OPENING

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of Wilderness Times, released on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. I am the Rev. Bri-anne Swan and in partnership with Rev. Norm Seli I am one of the called ministers at Jubilee United Church in Toronto. I also serve the Resistance Church community, one of Jubilee’s digital ministries.

Thanks for those of you who sent us messages of support after our first episode last week. I was so excited to read the posts on Instagram and Facebook, even my email, saying just how much folks loved the conversation with Gary, Darren and Christa from The Many. If you are one of The Many’s supporters on Patreon, you can now go and watch a 15 minute video clip from that conversation. I’ll throw that link in the show notes for this week AND last week’s episode.

This week, we are joined by pastor, author and sacred space maker the Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt. Aurelia has just released her debut book, A Brown Girl's Epiphany: Reclaim Your Intuition and Step into Your Power. It was a really great conversation, talking about Imago Dei, the pressures of productivity culture, and how to live into our most authentic selves.
I was first introduced to Aurelia on Instagram where she makes offerings of short videos of her spoken word art. Her book is a beautiful introduction to the concept of Imago Dei, how to step out of so many of the social constructs that keep us stuck as we attempt to resist oppression and sink more fully into our faith.

I can’t wait to share our conversation, but first…here is NOVVA and their song “Unafraid”.

[UNAFRAID by NOVVA]