Number nine on our top news stories from 2025: “D.C. churches respond to federal show of force” D.C. churches unite against heightened federal policing, defending vulnerable neighbors and calling for justice over fear-based governance. #pcusa @askforshani.bsky.social @davidensign.bsky.social

It stripped away any illusion that love is abstract. It dismantled the version of faith that offers tidy answers in moments of unbearable pain. It taught us that survival is often quiet, slow, and communal. Blue Christmas

And in this season of waiting, longing, and becoming, Advent love reminds us that nothing, no grief, no fear, no system, no power, can separate us from the love of God. And once you have met that love, really met it, you cannot help but live it out loud.

Joy meets us in dry places…

Sippin and trippin

Sometimes church looks like….. Week 2 of Advent

“Politics was supposed to be a shared responsibility — a way of protecting the collective good. Now it too often looks like the exploitation of the very people we’re called to represent.” New Substack is out…

Love in any form, forms us.

A birthday poem!!!! Hello 50!

Choosing, Honoring and Living…. May it be so!

…..And another one!

Sometimes Church Looks Like: Permission to Mourn Differently

Instead of crashing out I just write about!!!!

A new Substack is ready!

He’s coming for us but our magic will never lose.

I'm attending Harriet’s Wildest Dreams's event, “Courtwatch DC Training” - sign up now to join me! #HarrietsDreams www.mobilize.us/hwd/event/52...

See you on the other side of freedom.

Writing and living, living and writing. And all the in between. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

A new Substack is up. open.substack.com/pub/shanimci...

Writing is life. ❤️❤️❤️

On sacred, trembling ground: Charleston and the spirit of womanist leadership Over 100 attendees from all denominations gathered for the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership Biennial Conference in Charleston, South Carolina. @askforshani.bsky.social

Braid my hair. Another Substack.

I just need my guy to surpass Strom’s 1957 filibuster. That’s how petty I am. Go, Cory, Go! I called Zora for him… “If you are silent about your pain, they will kill you and say you enjoyed it!” Zora Neal Hurston

The framework has been written. And now an elderflower spritzer

Imagine being in a Black body and being told all your life to stay busy, to work, work, work. Only to go to the text and learn a new thing. A new perspective. A new understanding. Don’t believe me. Just go learn for yourself. Rest and growth. Rest. Grow. Bear fruit. Repeat.

Listening is where love begins. ❤️ Mr. Fred Rogers

1. So…. I got my nails done yesterday 2. My nail tech is like my biggest fan 3. She loves hearing where I just came from. If you want to know the rest just follow me on other platforms because I’m about to be at the character limit. Fall dates are available….

The gift that continues to give!!

Gratefulness

I had to pitch in and serve food and I gotta tell It’s not my ministry. I served one time at a funeral some years ago. And Elder Jones said 1 piece of ham per person. My girl got so mad at me for following the rules. Then called everyone saying “Shani refused to give me two pieces of ham!”

Let’s get free together.

4 years ago when I had the joy and fear of interviewing Dr. Christine Hong for the NEXT Church National Gathering! I followed my gut and we talked about our grandmothers. ❤️❤️❤️ It was a God move. @nextchurch.bsky.social

The gift of active listening Shani McIlwain reflects on the power of active listening in coaching, fostering curiosity, empathy, and understanding to build stronger relationships. @askforshani.bsky.social

Here we go. Let’s see what God gonna do!

Why do people join a meeting late and then take up space to tell the entire group why they are late? We don’t care. The fact that with the world on fire you showed up. Good for you. Now, be quiet.

I think I do some of my best creative work late in the midnight hour. Also—- I cannot wait to share what I was doing here in this photo. 😂😂😂 There will be a still shot that may look like I’m singing. That’s hilarious. #joy

This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. Toni Morrison

I think the narrative of DEI is often undermined because the majority of people defending and explaining the benefits are Black and queer people but in the last 50 years White women have been the largest demographic who’ve benefited from such initiatives.

Check your calendars. Call me. Email me. Bless me so I can bless you. Let's work together to make something cook. 😂😂😂

Another ancestor….💔💔💔 i hope i die warmed by the life that i tried to live Nikki Giovanni Farewell… Farewell. I know her and Uncle James are cutting up right now.

I’ve been sitting with nuance and privilege lately and on TDOR I know a lot of folx family, friend, acquaintances, foes, onlookers, etc… find trans issues hard to understand.

🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾

Pastor William got mad because I told these preachers AFTER I preached I ain’t been to seminary….. just yet. 😉😉😉 He said I learned everything I need to know about preaching I got from vacation Bible school. 😂😂😂😂😂 #CompellingPreaching #LutherSeminary #Whatisthelistenerhearing