Meet Ben: Changemaker, Leader, Saint Paul Alum

Ben Boswell is a dynamic preacher, passionate pastor, thoughtful author, dedicated educator, and inspirational social justice leader who has courageously led anti-racist spiritual formation work for people racialized as white and white-dominant organizations. His journey to this transformative work includes service as a U.S. Army Officer and academic excellence at Campbell University (B.A., cum laude), Duke Divinity School (M.Div., magna cum laude), and right here at �ԹϺ�����, where he earned his D.Min. with distinction.

Throughout his meaningful 20-year ministry career, Ben has touched countless lives as Senior Pastor of three different congregations and as an active interfaith community leader. For nine years, he served as the Senior Minister of Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC, where his leadership inspired deep community engagement.

We couldn’t be prouder of how Ben has put his Saint Paul education into action! During his doctoral studies with us, he developed “Confronting Whiteness,” a groundbreaking nine-week spiritual formation course for anti-racism work. Following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, Ben began offering this transformative program to his community. What started as a local initiative has blossomed beautifully – today, more than 1,000 people across 15 states and three countries have participated in the program! The work has grown into an annual conference drawing over 250 attendees and nurtures a community of more than 700 people committed to becoming anti-racist in their spheres of influence.

Ben has also shared his wisdom through two essential books: For the Facing of this Hour: Preaching that Resists White Christian Nationalism (2022) and Confronting Whiteness: A Spiritual Journey of Reflection, Conversation, and Transformation (2022).

In 2021, at just 40 years old, Ben received Charlotte’s prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Medallion – the city’s highest honor for those promoting racial equality, social justice, and community service. Through it all, Ben’s most significant source of pride is being a father to his wonderful 15-year-old daughter.

The Distinguished Graduate Award: Celebrating Excellence

Each year at Commencement, we honor one outstanding alum who embodies Saint Paul’s mission and values through their ministry. Recipients like Ben live out our commitment to being centered in Christ. They demonstrate the power of intentional relationships and formation for innovative ministry through rigorous academic life, deep exploration of Scripture and tradition, and diverse, contextual experience.

Our Distinguished Graduates, like Ben, bring to life our core values by being:

• Christ-centered, prophetic, and evangelistic
• Formed in justice, integrity, and faithful experience
• Contextual, diverse, relevant, and inclusive
• Committed to both intellectual excellence and faithful practice
• Builders of community in challenging contemporary contexts
• Champions for peace and justice through theological dialogue
• Innovators using multiple approaches to ministry

Celebrate With Us!

We invite you to join us for Commencement on Friday, May 16, at 11:00 AM CT. You can participate online via or join us at our Kansas or Oklahoma campus. Together, we’ll celebrate our Class of 2025, enjoy an inspiring message from keynote speaker Bishop Laura Merrill, and honor Ben with his much-deserved Distinguished Graduate Award.

To RSVP for Commencement and explore other Commencement Week activities, please visit /commencement/.

We hope to see you there as we celebrate Ben’s remarkable achievements and the positive difference he continues to make in our world!

Rev. Shahan’s responsibilities will include strengthening relationships with donors, alums, and friends of �ԹϺ����� throughout Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma Annual Conference and the Oklahoma Indian Mission Conference of the United Methodist Church. Additionally, Rev. Shahan will assist in cultivating and deepening relationships with Oklahoma City University, where the seminary’s Oklahoma Campus is located. One of his key initiatives will be establishing a “Friends of Saint Paul” organization, which will convene two to three times yearly to support the seminary’s mission and community.

Adam Shahan brings a wealth of experience and passion to this role. He serves as the Senior Minister of Wesley United Methodist Church OKC and is an adjunct instructor in the Wimberly School of Religion at Oklahoma City University. His extensive involvement in the church community includes his roles as the Registrar for the Central District Committee on Ordained Ministry and Chairperson of the Conference New Faith Communities Ministry Team (NFC). Shahan’s deep connections within the region and his dedication to theological education make him an asset to �ԹϺ�����.

In addition to his ministry roles, Rev. Shahan is pursuing his Doctor of Ministry at �ԹϺ�����. He is married to Aly Shahan, Director of University Church Relations and Religious Life at Oklahoma City University. Together, they have two children.

