Category: Art as Resistance

Another Word is in the Wind: A Psalm of Complaint and Avowal

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Subverting Empire1 Comment

prayer and politiksBy Ken Sehested, the curator of Prayer & Politiks

Have mercy upon us, O Lord.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
—Psalm 123:3-4

In the end, if we are left to our own devices—to our
own amalgam of brains and brawn, of ingenuity and
charisma, sleight of hand and strength of arm, in
mobilizing sufficient force to bend the will of others
to our own, in accordance to self-ordained vision
masquerading as fate’s foreordained history—then
nothing is forbidden. All authority is subsumed in
the will to power. Continue reading “Another Word is in the Wind: A Psalm of Complaint and Avowal” →

Don’t Forget to Feed the Loas

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Race1 Comment

The Light of the WorldFrom Elizabeth Alexander’s grief memoir The Light of the World (2015). This is the conclusion of the final lecture she gave to her “African American Art Today” class, just one week after the sudden death of her husband:

“Don’t forget to feed the loas” serves as an entreaty or opening salvo and refrain in Ishmael Reed’s great novel Mumbo Jumbo. The phrase articulates the imperative to remember to honor the deity-like ancestral forces that guide us through our contemporary lives. The offerings on their altars may be fruit or flowers, chicken or wine; when taken metaphorically, offerings may also be found in the form of art and the calling of names that honors our dead and keeps them near… Continue reading “Don’t Forget to Feed the Loas” →

Harsh and Dreadful Thing

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, UncategorizedLeave a comment

8117HB7WbvLFor love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labor and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science. But I predict that just when you see with horror that in spite of all your efforts you are getting further from your goal instead of nearer to it – at that very moment I predict that you will reach it and behold clearly the miraculous power of the Lord who has been all the time loving and mysteriously guiding you.

– The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky

To Get There

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, UncategorizedLeave a comment
Mike Smith
Photo: Michael Smith 

By Ric Hudgens

There was that moment
when all of us
wanted to give up
walk away
leave
without a forwarding number
until we remembered
the place we would run to
was the place
we’ve been working towards
that we only see
when all of us
dream together
so we turned around
climbing back down
into the mud
returning to work
building this bridge
that one day
some one
will be able to cross
to get there.

Naming

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, UncategorizedLeave a comment

index“I think your mythology would call them fallen angels. War and hate are their business, and one of their chief weapons is un-Naming – making people not know who they are. If someone knows who he is, really knows, then he doesn’t need to hate. That’s why we still need Namers, because there are places throughout the universe like your planet Earth. When everyone is really and truly Named, then the Echthroi will be vanquished.”

― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wind in the Door

Discipulado de la Cuenca

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Theological Animation, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

JoLo, GreyReyThe following is the first page of a new primer on Watershed Discipleship that has just been translated into Spanish and published by the Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana in Costa Rica. Josh and Grecia Lopez-Reyes (right) are in San Jose, CR today making a presentation at a public event debuting this publication. The booklet will soon be available through www.ChedMyers.org and https://watersheddiscipleship.org/espanol/.

Discipulado de la cuenca*: Una introducción a la fe y la práctica biorregionales

By Ched Myers

Resumen. Este manual básico introduce y explora el discipulado de la cuenca (drenaje natural), un nuevo (y antiguo) paradigma para la teología y la práctica ecológicas que, en mi opinión, es la clave para hacer frente a una nueva (y antigua) crisis que enfrenta la civilización humana.1 Este enfoque es radical en su crítica de los paradigmas políticos, económicos y culturales predominantes, es contextual en su práctica, y es constructivo en sus propuestas alternativas. Continue reading “Discipulado de la Cuenca” →

To Step Back & Let New People Direct the Conversation

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

AidenAn announcement from our comrade up north Aiden Enns (right) of Geez Magazine:

After much reflection and in close conversation with the board of directors, I’ve decided that now is a good time for me to retire from my
post as editor of Geez magazine. I plan to make the Winter 2017 edition my 48th and final issue.

Geez magazine started 12 years ago under the tagline, “holy mischief in
an age of fast faith” in order to poke and prod at the pitfalls of
mainstream religion. Continue reading “To Step Back & Let New People Direct the Conversation” →

I Wish the Ring Had Never Come to Me

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Uncategorized1 Comment

Frodo: It’s a pity Bilbo didn’t kill him when he had the chance.

Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.

  • The Fellowship of the Ring

An Ode to Frodo and Team Middle Earth: Gratitudes and Reflections On a Beloved Tale, in honor of those engaged in the struggle for “Middle Earth”

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance1 Comment

18451590_10212829369908513_6895391242480893518_oBy Lindsay Airey, LMFT (right: with her nephew Mason)

I didn’t choose for Frodo and Team Middle Earth to accompany me through pivotal points in my 20’s, nor to keep being a source of life-saving balm throughout my 30’s. I didn’t choose them to weave a deep bond between myself and other devoted followers of their epic struggle. I didn’t choose them to hold me through multiple seasons of disorienting grief, nor whisper to my deepest hopes, dreams, sorrows and visions of Beloved Community. I didn’t choose them to challenge and inspire me out of dark valleys of despair or numbing ancestral, cultural and imperial demons of depression, nor to rearrange my notions of power, success, and happiness. Continue reading “An Ode to Frodo and Team Middle Earth: Gratitudes and Reflections On a Beloved Tale, in honor of those engaged in the struggle for “Middle Earth”” →