sacred text readings, and dance, highlighting the unity and diversity of spiritual practices. This special evening invites all to come together in peace and understanding, fostering interfaith dialogue and community connection. More details to follow!
If you and your community would like to offer a song, word, prayer, sacred text reading, dance, etc. from each of your faith traditions, please email jhowe-pullisd@paxchristi.com
Mark Your Calendars
ICJS: Christian Theologies of Power and ResistanceJanuary 22nd, 29th, and February 5th. 7:00-8:30pm EST, Zoom, Free.
With the 2024 election behind us, it is clear that Christian nationalism and the empowerment of conservative Christians will play prominent roles in American politics and policy. How does Christian theology intersect with Christian nationalism, and how can it also inform Christian resistance to it? In this course, we will explore the theological foundations and traditions that have supported much of the Christian backing for Donald Trump over the past decade. At the same time, we will examine theological voices from within the Christian tradition that challenge the ideas of Christian nationalism, Christian supremacy, and Christian hegemony. Register Here.
Joint Religious Legislative Coalition: 2025 Day on the HillThursday, February 27th, 2025. The morning session will be held at Central Presbyterian Church in Saint Paul, followed by a rally in the Capitol rotunda. Our focus for 2025’s Day on the Hill is Women, Children, and Families. We are so excited to gather with you to advocate for women, children, and families living in poverty and bring JRLC’s unique voice to the Minnesota State Capitol. Registration for this event will open later this month. In the meantime, please mark your calendars! We hope to see you there!
Training: Animating Antiracist Ways of BeingFriday, February 28th, 9-5pm. For people invested in institutions and committed to race equity, it is critically important to understand what this work requires of them and their institutions. This work includes understanding how systemic racism operates, to be effective catalysts and organizers for transformation. The workshop is designed for institutions who want their staff as well as their leadership to understand the systemic nature of racism and the role institutions play in its maintenance. Email anna.stamborski@crossroadsantiracism.org for more information and registration.
Culture of Encounter Ideas FestivalApril 6-12th, 2025. In partnership with the Minnesota Multifaith Network, the Jay Phillips Center is pleased to host the 2025 Culture of Encounter Ideas Festival, April 6-12, 2025, at the University of St. Thomas, which brings together community members, students, Minnesotans, global thinkers, and cultural enthusiasts to engage diverse perspectives, foster cross-cultural dialogue, and build leadership for the common public goods. Click here view the schedule or to propose a session!
Resources and Opportunities
Featured Article: Network Weaver
In a world where systems of power often prioritize productivity and competition, the concept of love as a guiding force in organizing and social change may seem radical. However, as explored in this reflection by Root. Rise. Pollinate!, love is an essential catalyst for liberation and transformation. This vision aligns deeply with the mission of the Minnesota Multifaith Network, which supports faith-based and interfaith communities working toward a more just and loving world. By drawing inspiration from thought leaders like bell hooks, this piece encourages us to consider how love shapes our work, the communities we serve, and the organizations we build. In a time when faith communities are uniquely positioned to heal divisions and foster connection, this article offers a timely reminder of how love can be a powerful tool for creating belonging, interconnection, and collective freedom—values that resonate with the Minnesota Multifaith Network’s vision of a more unified, compassionate society.
Love In Action: Embodying Love In Our Organizing and Organizations
INSPIRATOR: one who invites and infuses our imaginations with practices that uplift and motivate a (r)Evolution of Being.
When was the last time you asked yourself, and your co-inspirators: What does love have to do with our work to transform the world? And,how is love reflected in the organizational systems and structures we create and operate within?
The moment we choose to love, we begin to move toward freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others. ~ bell hooks
If our work is ultimately about organizing our communities towards freedom and liberation, where and how do we practice this? Drawing inspiration from our ancestor, bell hooks, what wisdom might we surface and amplify so we are pollinating beloved communities rather than defensive, fractured, loveless work spaces and ways?
Root. Rise. Pollinate! set out to explore love as integral to freedom and liberation during our second Inspiration Session, Embodying Love in Organizing and Organizations. Our four Inspirators — who call Southern Africa and Puerto Rico home — wove their experiences of love in organizing and organizations into a story that lifted up belonging, interconnection, and creating new ways of being.
We rarely talk about love as the purpose of organizing and organizations, yet when we shine light on what truly creates living, adaptive containers for our belonging and work, it is often love.
It’s love that ignites our fire. When we do the work, we wake up, even in the worst times, because we are driven by something stronger within us. And that something stronger is usually love. When our fire threatens to go out, we invoke the spirit of love, or it invokes us, and we wake up. And once again, we do what we have to do. ~ Hope Chigudu
In addition to being our motivation, love can also be the what and how of our work — love as action. Love as a practice.
The practice of love can transform our workplaces into communities. When we no longer see work as a place to simply grind, be productive, or compartmentalize we reconnect to our work as life and a web of relationships. The practice of love can guide and nourish our work by reconnecting us to purpose and diminishing fear, competition and dominance. Practicing love in action creates conditions for hope and imagination to blossom, and for conflict –an inevitable facet of life– to be generative. The seeds we plant to create loving organizations and organizing, by way of our daily interactions, ripple out.
All are welcome to submit events and news for inclusion in our newsletter. To make a submission, please email us. Submissions for the next newsletter are due Friday, January 17th. MnMN Organizational Partners and Individual Members have first priority. If you are not yet an Organizational Partner or Individual Member, we encourage you to join us!
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MNIPL: Winter Session for Quarter Community Gatherings