�ԹϺ����� has prepared leaders for ministry at its Oklahoma Campus since 2008. Students at the Oklahoma Campus benefit from access to the resources of a vibrant university and the supportive environment of a close-knit seminary community. In collaboration with Oklahoma City University, Saint Paul also offers a Three Plus Three Accelerated Degree Program, enabling students to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in just six years.

For more information about �ԹϺ����� and its programs, please schedule a Campus Tour or visit spst.edu.

With a blend of emotions, we announce that our esteemed alumna, Rev. Dr. Tiffany Nagel Monroe ’12, is transitioning from her role as the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Campus and Associate Director of Contextual Field Education at �ԹϺ�����. Dr. Nagel Monroe will embark on a new ministry path within the Oklahoma Conference, assuming the role of Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church of Edmond, effective July 1.

In bidding farewell to Dr. Nagel Monroe, we reflect on her invaluable contributions to our community and her unwavering commitment to serving God’s people. President Jay Simmons aptly expresses, “While all of us are saddened by Tiffany Nagel Monroe’s departure from Saint Paul, we celebrate her decision to return to the pulpit and serve the United Methodist Church in Oklahoma. Oklahomans will benefit from one of the most dynamic church leaders in the state leading a vital community of faith. Tiffany’s leadership offers one more example of a Saint Paul alum pursuing innovative, creative ministry.”

Dr. Nagel Monroe herself shares, “Moments in ministry, like this one, are often bittersweet. The bitter is in the leaving; the sweet is in the following of God to the next step on my journey.” She expresses deep gratitude to �ԹϺ����� for shaping her into the pastor, educator, and leader she is today, acknowledging the profound influence of faculty, staff, trustees, and fellow alums. Despite the unexpected turn of events, she embraces the call of the Holy Spirit and eagerly anticipates continuing to serve God’s people wherever her path leads.

Though Dr. Nagel Monroe may be passing the baton of leadership, her unwavering support for �ԹϺ����� remains steadfast. She assures us of her enthusiastic encouragement as we press onward in our mission to impact the Kin-dom of God. As she answers this new calling, Dr. Nagel Monroe affirms, “Saint Paul really is where Theology Comes Alive. Go Theologians!”

Let us join together in expressing our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Nagel Monroe for her dedication and service to �ԹϺ�����. While we bid her farewell in her current capacity at the end of the semester, we eagerly anticipate the great things she will accomplish in her new ministry role and look forward to her frequent visits to campus. Please join us in wishing her every success and blessing on her journey.

Be well,

Jay Keith Simmons, Ph.D.
President
�ԹϺ�����

/ˈ�貹�ձ�ˌ��ī�Ի�ə��/

Noun.��

A person who goes ahead and discovers or shows others a path or way.

The definition is simple enough, but the work is complex.�� Pathfinding requires listening, connecting, and discerning skills and is not a job one does but instead is a gift one has.��

Rev. Shannon Hancock’s title is Director of �ԹϺ����� and Communications, but for Saint Paul, she is more than a recruiter and conveyer of information; she is a pathfinder. She is an ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. She is the founder of the non-profit organization, The iMatter Experience, and an alumna of �ԹϺ����� (’10).

Rev. Hancock’s experiences at Saint Paul have been instrumental in her ability to build relationships, connect with potential students, and challenge them to explore their call. She can attest to the academic and spiritual shaping she received and is not shy about relaying her own experiences.

Her interactions with those seeking are genuine. If you are fortunate enough to see her work a recruiting event, her energy is amped and lends itself to both drawing in a crowd and connecting with each person. Very few leave her table without a new idea to ponder or sharper clarity.

Beyond her seminary work, Rev. Hancock finds some of her happiest moments when loving and inspiring youth to be their best selves. She has translated this call and joy into a thriving organization where girls are able to interact regularly with caring, supportive adults in safe spaces where “direction, not directives” is nourished.

The iMatter Experience offers a two-day themed experience where youth and their parent or guardians gather to share, explore, and discover together. This experience is enhanced by follow-up sessions aimed to “empower girls to transform the world.”

The theme for The iMatter Experience this year is Raise Your Voice: Learning the Power of Advocacy! Situated in a time of unrest in our country and communities, The iMatter Experience seeks to educate girls about their voice. The organization has emphasized the importance of combining their voice with strategic action, as evidenced by their Raise Your Voice: Art as Protest follow-up event. Girls and moms had an opportunity to hear from local artist Vivian Wilson Bluett, one of six artists of the Black Lives Matter Murals in Kansas City.

