Christa and I are excited to begin 2017 with the Boston Faith & Justice Network.  We have been working as Co-Directors for more than two years now and feel like this will be the best year yet—which is saying something because last year was tremendous.   We had two great events—Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove came to speak in April, and this past November we had an inspiring and challenging panel on ethical consumption to lead us into the holiday season.  We also offered nearly a dozen workshops, partnering with the Episcopal Divinity School, the Criterion Institute and the Justice Conference to bring them to more people than ever before. We launched our new website and are thrilled with its renewed ability to connect our network with BFJN, its resources and its activities.

So what are we are up to in 2017? Glad you asked.

We are hitting the ground running!  We are most excited about our first event this year, but perhaps we shouldn’t grade the excitement because we are pretty stoked about everything, truth be told.

Okay, but this one is really good.

On January 21^st we are partnering with one of our favorite people who runs one of our favorite organizations (Common Cathedral) to offer a workshop to talk about what it means to be unhoused in Boston (this piece will come from those who are experiencing homelessness) and how we as people of faith can and should respond to the needs we see around us in real, tangible and effective ways.

We will also be rolling out an updated version of the Lazarus at the Gate Bible study.  Look for that in February.

In March we will be at the Northeast Ecumenical Stewardship Council’s Biannual Conference offering a workshop on how churches can disciple their congregations in the areas of generosity and justice.

As with last year we also plan to host two events, one in the spring and one in the fall.   We will begin planning those . . . oh, about now, and keep everyone posted on the wheres, whens and whos!

The website is an ongoing project and we are always adding content. We want to be a resource for you on topics connected to generosity and justice, so we will keep updating it and you can keep checking in to see what we have.  Also Facebook and Twitter (@justiceboston) are where we daily or weekly consistently post new and relevant content to provoke conversation, thought and action.

Happy 2017 to everyone in our fabulous community.  We hope that this year we can come together in pursuit of the just world we are called to help build.