Sermon: Imprisoned by Hope

On July 14, 2017July 13, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized2 Comments

By Joanna Shenk, First Mennonite Church of San Francisco

I had a hard time getting out of bed yesterday morning. I was feeling the weight of a lot of things and wondered if it was futile and disingenuous to write a sermon that offered hope. I wasn’t feeling hopeful. I was feeling more like the title to the most recent Metallica album, “Hardwired… to Self-Destruct.” The bad guys keep winning. Vulnerable people are endlessly oppressed. And it seems like so many people don’t even have a moral consciousness to appeal to.

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Wild Lectionary: The Good Seed

On July 13, 2017July 11, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

Sole Food pic — Photo credit: Kelsey Brick

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 10 (15)
Ps. 65:9-13; Is. 55:10-13; Mt. 13:1-9, 18-23

By Jason Wood

Seeds, seeds, seeds.

Three of six of the appointed texts for today talk about them. The Psalmist refers to seeds implicitly, praising YHWH as the source of life-giving rains, fertile fields, and abundant harvests. Isaiah meditates upon seeds as the inevitable byproduct of the rain watering the earth, assuring his audience that, in the same way, God’s word is fruitful and effective. And Matthew relates one of Jesus’ most well-known parables, one of broad-scattered seed, thwarted growth, and stunningly rich production from the few that fall on good soil. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: The Good Seed” →

Press Release: US Peace Delegation: “Nuclear Weapons Out of Germany.”

On July 11, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Just Peacemaking, UncategorizedLeave a comment

For the first time in a long-standing campaign to remove US nuclear weapons from Germany, a delegation of US peace activists will participate in protests at the Büchel Air Base, in west-central Germany, July 12 to 18, demanding the withdrawal of the last 20 US H-bombs still deployed there. Notable among the 11-person delegation are seven participants who have served a combined total of 36 years in US jails and prisons for protest actions taken against nuclear weapons programs and the war system. Continue reading “Press Release: US Peace Delegation: “Nuclear Weapons Out of Germany.”” →

A book

On July 8, 2017June 28, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.

Madeleine L’Engle

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Pipeline Resistance

On July 7, 2017July 1, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Sabbath Economics, Subverting Empire, UncategorizedLeave a comment

This Sunday in Lancaster (PA). Stand with the Sisters!

stand with the sisters

Wild Lectionary: Seeking at the Essence

On July 6, 2017July 1, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

Screen shot 2011-04-02 at 11.49.13 AM — Women at the well in Akot, South Sudan

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 9 (14)

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

By Judith Doll

Water – the essence of life. It is absolutely necessary for all living things to survive and has been since the beginning of time.

Water – Where does it come from? From the rain, falling from the heavens; from the streams, the rivers, the lakes, the ocean, and the rivers under the earth accessible by wells. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Seeking at the Essence” →

White Supremacy (Overt & Covert)

On July 5, 2017August 20, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Uncategorized233 Comments

A helpful visual on race floating around social media (Source: Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence (2005) “Building a Multi-Ethnic, Inclusive & Antiracist Organization-Tools for Liberation Packet for Anti-Racist Activists, Allies, & Critical Thinkers”):

White Supremacy Visual

Wild Lectionary: Reintegrating God in Everything

On July 4, 2017June 28, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

By Naim Edwards

(This post is a Bonus Wild Lectionary Reflection from the readings a month ago)

The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. Acts 17:24-25

Clifton and Vanessa named me Naim Kenyatta. We are the descendants of Black West Africans (and an Irishmen or two) taken from their homelands and transplanted to these so-called United States of America. Our lineage has been traced back twelve generations geographically all the way to Maryland and Virginia. Besides that, we understand that forced separation from our indigenous language and region has essentially vanquished all direct ties to Africa. My family has been here since before the U.S. was even the U.S. We are more American than America, yet most Black people continue to be treated like second class citizens. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Reintegrating God in Everything” →

Pleasures of Children

On July 1, 2017June 28, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The small hopes and plans and pleasures of children should be tenderly respected by grown-up people, and never rudely thwarted or ridiculed.
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Men

Dear Little Men

On June 30, 2017June 28, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

By Laurel Dykstra, Salal and Cedar

Dear Little Men,

Thank you. I was completely baffled by the book that you sequel, Little Women. My mother loved it; she wanted me to love it. Girly classmates adored it and tried to enjoin me in their effusing in a “you like books and I like this one book so we totally have this thing in common right?” way. Continue reading “Dear Little Men” →

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