When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

What is powerful to me about the encounter between Jesus and Bartimaeus? How does Love show up in this story? Who expresses Love and how to do they express it? Who gives? Who receives? What do they give and what do they receive? How have I advocated for myself or for another person? How am I feeling led to grow in my advocacy for myself or others?

Lenny is the author of United States of Grace: A Memoir of Homelessness, Addiction, Incarceration, and Hope and Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S. He is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. He is an instructor at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and doctoral student at the Graduate Theological Union (both in Berkeley, CA). He is the co-creator and co-host of the Blackberry Jams Podcast, which looks at the intersection of jam band culture (e.g., Phish) and Black liberation.

How are indigenous voices of today similar to Jesus’ voice? What is Camas Friends’ obligation to indigenous people for the unceded land we worship on? What steps might we take to begin to build relationships with indigenous people so we can learn from them and share in building a more just world? What does our relationship to the land where we worship each week look like? How would it be different if we were becoming indigenous?

This Sunday, folks from our meeting shared prepared and spontaneous messages of resilience and hope, in observation of World Quaker Day. This is Matt’s introduction and closing prayer (congregational vocal messages omitted, for the sake of privacy)…