- This event has passed.
Practicing Prophetic Listening on Inauguration Day: A Sacred Call to Hear and Respond
January 20 | 11:30 am - 1:30 pm
Time: 11:30am
Date: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025
Location: Middle Room at B’nai Jeshurun @ 270 West 89th Street
Gather with BJ, SPSA, and our interfaith partners for this sacred moment of reflection and preparation for action, as we draw inspiration from Isaiah 50:4-6: “The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary… wakens my ear to listen like one being taught….” These profound words call us into the practice of prophetic listening—a holy discipline of attuning our hearts and minds to the divine, to each other, and to the cries of a weary world.
While it might be tempting to ignore the events surrounding the inauguration of our 47th President, or rage against the television, we invite our communities to gather in order to prepare our hearts and minds for action in the days, weeks, and months ahead. We listen in order to hear the agenda of a new administration. We listen in order to develop responses that uphold a moral agenda representing the best of our spiritual and civic traditions. We listen as an act of resistance and engagement.
On Inauguration Day, which coincides with the annual observance honoring the prophet Martin Luther King, Jr., we commit to listening, even when it’s difficult, so that we can form voices of justice, lift up the weary, and equip ourselves with the courage to respond faithfully to this defining moment in our nation’s history. At 11:30 AM on Monday, we’ll gather for a shared grounding and meditation, before we watch the inauguration together. Then we will prepare ourselves to go into the world, empowered by each other’s presence and determination.