Bluett shared with the families the process and symbolism involved in creating the mural, as well as her personal path to becoming an artist. She stated, “When we don’t see what’s possible for us, we don’t think that far… I never even imagined art as a career as a kid because I never saw it. When you see people like you doing things, it allows your imagination to go that much further! Then you say, ‘I can do that!’ The goal is to further and further and further.” Girls and families present that day certainly took it further by creating a collective Raise Your Voice mural made on individual canvases.

Through this partnership, The iMatter Experience created another invaluable experience for girls to explore and discover a new path toward self-discovery.

Rev. Hancock’s gift of pathfinding means she spends her professional and personal time illuminating the journey for others. Her length of time journeying with individuals may vary, but her investment in caring for all is evident.

Thanks be to God for her willingness to share her gift at �ԹϺ����� and beyond.

Learn more about The iMatter Experience at

Born in the Cherokee Nation, Rev. Dr. Glory-Neal was the first Native American woman to be received into full connection as an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church.�� She became the first Native American District Superintendent in 1992.�� Rev. Dr. Glory-Neal graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oklahoma City University in 1984. She continued her education by earning her Master of Divinity from �ԹϺ����� in 1988.

The Distinguished Graduate Award is presented annually at �ԹϺ�����. Due to COVID constraints, Rev. Dr. Glory-Neal was recently presented her award at an intimate, socially distanced gathering at the Oklahoma Conference UMC offices in Oklahoma City.�� A video tribute honoring her years of service in the church and community can be found online: .

“The Rev. Dr. Glory-Neal served God faithfully in ministry as an ordained elder and as District Superintendent—the first Native American woman to do both. Generations of people in ministry are the recipients of her faithful and trailblazing work.�� It is truly our privilege to have this opportunity to honor her,” says Dr. Anne C. Walker, Saint Paul Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Executive Director of the Oklahoma Campus.

�ԹϺ����� is a seminary of the United Methodist Church with one mission in two locations. The Oklahoma campus thrives in collaboration with Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma City, and in partnership with the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, the Kansas Campus serves the Greater Kansas City Metro Area. Graduates leave with tools and first-hand experience necessary to meet the needs of ministry in a changing world. The seminary offers a Certificate in Theological Formation, Master of Arts (Theological Studies), Master of Arts in Christian Ministry, Master of Divinity, and Doctor of Ministry. Learn more at www.spst.edu.

Two Saint Paul graduates shared their experiences with chaplaincy in the time of COVID-19. Rev. Emily L. Stirewalt (M. Div., 2011), an Elder in the UMC Missouri Annual Conference and whose appointment with her local church ended in June, will begin a residency in the clinical pastoral education (CPE) program at Saint Luke’s Hospital this fall.�� Kelli Hansen (M.Div., 2016), who received her Spiritual Directors Certification through the Mount St. Scholastica Souljouners program just months after graduating from Saint Paul, is a chaplain at Truman Medical Center at Hospital Hill in Kansas City. She began her CPE at Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City in 2016 and will complete more than 2000 hours of post-CPE experience as part of her certification. She will be ordained in the UCC in September 2020.

Although their path to and experience in full-time chaplaincy differs, both alumni share a common purpose of the ministry they are doing.�� They both understand the importance of meeting people in a particular moment, and regardless of the physical and emotional space between them, forging a connection to help see the Spirit’s dwelling among them and receive the gifts of hope and love.�� Chaplain Hansen is very clear that she does not “create a sacred space—I invite another person to become aware or mindful that the Holy is already there.”�� She uses the story of Ruth to help illustrate her work. “I invite them to remember times and places where they can be in touch with their own sense of the Holy.�� I offer comfort—a tangible version of the hands and feet of God when someone feels so alone in an institution where they are sick, hurt, scared, and unsure what is happening or what will happen next.�� I offer advocacy, when appropriate, for someone who may not have the courage to speak their voice or doesn’t know they have the right to do so.�� When Ruth tells Naomi she will go with her through anything, that is a significant way I see the role of chaplain.�� There is nothing (short of someone saying I do not want your presence) that I won’t accompany someone through.”

