In the beginning of God’s creating, ruach Elohim, the feminine Spirit of God hovered over the waters, brooding. Maybe Spirit wasn’t embittered, but like a brooding hen with meditative readiness. A fierce devotion to birth and raise new life.

During pregnancy, the amniotic sac—the waters, surrounds the fetus. Dark, warmth, protecting the fetus from harm, regulating its body temperature. The waters are where new life grows until it is ready to live outside of the waters.

A generous donor will match all new gifts or increases in gifts (both recurring and one-time gifts) made to Juniper Formation before year end! This matching gift allows generous new and increased donations to go twice as far for Juniper Formation’s mission to prophetically reimagine the Church. 

As we approach the end of 2025, we find ourselves reflecting on what it means to live boldly in our faith during times of uncertainty, and we are feeling deeply grateful for you.

Fascism, white supremacy, and christian nationalism threaten the values we hold sacred. Peaceful immigrant families face separation, deportation, and being disappeared. Our LGBTQ+ siblings and families live in fear and under threat. Those seeking reproductive healthcare are criminalized. Entire cities are being ambushed by masked, militarized Immigration and Customs Enforcement and National Guard troops. And we know that Denver will be one of the cities targeted next, to which Juniper Formation’s Mutual Aid Sanctuary ministry will respond.

Last weekend, our community gathered for a difficult and necessary screening of the documentary Bad Faith followed by a facilitated conversation about Christian nationalism and our call as people of faith in this moment. After the film, we had a vulnerable discussion where we discussed and discerned how we could move forward together.

We are as committed as ever to live out our faith even as it is being threatened by the powers that be in this country. We need your help to continue our collective work to cocreate the world as it could be as we follow the disruptive peacemaking ways of Jesus.

It would be amazing if our Juniper Formation friends could help us raise $10,000 in the next month.

This post challenges us to examine the harmful beliefs rooted in whiteness, heteronormativity, and gender binaries that erase diverse identities. It explores how flags — from the Mexican flag to the Pride and Juneteenth flags — serve as symbols of existence, resistance, and liberation in contrast to the rising threat of white supremacy, fascism, and Christian nationalism.

Please join us on Tuesday, May 27th, 5:30-7:30 pm MDT for a collaborative gathering of those interested in Vision Casting, Storytelling & Dreaming the Mutual Aid Sanctuary. We're building it together.

Faith leaders, clergy, and congregational decision makers are invited to learn about legal frameworks for sheltering vulnerable people. This talk and Q&A will include topics of:

• Harboring - do's and don'ts, risks, risk mitigation, public presence, etc

• Public vs private spaces in faith communities

• The Trump immigration registration process, which went into effect on April 11th

Information and data are power in today’s economy and culture. What we are experiencing right now is a coup. A small group of greedy, racist…[insert every other “...ist”]…billionaires are illegally taking over the lawful, democratic government of the United States of America. Their access to and control over money and sensitive data related to private citizens, government employees, and government payments gives them the power to illegally implement their personal agenda without controls or democratic process. Their dismissal and pushout of broad swaths of government career professionals (non-political appointed positions) is regime change. People's lives are at stake.

This is a coup; it’s not over yet. 

The Bible is filled with stories of empire. God is described in stark contrast to these empires, which were oligarchies that ruthlessly maintained deep disparities between the wealthy elite and everyone else. Whether it is the Egyptian Empire of the Hebrew Text or the Roman Empire that took Jesus’ life in the Gospel, the empires of the Bible were largely run by oligarchs, a small group of corrupt, selfish, wealthy people—kings who believed that gods served their will, rather than kings serving God’s will.

We find ourselves with such a wannabe king today in the United States.

Have you ever been convicted by scripture?

I can’t remember the last time I “leaped for joy.” Joy feels distant in the depths of winter, in the weeks preceding the next administration, after the years of Covid, in the grief for loved ones who have died, all interwoven with the struggles of my own pregnancies and childbirths over the past three years. There is still joy interwoven into seasons of struggle and even laughter and dancing to “Baby Shark” with my three-year-old, but leaping for joy? Not so much. Too tired for that.