A Be Honest Conversation: "How are we called to act in the face of suffering and injustice?"

"Curating myself to be consumable is creating more chaos,"

Greetings, friends. Happy Sunday. I hope this message finds you well — at least in a place where you are safe and resourced enough to sit and watch a video on Substack or YouTube or wherever you find this. I want to share this morning about a recent awareness that has come into my consciousness, one that is shining a very big light on my experiences of this past year. It’s a personal sharing that I hope will be useful to others — understood by others — and maybe actually similar to what some of you are experiencing right now. As many of you know, who’ve been following me and my work, I am on a mission. I’ve been on a mission for some time, actively and creatively since around 2022, to bring about something new in the world. To consider this invitation of life anew on a personal and collective level — specifically inside this frame of understanding that we are here to be made new as individuals and as a world, that we are here to spiritually evolve. The frame of that evolution that I have been taught, the school of thought that I have been formed in, is the school of the new church that Immanuel Swedenborg declared was on its way, ready to descend into the world to bring about a new era of life on this planet. After 20 years of serving an institution dedicated to that mission — serving within the forms and frames that had been established — in 2022 I started to make the turn, to suggest we really need not be bound by these forms. It was time to think more deeply, more intentionally, more creatively and exuberantly about what this invitation is, and to really start to embody it. What was really happening for me was a new embodiment. I was beginning to embody the life of the new church in a simple way, a direct way, in a way that was really changing me — changing my reactions, my habits, my assumptions — helping me to shed so many of the beliefs and habits that had been perpetuating suffering throughout my life. So I have every confidence that this path is good, because it feels good to me, because it is creating good for me in my life, in my direct relationships, in my moment-to-moment experience of being human on the planet. And I am seeking to bring that goodness into community with others through what I call the Helen Keller Spiritual Life Collaborative [https://helenkellercollaborative.org] — through Be Love, Be Honest, Be Useful as a frame for inhabiting and understanding this new way of living that I’m starting to experience, and that I want to experience with others, for the joy of it, for the pleasure of it, for the love of it. So, the discovery I want to share this morning — after that long preamble, thank you for being patient with me; I like words and I maybe use more than are necessary, quite regularly — what has come into my awareness very strongly, in that way that makes you laugh... I wonder if you have that experience, when you really see something about yourself, it brings laughter, it brings bemusement. What I’ve seen is this: everything I’ve created this last year — this creation series, very particularly, that I’ve been taking part in, that I organized and brought leaders into and invited people to join through this Substack; these Be Honest conversations; these retreats; all these things that have come into creation through this new energy that is emerging in me — it’s all beautiful and good and I’m deeply grateful for all of it. And what I’m becoming aware of is that in the midst of all of this, it’s become obvious that it’s a little too much. That I’m being pulled in a lot of directions. That more has been created than I can really hold. Specifically what I’ve realized is that I have still been preoccupied with how what I am offering is being received by the people I feel a responsibility to serve. I have been preoccupied by this question: How am I being received? I’ve felt myself wondering about that — considering that question even over these last several minutes recording this video. There’s still a part of me preoccupied with: Am I speaking in a way that my fellow humans can understand and be served by? Am I recording in a way, publishing in a way, making offerings in a way that can be received by my fellow human beings? This question of how I am received has been locked in my consciousness since quite early on. This is an early formation, formed in me as a small child looking to survive my life — being tuned in to what other people around me need, how they need me to behave, so that I can be received, so that I can be heard and my needs can be met, and vice versa. This is baked into my personality structure. And I’m guessing it’s baked into a lot of our personality structures — perhaps it’s baked into yours. It’s funny to me, it’s humorous to me, to notice how that aspect of my personality — that I have been working on for years, long before 2022 — that aspect I thought, in 2022, I had really just let go of. I did not set off on this journey worrying too much about how I was going to be received. I declared a new church jubilee. I made some dramatic moves and shifts and really did not spend a