Rev. Stirewalt echoed her colleague’s description and offered that “you are meeting the divinity in the humanity” and that for her, even when those needing help are not present, you feel the Spirit move in clinical staff meetings or when you are alone charting visits.�� She offered a story to illustrate her perspective. “During my first CPE extended unit, I was surprised to be included on the medical team for patients. Nurses and social workers asked me questions and valued my insights. The most striking example was when a doctor asked me if she made the right decision to put an ethics consultation in on a particularly heartbreaking case. She felt as though the patient’s parents were not offering the best care possible to their child. I reassured her decision. She thanked me. I will never forget that patient, the parents, or the doctor. Being included in that small way had a profound effect on me. I believe that is because I saw myself participating in Kin-dom work. I have always understood the reign of God to be a time when all God’s children will be valued fully, a space where all will be free from harm. The doctor was seeking to follow her vow ‘to do no harm.’ I was following mine as well.”

Both alumni shared thoughts on how chaplaincy has changed because of COVID-19. As Chaplain Hansen described it, chaplains “tangibly show up to remind the patient, the staff, and family, that each of these persons matters and has worth.” Rev. Stirewalt’s experience is similar: “The hallways of the hospital, the patient’s rooms, even the Spiritual Wellness office at Saint Luke’s all felt sacred to me during the work of chaplaincy.” Social distancing makes showing up “tangibly” a challenge and requires sacred space that transcends the physical – the rooms and hallways. For some time, all in-person visits were shut down. Even as they have begun to open up, Chaplain Hansen reminds us that phone visits can be “more fruitful that one may imagine” due to the intention to honor sacred space virtually. This environment can “offer a sense of freedom to share deep conversation—perhaps due to less fear of judgment.”��However, she notes, social distancing can prevent the element of touch, especially during times of prayer, which can be very healing.�� Special attention to proper hygiene is essential where an offer of touch is appropriate.��

Rev. Stirewalt stresses how the “pandemic has made chaplaincy more relevant than ever before. Chaplains are often the ones who witnessed people taking their last breaths and then told their families that they did not die alone. Our work matters.”��

Indeed, it does.��

One’s narrative identity

��Acts Ch., 8:27-37 Ethiopian Eunuch

Recently I read about a concept called narrative identity as it was described by Dan McAdams, Personality Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University. ��McAdam’s premise is that we use autobiographical narrative to find meaning using our own lived history.�� Throughout our lives we are building and changing our narrative identity.

Our spiritual lives are a big part of meaning making in our narrative identity. It matters if we relate to a God who interacts in human history or a Divine essence that is part of all that is. These things shape our narrative identity to make meaning in our lives.�� For Christians, narrative identity is also shaped by the intersection of one’s autobiographical narrative with the narrative of scripture. We may be grasped by metaphor, or by personal and collective theological narratives in scripture that evoke new meaning.�� Let’s see how this went for the Ethiopian Eunuch.

Philip, sent by an angel to leave Jerusalem and head toward Gaza, encounters the Ethiopian eunuch. After the scripture of Isaiah was interpreted by Philip, “telling him the good news of Jesus” Acts 8:35b, the eunuch asks a question. The answer to this question rewrites the eunuch’s narrative identity about who he is in the world.

The eunuch, in official service to royalty, working in close proximity to the queen was made sterile to insure that the royal bloodline not be diluted.�� Because the eunuch’s sexual status defined limitations, as Hebrew scripture outlines for many, the eunuch was compelled to ask of Philip when water was seen by the side of the road. “What is there to prevent me from being baptized?” Acts 8: 37.�� The eunuch was defined spiritually by limitations; entrance was often denied in Jewish tradition.�� It follows that the eunuch would question if entrance to faith in Jesus though baptism would be allowed. From limitation to full inclusion must have been written on the heart of a new narrative identity for the eunuch!�� It is indeed a shift in narrative identity to view experience from the center of the room rather than from the margins.

The captivating part of the passage that intersects my autobiographical narrative is that question, “What is there to prevent me…?” As clergy, and lesbian in a denomination which does not yet practice full inclusion, my narrative identity regarding call to ministry was being challenged by limitation. ��Ultimately, this limitation led to release of clergy credentials and a long period of feeling set aside from ministry.�� Connecting with Church Within A Church Movement (CWACM) finding there a spiritual community, reset the trajectory of ministry for me.�� “What is there to prevent me”, was answered by full inclusion. These days, as Clergy of CWACM my narrative identity as one called to ministry has found place. ��As leader of the Extraordinary Ordination Work Area I communicate with persons all over the United States who grapple with the eunuch’s question, “what is there to prevent me?”

