Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
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aahrens430.bsky.social
Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
@aahrens430.bsky.social
Chaplain, PhD Christian Worship
Author: Suffering, Soul Care & Community: The Place of Lament in Corporate Worship. (Wipf & Stock, 2023), musician, teacher.

I enjoy nature, birds, music, poetry.
Pinned
“Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.”

-Mary Oliver “Messenger”
“…and an Illinois Department of Transportation employee, who is Indian, questioned if he’s aware of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at a resurfacing project in Park Ridge.”

Unbelievable. Check that. Actually, very believable from this racist administration.
US citizen Maria Greeley, a Latina who was adopted, was walking home from work downtown when masked agents zip tied her. They said she “doesn’t look like a Greeley.” This is how the government treats people under current deportation policies.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/15/l...
November 18, 2025 at 2:20 PM
“Bovino seems focused on becoming the Nathan Bedford Forrest of the Trump immigration era, complete with the blatant racism, illegal tactics, and ignominious losing place in history.”

Another hope-filled essay by @vermontgmg.bsky.social
Greg Bovino is leading a rebel cavalry terrorizing America—and it's important to recognize that it's in retreat. While the trauma and terror Bovino’s raiders instill is real and damaging, it’s remarkable to note how ineffective the force has turned out to be. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/trump-bord...
Trump, Border Patrol Retreat in Failure from Chicago
Five important lessons of the first six months of Trump’s immigration raids — and why CBP’s Greg Bovino is the Nathan Bedford Forrest of the Trump era.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
November 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
An Icy Start. -1°C just after dawn. Blackbirds.
November 18, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Stunning!!
Sunset. 3°C and a cold night to come. A Barn Owl swooping.
November 17, 2025 at 8:46 PM
“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement.”
Mary Oliver
November 17, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
Cold And Clear. 1°C at the Scottish border. Grouse. ( back in Yorkshire tomorrow)
November 17, 2025 at 12:18 PM
1,000 times yes to this.
My theology in a single sermon gesture.
November 17, 2025 at 3:06 PM
This is Trump’s legacy, the unleashing his own secret (or not-so-secret) police in America. It’s horrifying and blatantly racist.
5 headlines tonight on Charlotte Observer’s homepage:

“Manolo's Bakery closes to protect customers”

“Church members flee as federal agents arrive”

“Super G executive describes agents dragging out teen employee”

“Border Patrol questions people at Walmart”

“Border Patrol sweep sparks fear”
November 17, 2025 at 12:22 PM
“Defend slowness when it serves a purpose, silence when it speaks and difference when evocative. Beauty is not just a means of escape; it is, above all, an invocation.”
🥹
Ok honestly I got a little verklempt reading this:

deadline.com/2025/11/pope...
November 15, 2025 at 7:09 PM
“The U.S. withdrew $870 million from its account at the International Monetary Fund shortly before a similar sum appeared in Argentina’s IMF fund just in time for that country to pay an $840 million debt.”

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
November 14, 2025
In a transparent attempt to distract from the many times his own name appears in the documents from the Epstein estate members of the House Oversight Committee released Wednesday, President Donald J.
open.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
Remember Virginia.
Honor the survivors.
They were children trafficked and raped by Epstein and Maxwell.
Release the Epstein files and hold every pedophile predator accountable.
November 14, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
I simply refuse to accept that police ever have to look like this. this is just pure cosplay. it should be illegal for cops to be dressed like soldiers going to war.
November 13, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
Wet And Windy. 8°C with heavy rain. Geese
November 14, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
Muddy Tracks. 12°C after overnight rain. A lone crow.🐦‍⬛
November 13, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
November 12, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
Burns' six-part documentary uses voiceover, reenactors and drone footage to tell the story of America's founding. And it reminds viewers that the quest for a more perfect union is far from over. n.pr/4r1tHBC
Ken Burns' 'American Revolution' will make you think differently about U.S. history
Burns' six-part documentary uses voiceover, reenactors and drone footage to tell the story of America's founding. And it reminds viewers that the quest for a more perfect union is far from over.
n.pr
November 12, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Yes to this:
Welcome to another day where the failures of the dominant system are apparent & existentially threatening but the infrastructure of life sustaining societies is fragile or yet to be created. Keeping building anyway. And give yourself some grace for the contradictions inherent in this stage of things
November 12, 2025 at 6:07 PM
1,000 times yes to this.
There are few things more disgusting and perverse in the world than jingoistic military fetishism, but to engage in it so blatantly on a day that's supposed to celebrate the end of war, honoring men and women who lived its horrors, by a serial Vietnam draft dodger, takes it to a whole new level
Trump: "Beautiful B2 bombers. Aren't they beautiful now? We respect them so much. What a job they did. That in an instant completely obliterated Iran's nuclear capability, of which we've just ordered -- I have to say -- many more of the updated versions of that incredible piece of art."
November 11, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
After The Rain. 14°C and soggy underfoot. Fieldfare.
November 11, 2025 at 3:08 PM
“Every year we have been witness to it:
how the world descends

into a rich mash, in order that
it may resume.”
-Mary Oliver

(This magnificent Sugar Maple near where I live never fails to dazzle in the Fall.)
November 11, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
Autumn colours in full swing by the Glendalough lakes for #ThickTrunkTuesday.

#Hiking #Photography #Trees #Forest #EastCoastKin #Ireland
November 11, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
CARTOON OF THE DAY

(From @deadder.bsky.social )
November 3, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
It’s the same old same old. Republicans do a tantrum and break the dishes. The Democrats clean it up. It’s an abusive relationship.
November 10, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Reposted by Ann Ahrens 🇺🇦
What’s the worst that can happen? #healthcare
November 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
“The goal of all this is not “remaking the government in a conservative image”—it is “if you want anything, you have to ask me for it.”
November 8, 2025 at 6:06 PM