Journeys of Faith - Paths of Resistance: Reflection at Mill Woods United Church

I am the Marketing/Social Media Coordinator for Mill Woods United Church. On September 3, I presented a reflection on my faith journey and the work I do for the church.

---

Subtitle: Activism and Spirituality, or, “What’s a Nice Jewish Girl Doing In the United Church?”

I was asked to make a presentation about my spiritual journey, activism, and accomplishments, in the context of what exactly I do for Mill Woods United, in approximately 20 minutes or less. So, please fasten your seat belts. Here we go.

I recall my job interview in the spring of 2016 with Ian, Brian, Mary-Anne, and Janice. It was going pretty well, but there was something I had to fess up to: I wasn’t from a United Church background. In fact – get ready for it – I’m Jewish. “That’s okay,” replied Ian, “So is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” I tell this story quite often and it always elicits laughter.

Many of you also know me as being involved as the email list and social media coordinator with the Moving Forward with Reconciliation group which is comprised of members from a number of Edmonton’s United Churches. So, how did a nice Jewish girl end up working with the United Church?

I was raised in a fairly traditional Modern Orthodox family. Saturday was the Sabbath. We observed all of the Jewish holy days: the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana (also known as the “Jewish New Year”) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement and the holiest day on the Jewish calendar), but also Passover and the other feasts and festivals as well. It was fun – I got to take a lot of days off of school for “religious observance.” We also strictly observed the dietary laws, the most well-known of which are no pork products and no shellfish (Levitical restrictions), both of which I still observe to this day.

Then came the teenage years of rebellion, and I, like many of my peers, fell away from the faith of my family. I still always identified as being Jewish but stopped being as observant. Saturday became just another day. I considered myself secular. I didn’t need a spiritual life as such. And so my teens became my 20s and I started to feel a spiritual longing that led me on a path that included everything from east to west, from Buddhism to even a time spent in the Messianic Jewish movement, which is basically Evangelical Christians who celebrate the Jewish roots of Christianity, and Jewish people interested in exploring Christianity in a Jewish context.

It was ironically during my time in this extremely right-wing, Zionist movement that I became interested in getting involved in Edmonton’s activist community – and by activist, I mean of the politically progressive kind. I had always been interested in issues of human rights and social justice but never found a way to connect. Enter the Internet, which I had been spending a lot of time on since my university days. I taught myself how to make web pages, and was starting to learn the ways of what was going to be known as social media.

Eventually, I connected with local groups that dealt with independent media, peace, the environment, women, and Indigenous issues, and as I left organized religion behind yet again I felt more affirmed in my Jewish identity as ever. There is a value in Judaism called Tikkun Olam, which roughly translates to “healing or repairing the world.” In many ways, activism has become a form of spiritual expression for me.

My role as an activist has largely been documenting local social movements through photography and video, posting my work online on my blog RadicalCitizenMedia.com as well as on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and more recently, Instagram. As a result, I have gained a large following online while learning the ins and outs of social media, which I have been able to apply to my work as a communications consultant who works largely with non-profits and NGOs.

For example, in my (just a little over a) year with Mill Woods, I have helped fix up the website, make sure it is updated regularly, while ensuring timely and relevant posts on Facebook, Twitter, and the Instagram account that I set up for the congregation. Ian’s reflections go up every week, announcements are posted, events are promoted, and at the same time I curate material to go online that pertain to the work of the congregation and the wider United Church, particularly concerning Reconciliation and LGBTQ issues, since we are an affirming congregation. Numbers on social media are growing and hopefully this is translating into both communication to congregational members, and inspiring others to attend. In addition, I help proof newsletters and print/promotional materials when required. You get all of this and more, packed into what is now five hours per week.

I heard about the position, which was called Marketing Project Coordinator but is now simply referred to as Social Media, through my involvement with the Edmonton Interfaith Centre for Education and Action, where I am a board member. The building that hosts the Interfaith Centre’s office also houses Garneau United Church, where I occasionally attended as a guest, particularly to video the sermons of a friend of mine who occasionally led services as a layperson. Quite simply, I saw a posting for the job on the communal bulletin board and I applied. And so, here I am.

Last summer I also began working with the group Moving Forward with Reconciliation, which is made up of people from several Edmonton United Churches. I took over the email list announcing events in Edmonton and area pertaining to Reconciliation and Indigenous educational opportunities when the original founder of the group moved to another province. I wanted to enhance and augment the position, and created a Facebook page for the group, as well as a Reconciliation calendar that is now part of the Mill Woods website.

