This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation and the Stories that Make Us.
As a millennial in up-state New York, Cole was not anticipating becoming the founder of a viral social media account. But Cole’s modern liturgies for everyday life, along with daily prayers, gifted us with words to speak when so many of us didn’t know what to say. Amid the global pandemic, and at the height of the BLM protests, Cole’s words spoke into a context of great anger and hurt, particularly in the US, but also in the rest of the world, as many experienced an awakening to racial injustice. Cole’s space acted as a refuge: ‘a liturgy for those we’ve lost in the pandemic’, ‘a liturgy for the lonely’, ‘a liturgy for those whose anxiety is a menace’. Cole’s words spoke to a new generation of people black and white, the churched and unchurched, who were striving for expression and healing. Little did they know that they would encounter the Divine Creator.
Cole’s project stems from her Episcopalian faith tradition that is rooted in the contemplative. While she entered into the tradition as an adult, Cole recognises that her ‘spirituality has always been given to contemplation, even before anyone articulated … exactly what “the contemplative” was.’ Cole’s understanding of the contemplative can never be separated from her embodied soul and the sacredness of her physical body. As Pete Greig describes, ‘contemplation is prayer at its deepest and most personally transformational.’ And while the founding heroes of the contemplative tradition had their own contexts and cultures, from Teresa of Ávila in sixteenth-century Spain to Thomas Merton writing during WWII, Cole is evidence of a new generation of contemplatives who reclaim the tradition for the marginalised. Cole needed to unearth a language that she could own, to find a prayer that was transformational for her own embodied, modern context. As a black woman in New York, she sought to write new liturgies to give voice to those who do not recognise the sacredness of their own skin, to the glory of God.
The uniqueness of @blackliturgies lies in its union of social activism and personal well-being. As one of the most vulnerable during the pandemic, Cole had to self-isolate with her husband for over fifteen months, befriending solitude, stillness and silence. This perspective brings a necessary wisdom to the social justice movement, as many social activists or #socialjusticewarriors often equate social media activity with justice and inaction with futility. But, through Cole’s posts of breathing and silence, there is space to stop. This is what many of the millennial generation need to hear as the world’s pressures continue to pile up on individual shoulders, leaving social activists battered and fatigued. Cole ultimately advocates for the necessity of Christianity in this space: the God of infinite grace who works when we sleep and sweeps up when we make a mess; the one who says, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’ (Matt. 11:28, NIV). Cole’s work is a silent acceptance of a friend’s challenge: ‘If there is someone who is both activist and contemplative and who does both well, I have not yet met them.’ Enter @blackliturgies.
Cole follows in a long tradition in the church of those who sought justice: the prophets and evangelists of the past as well as the social reformers and whistle-blowers of the modern era. As the church in the UK sees numbers declining, @blackliturgies is evidence that the need for the church is still very much alive and urgent. Cole’s creativity has welcomed a community of those on the margins of faith who may never set foot in a church, but regularly stumble across the Divine through their Instagram feeds.
As Cole continues to hold the tension of activism and well-being, of action and inaction, she seeks the shalom of Christ’s peace in her context. As a new voice, Cole continues to learn and discover how she can serve her online community, but she is a valued friend for the journey.
Together Magazine
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