McCormick Day 2021: Radical Imagination in Unprecedented Times

Alumni

Sep 1

09-01-2021

The simultaneous pandemics of Covid 19, racial protests, political disruption and devastating wildfires, hurricanes, and earthquakes have caused many to long for a return to ‘normal.’ “But what would ‘normal’ look like after experiencing the past two years?” questions Rev. Nannette Banks, “Perhaps we could better heal our global grief and loss by using our imaginations to envision a radically different future.”

McCormick Day will do just that. Radical Imagination in Unprecedented Times, this year’s theme for McCormick Day, will offer new ways to look at theological education, the role of the church, and what can be a prophetic response to all that’s happening in our world.

“We’re looking for those who come to McCormick Day to take away resources of hope,” says Rev. Banks, M.Div. ’09, vice president of Community Engagement and Alumni Relations, who along with Rev. Dr. Anita Crittenden, M.Div. ’01, D.Min. ’20, Alumni Relations coordinator, and the Alumni Council, designed the programming for the annual event. “Each of our presenters has been digging deep into Scriptures to give us new possibilities and interpretations that can help us reframe our current situations. They’ll be sharing with us critical questions to ask of our leaders, our institutions and ourselves. And they’ll be providing constructive visions of what a just and more equitable world offers all of us.”

Reimagining through storytelling

One of the ways this reimagining will take place is through storytelling and the retelling of stories from Scripture. “The story of the exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt is told from an immigrant perspective,” begins Dr. Jina Kang, assistant professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. One of the planners and speakers for this year’s event, Dr. Kang points out, “We have people among us who are living that reality right now. How can they fill in the gaps in that story? How can they help us to be present to that story and hear the cries that come from such experiences? How can we connect what they are telling us in such a way that it transforms us on the inside and connects us, not only to the biblical text, but also to the people around us?”

Sharing stories of grief, loss and healing will be used the reframe unprecedented times during the presentation from Rev. Dr. Stephanie Crumpton, associate professor of Practical Theology and project director of McCormick’s Trauma Healing Initiative. She and Stacy Williams, an adjunct professor of Childhood Trauma, will provide insights on how trauma impacts teaching, learning and ministry. Funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, this session will share from the work of the initiative some of the approaches that institutions of theological education can take to lift up the voices of those who dare to deal with the difficult parts of their lives and who want to imagine possibilities, hopes and healing for their future.

“Another way we’ll be sharing how we can move beyond these unprecedented times,” says Rev. Dr. Crittenden, “is learning about the international conversations Dr. Anna Case-Winters, [professor of Theology, Ecumenism], and Rev. Dr. Allan Boesak, [professor of Black Liberation Theology and Ethics at the University of Pretoria in South Africa], are leading on dismantling global apartheid.”

McCormick Days will also honor the award-winning work of the 2021 Distinguished Alumnus David Barnhart, M.Div. ’05. His films have shed prophetic light on the stories of those living in situations that call for greater social justice. Planned for the day-long event will be the premiere a mural on the campus that was the idea of alumna Priscilla Rodriquez, MAM ’16, coordinator of McCormick’s Centers, and produced by several of the seminary’s alumni. The artwork depicts some of the spiritual movements needed for unprecedented times, such as moving from mourning to joy and from lament to liberation.

“McCormick Days has always been about truth telling,” adds Rev. Dr. Crittenden. “It invites us to look at what is and imagine what can be. Our imaginations are meant to push us to find new ways forward, making things better than before for more people than before.”

McCormick Days will be held online Thursday, Oct. 14. Learn more about the day’s events and register here.