The Work of Reclaiming Imagination

On December 14, 2018December 4, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

By Michael Boucher (right), from a letter to spiritual communities within Spiritus Christi Church in Rochester, NY

In our faith community, our pastoral leaders encourage people to spend 10 minutes/day in prayer/quiet with a candle, cup of coffee or tea (the beverage is not crucial but as it gets colder it kind of is!) and no distractions. While 10 minutes may not sound like much (and many of you, perhaps, already do this), it is amazing what can happen when we get more disciplined about creating intentional quiet space.

I have always loved in books when they print in the middle of a page, “This space left intentionally blank.” We might all need a bit more of that… Continue reading “The Work of Reclaiming Imagination” →

Wild Lectionary: Of Vipers and Humans

On December 13, 2018December 12, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed Discipleship2 Comments

rattle snake - Ont August, 2012.jpg — Ontario Rattlesnake by Svinda Heinrichs

Advent 3 C

Luke 3:7-18

By: Svinda Heinrichs

Predators often get a bum rap. “Brood of vipers,” John the Baptist calls the gathered crowds. Why is that such a bad thing? After all, vipers, that is, venomous snakes, just are what they are created to be, and do what they are created to do – use their poisonous venom to catch and subdue their dinner. As I am wont to say, “They’re just trying to earn a living.” Humans are right to be wary of them, but to call a group of humans a brood of vipers gives vipers a bad name! Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Of Vipers and Humans” →

Beautiful Darkness

On December 12, 2018December 11, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, UncategorizedLeave a comment

48274981_10160262108808125_7399097197708443648_n Caitlin: During the season of Advent, I have a really hard time with how we talk about darkness, equating it with sin and evil, as though darkness isn’t created by and beloved of God. Especially because of how this is used to support white supremacy. So, I am going to be sharing some reflections on how great darkness is during Advent. Feel free to add your favourite things about darkness or how you embrace it this time of year.

Advent is a season of darkness. In the darkness of night your nocturnal creation awakes. In the darkness of winter we see your creation without the harsh light of the Sun. Give us new eyes to see this world in all its beauty. Continue reading “Beautiful Darkness” →

Homily: I want the world to be wrapped in the cloak of justice

On December 11, 2018December 10, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized2 Comments

Homily by Lydia Wylie-Kellermann at Day House Catholic Worker
Second Sunday of Advent

Baruch 5:1-9
Psalm 126

My Advent has started out differently than I planned.

As I think most of you know, my dad was taken into custody for a 12-day sentence when he refused to pay a fine for an action he was part of (along with Tom Lumpkin) with the Poor People’s Campaign on May 21. They blockaded the doors of the Department of Health and Human Services in Lansing calling out the systemic racism and abuse of the poor by the very department that is supposed to support the needs of the poor. The director of DHHS is currently facing charges of manslaughter for his role in the Flint Water Crisis. And we recently learned that Child Protective Services has started following the Homrich trucks in certain neighborhoods in order to immediately remove children from their families when their water is shut off. To cry out against this injustice, Tommy Tackett and my dad have gone to jail. Continue reading “Homily: I want the world to be wrapped in the cloak of justice” →

From Downtown to the Desert: Voices from the Wilderness Call Out for Water Justice

On December 10, 2018December 9, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

By Kim Redigan, an Advent reflection on Luke 3:1-6 for the Faith Outreach Committee of the People’s Water Board (Detroit, MI)

Today’s Gospel opens with a litany of the strong and mighty – the political and religious powerbrokers of their time. Ruthless men whose cruel governance in partnership with their corrupt religious lackeys oppressed the people in a thousand different ways. A violent alliance based on greed and domination with no tolerance for resistance or rebellion.

Does this sound familiar?

Today’s political and corporate tyrants embrace the same imperial imperative – to crush and control by any means necessary. Here in Detroit, water is used as a weapon in the hands of those who have crafted a well-woven matrix of subjugation and theft that includes water shutoffs and home foreclosures as part of a violent gentrification project that has created a diaspora of displaced citizens and a web of private security and surveillance systems to keep the people in line. As in the time of Jesus, many religious leaders either look the other way or are actively complicit, sometimes profiting handsomely from a relationship based on a mutual love of money. Continue reading “From Downtown to the Desert: Voices from the Wilderness Call Out for Water Justice” →

Loving our Way through the Darkest of Days

On December 9, 2018December 9, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

From our comrades at The Wilderness Way in Portland, OR:

“When we hear, there is something being woven. And what is happening is, I am making a real effort to hear not just your words but what is coming from your other chakras, and you are demonstrably showing that you are seeking to hear what I am saying. And we are in a fluid, almost musical, state in what we are doing right now. That hearing is love.”

