Wilderness Times

Wilderness Times is a partnership between Broadview and Bri-anne Swan. The world feels messy. Wilderness Times leans into that mess with both faith and curiosity. It’s about learning to navigate uncertainty and remembering that the wilderness can be a place of holy transformation. --- Hi! I'm Bri-anne Swan, a diaconal minister with the United Church of Canada, serving East End United Regional Ministry in Toronto. I am also a singer-songwriter, a digital media creator, and a cook who should never be trusted with anything that requires timing. Much of my work circles the death penalty as it’s practiced in the United States since it is such an extreme example of how easily those in positions of power scapegoat the ones who reveal our institutional failures. That thread runs through a lot of the words she stitches together. Who is being forgotten? Who benefits? How does God call us to respond? Wilderness Times is co-created with Broadview, an award-winning Canadian publication known for thoughtful journalism that attends to spirituality, justice, and the questions that tug at our collective conscience. Broadview is a registered charity and has made this Substack and Podcast freely available because we believe that thoughtful, justice-seeking journalism should be accessible to everyone. Creating this space—and keeping it free—takes time, skill and resources. If this space nourishes you, please make a tax-deductible donation. Your support empowers Broadview to tell more courageous stories and helps build a more just and compassionate world.