"We are each other’s harvest: we are each other’s business: we are each other’s magnitude and bond." — Gwendolyn Brooks
Thinking Religiously Together
Wednesday, August 9, 7:00 pm, Online
This presenter for this month’s Thinking Religiously Together is Dr. Deanna Thompson, Director of the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values and Community and Martin E. Marty Regents Chair in Religion and the Academy. Thompson’s work at St. Olaf focuses on advancing the mission and programming of the Lutheran Center and promoting interfaith dialogue both within and beyond St. Olaf. She is author of five books, including The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World (Abingdon, 2016) and most recently, Glimpsing Resurrection: Cancer, Trauma, and Ministry (Westminster John Knox, 2018). Thompson is also a member of the Advisory Council for MnMN. She will be presenting on the topic, "Friendship in a Multi-Religious World." Please join the discussion on August 9 at 7pm on Zoom.
The gathering will last one hour and will feature a presentation, small group discussions and a larger open conversation around the topic. MnMN intends for “Thinking Religiously Together” to be an open and safe place to learn about the beliefs and practices that shape each other’s lives. We wish to learn from and with each other about the significance of the spiritual, the divine and the sacred in our lives and our relationship with our neighbors. We hope this time will help educate and bring us closer together in understanding the beautiful differences and similarities of our lived experiences.
"I’ve been struck by the relationships that exist between religious communities of vast difference in what is often called fly-over country. My experience has been that these are not regions to fly over, but to learn from.
When I first came to the US, in the 1970s my father landed in Bloomington, Indiana for his doctorate program. In those years, as immigrants we had little to no access to zabiha markets where we could find meat that was permissible to eat. My father heard that my school bus driver, Mrs. Anderson, had a farm and he proceeded to speak to her about going out to her farm and we found her open to our form of Muslim ritual slaughter of animals on her farm.
It is a small example, let me share another from the same region I learned about when I went to a Quaker college. The headquarters of the Islamic Society of America was in Plainfield, Indiana. The campus minister at my college in North Carolina recalled how his extended family in Indiana would reach out to support Muslims when the sign for the organization had been shot at in the 80s. These are a few of the many stories of the central part of this country in which solidarity and just pure necessity created deep and lasting multi-faith relations. What I mean to say is this is not new." Read more of this compelling reflection on Interfaith at Augsburg's blog!
Partner Events
MnMN Organizational Partners and Individual Members 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, August 11. If you are not yet an Organizational Partner or Individual Member, we encourage you to join us!
Yes, Your Congregation Can Go Solar!
Tuesday, August 8, 7:00 pm, Online
Learn how your congregation can benefit from solar energy and slash its carbon emissions. Get step-by-step details and answers to frequently asked questions. Find out how solar works, how you can get a no-cost solar design and proposal for your congregation, how IRA provisions improve solar’s return on investment, and the various methods for financing for your project. In recent years, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light has helped more than a dozen congregations and nonprofits go solar. With new federal tax credits, we expect to double that number in the next year alone. Join us to be part of the solar movement!
Join Compassion & Choices for the webinar As the End Nears: Dying With Dementia. Dr. Natalie Young, geriatrician and palliative care physician at the University of California San Francisco, will discuss late-stage dementia and what to expect at the end of life.
We aim to offer you a better understanding of what to expect with advanced dementia. With this information, we hope you feel more empowered to plan, prepare and make the decisions necessary to guide your care. Similar to prior webinars in this series (As the End Nears: Dying with Heart Failure, Kidney Failure, Cancer and ALS), we will discuss disease progression of this disease and options for the end of life.
Application Deadline: August 15, 2023 Day Long Retreat: Saturday, October 14, 2023 Overnight Retreat: Friday - Saturday, March 8-9, 2024 Monthly Gatherings: October 2023 - May 2024, second Saturday each month, 8:00am - Noon unless scheduled as a retreat
Learn how to build authentic relationships and give mutual, reciprocal support to BIPOC clergy. Our gatherings will include teaching and learning, sharing around trauma experiences and responses, spiritual direction, healing, and reconciliation through somatic practices and action steps. After 6 months, each participant will be paired with a BIPOC seminarian to connect and support.
Cost: $200/participant (a $2700 value subsidized for clergy) For more information: jiastarrbrown@gmail.com. If you would like to help fund this effort, please donate here and make a note that the donation is for Clergy Ubuntu.
Broke and Woke: The Police and the Church After George Floyd
Wednesday, August 16, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Minnesota Church Center, 122 W Franklin Ave #100, Minneapolis, MN 55404
How do you advocate racial justice through law and faith? Join Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Rev. Dr. Curtiss Paul DeYoung of the Minnesota Council of Churches for a conversation on the connections between their leadership in different sectors in Minnesota after the murder of George Floyd. Your donation of $40 will provide you with a thank you gift: copies of AG Ellison’s book, Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence, and Rev. DeYoung’s book The Risk of Being Woke: Sermonic Reflections for Activists. This is a limited-attendance event.