— Gerald Jud, Love is an Intention

December 9: Week Two’s Skill of Loving is HEARING.

HEARING: I hear what you are truly saying, not what I wish you were saying. I also speak my own truth with kindness and respect.

Invitation

This week we invite you to consciously practice HEARING (and speaking truth) as a way of loving our way through the darkest of days. Share stories, insights and discoveries in this group. Continue reading “Loving our Way through the Darkest of Days” →

The Political Reality at the Heart of the Gospel

On December 8, 2018December 3, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

By Pádraig Ó Tuama, comments on the Gospel reading for the second Sunday of Advent (reposted from Spirituality of Conflict)

Luke’s gospel is an extraordinarily political one. Over and over, the writer mentions the names of people in power, referencing their eras, areas of governance and even some of their policies.

The readings for the past two weeks have been filled with warnings about signs of the times. Now, rather than talking about signs, Luke’s gospel text drops us into the actual events, describing in detail the political landscape of the times. Even a casual acquaintance with the gospel texts brings some familiarity with the complicated dynamics of conflict in the politics of the day — names such as Herod, Pilate, Judea, Pharisees, Scribes, Samaria, Syrophonecia, Gentile, Rome, all trip off the tongue, even though our knowledge about these geographies, groups and geopolitical realities might be patchy. Continue reading “The Political Reality at the Heart of the Gospel” →

An Opportunity to Network and Be Inspired

On December 7, 2018December 4, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

Wowasake kin slolyapo wowahwala he e (“Know the power that is peace”) Diptych icon of Black Elk by Robert Two Bulls.

Come join RadicalDiscipleship.Net at the 2019 Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute in sunny Southern California Feb 18-22, 2019.

The 2019 BKI theme is “Indigenous Justice and Christian Faith: Land, Law, Language.” The week will feature a great line up of indigenous resource people, the acclaimed theater production “Discovery,” workshops, art, music and more.

Registration is now open: Registration and Accommodation Package Details

Registration includes, accommodation (most packages), all study materials and 11 meals (Mon dinner-Fri breakfast).

Early bird registration closes: Dec 16th, 2018
Registration deadline: Feb 3rd, 2019

Click on HERE for more information!!!!

World on the Scales: The Apocalyptic Season of the Church Year

On December 7, 2018December 4, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

By Ched Myers

Note: These thoughts were shared on the 26th Sunday after Pentecost at Farm Church to give context for the readings and theme of the service. They are germane to this long but informative issue of the BCM Enews.

Yesterday Elaine and I attended the memorial service for my oldest friend’s mother. She was the last of the parents of our tight-knit neighborhood group to cross over during the last year, a string that began with my mom’s passing. We gathered at the venerable old St. James Episcopal church in South Pasadena, where I was baptized as an infant. The memories shared yesterday were about the halcyon days of our little suburban community—and it was by all means a very privileged and insular context in which to grow up. But as I listened, I was mindful of the fact that actually, from puberty onward, I was a pretty alienated kid. In 1970, I was 15, a vegetarian, and already marching against the Indochina war, to the great exasperation of my father, a veteran of two wars. This was on the heels of the 60s, and my older brother was stuck in Vietnam, sending me coded antiwar letters—in Elvish script! Continue reading “World on the Scales: The Apocalyptic Season of the Church Year” →

Wild Lectionary: Word of God in the Wilderness

On December 6, 2018December 5, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

hill country of Judea.jpg — Photo Credit: Hill Country of Judea by Ferrell Jenkins

Advent 2C

Luke 3.1-6

By Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson

Just as the CNN and MSNBC cameras turn their lenses to the president and his people, God’s Word comes to an obscure group of folk whose hope is elsewhere.

We who read the pages of Radical Discipleship hardly need to be told that our hope is not in Trump or the Democratic Party or any of the professional purveyors of the imperial status quo. So it is not surprising to us to hear that in Luke’s time, the Word of God was heard not in Rome or Judea or elsewhere in the corridors of worldly power but in the wilderness.

Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Word of God in the Wilderness” →