Category: Pedro S. Silva II
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Grief is a Midwife
Grief is a midwife, giving birth to who we’d never be without loss’ seed.Realizing that you’ll never again be who you used to be makes room for who you are becomingSo let yourself weep. Be emptied of who you’ve beenBecause someone wiser, more capable, and more honest is waiting to emergeEverything you held back, waiting…
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A Black Guy and an Indigenous Guy Talk About Thanksgiving
If you are like me and my guest, Chickasaw Comedian Blake Pickens, your childhood education around the first Thanksgiving holiday was filled with stories of pilgrims, buckle hats, and happy Indigenous folks. This happened two years after my folks came to America for our “internships”. Since learning about the histories of our peoples, I have…
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Once a Pastor, Always a Pastor?
Whenever I describe myself as a former pastor, almost always, someone says, “once a pastor, always a pastor.” To which I usually respond with shrugged shoulders, and say something to the effect of, “I don’t know.” I’ve been trying to figure out what that statement means to folks––“once a pastor, always a pastor.“ Is that…
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A Miscarriage of the Nations: Where are the Founding Mothers?
“Women are the true architects of peace. Their strength, resilience, and wisdom have the power to transform societies and build a more peaceful world.” – Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE, Founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Action Network. Yes. This title is provocative. But, we are in perilous times and sometimes you have…
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Being Is The Way (Greater Things)
In this message, I challenge us to consider that the greater things that are in us are easier done than said. All of life is waiting for us to be who we can be. Erich Fromm, social psychologist and author of To Have or To Be said: Our capacity to choose changes constantly with our…
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How Do We Live When Paradise Burns?
Just a week before the fires that devastated Lahaina, and ultimately Maui, all of Hawaii, and the world, I said goodbye to the banyan tree at the heart of that place that has become almost sacred to me. I literally spoke to it in my heart and thanked it for enduring as long as it…
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A Nation of Neighbors
On May 21, 2023, I accepted the opportunity to give a Jesus and Justice Talk at Heart of Longmont. It was inspired by the Good Samaritan Story and asked the question, “What would it be like if we lived in A NATION OF NEIGHBORS?” I am posting that question to you here now. We also…
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History is Not a Competition
We are often led to believe that everything in our society is a competition. But some things aren’t. And history is one of them.
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Diversity and the Rightness of Being Wrong
Doing the Right Thing the Wrong Way Did you know that by doing the right thing the wrong way, you could do a lot more harm than good? You don’t have to look any further than the many tone deaf ad campaigns that somehow still make it out in the world and see that if…
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Introducing: The Communion Podcast – Episode 1 – Death
Death. Death has been tripping me out lately. On the one year anniversary of me stepping out of the pulpit, two people that I was close to at my former church died. One was in his 80s. The other in her 90s. But then today, I found out that a friend who was only 38…
The Roofless Church 