By Ken Sehested We have a lot of competition for our attention these days. I urge you to give a little space for this matter, which is unfolding right now in Congress. “Any time there is a crisis and Washington is in the middle of it is an opportunity for guys like me.” —industry lobbyist […]
By Ken Sehested, borrowing from St. Augustine and Isaiah 55:12 Return to your heart, O you transgressors, and hold fast to the One who made you. Stand with the Beloved and your footing shall be firm. Rest in the Merciful One and you shalt be buoyed. Where do you go along these rugged paths, pilgrim, […]
By Ken Sehested Obscured brother consigned to the margins of Incarnation narrative. Carpentry-calloused hands now shield the shame of sagging face, drooping, disgraced. Chiseled lines prematurely sculpting age in youthful countenance. Thoughts of Mary smudge the heart as tears smear the face. Mary. Beloved. Betrothed. Betrayed? Mary. With child. Whose? How, and why? Joseph, companion […]
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
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