My work in social media, combined with my involvement in activism, started to receive recognition from my community in 2012, when I received the Salvos Prelorentzos Peace Award, an award annually given by Project Ploughshares Edmonton (historically an ecumenical Christian peace organization), to an individual or organization in Edmonton working for the cause of peace, who has not previously been honoured for their work. Around this time I began working with the founding steering committee for the annual Daughters Day event, held in City Hall to honour women and girls for their achievements, the first Daughters Day being held in September of 2012. In 2014, I was named one of the Daughters of the Year at that year’s Daughters Day event for my leadership and being an example to women in activism. Most recently, I was named a Human Rights Champion by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights in December of 2016, and was a co-organizer of the Women’s March on Washington Edmonton “sister march” on January 21, 2017, which saw over 4000 people converge at the Alberta Legislature grounds to proclaim and affirm that women’s rights are human rights.

Most recently, I have become involved with an initiative called Completing the Story. We’re a grassroots group of women who came together last year to address the lack of visual representation of women in public spaces, not only in Edmonton, but throughout Canada and elsewhere. It was a logical move from my experiences with Daughters Day and the Women’s March, to work on projects that work towards an equitable society.

So even though I don’t come from a United Church background, I have always been attracted to the United Church of Canada’s commitment to social justice and a better world. I’ve often told people that if I was Christian by birth, I would have chosen the United Church as my spiritual home. From peace to reconciliation with Canada’s First Nations, to a just resolution to the conflict in Israel/Palestine, the United Church has been a part of all of these struggles, and I am very grateful to have been welcomed into this congregation and to be able to serve you in the capacity of Social Media/Marketing Coordinator.

Goddess Activism: Workshop Notes

I was asked to give a talk about the connections between Goddess spirituality and activism at the Alberta Goddess Conference in the fall of 2013. Unfortunately, due to various logistical problems the conference did not happen. However, since I spent time researching and writing on this topic, which has opened up a world of interest in this particular spiritual viewpoint, I have decided to share my workshop notes here. As well, I would be available to give this workshop in Edmonton to interested groups.

Welcome (is everyone okay with this being videoed?)

Go around and introduce ourselves, and speak briefly as to why we’re here.

Introduce myself

 - Freelance writer/editor/photographer involved with community and independent media. I document the local activist scene through my website Radical Citizen Media and am also an organizer with the Edmonton Coalition Against War & Racism, and a founder of the Daughters Day initiative, which celebrates the lives and achievements of women and girls while raising awareness of human rights abuses. I’m also a musician (a “protest singer”) and in 2012 I received the Salvos Prelorentzos Peace Award from Project Ploughshares, a peace organization.
- I come from a traditional Jewish home, spent a while involved with a group that is essentially an Evangelical church that uses Jewish forms of worship and symbols, and am now exploring earth-based religion and seeing some natural connections between it and the religion of my origin. But today, I am here to talk about activism and Goddess spirituality.

About Activism

Part of spirituality is to celebrate our senses

Activism = sense-itivity to the world around us

Activism and spirituality are connected, regardless of which spirituality or religion one follows, activism are the actions that back up or support our beliefs, meditations, prayer, rituals. In Christianity, faith without works is dead, and there are similar sayings in other religions too.

Activism involves a cause we believe deeply in. We often think of it as a global or large issue (foreign policy, peace, the environment,) but it can also be something small and affecting our lives locally (getting a traffic light installed in a busy intersection).

Activism and Goddess spiritually most naturally and historically connects with feminism, and the modern Goddess movement is linked with feminism through celebrating our innate power as women. Alternately, feminism is a modern activist movement. But Goddess activism is not just limited to causes affecting those who identify as women. In the activist community, most people are known for favouring a specific cause, so to be an activist you just have to find a cause that resonates with you. Then, connect with others who share those values. Things have changed a lot in this regard – I had to get online and really dig around, but it’s easier now with social media like Facebook and Twitter being so prevalent.

Empowerment of women is only one reason why Goddess or Earth-based spirituality in general is attractive to a growing number of people. Because there is no dogma, no central authority, no official leaders, and really no hard and set rules, Wicca and neo-Paganism can attract left-learning, anti-authoritarian kinds of people like anti-capitalists and anti-globalization activists.

Challenges

Being a Goddess activist has challenges. Some of these challenges are the same for all activists, but they can affect us as women in different ways. These include:

Lateral violence: (gossip, backstabbing amongst other activists, rising from jealousy and other issues);

Sexism: (for example, men hold the “leadership” positions but it’s actually the women doing all of the work. I read a stat a while back that 90% of volunteer work in churches and non-profits was done by women).

