Reflecting Listening to a New Year

A year ago (January 9th, 2024), we began 2024 by inviting our readership to start the year slowly (which we may very well end up re-posting at the start of each new year):

Instead of rushing headlong into all that 2025 will bring, begin by reflectively listening – to the Spirit of God, to your neighbors in your community, and to what society as a whole is saying in this cultural moment. This sort of listening requires patience, a slower pace, and the resilience to move outside of the cultural systems of production and consumption that undergird so much of Western capitalism.

Ruth Haley Barton once remarked, “You’d be amazed at what your soul wants to say to God.” Creating quiet listening space to get on the balcony of our lives – and to truly see what God is unfolding in our midst – this is the invitation of a new year. What if you began this new year – 2025 – in the same responsive manner, listening first to God and then stepping into all this year will hold?

To do so, we have curated a selection of pieces below written throughout 2024 by our Leading Voices. Additional pieces will be featured in subsequent posts.

We invite you to dive into their musings on formation, justice, and mission as a means of aligning your heart with God’s heart once again.

~Missio Alliance

Listening to Black Voices Experiencing Oppression || by Dennis Edwards (First published April 24th, 2024)

Hierarchy: A Word Christian Leaders Can Confuse with the Dark and Love to Hate || MaryKate Morse (First published March 16th, 2024)

The Reign of Christ the King (A Sermon Feast) || Andrew Arndt (First published November 28th, 2024)

The Latino Encanto: Gifts for the Church || Lisa Rodriguez-Watson & Gaby Viesca (Originally published September 16th, 2024 – Missio Alliance’s first article published in both English and Spanish!)

El Encanto Latino: Un Regalo Para La Iglesia || Lisa Rodriguez-Watson & Gaby Viesca (Originally published September 16th, 2024 – Missio Alliance’s first article published in both Spanish and English!)

Unexpected Disaster (The Broad Path) || Rich Villodas (First published July 16th, 2024)

Dismantling Patriarchy to Recover the Blessed Alliance || Carolyn Custis James (First published May 21st, 2024)

Tired of Feeling Guilty for Feeling Tired || Mandy Smith (First published January 11th, 2024)

Rise Above: Why Politics Matter, But Not As Much As Your Soul || Derek Vreeland (First published November 4th, 2024)

“The all-encompassing nature of political campaigns does damage to our souls. We need to resolve to resist the rhetoric, blame shifting, and fear-mongering that goes on during political elections. We need to learn the more excellent way of love. We need to rise above.” (Derek Vreeland)

I Need A Good Shout! || Natasha Sistrunk Robinson (First published February 29th, 2024)

“What I learned in the Black church was a discipleship of worship practices that included the whole person, a whole body dedication and devotion to the Lord. We need a humility to learn from those in different racial, ethnic, or immigrant communities, our brothers and sisters from a different social or economic class or the global church who are not afraid to offer up to God an undignified praise, those who worship God with boldness for who God is, and have been spiritually shaped through lament and suffering, yet persist in their hope and joy.” (Natasha Sistrunk Robinson)

Two of our Leading Voices, Kyuboem Lee and Juliet Liu, published pieces for us in 2023 that are highly worth revisiting as well.

~CK