Where has your own Narrative identity intersected with the narrative stories in scripture? How do you impart the Biblical narrative to those asking the question,” what is there to prevent me?”�� For many on the margins are waiting to hear good news of full inclusion.

(For more information on CWACM go to )

As I sat across from Rev. Dr. Lois Glory-Neal listening to her story, her earrings caught my eye. They were stunning Native American hand-beaded artistry in the shape of a cross. The colors were vibrant orange, red, yellow, and blue, and the chevron pattern sharp. Each bead had been meticulously placed to make it almost appear to be a solid piece. I could not think of a better metaphor for her life. The tradition of her Cherokee heritage forming the heart of Christianity was a perfect blend of her love of tribe and God and harkened to her service to Native populations and the church.

The first part of the interview was detailing life as a child, her role of mother to seven children and her partnership with her husband. The second part: her answer to her own call. She lived with her mother and grandparents while her dad served in the army for forty-three years and spent significant time away. Her grandfather, Joe Kingfisher, was a Baptist preacher and baptized her in the Illinois River at age twelve. She believes that she heard the whisper of her call in those waters but did not know the full details of what her ministry would look like.

She married her husband Oliver Neal, a native Chickasaw, who at the prompting of Bishop Angie Smith, helped organize and pastor the OIMC Mary Lee Clark Church in Oklahoma City. They served 12 churches in Oklahoma, including the Boiling Springs Chickasaw camp where they lived and served, before moving to Arizona and serving on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation for four years. In 1975, Bishop Charles Golden asked Rev. Neal to consider planting a Native American Church in Los Angeles, California.

Rev. Neal describes her time in California with a sense of astonishment, pride, and gravity. “Oliver did the footwork for that church. Starting with a small space on 4th and Union in downtown LA and a few interested folks.” In two years, the church was fully chartered with over two-hundred members. Her voice was laced with a bit of awe as she detailed that this work was done while their five daughters were still quite young.

Rev. Neal spoke of her role during this time. She supported Oliver’s planting efforts, but her main focus was her children. “I guess this is unusual, but I did not know this until it was over. People would say, ‘You raised seven kids in the ministry…how?’” She said she did not know any different.

When her children were older and more self-sufficient, she realized, “I could tell you how to raise children in the ministry, but I did not know about the world and what was out there.” This is when she approached her husband about taking a course at the local community college. She felt the need to expand her understandings. Before she knew it, instead of being enrolled in a single course, she started with a full load as she could not choose what class to take. At the end of the semester, her husband and her children celebrated her perfect marks as they sat at the dinner table – the very table that used to be the center of her world.

Four years into their time in L.A., Oliver passed away suddenly. This not only ended her time in California, but it also marked the doorway for Rev. Neal’s ministry. She moved back to Oklahoma and felt the call to be ordained herself. This meant seeking her undergraduate degree as well as a Seminary education. At the age of 50, she enrolled in OCU with boldness and with the help of the OIMC and private donors. “I spent a lot of late nights until closing in the library. It was tough and I had to learn to study, new words, and my course work all at once.” She met the challenge and graduated in four years.

She showed the same grit during her time at Saint Paul; alongside her studies, she served in an OIMC church, Kahbeah Chapel, in Horton, Kansas. She graduated at the age of fifty-eight. However, this was the beginning of perhaps her biggest challenge – ordainment. She had no predecessor; she was the first Native American woman to receive full-membership as an Elder in the United Methodist Church. Her first appointment as Elder was on the Kickapoo/Potowatomi reservation. Four years later, she blazed another trail and became the first female Native American district superintendent.

Other roles she served in the church included lay leader, President of United Methodist Women at the local and district level, first Native American representative on the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, Native American speaker and liaison for the General Board of Global Ministries, and Mission Interpreter for the OIMC. Besides being Saint Paul’s 2020 Distinguished Graduate, she was also honored by OCU as the 1992 Distinguished Alumni and honored by the Native American Society.

As our time came to a close, Rev. Neal showed pictures and newspaper clippings about her ministry. I was taken back by one article that suggested she continued the ministry of her husband. Although the years spent with Rev. Oliver Neal influenced her journey, I believe she stepped and fully grew into her purpose and followed the path of her ministry. Thanks be to God for her boldness and witness.