whole lot of time being concerned about how others would respond. I felt deeply that God was calling me to be faithful — to be deeply faithful to my own experience, to what I was seeing, to what I was hearing, to what was possible — and to not temper that experience by trying to be palatable, trying to get along, or trying to fulfill the expectations of the people around me. So I thought I had abandoned this aspect of myself. I thought I had grown past it. And yet what I’ve discovered is that over this last year, it has still been at work — quite under the radar, in ways that were unconscious to me until now. My choice, very specifically, to produce this Worship is Life Substack, to put on a creation series that was entirely separate from this Substack, to invite a different group of humans to go on that journey — I think was really motivated by a fear in me, or an expectation I held, that I should be able to create things for people where they don’t have to listen to all the things I do. I wanted people to be able to join the creation series, join these offerings by other human beings, and not have to come and listen to what I have to say every Sunday. I felt the need to curate that — to curate what I do here versus what I do there, what’s part of the Helen Keller Spiritual Life Collaborative and what’s something I just do for myself here on the Substack. I’m really becoming aware of just all the ways that thinking about how I am being received was still playing into view. I’ve been very preoccupied with: Am I putting out too much content? Is it overwhelming people? Is it too inconsistent? Too limited? I’ve hosted gatherings specifically for people to talk about Emmanuel Swedenborg’s vision, and gatherings specifically to talk about Helen Keller’s vision, and made sure these experiences were really set apart from each other, differentiated — and in so doing, just kind of created all these different windows of experience, somewhat cordoned off from each other, to please others, to help other people feel safe, to invite people into this creative conversation in ways that would be comfortable to them — not really thinking much about what’s comfortable to me, not owning, not resting in, not claiming the way I want to move in the world. Instead I have continued to prioritize the comfort and the needs of others. And it’s okay. I trust that this process has been unfolding as it needs to. This certain mix of energies has needed to play out in the way that it did. And as I sit here today in my corner, recording this offering on May 31st — this threshold of a new month, the second half of this year, in the midst of day six of this creation journey — I am happy to be having this awareness and making this confession to you. Because it’s going to be so useful. I feel so ready, right now, over these next weeks, to clarify what forms really speak to me and how I can allow myself to bring all of my interests, all of my creative pursuits, into a unified way of being. Because the reality is, that’s what I’m ready for. That’s what Be Love, Be Honest, Be Useful is all about — this is a way of living, all the time, in every moment. I don’t care so much about creating curated spaces where we just do one thing or another thing. I want to meet people from this way of being, exactly as they are, and trust that God is doing something in that meeting. I don’t want to keep curating myself to be consumable. And I think the truth is, the efforts I’m making to do that are probably not working. They’re probably creating more chaos in the system. I get the sense that I’m working hard at considering this — feeling this fear about how I am being received — and it’s actually just creating interference and resistance, and making it harder for people to actually hear the message I have to share. Making it harder for me to bring the offering that I’m called to bring. And this, friends — this is what I’ve been saying all along. It’s the heart of the Swedenborgian tradition, and it’s exciting to see it playing out in my own life. This is what I believe the new heaven and new earth is calling us to: to step into the holy city, to step into a life of regeneration and peace and health and wellness on this planet with each other. This is what it requires. It requires that we are faithful to our particular calling, to our particular understanding of the divine call, the divine voice — not using our big brains to filter out the needs of all of the institutions and people around us and doing what’s required. That stance is not going to take us into the new earth. It is not going to bring us peace. It is not going to bring us fulfillment. It’s just not. As much as we may love those institutions, as much as we may love those people around us who we want to care for — if we are only making our choices based on what we perceive with our eyes and our ears and our brains to be needed, those expectations are limiting us. We are cutting ourselves off at our knees, because all that information is of the past, and it’s distorted through our survival needs and our conditioning. It’s just not going to cut it anymore. And it’s so clear to me now. And it’s a hard thing to let go of, because I want to be heard, I want to be