Piloting Faith: We lost one of our bravest...and now it's up to us.

A Word for the Day...
On Saturday, May 4, we lost a saint in the progressive faith movement named Rachel Held Evans. She was 37 years old. She was a wife and mother of two babies, 1 and 3 years old. She wrote books and blogs that offered healing and hope for so many who have been hurt by their church. She came from the Evangelical tribe, the conservative movement that told her over and over to shut up, back down and stay in "her place." But she never backed down. She was fierce, kind and always the smartest person in the room. She wanted us all to succeed...to find our way back to a loving God and each other. She died from complications from an allergic reaction to antibiotics.
Her loss is a big deal to our movement, and our grief is heavy. She represented one of our wise ones, a warrior who inspired us and reminded us that we were not alone.
Tributes to her life and the difference she made for each of us have been pouring in over Twitter and Facebook. She touched so many people. Beth Moore, one of the most popular female Bible teachers in the country, wrote on Twitter that she was “thinking [about] what it was about [Evans] that could cause many on other sides of issues to take their hats off to her in her death. People are run rife with grief for her babies, yes. But also I think part of it is that, in an era of gross hypocrisy, she was alarmingly honest.” Her friends and allies shared this grief, and more: Over the weekend, many people posted personal stories about Evans’s kindness online, which were shared thousands of times.
Perhaps that is her parting gift. We are finding one another as we share our stories of how she has impacted us. It could be that her final gift to us is helping us find a connection with each other. What a remarkable legacy from a life ended far too soon.
- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Blessing for the Week
May the God who dwells beyond us
and the God who dwells among us
and the God who calls us to dwell together
bless you now
and always.
- Jan Richardson, Sacred Journeys: A Woman's Book of Daily Prayer
