’Til Earth Receive Her Rest
By Ken Sehested, new lyrics to “Amazing Grace,” inspired by Luke 18:9-14 Kyrie, kyrie, eleison Let mercy magnify May all my days reflect thy praise And earth and heav’n reply
Search Results for: Ken Sehested
Sacramental Operative in a Sullied World
By Ken Sehested, originally published last month at Ethics Daily, a publication of the Baptist Center for Ethics We need to recognize, and adjust in appropriate ways, to the fact that we humans maintain a perverse fascination with disaster. I’ll leave it to psychologists to explain why, precisely; but this habit is easily illustrated: From […]
The Clothier’s work
By Ken Sehested, We are free to act boldly because we are safe. We are safe because we are at rest. We are at rest because we have been forgiven. We are forgiven because we have come to know that the Spirit meets us in our weakness, not our strength. And in the strength of […]
In Praise of Ordinary Days
By Ken Sehested A meditation on Ordinary Time on the church’s liturgical calendar “He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars.”—William Blake When people of faith speak of God, and how the love of God leads to the flourishing of souls and soil alike, such language appears on the surface […]
Dad’s “Heart Shield” Bible
By Ken Sehested Pictured below is my Dad’s “Heart Shield” Bible, a copy of the New Testament on to which a metal plate front cover has been attached. The engraved cover, now smudged by corrosion, reads “May this keep you safe from harm.” It was sold by the Know Your Bible Sales Company of Cincinnati, […]
Eastertide: the Outing of the Church
By Ken Sehested (photo right with grandchildren), curator of prayerandpolitiks.org Some years ago, writing in the days leading up to Easter, I realized important though tragic anniversaries arrived in the days immediately following that Sunday. “Even before our resurrection flowers have wilted, we will be confronted again with the presence of evil. Since Easter falls […]
For What Do We Hope
By Ken Sehested (right with grandchildren), whose fluency tends toward poetic expression, in response to our 2019 question, “What is your definition of radical discipleship?” “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you: yet do it in gentleness and reverence.” —1 […]
Send me
By Ken Sehested It was a time of great turmoil in the land. The Spirit of God bypassed all the famous leaders and came to me with a dream. And I saw the Ruler of All Creation sitting on a throne, high and lofty, with majesty filling the sky as far as the eye could […]
Aftermath of the Great War’s Armistice
By Ken Sehested The Resurrection is the Beloved’s own Armistice, intimate seal on ancient covenant, when the rain’s own bow arches in the flood’s aftermath as divine reminder, animus receding by act of divine contrition: Never again. Never again.* No longer will Heaven respond with drowning contempt over earth’s profaning habit. Divine remorse calls out […]
Water of life: A baptismal prayer
By Ken & Nancy Hastings Sehested We thank you, God, for water. By it you give life to plants, Animals, and all humankind. We thank you that in the beginning your Spirit of creation moved over the face of the waters.