Finding Center through Ritual, Nature & the Creative Process
Saturday, September 16, 9:30 am - 12:15 pm, Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality, 1890 Randolph Ave, St Paul, MN 55105
We will center ourselves in nature, returning to a calming space or awareness, playfulness, and appreciation or nature. Explore the interconnectedness of nature, beauty, mindfulness and art as ritual by creating soul circle mandalas (Morning Altars) with organic material found in nature.
What to Bring:
• Connect and honor your relationship with nature by gathering any garden flowers, leaves, sticks or twigs of similar size, acorns, pinecones, or seed pods from your yard or walks; purchased flowers are good too. Bringing items is encouraged, but absolutely not required! If you have extra, please bring it to share.
• We will be outside, please dress for the weather, bring a water bottle, a blanket to sit on and a device for taking a photo of your soul circle.
Thursday, September 21, 3:00 - 7:00 pm, St. Peter's Catholic Church,1405 Sibley Memorial Hwy, St. Paul, MN 55120
Healing Minnesota Stories is an effort to create understanding and healing between Native American and non-Native people, particularly those in various faith communities. Native people have suffered deep trauma over many years, losing their land, language, and culture; all who call Minnesota home are the lesser for it. While many people and institutions contributed to that trauma, it happened with the full participation of Christian churches. We all still need healing, healing is doable, and churches have a role to play in healing.
We believe in the healing power of stories. One way church members can engage in healing is by participating in Healing Minnesota Stories Dakota Sacred Sites Tours. Groups travel to local places and hear stories about why these places are both sacred and traumatic to the Dakota people. Attendance is limited. FYI: Tours have been popular and fill quickly.
From early on Christians have defined Christianity in relation to the Jewish tradition from which it emerged. But when articulating Christian faith vis-à-vis Judaism, most Christian teachers and preachers down through the centuries have misrepresented Judaism, expressing anti-Jewish perspectives that often have fanned the flames of antisemitic attitudes and behaviors. The result of this has not only been dire for Jews, including in the last several years in the United States where there has been a dramatic increase of hate crimes against Jews, but has also distorted Christian self-understanding and faith. In this presentation, Rabbi Ryan Dulkin will focus on several things that Christians generally misunderstand about Judaism and why this matters for Jews, Christians, and others.
How often Americans went to religious services was a factor in how they voted in the 2022 midterm elections, according to a recent Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. voter data from that year. Among those saying they went to religious services monthly or more often, two-thirds voted for Republican congressional candidates, compared with 31% who voted for Democratic candidates. Meanwhile, of those saying they attended services a few times a year or less, 56% voted for Democratic candidates while 42% voted for Republicans.
"While religion has traditionally played a significant role in shaping political beliefs, recent trends show a decline in religious affiliation and the closure of numerous churches across the United States. The influence of religion on American politics persists, regardless of the decline. Despite the decreasing number of religious American adults, why does it feel that our politics are as influenced by religion as ever?" Read more on The Aspen Institute's Religion & Society Program Blog.
Watch a recording of Tri-Faith Initiative's panel discussion on the Groff v. DeJoy Supreme Court decision and its implications for religious accommodations in the workplace. "The panelists stressed the importance of feasibility in granting accommodations rather than questioning the sincerity of beliefs. They recommended implementing flexible and inclusive policies and procedures that empower individuals to make decisions regarding their religious or non-religious practices."
More Events
India Association of Minnesota (IAM) cordially invites you to participate in their annual signature event, “IndiaFest 2023,” to celebrate 50 years of IAM. Saturday, August 12, 11:00 am, Minnesota State Capitol Grounds
Friends for a NonViolent World (FNVW), in collaboration with Twin Cities Nonviolent (TCNV) and many other peace and justice groups are organizing a Walk for Peace and Justice. Saturday, September 30, 10:00 am, Brackett Park in Minneapolis
MnMN Seeking Fall 2023 Intern for Interfaith Mapping Project!
The Minnesota Multifaith Network seeks interns to assist staff and volunteers of MnMN with the following tasks:
Gather information about multifaith groups in Minnesota. Information to be gathered includes nature and purpose of the group, leadership and contact information for leaders, activity.
Update and refine MnMN’s website map of multifaith groups, organizational partners and individual members.
Extend invitations to religious leaders, faith communities and organizations to join MnMN.
Gather information about individual participants in various traditions who have an interest in interfaith relations. Help find ways for them to take action in their own faith communities, organizations, interfaith groups or with MnMN. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Jen Kilps.
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