Orientation, Disorientation, Reorientation

Orientation, Disorientation, Reorientation: Navigating Lament and Hope in a World Turned Upside Down

with Paul Okoye, Dr. Kim Penner, Rev. Dr. Hyung Jin (Pablo) Kim Sun, and Leah Reesor-Keller

In a time marked by political upheaval, ecological crisis, and deep uncertainty, how do we make space for lament—and where do we find signs of hope? How might we make sense of the unsettled terrain around us? Join us for honest reflection and collective grounding as we explore these questions together.

Come to listen, name what weighs heavy, and discover how we might reorient ourselves toward healing and collective resilience.

This episode is a live recording of an event on June 24, 2025.

Episode highlights

God of the broken hearted, we come to you with honesty and trembling. The world groans under the weight of injustice, under the crush of war and ecological collapse under the silence that meets too many cries we named before you, the pain that overwhelms us, shattered dreams and reveling communities futures’ clouded by fear and the ache of not knowing what comes next. You are the one who holds our disorientation. You do not rush us to clarity, but sit with us in the rubble weeping as we weep. And so we offer you our laments, our fears, our honest Christ. We trust that in this naming something sacred begins. An opening, a loosening, a space where your spirit can breathe again.  Prepare our hearts to listen to one another, to the stories that will be shared tonight. And to the quiet stirrings of your voice that speaks even in the rushing wind. Amen.” – Hyung Jin (Pablo) Kim Sun

I think this is a time to care less about hope and more about courage. Maybe I'm just tired of hope. Am I allowed to say that? I'm not sure. But I think for me, I realized that a conception of hope was really tied up with, do I feel optimistic? Am I having a good day or a bad day? Do I feel up? Do I feel despondent? But I think in this time when there are so many challenges ahead of us, at every level, what matters is less about experiencing a feeling of hope and more about what we can do to cultivate the courage and the persistence to keep moving forward anyway. – Leah Reesor-Keller

Let us become stewards of mature justice. Let us create spaces where real conversation can happen, even if it's hard. Let us trade purity tests for honest dialogue. Let us restore sacred curiosity. Let us make belonging real, not just for those with whom we agree with, but for those who don't yet, who we don't yet understand because only then can we break this pendulum. Only then can we build something that truly will last. Only then will we be the kind of people who, even if we never reach the promised land, can say we cleared the path with grace and not with fear. I find this is holy ground. – Paul Okoye

I genuinely do see so many signs of hope. First of all, the spirit of life and love within each of us that also created us through our creator remains. We are each beautifully and wonderfully made. And with that knowledge and understanding, there is always hope…We can live into that love in small ways that are actually big, and are confronting those systems of oppression and empire and chipping away at them on a daily, regular repeated basis. There is hope because Jesus models another way, a way where peace and justice are connected, and where peace does not mean comfort to those in positions of privilege, but where peace is about everyone's wellbeing as interconnected and thriving together when all are loved, when all have enough, when all have access to basic human needs and more and care for each other. I have hope because I see people and churches who understand this. – Kim Penner