Brehm News
Updates about Brehm, staffing, programs, grant work, and more.
A note for Lent 2025
A note to make the Lent/Ash Wednesday season of 2025, written by executive director of The Brehm Center, Shannon Sigler.
Christ in the Garden at Gethsemane, Arkhyp Kuindzhi, 1901
As I sat at a stoplight taking my son to school this morning, I suddenly had a random sense of disorientation. After a moment’s consideration, I realized that the sun was brightly shining on us.
At nearly the same time, Eli and I looked at one another and commented on how strange the brightness seemed. We had come out of a weeks-long period of rain and darkness in Seattle, now experiencing what the locals like to call “false spring.”
At least for me, this dark period had lulled me into an apathy–not just about the weather – but about all the difficult things going on in the world right now. My sensitive personality can become easily overwhelmed by news of war, injustice, poverty, abuses of power, environmental degradation, devaluing of the arts and beauty, and so much more. I know I am not alone.
I can only take the news in teaspoons, if at all. As I sat in the surprise sunlight this morning it occurred to me that this induced apathy may not be a faithful posture for a Christ-follower.
Ephesians 5:14 tells us: “Wake up, sleeper! And rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” We also see the exhortation to stay awake in Jesus’ parable about the bridesmaids waiting on the bridegroom, keeping oil in their lamps; and then ultimately when Jesus asks the disciples to stay awake with him as he labors in prayer at Gethsemane.
Interestingly, the name “Gethsemane” means oil press in Hebrew – the same oil that people would have used in their lamps. So in each text, we have an encouragement to stay awake, followed by an illumination.
This promise of illumination offers us hope that when we are facing a broken world with intention and not apathy, Christ will shine on us. Christ’s light is not fickle like Seattle’s fake spring, but steadfast, and the darkness will not overcome it.
As we journey together into Lent, I invite you to open your eyes. Wake up, and allow the Light of hope and justice and love to fill your heart and mind. As we walk with Jesus to the cross, we can invite the Holy Spirit to help us stay awake with him. Give us oil for our lamps, Lord.
Grace and peace to all of you who have deep feelings and vast hearts. Christ will shine on you.
Awake with you,
Shannon Sigler
Executive Director
The Brehm Center
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P.S. - Experience this short yet meaningful meditation made from our friends at Fuller STUDIO in the video below.
Brehm Center’s Response to the Los Angeles Wildfires
“As we watch entire lives collapse, art may seem like a strange offering, but sometimes the voices of others give us words when we have no words.” Read Brehm Center’s response to the Los Angeles wildfires.
Dear Brehm Friends,
We are grieving with those on our own team and in the broader Fuller community who have had to evacuate or have had greater losses in the Los Angeles fires.
Our office on the Fuller campus is just a stone’s throw away from multiple fires, and we know this crisis will deeply change the lives of so many, and affect the work that we do to serve artists and ministry leaders in California and beyond. We pray that those of you who are local have found safety, and that your homes have been spared.
As we watch entire lives collapse, art may seem like a strange offering, but sometimes the voices of others give us words when we have no words. Sometimes we are paralyzed and don’t know what to do. Poet Luci Shaw, in a period of grief in her life, wrote this simple poem.
What I Needed to Do
I made for grief a leaden bowl
and drank it, every drop.
And though I thought I’d downed it all
the hurting didn’t stop.
I made of hope a golden sieve
to drain my world of pain.
Though I was sure I’d bled it dry
the void filled up again.
I made of words a silver fork
and stabbed love in the heart,
and when I found the sweetness gone
I chewed it into art.
—
I’ve found myself thinking, “What is needed to do?” What good is the mission of the Brehm Center in the midst of so much tragedy in our own local community? How do worship and the arts matter now, with such great loss? Do we make a bowl for grief, or offer a sieve for hope - which feels quite impossible right now?
So now, we offer simple words. Poetry.
The Psalms are perhaps our greatest resource for spirit-guided poetry. Last night I found myself meditating on Psalm 46:
Psalm 46
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
—
Within your own capacities, we urge you to help where you can:
The LA Art World Fire Relief GoFundMe is supporting artists affected by the wildfires.
The Los Angeles Food Bank is taking donations to provide meals for displaced victims.
The Pasadena Humane Society is taking donations to support displaced animals.
Our initative, Imagining Worship with Kids, have a lyric music video for you and your children who may want to process and pray.
If you or someone you know in the Brehm community has been affected by this natural disaster, Fuller Seminary has a list of resources that students and faculty can contribute to or use.
Finally, if you know someone, or you yourself need resources to process trauma, Fuller’s Thrive Center offers many free resources, including this interview with our very own Dr. Pam King and Dr. Cynthia Eriksson discussing psychological tools for resilience and recovery.
With you in grief and hope,
Shannon Sigler
Executive Director, Brehm Center
A Giving Tuesday Letter for Advent 2024
A Giving Tuesday letter for the beginning of the Advent season from Brehm Center executive director Shannon Sigler.
Friend of Brehm,
One of my favorite depictions of Mary’s visit with Elizabeth is by the French symbolist painter, Odilon Redon, titled “Mystical Conversation,” as seen in the picture above.
The piece is rife with whimsical marks as it shows the two women elevated in some sort of ethereal pavilion. We know that the women are cousins and that God has worked miracles in both of their lives, blessing them with pregnancies defying all odds.
The biblical text doesn’t record much about their conversation, but we do get Mary’s Song, known throughout history as the Magnificat — a song of praise to God (Luke 1: 46-55). A song of wonder and mercy. And a song calling for justice. It seems that the Holy Spirit overcame them both, elevating their cousin-conversation to a cosmic, mystical prophecy for the restoration of all things.
Perhaps the reason that I like Redon’s visual interpretation is that he captures so well the beauty, depth, and cosmic expansiveness of the coming Emmanuel, God with Us—the one who will make all things new. Mary and Elizabeth are having an intimate, human conversation, but their conversation has been elevated throughout the history of the church.
Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
—
As we enter the Advent season, waiting not just for the coming baby Jesus, but for the return of our Christ and his restoration of all things, I encourage you to spend some time with Mary’s Song. Meditate on Redon’s artwork or other depictions of their visit; there are many great ones! Or try using a guide to viewing art with the help of the Holy Spirit (Visio Divina).
We are so grateful that you are a part of our community, and pray your journey to Christmas is filled with light and creativity.
If you’d like to support artists and ministry leaders in our many programs and courses, please do so using the button below. Gifts large or small help us offer scholarships and create new opportunities for those we serve, including you!
May our souls magnify the Lord as we wait for our Christ,
Shannon Sigler
Executive Director
The Brehm Center