How do we grapple with the many interlocking uncertainties that surround us globally, nationally, and locally? How do we find space to step away from the anxious voices to be held by the calm places that can grant us rest?

Over four sessions, Sylvia Keesmaat will delve deeply into the wisdom of the biblical story to explore how those who lived in the shadow of empire in biblical times created communities of lament, resistance, and hope. Each session will weave together biblical texts in dialogue with a current crisis: environmental collapse, genocide, abusive political power, and the oppression of the marginalized.

Drawing also on the wisdom of Indigenous writers and Palestinian Christians, we will dare to dream of a community where lament helps to carry our grief, hope enables us to imagine a healing future, and resistance binds us together in love.

Theme Speaker:

Dr. Sylvia C. Keesmaat is a biblical scholar, activist, and farmer. She has taught at various seminaries in Canada and is the co-author, with Brian Walsh, of Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice and Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire. Through her online teaching platform, Bible Remixed (www.bibleremixed.ca), Sylvia offers online courses throughout the year that are open to all. Sylvia lives on an off-grid permaculture farm in the Kawartha Lakes on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabeg, with her husband, Brian Walsh, and a fluctuating number of people and animals. You can read more about Sylvia here: https://bibleremixed.ca/sylvia-keesmaat.