The Good Neighbor Movement

02/28/2023

Thanks to those who’ve reached out about our annual Black Lent series. We are pausing the series this year. We encourage you to follow for their powerful Lent readings this year. Find a link to the intro of their series in our linktree in the comments below.

01/08/2023

Our Epiphany gathering is cancelled due to rain!

01/05/2023

Happy New Year Everyone!

Gather with GNM to celebrate the big transitions that come with a new year at our Epiphany Bonfire Potluck on this Sunday, January 8, 4PM - 7PM at Timberlake Earth Sanctuary (1501 Rock Creek Dairy Rd., Whitsett, NC). When you arrive, park at the barn and then walk to the fire pit. Bring a chair or blanket with you for comfort. We'll share a potluck-style meal together and enjoy each other's company and the beautiful natural environment surrounding us! You are welcome to bring broken wooden furniture or other burnable trash to contribute to the bonfire. Also, bring a dish or snack to share for the potluck. This is a family friendly gathering, as always. We hope to see you there this Sunday!

05/27/2022

04/17/2022

Preview of today’s daily Black Lent email devotion -Easter. Our Dungeons Shook & Our Chains Fell Off. Romans 8:11. Written by Rev. Lynice Pinkard (she/her) who is a pastor, teacher, writer, activist, singer and healer. Her work is dedicated to decolonizing human minds, bodies and spirits and to freeing people from what she calls “empire affective disorder.” Learn more about Lynice and her work on FB: https://www.facebook.com/lynicepinkard.

Check out the link in our bio/comments to see the full devotional and subscribe to Black Lent for NEXT YEAR 2023!

Image description: White square with gold designs, gold splashes, and black font. The text reads “Black Lent. Tethered in Tenderness. Easter - Our Dungeons Shook & Our Chains Fell Off. “Resurrection makes historical consciousness crucial… Without the early history recounted in the Hebrew Bible, the departure of the children of Israel from the house of slavery in Egypt, one cannot understand the departure of Jesus from the house of the dead…[Also] if individualism is our ultimate and our most profound category for human beings, then we cannot understand what the resurrection is really about. Our nature is a living relationship to others. This also means that resurrection is not an isolated event which took place once, two thousand years ago. Resurrection is a process, our process, and it happens again and again, that people who were dead from the deathliness of the dominant culture, rise over and over again to liberation and new life.” Author: Rev. Lynice Pinkard.” GNM logo.

04/16/2022

Preview of today’s daily Black Lent email devotion - Black Saturday. Healing from the Womb to the Tomb. John 19:38-42. Written by Rev. Augustine Tanner-Ihm (he/him) who is a Minister in the Church of England, an EDI and Leadership Development Consultant, and regular BBC presenter. Learn more about Augustine’s work on his website https://augustineihm.co.uk, IG: AUGUSTINE_IHM_, and FB: Augustine Ihm.

Check out the link in our bio/comments to see the full devotional and subscribe to Black Lent to receive the rest of our Holy Week devotionals directly to your email!

*Note* New subscribers will begin receiving emails the day after subscribing.

Image description: Black square with gold splashes and designs with white font. The text reads “Black Lent. Tethered in Tenderness. Black Saturday. Healing from the Womb to the Tomb. “Jesus was both the source of healing for his people and a vessel to receive healing from his followers. Black ancestors similarly used herbs for healing Black bodies and souls. As this Lenten season comes to a close, may you know the healing touch that is from ancestral ways. May we be healed from the kinds of lies that make us ashamed of our people’s dissent of the status quo.” Author: Rev. Augustine Tanner-Ihm.” GNM logo. Subscription link.

04/15/2022

Preview of today’s daily Black Lent email devotion - Good Friday. Who Got The Body? John 19:38-40. Written by Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart is a Black-queer church girl, preacher, teacher, and activist who develops spaces of spiritual candor, disruption, reflection, transformation, and action. Follow Naomi’s work on IG and Twitter and FB: Washington-Leapheart.

Check out the link in the comments to see the full devotional and subscribe to Black Lent to receive the rest of our Holy Week devotionals directly to your email!

*Note* New subscribers will begin receiving emails the day after subscribing.

1st Image description: White square with gold designs, gold splashes, and black font. The text reads “Black Lent. Tethered in Tenderness. Good Friday. “Who God The Body?”. “I know what Black folks mean when we ask: “Who got the body?” after our loved one dies. We want to know if our beloved will be handled by those who know and respect the wisdoms of death better than the dead themselves. We want to know who will be doing the lonely, quiet work of washing shame from Black flesh and camouflaging the cruelty of Black life. We want to know if they will understand how to create a bed for long-overdue Black rest.” Author: Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart.” GNM logo. Subscription link.

04/15/2022

Preview of today’s daily Black Lent email devotion- Day 44 of Lent - Maundy Thursday. Remembering Loving Relationships Through Ritual. Psalms 116:1-2, John 13:1-17, 34b-35. Written by Rev. Jasolyn Harris (femme/they/she) who is a Black being who fully embodies the mental, physical, political, and spiritual realities of living in a multiple marginalized body who also consistently seeks liberation through joy, rest, resistance, and reparations. She is a Black Mystic, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, & Pastor of The Way Christian Center, Los Angeles. Learn more about Jasolyn and their work on IG , and FB: Jasolyn Harris.

