Who Told You That You Had To Fit?, with Chanequa Walker-Barnes
The Evolving Faith Podcast
Sarah Bessey
4.9 • 939 Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2022
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of The Evolving Faith podcast, we hear from Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes as she asks the question, “Who told you that you had to fit?” She discusses the exhaustion that comes with trying to make yourself fit in spaces where you feel like a square peg in a round hole. Describing her own personal experiences, Dr. Walker-Barnes tells us her story of needing to walk away from churches and systems for a season in order to remember who she is and how she experiences God. She encourages listeners to reclaim their own spiritual lineage, traditions, practices, and identities and reminds us that even when we don’t fit, we’re still tethered to God. Following Dr. Walker-Barnes's talk, Jeff and Sarah talk about their own stories of feeling like they didn’t belong and how their understanding of church and belonging have evolved and continue to evolve. Show Notes
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We are all looking for belonging. |
| 0:03.0 | Some of you are listening to this podcast because you've deconstructed your beliefs, |
| 0:07.0 | maybe you've endured some pain and trauma, |
| 0:10.0 | stood bewildered before a community that once felt so much like family. |
| 0:14.4 | Perhaps what you used to call home isn't really home anymore for one big reason or a thousand reasons. |
| 0:20.4 | Maybe you've landed somewhere completely different. Maybe like most of us you're still landing. |
| 0:25.6 | Many of us have found our way here to evolving faith because we are looking for healing spaces. |
| 0:31.6 | We are longing for fellow sojourners and needing room to exhale all of our questions and doubts. |
| 0:38.1 | We yearn to be more connected and less alone and we're reaching out for others who feel the same to know that it's not just us out here, |
| 0:46.3 | to know that it's possible to resurrect and reimagine, even maybe rebuild. |
| 0:52.2 | So this is why we exist to cultivate hope and love in that wilderness. |
| 0:55.8 | We know we're not alone and neither are you and we are so ready to welcome you to our little |
| 1:00.8 | outpost so that you can rest, laugh, grieve, create hope, and know that |
| 1:07.7 | you are loved through and through. |
| 1:10.6 | You're invited to join us, a bunch of folks from all over the world who are making our own beautiful, diverse and messy table in the wilderness. |
| 1:18.0 | Tickets are now on sale for Evolving Faith 2023. |
| 1:22.0 | We're gathering both online and in person this year on October 14th and 15th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. |
| 1:29.0 | We're so excited to welcome all of you and speakers such as Krista Tippett, Dante Stewart, |
| 1:34.3 | Nautia Bolts Weber, Dr. Will Gaffney, Barbara Brown Taylor, and so, so many more. |
| 1:40.3 | I would absolutely love to see you in Minneapolis or online for that sacred weekend and I hope that you will find belonging in this little Motley crew too. |
| 1:48.0 | You know, bring a friend or 10, you can come by yourself, you'll probably make a new friend there. You're not just welcome, you're wanted. |
| 1:55.5 | So head over to evolving faith.com for more information and to register today. We may have left the church, but we have not abandoned it. You see, our journeys may require |
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