This webinar explored contemplation as a liberating and justice-rooted spiritual practice that emerges from communities historically shaped by struggle, resilience, and sacred imagination. Grounded in the Center for Spiritual Imagination’s call for Contemplation for Black Liberation, this gathering reflected on how practices of silence, stillness, and communal spiritual care have sustained people facing systems of oppression—and how these same practices can guide all of us toward deeper healing, resistance, and transformation.
Bringing together theologians, contemplative leaders, and justice-rooted practitioners, we reflected on questions such as: How do we reclaim contemplative practice as a tool for individual and collective liberation? What does it mean to move beyond colonial frameworks of spirituality and reconnect with ancestral, embodied, and community-centered approaches to contemplation?
Featured Image: Charles Reynoso, "Meditate with Power" featuring himself.
This event has now passed. You can watch the recording below.
Resources
Books & References
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The Enneagram for Black Liberation: Return to Who You Are Beneath the Armor You Carry — Chichi Agorom
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Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People — Imani Perry
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In the Wake: On Blackness and Being — Christina Sharpe
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African Religions & Philosophy — John Mbiti
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Black Skin, White Masks — Frantz Fanon
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Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church — Barbara A. Holmes
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Crisis Contemplation — Barbara A. Holmes
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The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture — Kevin Everod Quashie
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Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation — Rima Vesely-Flad
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From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation — Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Panelist Resources
Lisha Epperson
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Dance/Embodied Reflection on Mary’s Magnificat — Watch here
Josué Perea
Chichi Agorom
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From Armor to Ease — Podcast
Julian Davis Reid
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Guesnerth Josué Perea is a dynamic AfroLatine faith leader and cultural curator. He serves as the Director of Black Lives and Contemplation at the Center for Spiritual Imagination, Executive Director of the afrolatin@ forum, and Associate Pastor at Metro Hope Church. Josué is also Co-Curator of the AfroLatine Theology Project and Executive Producer of Faith in Blackness: An Exploration of AfroLatine Spirituality. His work on AfroLatinidad and spirituality has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, USA Today, Sojourners, and Los Angeles Review of Books. A proud Brooklynite, Josué lives by Biggie’s mantra to “spread love the Brooklyn way.”
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Rev. Lisha Epperson is a minister, dancer, writer, and spiritual practitioner committed to healing through embodied faith. Ordained in the Episcopal Church, she serves as a priest at St. Peter’s Chelsea in New York City. With a background in professional dance and Christian meditation, Lisha integrates movement, faith-based wellness, and the arts into her ministry. She is the founder of the Creative Arts Project, a free summer arts camp in Harlem for children ages 6–12. Lisha teaches contemplative movement workshops and retreats, empowering communities to practice spiritual formation through self-care, embodiment, and creativity.
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Chichi Agorom is a writer, certified Enneagram teacher, and former psychotherapist whose work centers on wholeness, identity, and healing. She is associate faculty at The Narrative Enneagram and holds advanced degrees in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Marriage & Family Therapy. Through coaching, teaching, and her writing, Chichi creates sacred spaces that help people feel deeply seen. Whether through spiritual formation or personal growth work, her calling is to help others discover a truer sense of self and belonging. She currently lives in Los Angeles, cultivating a life of rest and peace by the water.
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Julian Davis Reid is a Chicago-based artist-theologian who blends music, Black spirituality, and theology to invite weary souls into divine rest. He is the founder of Notes of Rest, a contemplative ministry rooted in Scripture and Black music, and performs with acclaimed ensembles like The JuJu Exchange, Circle of Trust, and in collaboration with artists such as Chance the Rapper, Jennifer Hudson, and Jamila Woods. A Yale and Emory graduate with a Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology, Julian also teaches and lectures nationwide on faith, the arts, and the power of stillness. His work has been featured in Forbes, Billboard, Downbeat, and Sojourners.
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This event is a partnership between EDS and the Center for Spiritual Imagination's Black Lives & Contemplation Project. Black contemplation, for the project, is a non-dual, embodied experience that integrates the richness of Black culture, including its artistic expressions. It empowers Black individuals to deeply connect with their inner selves, recognize their inherent transformative power, and cultivate a spiritual connection on their own terms, free from external constraints. This requires cultivating safe spaces, fostering justice, and breaking down barriers to spiritual understanding. Black contemplation honors the unique spirit of the Black lived experience and aims for liberation. To cultivate this practice, we must center Black Wisdom in all its forms, from rich texts and diverse traditions to the historical honor of Black wisdom. As a communal practice, centered on the Black experience, it fosters a shared understanding of the challenging yet joyful work ahead, crucial for the ongoing development of this unique form of prayer.