Practicing Repair in a Fractured World
Last call to gather with a group of interfaith peacemakers at Interfaith REPAIR on March 6th
What Do We Do With All This Fracture?
I’ve been sitting with this question a lot lately.
I’ve been writing about tears and hopelessness. The fear that peacemaking is naive. The difficult challenges of balancing outrage and peacemaking.
These concerns aren’t abstract thoughts or philosophical inquiries. They’re rooted the very ordinary, very human places where fracture shows up: a conversation that goes sideways at dinner, a relationship that feels brittle, a community that no longer knows how to disagree without breaking something precious.
Across my life—as a mediator, a teacher, a person of faith—I’ve noticed something quietly hopeful: when things fall apart, people almost always go looking for tools of repair. They aren’t looking for them to “win,” nor to dominate, but to stay connected to communities that are meaningful to them. To remain in relationship and find a way forward that doesn’t require erasing difference or ourselves.
And here’s the thing we often forget: our faith traditions—all of them—have been carrying these tools for centuries. Long before conflict resolution was a field. Before mindfulness was a buzzword. Before we had language for trauma, polarization, or deconstruction. Faith traditions were teaching us how to navigate conflict.
They’ve been there all along. In stories. In rituals. In practices passed down by people who knew what it meant to live through rupture—and still choose connection.
That’s the heart behind our gathering of peacemakers at Interfaith REPAIR on Friday March 6th.
This isn’t a gathering where you sit and take notes, debate about whose theology is right, nor a space that requires you to believe anything in particular. It’s a day set aside to practice something many of us are aching for: learning across difference—with curiosity, humility, and courage.
One of my favorite moments from past gatherings like this is watching people intentionally step into a workshop outside their own tradition. Someone raised Christian learning from a rabbi about sacred disagreement. A secular activist discovering Buddhist practices of compassion. A lifelong believer sitting with doubt—not as a failure, but as a teacher.
What happens in those rooms is rarely flashy. It’s quieter than that. But it’s real. People soften. They listen differently. They leave with language and practices they can actually use—at home, at work, in the places where conflict isn’t theoretical but deeply personal.
And maybe more importantly we do the one thing polarization invites us not to do: we gather, intentionally across difference, and lean into that difference, not away from it. In a world that feels increasingly loud, reactive, and brittle, choosing to spend a full day practicing repair is a countercultural act.
It says: I want to stay human.
It says: I want better tools.
It says: I don’t want to give up on relationship.
We’re about a week out now. The room is nearly full. And I can feel that familiar mix of gratitude and anticipation—the sense that something meaningful is about to happen because people said yes to showing up.
If you’ve been feeling tired of the noise.
If you’re hungry for depth instead of hot takes.
If you want to learn from wisdom that didn’t start on social media.
If you’re curious—not certain, just curious.
There may still be a seat for you.
Not because we need more bodies in a room.
But because these kinds of spaces only work when enough of us decide that repair—within ourselves, between one another, and across traditions—is worth our time.
I hope you’ll consider joining us.
When: Friday, March 6, 9 AM - 5 PM MT
Where: First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City, 12 C St E, Salt Lake City, 84103
Check out the schedule, workshop descriptions and facilitators’ bios below!
FULL SCHEDULE: Friday March 6, 2026
8:30 AM – Arrive for check-in
9:00 AM – Opening remarks with Chad Ford & Patrick Mason
9:30–12:30 – Morning workshop of choice (three hours)
12:30–1:30 – Lunch* & Peacemaker Mingle
1:30–4:30 – Afternoon workshop of choice (three hours)
4:30–5:00 – Closing remarks with Ravi Gupta
*Lunch is included with ticket purchase.
Tickets cost $100 and are for full-day participation; event access includes one morning workshop, one afternoon workshop, and lunch.
Space is limited to just 250 tickets!
FEATURED WORKSHOPS
“Repairing Our Relationship with the Living World”
Indigenous and faith based approaches to religious ecology with David Whippy
Workshop Description: Environmental harm points to broken relationships—with the land, within and between communities, and with the sacred responsibility many of our faith traditions teach. In this interactive workshop, David will lead a discussion on Religious Ecology as a faith-related human practice of repair and reconciliation.Through reflection, small-group dialogue, and brief shared insights, you will explore how different faiths understand responsibility, stewardship, and care for the Earth. Together, we will listen across differences, hold space for accountability and hope, and consider how repairing the world includes healing our relationship with the living systems that sustain us.
