Sing Me Home

We look forward to welcoming Jonathan and Sarah Nahar to Sing Me Home this year as they share stories and reflections inspired by their peace and justice work. They will be speaking during Saturday afternoon’s Peace Camp at 4pm and will be the featured speakers during Sunday morning’s worship celebration.

Dr. Sarah Nahar (she) is a nonviolent action trainer and interspiritual theologian. An emerging expert of Excreta Infrastructure Technologies, her doctoral work centers on ecological regeneration, community cultivation, and discard studies. Previously, Sarah was a 2019 Rotary Peace Fellow and worked at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been the Executive Director of Community Peacemaker Teams, an organization committed to building partnerships to transform violence and oppression worldwide. She attended Spelman College, majoring in Comparative Women’s Studies and International Studies, minoring in Spanish. She has an MDiv from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in her hometown.

Jonathan is a Palestinian American Christian and co-founder of Christians for a Free Palestine. Jonathan was a frontline activist of Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) (formerly Christian Peacemaker Teams) Palestine project in Hebron/Al-Khalil from 2012 to 2014. After his time with CPT he completed a Master’s at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. That program included a six-month internship in Cape Town, South Africa, fighting for more just land policies. Jonathan was the Israel/Palestine Partners in Peacemaking Coordinator for Mennonite Church USA, where he facilitated the writing, passing, and implementation of the Seeking Peace in Israel and Palestine Resolution. Jonathan’s work connects the Palestinian decolonial struggle with those of other indigenous peoples and challenges theologies of domination.

We’re excited to have Hearth & Hymn join us once again alongside guitarist, Alex Belhaj, who we welcome to Sing Me Home for the first time! They will be performing Saturday, September 26 at 7:30pm.

Hearth & Hymn is a close harmony, minimalist folk project produced by songwriters, song collectors and multi-instrumentalists Samantha Cooper and Elisabeth Pixley-Fink. Beloved artists in the Michigan music scene, their masterful harmonies and seamless vocal blend capture a room. Raiding family songbooks and sharing old tunes, Hearth & Hymn reimagines old songs and pens future classics through a queer, feminist lens. The pair grew up immersed in “kitchen music” and have studied old-time music and vintage vocal traditions.

Alex Belhaj is a guitarist (teacher, performer, composer) primarily working in Traditional Jazz, Ragtime, Folk music, and original works. He is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and plays frequently in Detroit, across the Midwest, and New Orleans. Alex has played with the James Dapogny Quartet, Paul Kinger’s Easy Street Jazz Band, the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band, and guitarist Joe Summers. He currently leads the Crescent City Quartet and Quintet, and along with Erik McIntyre is a co-leader of the duo Belhaj & McIntyre. He performs frequently with Aaron Jonah Lewis’ Ragtime Banjo Revival, Pete Siers’ Kerrytown Stompers, Chris Tabaczynski’s Wolverines, and Dawn Giblin Quintet, among others.  Alex has played the New Orleans French Quarter Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Satchmo Festival, the San Diego Jazz Festival, Redwood Coast Music Festival, and the Evergreen Jazz Festival.

We're grateful to have Rhonda and Greg return to Sing Me Home! They will be participating in our Sunday morning worship celebration as well as sharing a set of their own music at 12:30pm Sunday.

Rhonda and Greg Baker are a songwriting duo from Indianapolis, Indiana. Their original music ranges from folk to blues to funk and will move both your feet and your soul. Rhonda grew up in the Church of the Brethren attending Beacon Heights in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with her family. As an adult, she and Greg became members at Northview in Indianapolis. Rhonda continues to work with the organization On Earth Peace to train folks in Kingian Nonviolence, HOPE-PV, and Non-cooperation; is leader on the COB Gun Violence Prevention Action Team; and is a leader on South/Central Indiana district Affinity Group, Brethren Building Beloved Community. Rhonda and Greg are Level I Freedom Trainers and provide leadership and music at local protests and vigils. Besides their acoustic duo, they also write and perform with their original horn band SoulShine and their corporate cover band Groove Essential.