understood. It seems reasonable to use my awareness to perceive what’s around me and to consider how I might fit in this larger design. It seems quite reasonable to look out and see where I’m needed, and then to fulfill that need. There’s wisdom in that, I’m sure. There has been wisdom in that. But there does come a time in our lives — and I think this time is coming for many of us, for most of us — where the structures that have been created, that are meant to hold us and care for us, are just not cutting it anymore. Something new is being called into being. And that newness has to come through us. It has to come through our embodied experience of life, our connection, our insight, our intuition, our knowingness that we receive from embodied living — from embodied living that is dedicated, attentive, devoted to the truth, to love. I would say that’s really all it takes. And if we’re committed to love, if we’re committed to the truth, then we will be given insight into how to be useful. And it will not be limited or defined by the usefulness that we can perceive and anticipate based on what we see and what we’ve been taught. It’s going to be a new kind of usefulness. It’s going to be a usefulness that flows naturally, that creates nurturance and wellness in ourselves as individuals, and that brings truth and creativity into the world in ways we can’t even anticipate — but it will be needed. I know it will be, in the very same way that the plants and the animals live what they live and do what they do and it is good and it is useful and it is needed. We need to live in that same kind of natural, loving, truth-guided way. So on May 31st, 2026, I offer this incredibly imperfect message, probably using too many words. I’m sure many people have turned the video off by now. Who knows who’s hearing it and if it’s coming through. And that’s not up to me to perfect or curate. That’s no longer my most important job. My most important job is to be faithful to the one who created and is creating me, to tend to this vessel that this creation is occurring through, and to lovingly tell and live the truth that I have been given to live. I don’t know where it will lead. I don’t know if the Swedenborgian community will receive me. I don’t know if I will be criticized or strung up. I don’t know if I will be supported. I haven’t known where this would go from the beginning — and it’s been a while now, and we’ve been going along, and resources have been showing up and people have been showing up. Just this week, there’ll be an article coming out in The Messenger [https://swedenborg.org/news-announcements/newsletter-the-messenger/], written by Becky Greenwood, about our recent retreat in April in Massachusetts. We had an incredible experience down in Bryn Athyn that we’ll be sharing about soon. This creation series [https://helenkellercollaborative.org/creation-series/] has happened and it’s been lovely, and we’re now taking part in these incubation sessions [https://helenkellercollaborative.org/event/incubation-session/2026-05-29/] — and it’s wonderful to see the things that are emerging. Really at the heart of a lot of what these incubating new church life conversations are surfacing is this reminder: just be faithful. Be faithful to yourself as a vessel of the divine. I feel continually committed to that, and confident that there’s nothing else I could do that could be more useful to others — by my own example and by my own beingness in the world, on this journey, growing, just like all of you. I’m grateful, and I’m hopeful that this message will begin to seep more deeply into my heart and soul and bring more and more useful creation for others. And that I will be empowered to release this old message — that it’s my work to make myself palatable to others, to figure out where I fit and then do what is needed to fit there — and that I’ll be more and more willing to just be myself, and trust that. Because all I want to do is to be with others who are willing to trust that in themselves. So how could that not be the work? All right. That’s the message. That’s the messy message for this morning. Thank you for listening. Thank you for staying with me in it. If you’ve watched all the way through, please leave a little note and let me know — it would mean a lot to know that you’re in this with me in some way. And thank you to all of you who have been with me in it. I have offered so many imperfect invitations so far, and I’m aware of that. And I trust that even in this maze of perfection and imperfection, goodness has been flowing, new life has been flowing. I can feel it. It has been flowing, and I can see it starting to take root in new ways. Perhaps it can only come through this imperfect mix of higher ideals, higher evolution, and all of this humanness that we are all negotiating — which is just part of the journey, part of the mix, part of the beautiful mix of being alive. I’m grateful to be alive with all of you, friends. Thank you for being on the journey. Have a blessed Sunday. Be well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit worshipislife.substack.com [https://worshipislife.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

It's good to appreciate the paths that got us here.

