Texas is hot like hot yoga in Colorado. This is Nevertheless She Preached, Part II.
I might have found my people. I say that tongue and cheek because I did not really talk to anyone. I was that church-goer that drives every pastor crazy. I would sneak in the back, right before the next lecturer or worship began. I then, enjoyed every ounce of word and music and visual. I would even salivate with hunger for more, yet nobody knew. Because, I also wanted to be on retreat.
I wanted to enter the hot yoga studio, be grounded or rather devoured by the immense heat. Sit in exhaustion, inviting the rest. Move through the ritual of sacredness, inviting every sense to feel all that is holy and sacred. And, then let the demons loose because that is what heat does, it loosens the pores. And, as it turns out, so does Texas. Everything got real in Texas.
constructs broken down,
labels challenged,
vulnerability welcomed,
art shared,
ego questioned and of course my curly hair gone wild. Heat can do that.
The thing about women....is that, I can say that these are my people, without a conversation because they bring all the senses. All the feels. I walked into University Baptist Church and before a word spoken, knew this trip was worth it. The outside of the church (picture below) non-descriptive but intentional. An old Safeway turned house of worship.
In every space there was a chandelier. Did you know that the prisms of a chandelier throw off rainbows? And, did you know that many lights (aka crystals) represent the earth's purest and highest form of energy, which is also a source of abundance? Every space in the old Safeway or rather this house of worship had a different and unique chandelier. Symbols of hope and an abundance of source was sensed without a word spoken.
The words of one Latina "I am too much" spoken the last morning. Yet we sat in a church that was way too much. Red-walled bathrooms, zebra print youth rooms, saints adorning every corner, non-traditional chandeliers and their over abundance of source.
Women are too much because we have pushed the boundaries of patriarchy in the church. Women are too much because we emit too much source of love and affection and emotion. Women are too much because we are loud with laughter and tears and bodies that move with creativity. Our stories pour out like rainbows thrown by chandelier prisms.
This was professional days well spent. With deep gratitude to those women leading and practicing radical love.
https://www.neverthelessshepreached.com/
Next year (2019), Austin, Texis, September 22-24