March 2025
THE AMEN EFFECT
“Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World”
“Our work is not only to preach a theology of love and belonging,
but to ensure that our communities strive to embrace that mandate…
That is the amen effect—the sacred mandate to hear each other,
to embrace each other, to love each other up, especially on the hard days.
To say to one another, ‘Amen.’”
-Rabbi Sharon Brous
During the season of Lent this year, which begins on March 5th, I am inviting the congregation to join me in a discussion of Rabbi Sharon Brous’ new book – The Amen Effect. In this book Rabbi Sharon makes the case that the spiritual work of our time, as instinctual as it is counter cultural, is to find our way to one another in celebration, in sorrow, and in solidarity. To show up for each other in moments of joy and pain, vulnerability and possibility, to invest in relationships of shared purpose and build communities of care.
Brous contends that it is through honoring our most basic human instinct-the yearning for real connection-that we reawaken our shared humanity and begin to heal. This kind of sacred presence is captured by the word amen, the powerful ancient idea that we affirm the fullness of one another’s experience by demonstrating in body and word: “I see you. You are not alone.”
The schedule for our mid-week conversations is as follows:
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Chapter 1 – “Show Up”
Sharing grief and joy is the heart of life itself
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Chapter 2 – “Please Hold On”
The antidote to loneliness is sacred connection
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Chapter 3 – “See No Stranger”
Every single person is worthy of love
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Chapter 4 – “Come Alive”
This generation calls us to great things
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Chapter 5 and 6
“Grieve and Live” & “Hold the Healers”
Rabbi Sharon begins her book with a wonderful metaphor for the times in which we find ourselves: “There’s an old story of a child walking in a forest, surrounded by sun-dappled oak trees. He climbs through the brambles and plays in the fallen leaves, mesmerized by the spider webs and mossy rocks until the moment he realizes he’s completely lost. He tries to find his way out, but each path seems to lead him deeper into the forest. As the sun begins to sink, he grows increasingly afraid, wondering if he’ll ever make it home. But just then, he sees another child approaching in the distance.
He excitedly cries out to her, “I’m so relieved to see you! I’m lost. Can you point me to the way out of here?” “I wish I could,” she says, “I’m lost too! But take my hand—we’ll find our way through this forest together.”
She then goes on to share: “I had always imagined that the role of clergy was to navigate moments of crisis and rupture with the right combination of solace, inspiration, and challenge: from the pulpit, at the graveside, in public protest. Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable! Two decades in the rabbinate have only reinforced my sense that the way we show up in the great liminal moments really does matter. What I didn’t expect is that our presence in the quiet moments in between matters just as much in the everyday searching, the struggles, the successes, and the striving. As I look back at the last twenty years, I see the film reel speeding through tragedy and triumph, heartache and harmony. But what appears in my mind’s eye in slow motion are the moments of human connection between and in the midst of the wind, the earthquakes, and the fires, when we, lost in our heartache, yearning, confusion, take one another’s hand and make our way through the forest together.”
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Sharon’s book. The weekly conversations will take place during our mid-week Holden Evening Prayer Service at 7:00 p.m. Please consider joining us for the soup- supper beforehand at 6:15 p.m. The cost for the book is $20.00. I have been deeply impressed by the author’s helpful insights into the great challenges which currently confront us. With heartfelt stories from real life and practical tools that anybody can use, the Amen Effect translates foundational ideas into simple practices that connect us to our better angels, offering a blueprint for a more meaningful life and a more connected and caring world.
Your Fellow Pilgrim ofn the Journey,
Pastor Greg Kintzi