Greetings, friends. The message I want to bring today — the one I’m sitting with — is that it’s good to appreciate where we’ve been and all of the people and energy that has sustained us thus far. I’m out in one of my favorite little patches of woods near my house, and I’m appreciating the efforts of others that have created these pathways. Right behind me is a little stone bridge that somebody put together that helped me cross the little creek. All of these little paths that exist are because of the efforts of other beings like myself, and I’m grateful for that. Otherwise it would be hard to find my way into the woods. I had an experience a few weeks ago. My husband and I were walking out here and I encouraged us to go on one of the less traveled paths, and we ended up off the path and finding our way through some briar bushes. I ended up contracting some poison ivy and having a bit of an existential meltdown as we were making our way out, saying to him, “You know, this is why you don’t leave the beaten path — because you end up in the briar bushes.” And that’s often true. As someone forging a new kind of ministry in the world, I can relate. Forging the path is often very challenging. And really — I’d be curious about other people’s insights — I don’t know that any of us ever forge entirely our own path, right? We make our way along the paths others have created, and then we move in a slightly new direction, and that’s how the system of pathways expands and grows. Of course, this metaphor works in all kinds of areas of life, and especially, I think, in the way we form church and community. This last weekend I got to spend time with people in the Bryn Athyn community who are part of different pathways — different branches of this Swedenborgian New Church movement — that have been walking together in different ways. It was so enlivening to connect and to learn from them, from the pathways that they had created, and to come to this new intersection of community and life. There’s just so much to be grateful for in all of the ways that they have walked their paths and the ways that I’ve walked mine. I’m coming to see and sense how important it is to give thanks for that walking. This effort of mine to create a new kind of ministry — this “be love, be honest, be useful” effort — has been motivated by some dissatisfaction, by a need to tell the truth about challenges and hard, painful things that have occurred along these paths we’ve trod. There was a feeling that there wasn’t space within the form or the path that I was on to really name these things and tell the truth. And the further I walk this path, the more free I feel to name the challenges, name the hard things, name the limitations of the path I had been on. What’s really interesting is that the more I do that, the more appreciation actually starts to arise. In some ways, I have a sense that it’s hard to appreciate what we’ve experienced in our lives when there isn’t space to tell the whole truth about it — to also tell the things that were hard or painful, that we grieve. Once there’s space to really be honest, to flesh it out fully, then there’s space to also be in appreciation. I see that playing out in my experience of church and how I’ve been formed in church — that as I can name the things that haven’t gone well, I’m also coming into awareness of all of the beautiful things that have gone swimmingly well, things that empower me to be the person I am today. I also see that playing out in my understanding of my family. As I come to understand some of the ways that my early family experiences conditioned me to be codependent and hyper-vigilant of the emotions in my family, and a caretaker of others — as I’m able to tell the truth about that — I’m also remembering and appreciating all of the beautiful things I was formed in as a young child. Just the other day I was listening to some great music and dancing in my kitchen, and just having so much appreciation for all of the ways my parents showed me how to dance and how to have fun and how to take pleasure in life. Some of that had been suppressed for a little while when I wasn’t able to also share and feel and sense the difficult things. Because they’re all connected. They’re all one. It’s all our experience. There’s something so profound that can happen when we can just be honest about it. When we can be honest about it, we can appreciate the paths that have made our life possible. We can search out where maybe those paths have limited us, or given us a sense that there’s only one way to be. But we can also appreciate that they gave us the possibility to get to where we are. We’re not all starting from scratch. We carry the wisdom of our ancestors — in our familial lines, in our cultural lines, in our religious communities. There’s pain there, and there are gifts, and there’s wisdom, and all of it is rich terrain. If we block out one side of that equation, it just stifles life. It stifles and dampens and numbs possibilities. This last weekend down at the Lord’s New Church [https://www.thelordsnewchurch.org/united_states_the_lords_new_church.html] was a rich, creative time in community, and I could feel the energy moving in our midst in a palpable way — and I think others could feel it too. There’s a lot of aliveness in this human condition of ours. There’s aliveness that wants to be free. It wants to live, it wants to create, it wants to love, it wants to be in relationship. And it needs to be held — beheld. It needs us to be present to it. I think honesty is that path — to be present to that aliveness. What is that aliveness bringing? Because it’s probably bringing both creative new possibilities and healing. Healing that will potentially uncover pain that will be hard to see, but that will bring about the possibilities that are longing to emerge next. So let’s appreciate where we’ve been. Let’s appreciate all the paths that have been trod before us, and the path we find ourselves on. Maybe it’s the merging of many different paths. One of the themes of our retreat was the labyrinth. Maybe we’re walking a path that is