By Ken Sehested, the curator of Prayer & Politiks Given the quivering state of our body politic, assailed from every side, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how to sustain hope by way of persevering toil. As Daniel Berrigan once noted, the struggle for justice, the pursuit of peace, the advocacy of human rights …
By Ken Sehested As I pulled out of our driveway, the NPR radio host said that the jury in the Derek Chauvin murder trial had reached a verdict and would be announced shortly. I immediately felt my stomach tighten and swallowed an inhaled “oh no.” Like most, I thought the evidence against him in the …
By Ken Sehested This past Sunday one of our members, Stan Wilson, offered the “call to the table” in our congregation’s zoom worship screen-gathering. He led with a suggestion that was equivalent, in my hearing, to a thunderclap. “How about for Lent this year we give up Donald Trump?” It was a table invitation (we …
By Ken Sehested “If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.” —Psalm 139:8 Blessed One, whose name we dare not speak, but of whosePresence we dare not remain silent, we stand before youwith hearts in shreds and hands frozen. We know that we creatures were made for praise andthanksgiving. We recognize that gratitude …
Continue reading Lamentation to Adulation: Every Psalmist’s Perilous Journey
By Ken Sehested Admiring Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream is not the same as being captured by it. Too many find it possible to respect the man but relinquish the mission. It has become too easy to revere the dreamer but renege on the dream. So let us now recall the deep roots of that …
By Ken Sehested Kindred, the news is bleak. For we live in the valley of the shadow, when: the stock market reaches record-breaking levels in the midst of near-record-breaking rates of unemployment; when 1% of US citizens control $30 trillion of assets while the bottom half is saddled with more debts than assets; when the …
By Ken Sehested I will likely be considered antiquated, maybe maniacal, even apoplectic when I say we in the US (with derivative outbreaks elsewhere) are under the spell of the demonic, of those who worship death’s malicious craving, specifically the sacrificial scalp of dissenters, of those who do not genuflect in its presence, of any …
Continue reading You Corrupted Wisdom for the Sake of Splendor
By Ken Sehested Almost every breakthrough begins with a breakdown. Goodness is not thereby assured; then again, neither is our breath, day by day. We hope to be effective; but our perseverance is not hitched to efficacy. We insert ourselves, compassionately and intelligently, because that’s who we are. (Or at least who we are becoming.)
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, …
Radical Discipleship 