Activist burn out: we have lives apart from activism, families, lovers, other interests, careers. Self care is important. The personal is political: if we are a bunch of burned out, unhappy people in our personal lives, we’re not going to be as effective as activists, as most importantly, be physically and emotionally healthy as people. This where our spirituality is important, as giving us a foundation and energy release.

To discuss how Goddess spirituality can be applied to activism, I am picking two major activist themes that directly relate:

A. Environment

- In most writings about Goddess spirituality, Wicca, and Paganism, nature is considered sacred. Just read Starhawk, or any other major author that writes about this faith tradition.

- Goddess spirituality is part of Earth-based religion. We are part of nature, we are guardians of nature, and we have to respect nature.

B.  Peace

 - Just like nature is sacred, life is sacred. Cyclical: We are also part of nature. Spiritually and physically – regardless of one’s views of the afterlife, our physical bodies return to the earth one way or the other.

- Our bodies are sacred space – how we treat each other is essential to peace. Behaviours like yelling and gossip are a form a personal violence. We will never be able to stop violence on a broader scale if we don’t treat each other with respect.

- Threefold Law of return: Every action has a threefold return. So, activism is something that should be a regular part of our lives, because we’re sending out positivity and good vibes with our actions.

- Activism does not always have to involve big, grand actions. Words have power. Making affirmations is important and can have a positive effect in changing the world.

C. Animal Rights

- Humans are sacred, but no more sacred than anything else on Earth. Humans and animals are equal. This is why Earth-based spiritual practitioners are often animal rights activists and vegetarians/vegans.

Summary

Activism and Earth-based Goddess spirituality are interconnected. Not every activist is a Pagan or Wiccan, but a large proportion of Pagans and Wiccans are activists because of the connections between the sacred and the earth and our bodies.

Questions/Comments?

---

Breathing On My Own: Yoga, Meditation, and Capitalism

Many people I know are currently into two Eastern traditions that have gone very mainstream in recent years: yoga and meditation. It used to be that the only folks into these practices were antiquated hippies, health nuts, and people honestly exploring Eastern religions.

Now, these practices are performed by soccer moms and CEOs and everyone in between. It is not uncommon to see a woman pushing a stroller with a yoga mat bag slung over her shoulder. There are yoga classes for moms with babies, athletes, couples, and all skill levels. You can go on yoga and meditation retreats locally and abroad.

Is this cultural appropriation? Perhaps. However, western folks have been doing yoga and meditation for years. It's just that they are so popular now, that like most things that become popular, they have become multi-million dollar industries. From retreats to fancy studios to clothing, capitalists all across North America are making a pretty penny because of two spiritual practices that consist of stretching and breathing.

Stretching and breathing. These are two things that everyone can do for free. I have an inexpensive yoga mat and instructional book. In the privacy of my own basement, wearing whatever comfortable rags I feel like, I stretch away.

I wonder how many people doing yoga and meditation even know or care about the backgrounds of the practises, or if they are just going along with the popular thing at the moment like Pilates a few years ago, or Tai Bo, or any of the other fitness and wellness fads that have come and gone over the years.

Ditto for meditation. Like yoga, I have taken the occasional class, and maintain a practise on my own, combined with study and reading. I have integrated it into my lifestyle, not as a social event but as a way of personal growth.

Meditation is a serious spiritual practise that can be used to calm and focus the mind. Yoga is also a spiritual practise to focus the mind and body. They are elements of several world religions, not merely passing fads for privileged white people. Not as a way of bilking money out of gullible people who want to keep up appearances.

Activist Self Care and Community

Wanting to heal the world is sometimes an extension of wanting to heal ourselves.

We see the injustice and suffering around us and do what we can in our own forms of activism, and can grow despondent when constantly surrounding ourselves with images and facts of this brokenness in the world, growing even more despondent when our efforts don't appear to bear much fruit (at least not immediately, or at first glance).

Brokenness in the world can manifest as brokenness in ourselves.

We take to the streets with chants of, "Health care, child care, anything but warfare."

Self-care should be added to that list. Too many activists don't practise it, or enough.

There is a reason why depression and despair runs rampant in activist circles, and why it too often leads to tragedy. People who are passionate and creative can often lean towards depression and anxiety in the first place, and when you factor in the way that being a community organizer can consume one's life, emotions can be hard to deal with.

After the rally, when the placards are put away and the sound system is broken down, there is isolation. Maintaining a satisfying personal life is hard when you are being run in what seems like 15 different directions. Then there is the time necessary to spend working. It does not leave a lot of time to simply unwind, meditate, go to church, take a trip, or do whatever it takes to find balance.

