From the David Wilcox song “Deeper Still” (2000):
In this life, the love you give becomes the only lasting treasure.
And what you lose will be what you win,
A well that echoes down too deep to measure.
Category: Art as Resistance
For Berrigan
By Ric Hudgens
When pundit choirs
sing for blood
when hatred fills
our morning hymns
when court chaplains
intone murder
when tithing
funds annihilation
the prophet
is the one
the prophet
is the one
the prophet
is the one
who interferes.
Glory to God.
Requiescat in pace.
Daniel Joseph Berrigan, S.J. (May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016)
*Photo: Rose Marie Berger
Radical Book Recommendations
Nichola Torbett of Oakland’s Seminary of the Street recently posted this great question:
Radical Christian friends, what books do you recommend that do deep exegesis of Matthew and Luke of the sort that Ched Myers has done on Mark and Wes Howard-Brook has done with John? And actually, while I have your attention, what are your indispensable go-to books for radical Christian inspiration?
Here are some of the responses: Continue reading “Radical Book Recommendations”
revolutionary poets
By revolutionary poets
peel poems
from the scabs
of our existence
clenched tightly
between gums
worn from resistance
we barely exist
through the pain
in our stories
yet embody
the wisdom
of Ancestors
before us
Practice Resurrection
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
By Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know. Continue reading “Practice Resurrection”
Bread of Life
A mural from artist James Janknegt, painted for Christ the Reconciler retreat center in Elgin, TX:
Palm Sunday: Puppets and Peace Parades
By Bert Newton, Pasadena Mennonite Church
This year in Pasadena, Calif., we will hold our 14th annual Palm Sunday Peace Parade. Every year has a different theme. This year our theme is “Peace without Borders; Welcoming the Refugee.” Last year we called attention to the ecological crisis as well as to police shootings of unarmed black people. The year before that we addressed economic injustice and consumerism that drives war. We created a 12 foot Lady Wisdom puppet and a smaller Mammon puppet who rode a coach called “The Excess Express.” You can watch the struggle between Lady Wisdom and Mammon here. Continue reading “Palm Sunday: Puppets and Peace Parades”
Trees
Artist unknown.
A Lenten Letter to Tom Fox on the 10th anniversary of his death
By Tim Nafziger, a reservist with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) living in London at the time of the kidnapping of four CPTers: Harmeet Singh Sooden, Norman Kember, Jim Loney and Tom Fox. For more background on Tom Fox’s story and his work with CPT see Pearl Hoover’s excellent essay The Sermon on the Mount in the Life and Death of Tom Fox.
———————
Dear Tom,
On Christmas Day, 2004,
weeks after Margaret was kidnapped and killed
you wrote about an image that came to you: Continue reading “A Lenten Letter to Tom Fox on the 10th anniversary of his death”
Threatened With Resurrection
From Guatemalan poet Julia Esquivel:
It is something within us that doesn’t let us sleep,
that doesn’t let us rest,
that won’t stop pounding
deep inside…
…because in this marathon of Hope,
there are always others to relieve us
who carry the strength
to reach the finish line
which lies beyond death. Continue reading “Threatened With Resurrection”
Radical Discipleship 