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I’m exhausted. Joy feels impossible to muster up. Spring feels like it will never come. And Lent begins this week.
It’s probably a good space for Lent – I mean I’d rather give things up when everything is hard rather than when there is sun and camping to be done. But I also don’t want to. If that sounds a little whiny, it’s because it is.
A few years ago, I gave up going to church for Lent. To be honest, I haven’t really returned.
Read MoreIf you’ve studied with 40 Orchards, you have likely heard us say that the Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, which means “The Narrow Place.” When studying a passage that references Egypt, there’s an invitation for us to ask ourselves,
Where is life narrow?
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat was reflecting on a teaching of Me'or Eynayim’s about Mitzrayim and she wrote the following:
Read MoreDear Brooke,
Here you are, at the end of your 2021 Cohort Hey experience. When you began this journey, you wrote yourself a letter to read at the end of the cohort and wondered if it would feel bittersweet, hopeful that you would feel satisfied by what you have learned and how you have grown. You shared that you were hopeful to connect more deeply with God, with His story, with others, and with who you were created to be.
Read MoreWe sent our next Perspectives teacher, Pang Moua, the following question: Narratives of the human experience invite us to find ourselves somewhere in the story. When thinking about Scripture, where are you in the story right now?
Here’s how she responded:
What kind of ancestor do I want to be?
This is a question on the forefront of my mind. A large part of the reason being that my Hmong heritage values eldership especially through their words and deeds. As a little girl, much of history about the great grandmothers and grandfathers were told through stories. This was our way of honoring and remembering Hmong elders.
Read MoreI’ve done Scripture Circle studies for a few years now. With the pandemic, I considered waiting *another* year to participate in the cohort, knowing we would do at least some of our year virtually.
I’m so glad I didn’t wait.
Knowing that these faces would gather in my living room twice a month was a touch point, a hold-fast for this year.
Read MoreOver the last several years, most times we have led studies on Hannah or Ruth, the community would comment about how much they didn’t know about these women of the Bible. In many people’s religious experiences, the stories of women were not featured.
Though it had risen up in studies and had been simmering as an idea for a long time, once we said we were going to do a Daughters of the Torah Roots, we weren’t ready to choose the women.
How on earth would we narrow it down to 10 passages?
Read MoreWhat a year all of us have walked through!
This report contains a snapshot of a few things that have been happening at 40 Orchards, and how we've felt God with us. None of this could have happened without the support, participation, and spirit of the 40 Orchards community. We are so grateful for you.
Read MoreGoing to seminary has forced me to reflect on and wonder about many of the things I’ve believed over time. I’ve also had to face some of the fears that had been embedded in my faith. Mainly that I would lose my salvation, or be labeled a heretic, if I did or said the wrong thing—that I might be kicked out or shunned by my church community, like I’d seen happen to other people I loved.
That fear struck deep, because one thing I’ve wrestled with for most of my life is belonging.
But over the past five years, I’ve learned something that has changed me. It’s changed my faith. It’s changed my relationships. It’s changed my politics. It’s changed everything.
Want to know what it is?
Read MoreWhen you found out we spend a lot of time time studying the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) at 40 Orchards, you may have wondered:
Why?
You may feel about the Old Testament like many people do—that it’s filled with patriarchy and judgement and violence. You may experience it as a lot of language and names that aren’t relatable. You may wonder if those stories of creation have any basis in reality. Or, you may believe there’s more to be gained from Jesus and the New Testament.
But…what if there’s more there than meets the eye?
What if understanding the Torah could help us understand Jesus?
And what happens to our experience of a story if we skip the beginning?
Read MoreWe sent our next Perspectives teacher, Kiah Glenn, the following question: Narratives of the human experience invite us to find ourselves somewhere in the story. When thinking about Scripture, where are you in the story right now?
Here’s how she responded: “This question is interesting because I think that I am often in this place in regards to my relationship with AL-Mutakabir ( the Majestic). Muslims have one source of scripture, the Quran, but also utilize the Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet). In this instead of looking at the scripture I want to reflect on a Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh)…”
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