taking us to our center, and yet it gets confusing and it wanders. Maybe we’re invited to walk off the path a little bit and even risk getting a little poison ivy, because God is calling us in a direction that will be good. The communities of people I was interacting with this weekend were from two other branches of the Swedenborgian church. We’re like the smallest church movement on the planet, and yet we have three different branches, three different denominational bodies, with different legal entities and processes and liturgies. And I didn’t show up in Bryn Athyn suggesting we should create a fourth. It feels to me like this moment in our history isn’t really calling for another break. We don’t have to walk off the path and reject the path we’ve come from — say, “You’re no longer in relationship to me, I’m going to go over this way and do everything I can to separate myself from you.” That’s an old way of thinking. We can go on different paths and still be in community. That would be really useful, because our paths might intersect again in the future, and we’re all walking the same earth. While we gathered together this weekend with these different paths and these different denominational bodies, I don’t even know that it was in any way divisive. Perhaps others had that experience, but I felt a deep unity with all the people that we connected to, and something moving in our midst that was very alive. I get the sense that there may be a new way to do this church thing — one that doesn’t require rejection, that doesn’t require us to abandon our history or the past. It just requires us to be a little softer, a little more open: to appreciate the paths that have brought us to where we are, to be honest about the ways we’ve been formed that we may be ready to release and let go of, and then from this place, from this point we’ve been brought to, take those next steps that feel right and feel good and feel alive and growing. So it’s a good moment, friends. I appreciate every single person who has stepped into this enterprise of being loving and being honest and seeing how we may be called to be useful. I’m very excited. Today begins a series of incubation sessions [https://helenkellercollaborative.org/event/incubation-session/2026-05-29/] that Alex and I are going to do from 11 to 1 on Fridays, now through June 19th — New Church Day — to just sit with each other and with anyone who wants to come and show up. To appreciate what new things have emerged in this effort of the Helen Keller Spiritual Life Collaborative [https://helenkellercollaborative.org], to appreciate what we’ve done together, to feel into that appreciation, and to name what we’ve experienced — both the good, and maybe the ways that we weren’t so good, or that we want to do differently — and to till the soil to see what may be longing to emerge next in our work. So if you’re listening to this video, if you’re on this journey with us, if you have a window on a Friday to join us, I welcome you to pop in. I’ll put the link in the description for this video. And if you can’t come on a Friday but you have some thoughts or appreciations to share, I encourage you to comment or email. You know how to find us. And in your own life, in your own walk, I invite you to be honest with the good and the bad — with where you are in life, what has brought you there, and what is calling you next. Many blessings, friends. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit worshipislife.substack.com [https://worshipislife.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Helen Keller: Becoming the Holy City Inside & Out

Ah what a beautiful weekend I am returning from at the Lord’s New Church in Bryn Athyn, PA where I got to speak about Helen, collaborate on a retreat with Deborah’s Tree and many others, and preach on Sunday morning. I got to share a lot about Be Love, Be Honest, Be Useful and I received so much and I am tired and grateful. I huge thank you to all the people who showed up to all the things, and if you didn’t get a chance to join you can listen in here to my Friday night talk about Helen Keller and how she became the holy city inside and out by being loving, honest and useful and how we might too ❤️ I’ve been invited back to put on another retreat next year in Bryn Athyn and I look forward to taking these offerings on the road many more places in the weeks and months and years ahead. If you’d like to collaborate on something in your community do get in touch or pop into one of our upcoming Incubation Sessions [https://helenkellercollaborative.org/event/incubation-session/2026-05-22/], Fridays from 11-1 pm on ZOOM May 22nd - June 19th. Summary Rev. Sage Cole’s talk explores the spiritual journey inspired by Helen Keller’s life and teachings. She emphasizes the importance of love, change, and community in spiritual growth. Rev. Cole reflects on Helen Keller’s transformation from a deaf-blind girl to a global advocate for various social causes, highlighting her commitment to love, regeneration, and interconnectedness. The talk encourages embracing change and finding stability in divine love, aligning with the vision of the new church. Sound Bites “Love is the foundation.” Rev. Cole emphasizes that understanding and embodying love is central to spiritual growth. “We are here to grow and change.” She highlights the importance of embracing change as a spiritual journey. “We live by each other.” The interconnectedness of humanity is crucial for personal and communal spiritual development. Timestamp Chapters 0:00 - Introduction to Rev. Sage Cole 1:41 - Helen Keller and the New Church 3:34 - Vision and Transformation 5:19 - Helen Keller’s 1928 Speech 8:13 - Helen Keller’s Early Life 10:14 - Spiritual Foundations 14:18 - Transformations and Growth 18:24 - Advocacy and Social Justice 24:37 - Embracing Change and Community 28:58 - Becoming the Holy City This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit worshipislife.substack.com [https://worshipislife.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Be Love: "I'm not afraid of being taught, in fact I love it."

Rev. Robert McCluskey holds a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy, with a focus on Greek philosophy, modern idealism, existentialism, and hermeneutics. He is a graduate of the Swedenborg School of Religion, and was ordained into the Swedenborgian Church of North America in 1984. He has pastored churches in Portland, ME and New York City, and served on the denomination’s Social Justice Committee. He also served for 18 years as representative to the National Council of Churches, with specific attention to the work of social justice and religious freedom. Until recently, he administered rites and sacraments at Wayfarers Chapel near Los Angeles. Summary Join Rev. Sage Cole and Rev. Robert McCluskey as they explore the spiritual journey through Swedenborgian theology, the influence of music and philosophy, and the role of church in personal and social transformation. Discover insights on faith, community, and the ongoing quest for truth. Keywords Swedenborgian, spiritual growth, church community, philosophy, music, social justice, faith journey, inner sense, divine love, religious transformation Key Topics * Swedenborgian theology and personal faith * The influence of music, especially the Grateful Dead, on spirituality * The importance of community and church as a space for growth * The concept of heaven on earth and divine presence in daily life * The challenges and opportunities of modern spiritual practice Key Frameworks * Inner sense as a spiritual tool * The treasure and vessel metaphor in spiritual growth * The both-and approach to truth and understanding Sound Bites * “I’m the first Swedenborgian you ever met.” * “I’m not afraid of being taught, in fact I love it.” * “People are the only real things in life.” * “Every new life is a world of potential.” Chapters 00:00 The Journey of Faith and Love 02:25 Philosophy, Music, and Spiritual Awakening 04:32 The Influence of Community and Creativity 07:12 Navigating Life’s Displacements 09:40 Understanding Providence and Suffering 12:04 Truth, Perspective, and Spiritual Growth 24:30 Finding Unity in Diversity 26:15 Exploring the Mind and Spiritual Psychology 27:21 The Role of Doctrine in Spiritual Growth 28:10 The Treasure Within the Church 29:24 The Proprium and Its Challenges 29:51 Heaven on Earth: A Realistic Perspective 31:11 Honoring the Human Experience 32:11 The Yearning for Realness in Community 33:13 Reflections on Ministry and Retirement 34:20 Addressing Social Justice and Church Issues 36:21 The Treasure of Swedenborgian Ideas 38:40 The Importance of Personal Growth 41:23 Emerging New Church Dynamics 43:34 Utilizing Technology for Spiritual Connection Our Theme Music is “I Love it,” by Luke Concannon www.lukeconcannon.com [http://www.lukeconcannon.com] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit worshipislife.substack.com [https://worshipislife.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

A Be Honest Conversation: Swedenborgian Anti-Racism Them & Now.