We congratulate on winning the 2020 Distinguished Graduate Award.��

We will have lived through a global trauma and we will have done it communally. We will have stretched ourselves beyond our routines, our training, and our degrees. We will have reinvented ways of living, worshipping, leading, teaching, parenting, and shopping. We will innovate and create. We will engineer and pioneer. We will develop solutions and ideate new possibilities. We will push through to a new frontier.

We are in a shared time of transformation. This is a time that will reformat the way that we think and work and minister and behave. We have the opportunity to rise above and beyond what has separated and divided us, to stand in solidarity with the very fiber that connects us, our humanity.

This period of pandemic has given to us a rebirth of the human enterprise known as community. We have once again been reminded of our need for the other. Our survival depends on more than our own ability, but on the collaborative efforts of humanity as a whole. This pandemic, this disease, does not discriminate as humans do. This is a battle we share, and we must overcome together. Survival depends on it.

Workers who have gone unnoticed and under-appreciated for decades, are being seen as the heroes they are. We are not questioning the worthiness of those on the frontlines before we ravage our craft closets and fabric collections to sew medical masks to save their lives. We are not carrying out debates over who deserves to live and who does not, rather we are all seeking to ensure that as many individuals live through this pandemic as possible. Doctors and medical teams are not asking about the sins of those on respirators. No. We are standing together to fight against what threatens to take our lives.

Standing in solidarity is about recognizing what connects us and giving it a greater weight than what separates us. Solidarity isn’t about uniformity, but rather unity of spirit. We have always been called to solidarity with the neighbor and the stranger. We have always been called to put down our swords. We have always been called to seek the greater good of the other, to lay down our lives for our friends, to serve others more than we serve ourselves.

Recent lectionary texts have included powerful examples of Jesus entering into a world that was as varied in economic, racial, class, religious, cultural, and gender divides as ours is. Jesus not only enters into this world; he also steps into the individual stories of the woman at the well, the blind man, Lazarus. Some of these stories break open our hearts and we find our own story within them. Some of these stories highlight to us the very nature of Immanuel and the power of resurrection we hunger for today.

God with us. God standing with us. God grieving with us. God seeing with us. God loving with us. God serving with us. God creating with us. God healing with us. God leading us. God in solidarity with us. Always.

The same God that created you, created me. The same God that put air into Eve’s lungs, breathed into us. The same God that walks with the “thems” of this world, walks with the “us’s.” The same God that knows the sting of death, steals the sting of death.

To walk in solidarity at this time is to recognize not only our connective tissue as humanity but also our explicit need of the other for survival. Truly, we learn again what it means to hear of death, to ponder it, to consider it for those we love and those we’ll never meet. Maybe it is for us not to skirt away from the thought of death, but to learn from death itself a very mystery of living. The one certainty of this life, after all, is that we will all die. But death, where is your sting?

In the critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Tuesdays with Morrie, author Mitch Albom presents the notion like this:

“Amazing, I thought. I worked in the news business. I covered stories where people died. I interviewed grieving family members. I even attended the funerals. I never cried. Morrie, for the suffering of people half a world away, was weeping. Is this what comes at the end, I wondered? Maybe death is the great equalizer, the one big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another.”

Could it be that this very moment in time, as tragic and terrifying as it can be in its most raw form, be a wakeup call for this generation to recognize its very nature cannot be separated from the other?

Could it be, that if we pondered things like life and death and the divine creation of humanity, that we may find that the very thing we need the most is the thing we resist the most?

Could it be, that to really live, we must understand that we are truly equal in design and must then therefore take our feet off the necks of those we have oppressed? To live out a theology and apologetics that mean something?

Could it be that in recognizing we will all die, and that we will not all live, that we must pursue not only the abstract essence of life, but the very eternal nature God has so desired for us to know? And not just know it as some ethereal existence, but to be transformed by its very truth in the here and now?

Albom later tells the reader, “the truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”

In my ministry and in my personal life, it has been the very thought of death, fear of death, or experience of death that has somehow ripped the doors off the hinges of this life we are given. It’s the loving and losing, the giving and taking, the breaking and healing. It’s the ebb and flow, the push and pull, of the human heart desiring to make sense of this life. And then there, in a moment, we realize this life has so often become about the very things that derail us.

