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New research is persuading some clergy to move beyond a “just say no” approach, as Bekah McNeel reports for the May 2024 issue of Sojourners, featured in this week's SojoMail: It was dark. Totally dark and empty. Andrea Smith felt a familiar hopelessness. “Of course I’m all alone,” she thought. “It’s my greatest fear.” Smith, a pastor in the United Methodist Church, was at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in Baltimore, in the first moments of a psilocybin trip designed for clergy. “I didn’t know crap about psychedelics leading into it,” Smith told Sojourners. Through work with the center before her 2019 experiment with psilocybin (a psychoactive ingredient found in some mushrooms), she was prepared to possibly meet her greatest fears — some participants even reported seeing their own death. At first, that’s exactly what happened. Smith’s profound childhood trauma — her mother suffered a fatal aneurysm in front of her at age 9 — had instilled an existential fear of being alone, she realized, which had led her to the brink of self-destruction. Burnt out in ministry, avoiding the truth about her husband’s infidelity, and grieving the death of her father, Smith entered the Johns Hopkins study in a fog of depression. She was considering returning to the antidepressants she’d stopped years before. “I was broken,” Smith said. “I was just exhausted and spent.” But during Smith’s psilocybin treatment, something shifted.
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Our Latest What Jews Want Christians to Understand About Passover (by Heather Brady) Christian curiosity about Jewish seders can lead to being better neighbors. But that curiosity touches a dark history. Despite Transphobic Laws, I Found A Queer Community in Miami (by Simón Cázares) Leaving Miami allowed me to begin healing from my Catholic upbringing. When I returned, I was surprised to find unlikely allies. ‘Immaculate’ Shows the Dark Side of the Virgin-Birth Story (by JR. Forasteros) When we elevate Mary’s sexual history as the most important thing about her, the consequences can be, well, horrifying. How to Make Your Daily Coffee Sacred and Just (by Mitchell Atencio) Whether a light-roast Rwandan or Folgers, the rapper, poet, and coffee aficionado Propaganda says we can build a more equitable coffee practice. |
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From the Magazine ‘Orbital’ Offers a God’s-Eye View of Our Fragile Home (by Ezra Craker) Samantha Harvey’s new novel asks us to appreciate the paradox of our mighty and vulnerable planet. |
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Calling All Faith Leaders: Defend Voters in 2024 Election! Are you interested in training opportunities for civic engagement as a member of the faith community? Empower yourself, safeguard democracy, and begin the journey to become a poll chaplain for the upcoming election! Wondering what to read next? Visit our Bookshop page to find new, noteworthy, and recently reviewed books, our anti-racism reading list, and more – all in one place! Purchasing through Bookshop supports Sojourners and local bookstores. |
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