From Francisco Garcia of Clergy and Laity Uniting for Economic Justice:
Today, in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, outside the very courtroom where Central American children defend their cases for asylum, 21 faith leaders and allies — Continue reading “21 CLUE Leaders Arrested”
The gift of discernment is basic to the genius of the biblical life style.
Discerning signs has to do with comprehending the remarkable in common happenings, with perceiving the saga of salvation within the era of the Fall. It has to do with the ability to interpret ordinary events in both apocalyptic and eschatological connotations, to see portents of death where others find progress or success but, simultaneously, to behold tokens of the reality of the Resurrection or hope where others are consigned to confusion or despair. Discerning signs does not seek spectacular proofs or await the miraculous, but, rather, it means sensitivity to the Word of God indwelling in all Creation and transfiguring common history, while remaining radically realistic about death’s vitality in all that happens. – William Stringfellow
Where do you see glimpses of the Resurrection? Where do you see life where tehre was death? Where are the places that death does not have the final word? Throughout the Easter season, we will post short reflections from folks who name the places they see Resurrection happening. We would love to include your voice in that. Send a sentence, a paragraph, a short reflection to lydiaiwk@gmail.com.
Luke 24:1-12On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
By Tom Cornell, Co-founder of Catholic Peace Fellowship
After the Last Supper, Jesus and his companions walked across the Kedron Valley to Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives. If you visit Israel today, you will surely want to see the Mount of Olives where Jesus suffered his Agony in the Garden. You come to a little stream at the bottom of the valley on the way. The guide tells you, “This is the Kedron River.” You are surprised. It’s not much of a river now, just a little stream, not much more than a trickle. You can hop over it. It was broader then, the guide tells you. Jesus and the apostles took their sandals off to wade across. Imagine it. Continue reading “A Good Friday Homily”
By Rabindranath Tagore
“I am sick and tired of being sick and tired”
Fannie Lou Hamer
By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann
I don’t like pregnancy. I am not one of those people that walks around glowing, rubbing my tummy, and delighting in the attention. I am not proud of this. In the midst of pregnancy, I feel like I am losing my body, my strength, my sleep, my social abilities, and even my mind, all for something that I cannot yet touch or know. But birth on the other hand, I was ready for! I had learned the first time round that I could trust my body and the wisdom it held. My body was made to deliver these children. All I had to do was let my body work and to breathe.
I back labored with Isaac for multiple days and nights. We did most of the work at home arriving at the hospital already 9 cm. He was born with no medical or pain interventions. As Isaac leapt from me on that final push, he was caught by the same hands that caught me three decades earlier. We probably would not have been in a hospital setting, if it were not for choosing those hands. She is the doctor who holds the history of my own body and pain. She carries with her a deep sense of calm and sharp attention. You know she will fight like hell to advocate on your behalf. Continue reading “Learning from Laughter and the Trees: Power, Pain, and Extraction”
By Dee Dee Risher. Part of the continuing series on biblical women.
The Bible comes to us out of a patriarchal culture. At the same time, I believe firmly that the hand of the Spirit of God shaped what was recorded, however troubling or puzzling; however these recordings may reflect the dynamics of oppression in this world rather than the creative liberation I feel is core to the reign of God. I hold these two realities in tension.
Because of this conviction, I pay constant attention to the stories of women who do break into Scripture. Most of them are, predictably, relegated to the margins. They can appear sidekicks to the “real” stories of the (male) prophets, kings, patriarchs, warriors, and holy men. Yet hidden precisely within these “narratives of the margins” are the rankling questions that upset the power structures and interrogate our assumptions about God. Continue reading “The Woman Who Built a Soulmaking Room”
Radical Discipleship 