Solidarity with humanity means a compassion that extends beyond earthly barriers, economics, and possessions. Solidarity with humanity means being deliberately complicit in God’s life-giving work of justice and mercy to all of God’s people.
Solidarity with humanity means weeping for those lamenting across the globe. It means putting down our signs, our politics, our hatred, our verbal and physical violence. It means stepping aside for the other. It means standing in the gap, in front of the train of injustice. It means never valuing our life, our opinions, our traditions, our comforts, over the life of our neighbor.

Whether we stand in solidarity with medical professionals, lab technicians, scientists, community and religious leaders, or we stand in solidarity with the very people we are commonly found to quarrel with, we have picked up the mantel of life when we have chosen to stand for one another.

We choose the “vulnerability that loving entails,” as Albom writes it, when we choose the intentional act of solidarity with others, for the sake of others.

There are no manuals or guidebooks to tell any of us how to handle the global pandemic we are facing. We will turn to history, to science, to ancient religious texts, and to the words of our ancestors. We will turn to prayer, to service, to hope. We are not the experts here. We are, in solidarity with those around the world, the vulnerable human race that stands to lose it all if we do not stand with all.

Morrie, a sociology professor, gave us these words to savor then and now. “Be compassionate,” he said. “And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place.” Albom noted that Morrie took a breath and then added his mantra: “Love each other or die.”

To love now is to practice solidarity. To live now is to live solidarity with those like us, and those unlike us. Because in the end, we are all God’s children. In the end, we were all created from the same beautiful dirt. In the end, Lent teaches us that we return to the very soil that gave us life.

Jesus calls from the cross. “Forgive them.” Jesus calls from the garden. “Mary!” Jesus calls from the place of disbelief. “Peace be with you.” Jesus calls us still. Love each other and live.

��

Rev. Dr. Tiffany Nagel Monroe, MDiv 2012

Because I received a good Bible background from Charles Baughman and Lindsey Pherigo, I know that this is the end of our original source material for the Gospel of Mark.�� When I read this I try to understand the fear these women felt after hearing about this most wonderful miracle of Jesus.�� They knew Jesus was not in the tomb anymore.�� An angel had told them he was alive.�� He told them to tell others, but they were afraid to tell anyone.

Like the other disciples, these women had witnessed many of Jesus’ miracles.�� They had also heard his amazing teaching.�� But they were afraid to tell people the miracle they had just then witnessed.�� Why?

The miracle of Jesus’ resurrection is retold in churches every Easter Sunday and on other Sundays throughout the year.�� We are not afraid of what others might think when we proclaim this miracle.�� But before we are too hard on the women in our gospel passage, let’s look at their situation.

Women were not believed in Jesus’ day.�� I don’t need to cite passages.�� Any careful reading of the New Testament will reveal numerous examples.�� The men would most likely think the women were delusional.�� But they were not.�� They had really seen what they had seen.

How much are we like the women?�� Are we afraid to tell others what we are supposed to tell them?�� We aren’t afraid to tell people Jesus is alive.�� People in the pews believe that.�� Or, even if they don’t believe that they won’t fault us for preaching it.�� They know that is what they are supposed to believe.

But what about things that they don’t want to hear?�� In Matthew, we read about a family fleeing from their home country of Israel to escape the murderous intentions of a cruel king.�� We might be afraid to tell people what we think about this because it may seem too close to current events.�� We might shy away from passages about God’s love for all people because there are people whom many Christians do not think they are supposed to love.�� We might be afraid to bring up any issue addressed in the Bible that might make people question the way they live their lives.

What might happen if we are not afraid to proclaim the gospel message?�� Some people might claim we are expressing our point of view and not the gospel.�� The reality is that anything we preach is our interpretation of the gospel.�� However, if we are sincere in our work of getting the meaning we see out of the scripture rather than reading our beliefs into the scripture, we are preaching with the courage of our convictions.

We should never be afraid to tell people about God.�� We should never be afraid to share the story of Jesus.�� We should also not let our fears keep us from telling people what we think they need to hear.

What did the women do next?�� There are accounts in each of the other gospels and the Book of Acts.�� There also are two alternate endings to Mark that are recorded.�� I remember being taught in seminary that the original ending to Mark’s Gospel was lost, possibly destroyed because it likely made the men look bad as the preserved Gospel of Mark makes them look bad.

I think it is most likely that the women found courage and told the men.�� That is what is preserved in the writings that we have.�� Like the women, I hope we all find courage to proclaim the entire message God has sent us to proclaim.�� Amen.