(Un)Mute Yourself, Day 9
Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they had existential dread and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Siblings, what shall we do?”
One of today’s featured contributors is Claire Embil. Claire is a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying English Creative Writing, Religious Studies, and Photography. She is actively involved with the ELCA Young Adult Leadership team, the ELCA Youth Gathering, Wisconsin Campus Ministry, Lutheran Student Movement, and competitive gymnastics.
TW: mention of suicidal ideation, no description
Existential Dread: Acts 2:37-When the people heard this, they had existential dread and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Siblings, what shall we do?”
Peter answers them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
How hard it is to feel clothed in the waters of new life when each day we dread existence. How difficult to forgive and be forgiven during a year in which so many injustices have made this world feel too broken to be fixed.
Here are two images for you to meditate on during your devotion. I staged these self portraits as part of a photography project about what it means to commit to not killing myself, to work through and refuse to succumb to existential dread and keep living and growing.
The idea for this project came to me after reading the last sentence of Austin Channing Brown’s book, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, “It is my duty to live anyway.” For me, Brown’s mindset was the one positive thing that came out of the constant deaths of Black people that I witnessed this summer (and honestly, for years, decades, and centuries before). It is my duty to actively unmute myself — to continue living, because my existence is resistance.
The first photograph for me, is about prayer. It’s about a connection to ancestry and culture (the west African print). It’s about water. It’s about advent. It’s about waiting, and working in the waiting.
The second photograph is simply about trying to grow in a year that has buried us. I hope that you look at them and find inspiration to work through your own existential dread, with the help of God and community.
Check back here throughout the season of Advent for featured contributors offering their reflections. While it may not be daily (#thanks2020), there will be content featured here.
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The prompts for the entire season of Advent are as follows:
