15th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 17(22)B
Song of Solomon
By Cheryl Bear
he said, oh lovely one
follow my deep, ancient footprints
you will find me
you will track me until i catch you
i will always stand up for you
you remind me of a spirited young appaloosa
no fence can hold you
you’re blinding, dazzling
like trying to look at a river
flashing with sunlight Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: No Fence Can Hold”
A Review of Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization
(Edited by Steve Heinrichs)
By Jen Galicinski
A timely, poetic, and prophetic new anthology titled Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization has recently been published by the Mennonite Church of Canada and will be re-published by Orbis Books in February 2019. It was edited by Steve Heinrichs, the Director of Indigenous-Settler Relations for the Mennonite Church of Canada and one of the several faith leaders who was recently arrested and spent time in prison for protesting the Trans-Mountain pipeline in Burnaby, B.C. in solidarity with the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
For Heinrichs, it was working on the book that deepened his profound belief that we must truly listen to the voices of Indigenous peoples, who have been suffering, alongside their wounded land, since contact with European Christian settlers. He is committed to following The Crucified One by acting in solidarity with crucified peoples, following their leadership towards self-governance and sovereignty over their own lands. Continue reading “Liberating the Bible from the Hands of the Colonizers”
Lord of the harvest, Grain-sower, Bread-giver, Life-sustainer:
We are astounded by your bounteous love, filled to the brim
with good things. You give us enough, and then some!
Bread of Life, we love You. Though You were pounded down,
You rose up again, broken so all may be fed.
Breath of Heaven, Spirit of All-Things-New,
with You, we are carried through the fire and we rise up,
we rise up again! So we praise Your name, Holy Trinity of Love.
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 16 (21) B
Psalm 84:1-3
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
By Celina Medrano-Miller
As I write this, I sit on the earth, of the traditional and ancestral territory of the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam Nations.
I was born on this unceded territory, under the name for the new city which was built, called Vancouver.
My parents both migrated here separately… Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Nature as Divine Dwelling Place”
By Marcia Lee, Detroit, MI
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.
Albert Einstein.
Time in its measurements of hours, minutes, days, and years is a human construct that we have created to make order in our lives. (Think of how many different calendars there are in different parts of the world and terms we use like people of color time, Asian time, etc.). We want a certain level of structure and having time to measure events allows us to have something outside of ourselves, a ‘science’ if you will, to give purpose and stability to our decisions. This is how people come to say things like, “If only I had the time,’ or ‘there are not enough hours in a day.’ This, I call ‘human time.’ Continue reading “time(lessness)”
God, did you see the news today?
We’re killing one another.
We’re killing in places killing has gone on so long we don’t know how to stop…
We’re killing next door.
We’re killing one another. Continue reading “God, did you see the news today?”
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Proper 15(20)B
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
By the Reverend Doctor Victoria Marie
There is a disconnect between my Roman Catholic tradition’s interpretation of today’s gospel and an interpretation that would be more indicative of the inclusive holistic teachings of Jesus. I think the second reading from Ephesians gives us an insight to the gospel, including today’s passage. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Be Careful How You Live”
By Nancy Sehested
Holy Light,
We stand somewhere in the shadows, in-between the battlefield of our struggles and the sanctuary of our souls.
Shed a little light on our way. Keep your lighted sanctuary within us portable, able to see clearly, to walk courageously, to withstand the forces that corrupt the truth of our belonging to your one world-wide family. Continue reading “Holy Light”
Proper 14B
August 12, 2018
John 6.41-51
By Wes Howard Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (Jesus, John 6.51)
As we enter this shocking passage from John’s gospel, it might not seem at first very “wild” or earthy in the tradition of “Wild Lectionary.” Metaphorical bread from the sky hardly seems connected with the flowing life of rivers, forests and animals that is the focus of this series. Yet as we listen closely to the imagery of this Gospel, we may be surprised to find that Jesus’ Word about “bread” is more earthy than it appears at first glance. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Fleshy Bread”
By Ken Sehested
“For Jesus, there are
no countries to be conquered,
no ideologies to be imposed,
no people to be dominated.
There are only children,
women and men to be loved.”
—Henri Nouwen
Yes. This. Of course. No doubt about it.
I stake everything on this claim. Continue reading “Joy’s ascendance, This stuff could get you in trouble”
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