NEARLY SOLD OUT! “Cultivating Inner Peace of Mind through the Compassionate Heart”
Early Buddhist principles of peacemaking and mindfulness with Sam Akers
Workshop Description: Sam will lead participants in heart forward mindfulness practices, small group dialogues and gentle movement all through the lens of the friendly, kind and compassionate heart of Metta. Metta, the Pali word for friendship or kindness, is for all beings, without exception, including ourselves. Here, you’ll explore how having an open heart naturally supports healing and inner peace.
NEARLY SOLD OUT “Kirtan Immersion: Peacemaking through Music and Mantra”
Hindu ritual of inner and communal transformation through music & mantra with Ravi Gupta & family
Workshop Description: Kirtan is an ancient practice from India that aligns our body and mind through music and mantra. Participants in this workshop will explore the power of devotional music to create pathways of peace within ourselves and in community with others. We will learn techniques of mantra meditation as we immerse ourselves in sacred sound. No prior experience with kirtan needed.
“Forgiveness: the Power and Freedom of Letting Go”
Forgiveness perspectives from the Christian tradition with Reverend Jamie White, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City
Workshop Description: Do you feel stuck by what’s happened to you? Or something you’ve done? Not sure how to let go of your bitterness? Tired of carrying around resentment? This workshop is designed to help us process our pain, release resentment, and move towards healing as we choose forgiveness. We’ll draw from both spiritual resources and therapeutic skills-based practices to offer a variety of tools to move beyond what’s happened to us and toward freedom. Bring your grudges!
NEARLY SOLD OUT! “When Faith Falls Apart: Moving through Doubt and Deconstruction to the Other Side”
Faith de-/reconstruction with Reverend Jamie White and husband Dave White
Workshop Description: Questioning and critiquing religious belief isn’t really a new idea, even if ‘deconstruction’ language has gone mainstream. People have—always and everywhere—doubted and questioned their religious traditions; a natural, healthy, and necessary factor in spiritual growth. But what happens when those questions threaten to unravel everything we used to hold sacred, including relationships with loved ones who may not understand? Even more there can be often an impulse to toss out all our beliefs, like ‘the baby with the bathwater’, in our attempt to live authentically and freely. But what happens after this messy and painful season, when we discover that we still hunger for God and may want to reevaluate a life of faith? Reverend Jamie White and her husband Dave will co-host this workshop that focuses on moving through deconstruction with grace for ourselves and those we love, offers resources and practices for spiritual healing, and explores what reconstruction might look like on the other side.
NEARLY SOLD OUT! “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: How Disagreement and Confrontation can be Holy Experiences”
Jewish frameworks for sacred disagreement with Rabbi Sam Spector, Kol Ami
Workshop Description: Rabbi Spector shares how confrontation and disagreements can lead to growth and understanding and create sacredness in your communities. We will see examples from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Talmud that show how we can hold strong differences in view and yet still maintain respect and understanding. Through finding dignity in differences, we can create communities and societies that are safe and thoughtful despite lacking consensus.
NEARLY SOLD OUT! “The Core Elements of Reconciliation Practice”
Exploring the core elements of reconciliation with James Patton, Quaker Peacemaker
Workshop Description: Whether between individuals or communities, reconciling a relationship damaged by harm is a challenge that often involves unpacking convoluted motives, perceptions of history, abiding pain, anger, and fear, and complex justifications for destructive behaviors. While each situation will be different, and deeply marked by individual experiences, some basic and principles apply across reconciliation efforts, such as addressing the past, confronting perceptions of the other, and seeking to transition beyond acts of harm—including the delicate nuances of dialogue, restitution, and pardon. This workshop explores the ideas and practices of reconciliation, with the objective of moving a broken relationship towards a less broken one.
NEARLY SOLD OUT! “Families Can Be Together Forever – But What About Today?”
Navigating the paradoxes of committed relationships with Wendy Ulrich, PhD, MBA, author | Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Workshop Description: The possibility of eternal marriage and family is a fundamental doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, the prospect of an eternal relationship sounds like anything but heaven when we can hardly get through dinner together today. This workshop will explore the stages of long-term committed relationships—in families and even with God—then suggest tools for navigating relationship paradoxes that call for both individual flourishing and committed connection, both fixing problems and tolerating them, and both holding on and letting go. Bring your current relationship challenge or fear and let’s see if we can move the needle toward peace, hope, and flourishing—whether or not we believe in forever.