From The Cathedral of All Souls:
Risk as a Spiritual Stance, with Dr. Donyelle McCray
In a time when many in the church are inclined to worry about the declining state of institutional life, Dr. Donyelle McCray calls the church to live into risk as a spiritual stance, living as people who embody risk as a disposition toward the world. Gleaning wisdom from black church traditions, she encourages us to imagine church as a fluid event rather than a settled institution.
Macedonian Ministry will be hosting an evening with Donyelle on Wednesday, February 17 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at The Cathedral of All Souls. Childcare will be available.
The evening will include a talk by Dr. McCray and time for discussion and questions in small groups. The discussion will be oriented toward life and leadership in communities of faith so you are encouraged to bring a group from your community to get the most out of the round table discussions.
Dr. Donyelle McCray is assistant professor homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. Her teaching and research centers on the symbiotic relationship between preaching and Christian spirituality.
A Bit of Background on Donyelle’s Presentation:
In her presentation at All Souls Cathedral Donyelle will draw on the life of Episcopal Priest, lawyer, and Civil Rights Activist Pauli Murray as she invites us to imagine the look, feel, and experience of a church that welcomes risk into the core of our shared journey. Her talk will also be informed by the work of writer and pacifist Evelyn Underhill.
About Pauli Murray, Dr. McCray writes this: “For every ounce of accomplishment, she had a gallon of spunk. She liked whiskey, cigarettes, and dogs — three of her dogs were Petie (female German Shepherd), Doc (so named after she got her doctorate) and Roy (a black lab). She named her car, a black Volkswagen, “Sojourner Truth.” She enjoyed traveling but did not like small airplanes. She was not content with dwelling on only one aspect of her identity but demanded that the world deal with all of who she was—asserting that she was not just a woman but a woman of color who was also over age 70 and short of stature and hard of hearing and left-handed—and all of it counted. She is not just a figurehead for the Civil Rights Movement, but one who also makes gift of chutzpa to the Christian spiritual tradition. I see her as a model of grit, pluck, and a term she uses of herself, ‘scrappiness.’ ”
In relation to Evelyn Underhill, Dr. McCray writes: ” ‘Real prayer begins with the plunge into the water.’ Evelyn Underhill makes this observation in a 1928 retreat and repeatedly affirms that risk is an essential component of healthy spirituality. She attributes much of the beauty of Christian life to the interplay of risk and trust and warns against an insistence on constant comfort. During our time together we will explore the role of risk in each of these women’s lives. What were the great risks in their life stories? Why did they see risk as so pivotal in the Christian life? How does risk-taking anchor our spiritual thriving today?”
We hope you will join us for a wonderful evening of exploration.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.