Check out the link in our bio to subscribe to Black Lent for a Holy Week devotion delivered daily to your email!

*Note* New subscribers will begin receiving emails the day after subscribing.

Image description: Black square with gold splashes and designs with white font. The text reads “Black Lent. Tethered in Tenderness. Day 44 - Maundy Thursday. Remembering Loving Relationships Through Ritual. “Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, shared a meal, and transmitted enduring wisdom, as rituals of remembering. Because Jesus’ remembering rituals were so deeply embodied, transfiguring time and space, they could hold the complexity and precarity of the relationships with these disciples, some who remained loyal and the majority who betrayed Jesus. Jesus, in all that Jesus was/is, was able to experience the fullness of community through these rituals of reciprocity and exchange.” Author: Rev. Jasolyn Harris.” GNM logo. Subscription link.

04/14/2022

LOCATION UPDATE. We've decided to go ahead and meet at our rain location for today's Maundy Thursday Service. We will meet at St. Stephens UCC located at 1000 Gorrell St at 5:30. We'll have food from Manny's Universal Cafe for those joining in-person and the service will begin at 6:30 for those joining online. See updated flyer. Hope to see you there!

04/14/2022

Preview of today’s daily Black Lent email devotion- Day 43 of Lent - Spy Wednesday. Embracing ‘Why?’ when ‘Well, Why Not?’ is Easier. John 13:21-31. Written by Rev. Kenneth Pettigrew (he/they) who is a scholar, activist, and preacher resting in the tensions and intersection of faith, sexuality, abolition, and liturgy. They reside in Winston-Salem, NC and serve at St. John CME Church. Learn more about Drew and his work on Twitter and IG and FB: Kenneth A. Pettigrew.

Also, join us tomorrow evening for our Maundy Thursday service. We will have a food and fellowship in-person component, followed by a hybrid ritual that will be hosted on IG Live. It will be raining so we’ve changed our location for in-person to St. Stephen UCC - 1000 Gorrell St.

Check out the link in our bio to subscribe to Black Lent for a Holy Week devotion delivered daily to your email!

*Note* New subscribers will begin receiving emails the day after subscribing.

1st Image description: White square with gold designs, gold splashes, and black font. The text reads “Black Lent. Tethered in Tenderness. Day 43 - Spy Wednesday. Embracing ‘Why?’ when ‘Well, Why Not?’ is Easier. “We must recognize in ourselves, and in each other, the possibility of our impatience pushing us to a point of betrayal of our values and the people we seek to walk alongside in this journey towards freedom. It’s the reminder that whiteness can’t save us. It’s the poke that respectability will fail us. It’s the shining light of freedom that might blind us when we’re tired and uneasy. We must see our humanity in Judas and our responsibility in Jesus.” Author: Rev. Kenneth A. Pettigrew.” GNM logo. Subscription link.

04/13/2022

Preview of today’s daily Black Lent email devotion- Day 42 of Lent - Eer’body Talkin’ Bout Heav’n Ain’t Goin Der. Holy Tuesday. 1 Corinthians 1:27-28. Written by Rev. Jonathan Brooks (he/him/his) who is Pastor of Lawndale Christian Community Church in Chicago and author of Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods. Learn more about Jonathan’s work at his website www.Pastahj.com and by following him on IG and Twitter and FB: Pastahjonathan.

Check out the link in our bio to subscribe to Black Lent for a Holy Week devotion delivered daily to your email!

*Note* New subscribers will begin receiving emails the day after subscribing.

Image description: Black square with gold splashes and designs with white font. The text reads “Black Lent. Tethered in Tenderness. Day 42 - Holy Tuesday. Eer’body Talkin’ Bout Heav’n Ain’t Goin Der. “These songs - Black Spirituals - were used as codes to give the enslaved strength and courage and to resist their oppression. They may have been singing about “heaven”, but it was no otherworldly utopia. For our enslaved ancestors, heaven was a place in the here and now where the smell of freedom was very real and the robes and shoes they were singing about could be accessed in this world.” Author: Rev. Jonathan Brooks.” GNM logo. Subscription link.

04/12/2022

Preview of today’s daily Black Lent email devotion- Day 41 of Lent - Holy Monday. Be Divine. Isaiah 42:1-9 and Psalm 36:5-12. Written by Rev. Dr. Tiffany Christian (she/her), creative ministry and outreach coordinator for The Rock Church in Boone, NC, and she is a wife, mother and thesbian who strives to equip and encourage people to honor and release their creative gifts in honor of the Creator. Learn more about Tiffany’s work on FB: Tiffany Yvette Christian.

Check out the link in our bio to subscribe to Black Lent for a Holy Week devotion delivered daily to your email!

*Note* New subscribers will begin receiving emails the day after subscribing.

Image description: White square with gold designs, gold splashes, and black font. The text reads “Black Lent. Tethered in Tenderness. Day 41 - Holy Monday. Be Divine. “Let’s embody our collective power given to us by our Creator to bring the divine presence to Earth. Reflect the GOD you wish to see in this world!” Author: Rev. Dr. Tiffany Christian.” GNM logo. Subscription link.