Today’s podcast is a recording of the Helen Keller Spiritual Life Collaborative’s second Live Streamed Be Honest Conversation, Swedenborgian Anti-Racism Then & Now featuring Sue Ditmire. The conversation was cosponsored by the Helen Keller Spiritual Life Collaborative [https://helenkellercollaborative.org/] and Swedenborgians In Action Against Racism [https://swedenborg.org/community/diversity-equity-inclusion/swedenborgians-in-action-against-racism/]. Sue Ditmire grew up in Loveland Ohio. In 1972, she found Kemper Road Center (a Swedenborgian Church) while looking for a church she could agree enough with to take her children to Sunday School. Like a lot of new Swedenborgians, Sue discovered that the theology was what she intuitively already believed. Over the years Sue has moved around a bit and each time been active in a local Swedenborgian Community, the Church of the Holy City in Wilmington DE, The Urbana Swedenborgian Church in Urbana, OH and more recently she has joined the New Church of Montgomery after retiring to Cincinnati, OH. Sue has been very active over the years at the denominational level of the Swedenborgian Church, attending Annual Conventions, serving as Secretary for the Board of Education, and taking part in the Support Unit organizational shift that the denomination underwent in the 90’s. Sue was also an enthusiastic supporter of the creation of Temenos Retreat Center in West Chester, PA and a part of the team that created, www.swedenborgiancommunity.org [http://www.swedenborgiancommunity.org], the denomination’s first online spiritual community, actually building the first version of the website. Over the years Sue has always had a strong interest in American History, researching and writing articles about New Jersey history and the history of the Swedenborgian Church. She is currently the Chairwoman of the Library and Documents committee of the Swedenborgian Church and an active member of SAAR (Swedenborgians in Action Against Racism). Combining her activism with her love of history Sue has been researching the historic black ministries within the Swedenborgian Church, and will be publishing her findings in June in a new book titled, Overlooked: Black Ministers in a White Denomination. Sue is currently working to form a non-profit organization, called Swedenborgian Heritage Center in Cincinnati, OH. The center will include a Swedenborgian Library available for research and reading. Join Rev. Sage Cole and researcher Sue Ditmire as they explore the rich history of Black leadership in the Swedenborgian Church, the impact of racism, and pathways toward greater inclusion and communication in faith communities. Discover inspiring stories, historical insights, and actionable ideas for fostering racial justice today. KeywordsBlack leadership, Swedenborgian Church, anti-racism, racial justice, church history, inclusion, communication, civil rights, faith communities Key Topics * History of Black leadership in the Swedenborgian Church * Impact of racism and segregation on faith communities * Strategies for communication and inclusion in religious settings Guest NameSue Ditmire Titles * Uncovering Hidden Histories of Black Leaders in the Swedenborgian Church * Pathways to Racial Justice in Faith Communities Sound Bites * “We have to root out racism and tell these stories.” * “Communication is the key to solving racism.” * “The holy city where all tribes come together.” Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Swedenborgian Anti-Racism 03:50 Personal Journeys and Historical Context 08:10 Helen Keller’s Advocacy and Influence 12:05 Researching Overlooked Black Ministers 16:10 The First Black Swedenborgian Church 20:26 Challenges and Dynamics in Black Ministry 24:53 Legacy and Future of Swedenborgian Anti-Racism 28:20 The Legacy of Black Churches 32:33 Challenges Faced by Black Congregations 36:30 The Role of Communication in Racism 42:35 Current State of Diversity in Denominations 48:17 Exploring Support and Recognition in Community 49:04 Addressing Racism Beyond Black and White 50:28 Barriers in Swedenborgian Tradition 52:14 Communication and Building Relationships 53:38 The Role of Community in Addressing Racism 54:45 Hope Amidst Challenges of Racism 55:44 The Importance of Inclusivity 57:15 Reflections on Rights and Community Engagement 58:20 The Impact of Economic Issues on Racism 59:01 The Vision of the New Church 01:00:06 Future Directions and Publishing Insights 01:03:11 Intentional Efforts for Racial Diversity 01:06:09 The Challenge of Unity in Diversity 01:07:40 Opportunities for Regeneration and Growth Our Theme Music is “I Love it,” by Luke Concannon www.lukeconcannon.com [http://www.lukeconcannon.com/] Join us for our upcoming Be Honest Live Streamed Conversation:LGBTQIA Identity: Love, Gender, Marriage & SexualityFeaturing Rev. Colin Amato, Tirah Keal & Alex GayheartCo-Sponsored by The Rainbow Church [https://helenkellercollaborative.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f3db0b765547975de40667cb&id=9b9ef3f54d&e=c5cf3cdbca] Register here! [https://helenkellercollaborative.org/event/lgbtqia-identity-love-gender-marriage-sexuality/] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit worshipislife.substack.com [https://worshipislife.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]