Factor in personal problems (breakups, issues with parents), work problems, and a host of other day to day stressors, and the combination can be lethal.

I notice that many activists are spiritual - not necessarily religious, but have some sort of appreciation for something bigger than ourselves, something beyond the physical world. Working towards ideals of social justice is a way of putting that spirituality in action. But there has to be a way to put some of that energy that we send out into the world, back into ourselves.

It takes more than a warm bubble bath to soothe loneliness. And yes, even when you're surrounded by hundreds of like-minded, chanting peaceniks, you can still feel lonely. It takes more than watching a movie (or two; comedies of course) to erase thoughts that maybe what you're doing isn't going to mean a whole lot in the long run.

Healthy lifestyle choices, socializing (for non-activist purposes), and just doing things for ourselves takes time and effort - the bulk of which we usually reserve for our activism. But that is not where we make the biggest mistake.

Our biggest mistake is not reaching out to our comrades. We need to look after ourselves and each other. That is why it is called an activist "community." Pay attention to when you may not be feeling well, and for signs in others - which may often be subtle.

We won't be able to save the world if we can't save ourselves.

Eat, Pray, Love in Edmonton

I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. To summarize, without giving too much away, the book is a memoir of one year in the life of a woman who steps outside of her life and travels to three global locations where she learns a new language while finding pleasure in food, develops her spirituality despite doubt, and finds true love while continuing her spiritual journey.

This plan certainly worked for her and while I don't agree with all of her choices, has caused me to take inventory of my life. Going on a world tour is not practical for many of us, yet taking stock of our lives and finding new ways to develop is part of having an active, healthy life. So here are ways in which we can eat, pray, and love - right here in Edmonton.

EAT
I have this habit of "discovering" a certain kind of food and then trying it out at as many different restaurants as possible. The most recent example of this is pho, Vietnamese noodle soup. I'm addicted and have even picked up a few words of the language in the process. Slowly, I am moving onto banh mi (Vietnamese submarine sandwiches) as well as other kinds of ethnic delicacies. I sometimes feel like I travel the world with my mouth. Edmonton certainly has many wonderful restaurants from just about every culture: Indian, African, Latin American, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese ... the list goes on. Try something new and discover something about that culture and your own tastes. My site at Yelp offers reviews of hundreds of restaurants (and other local businesses) to give you just a sampling of what's out there.

PRAY
Even if you have not darkened the door of a church/temple/mosque/fill in the blank for decades, it is never too late to get in touch with your spiritual side. Even though I come from a Jewish family, I always find it fascinating to visit a house of worship of another religion. It teaches me about that faith and sometimes helps answer questions I have about my own. Years ago, I helped to plant a church that combines elements of two of the major Abrahamic faiths - it still meets in west Edmonton. That is kind of extreme (and a lot of work) but getting together to pray, share, and worship with a few others in a home is another way to build fellowship. I also tend to view prayer and meditation as a personal practise and thus I often do that in private, or find spiritual elation in such solo activities as biking and long walks/hiking in the river valley. That whole social justice thing I am into? You got it - it is all part of how I practise my faith in a practical way in the real world. What do you believe? Live it.

LOVE
While a torrid affair with a sexy Brazilian might be a pleasant fantasy, it is not realistic for most of us. Besides, that is only one kind of love. Expressions of kindness towards those closest to us (family, friends) and those who are the most vulnerable in society (children, seniors, the homeless, those at-risk of becoming homeless...). Volunteer with an organization like the Boys and Girls Club, Youth Emergency Shelter Society, The Mustard Seed, Hope Mission, and Edmonton's Food Bank - these are only a few of the worthwhile places that need volunteers. As far as love in the emotional/physical sense goes - when you are active and involved your passion shines through, and it makes for a very attractive package to those watching. Just get out there and be involved and the rest tends to fall into place.

As a side note, I began reading the book before the film came out - even before I knew there was going to be a film. I am honestly not sure if I want to see it. I find that movies are never as good as their books. But I probably will eventually. For now, I want to concentrate on living life and finding my direction.

UN International Day of Peace

Yesterday was the UN International Day of Peace. It was marked in Edmonton with a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall. A couple of new Canadians spoke about what life was like in the war-torn countries from which they came. I sang a song I often sing at peace-related events, called "I Only Ask of God." It's not a religious song as such, but a prayer to God for peace and human rights. It is a folk song from Argentina, and I try to throw in a verse in Spanish at the end (I sing a very literal English translation). God can mean so many different things to different people, and even though we may not agree on who He is, and I am glad to bring Him with me to these events.