Gregory Thompson's Peace Talks episode is both hard-hitting and thoughtful. He tackles why the dinner table is the BEST place for political conversations and why the church is the best place for cultivating the moral skill of discernment needed for such topics. Don't miss this one!

Gregory Thompson is a writer, artist, cook, and creative leader who works at the intersection of contemplative, the critical, and the convivial. He currently serves as Co-Founder and Creative Director of Voices Underground, a team of scholars, artists, and activists devoted to racial healing through storytelling. He is author of The Welcome Table, a column on Hospitality and Culture at Comment Magazine, of Blood From the Ground: Racial Healing and Public Memory (forthcoming), and co-author of the award-winning Reparations: A Christian Call to Repentance and Repair. He holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Virginia, and can most likely be found in the kitchen.

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About the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace:
Justice and peace come from the inside out—from the overflow of a transformed heart. This belief led our founder, Bishop Todd Hunter, to start the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace in 2021. The Center brings together a diverse, interdenominational community of people who want to be formed in love to heal a broken world. Because “religion” is often part of the problem, we’ve created a brave, Jesus-centered space for dialogue, questioning, creating, and exploration. PEACE TALKS introduces you to women and men who are working to undo oppression, leading to lives of deeper peace for all.

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This Peace Talks conversation with Sandra Maria Van Opstal goes deep into the people and places that shape us. Sandra shares with host Mariah Humphries how reading Scripture with people on the margins inspires her and working in her garden connects her.

Sandra Maria Van Opstal is a second-generation Latina pastor, activist, author, and a powerful leading voice on the intersection of faith and justice. She is executive director of Chasing Justice, a BIPOC-led movement that mobilizes the next generation of Christians to live justly. Sandra’s distinctiveness comes from working in both local and global contexts as a practitioner and academic, which has solidified her calling to disrupt oppressive systems within the church and center marginalized voices.

She served as executive pastor at Grace and Peace Church on Chicago’s west side and as an activist in her community. She holds a Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is currently pursuing doctoral work in Urban Leadership and Transformation. Sandra is the author of The Next Worship, Forty Days on Being An Eight as well as contributor to the New York Times bestselling book A Rhythm of Prayer.

Connect with Sandra on Social Media:

• Twitter @sandravanopstal
• Instagram @sandravanopstal
• Facebook @sandramariavanopstal

» Subscribe to PEACE TALKS Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peace-talks/id1590168616

About the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace:
Justice and peace come from the inside out—from the overflow of a transformed heart. This belief led our founder, Bishop Todd Hunter, to start the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace in 2021. The Center brings together a diverse, interdenominational community of people who want to be formed in love to heal a broken world. Because “religion” is often part of the problem, we’ve created a brave, Jesus-centered space for dialogue, questioning, creating, and exploration. PEACE TALKS introduces you to women and men who are working to undo oppression, leading to lives of deeper peace for all.

*Connect with The Center Online!*
Visit The Center's Website: https://centerfjp.org
Follow The Center on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/centerfjp
Follow The Center on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CenterFjp
Follow The Center on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/centerfjp/

Support the show

Season 8 of Peace Talks is off to a great start! Bill Haley reminds us why social and historical awareness matters as Christians, even as he shares his own worries for this election season and encourages us to rest in God's loving presence.

The Rev. Bill Haley is the founder and Executive Director of Coracle, as well as an Anglican priest and spiritual director. He has devoted many years to ministering in urban contexts, especially in inner-city Washington DC. With his wife Tara and four kids, Bill lives in Falls Church, Virginia.

Bill currently serves on the board for the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace, and has served as chairman of the board for the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, and on the Advisory Council for The Telos Group. From 1996-2019 he ministered with The Falls Church in Falls Church, VA in a number of different capacities, including Director of Outreach and Associate Rector, and was the founding Rector of St. Brendan’s in the City in Washington DC. He served as the Director of Formation for The Washington Institute and previously served as president of The Regeneration Forum and publisher of re:generation quarterly, a magazine devoted to “community transforming culture”.

Bill's publications includes his book, Essential Christianity and articles in The Washington Post, re:generation quarterly, Prism and Sojourners magazines, Inward/Outward of The Servant Leadership School, The Cry of Word Made Flesh, and with The Washington Institute.

» Subscribe to PEACE TALKS Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peace-talks/id1590168616

About the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace:
Justice and peace come from the inside out—from the overflow of a transformed heart. This belief led our founder, Bishop Todd Hunter, to start the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace in 2021. The Center brings together a diverse, interdenominational community of people who want to be formed in love to heal a broken world. Because “religion” is often part of the problem, we’ve created a brave, Jesus-centered space for dialogue, questioning, creating, and exploration. PEACE TALKS introduces you to women and men who are working to undo oppression, leading to lives of deeper peace for all.

*Connect with The Center Online!*
Visit The Center's Website: https://centerfjp.org
Follow The Center on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/centerfjp
Follow The Center on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CenterFjp
Follow The Center on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/centerfjp/

Support the show