Free to Be

08/21/2026

Check out this event hosted by our friends at Star of Bethlehem Lutheran Church

08/18/2026

When a friend is sharing about their "totally normal" interactions with someone who is "just trying to help," and your body knows the interaction to be neither normal nor helpful.

07/23/2026

It's EVERYWHERE! Bindw**d.

And some progress pic over days 1, 3, and 4.

And yes, day 4 happened between 8-1030pm ; headlamp, flashlight suspended from a window on the second floor, and phone flashlights 😄

07/22/2026

Bind w**d be damned.

07/04/2026

"I, Too" by Langston Hughes.

Read more poems: https://poets.org/poem/i-too

07/04/2026

Happy 250th America! 😎🎇🎆

Let's show up for the freedom to choose. ✌🏻❤️

https://nepasynod.org/the-freedom-to-choose/

07/03/2026

Lives are being changed.
Ways are being made.
Freedom is being found.

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06/21/2026

Thanks for having me this morning, Christ Lutheran Hellertown !

I shared the visit with the Dulcimer Boys.
Here's a clip of their prelude. The Spirit was moving.

To experience worship and the reflection I offered, head over to their page and check out the recording.

It is good to be together.

✌🏻💜 Lauren

06/20/2026

Summer nights together by the fire are ones we look forward to.

What's something that you look forward to in the summer months to increase connection with the ones you love?

✌🏻💜

06/17/2026

Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton,
Mrs. Cynthia Graham Hurd,
Mrs. Susie J. Jackson,
Mrs. Ethel Lee Lance,
Reverend DePayne Middleton-Doctor,
Reverend Clementa Pinckney,
Tywanza Kibwe Diop Sanders,
Reverend Daniel Lee Simmons, Sr.,
and Mrs. Myra Singleton Quarles Thompson.

After their murders on June 17, 2015, this Bible study group of Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston, South Carolina, became known as the Emanuel 9.

They welcomed a stranger into their group that night, and in doing so, served as disciples of Jesus, sharing abundant love and welcome through courage, compassion, and curiosity. These acts of love were met with evil and hatred.

These 9 were pastors, parents, educators, public servants, mentors, and friends. They were people deeply invested in their communities and committed to serving others.

Their martyrdom came through an act of racist violence rooted in white supremacist ideology. These acts of violence were not simply the action of one individual; they expose the prevalence of an enduring power of beliefs and systems that continue to divide people, deny human dignity, and place some lives at greater risk than others.

Remembering the Emmanuel 9 is more than an act of mourning. It is an invitation.

It is an invitation to examine our own assumptions,
to listen to experiences different from our own,
and to recognize how fear and prejudice distort our understanding of one another.

It is an invitation, to consider the possibility of courage, compassion, and community, even in the face of hatred.

It is an invitation to move beyond complacency and to engage in the hard work of building communities where every person is seen, valued, and treated with dignity.

May the love of all continue to gather us, heal us, and set us free from the evil and hatred in our communities, as we remember together the lives of the Emanuel 9.

Art by Philippe Lazaro
https://www.philippelazaro.com/stories/emanuel9