RE-CREATION
RESILIENCY
RESTORATION
WHAT TO EXPECT...
Here are some concepts that frame our approach to decolonized church...
Somatics
Church trauma is real and has impacted so many of us through colonial practices, and exclusionary tactics. At Park Avenue we seek to honor our bodies responses in the worship space, prioritizing lived experience & sensation. If you body is responding out of trauma, we encourage you to listen and we will too.
As a community we practice Community Resiliency Model to help us regulate our nervous systems.
Poetry
Mvskokee Poet Laureate Joy Harjo says, "It is poetry that holds the songs of becoming, of change, of dreaming."
Each week we worship and participate in a poetic intervention, an invitation to hear, non-linear poetic expression. An invitation to orient ourselves differently and to let ourselves be shaped again.
Not only is poetry one of the genres of the biblical text, poetry ignites our imagination and reaches for the unknown, the not yet.
Prayer
We acknowledge the way empire Christianity has used prayer against marginalized communities, like LGBTQIA people and people living with disabilities, so we use consent with prayer.
"With your consent I will pray for us..."
is a common phrase uttered in worship. We take seriously these words, knowing that God's presence comes only with consent.
Meditation
We exercise the ancient Christian tradition of Center Prayer. In each worship service we have a centering down practice, taking time and making space for listening to God. Watch here for a service all about this core practice of centering prayer.
It has been said many times, the heart of centering prayer is “consent”—consent to the presence and action of God in our lives, so again we emphasize this important principle.
Activism
We are a justice-minded group of co-conspirators who come together to grieve the injustice of the world and to ACT to make this world a better place.
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We take serious the call to resist the empires of oppression and seek nothing less than radical inclusion, justice, housing, healthcare and love for all.
Art-Making
Our teacher Toni Cade Bombara said, "The work of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible."
Art-making and imaginative creativity is an important method of meaning-making. In the tradition of theopoetics, that prioritizes experienced and embodied spiritual practice, PABC provides space for artistry and creative collaboration as an invitation to respond to God's call to us all.