Wild Lectionary: Metanoia and John – Transformation in Wilderness

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

Jan 7 photo.jpgBy Valarie Luna Serrels

Epiphany 1B
Mark 1:4-11

There’s a story in Greek mythology about Kairos, the young, swift god of opportunity, with wings on his feet. When he passes by you, it’s too late to grab hold of said opportunity. However, in the wake of Kairos’ fleeting journey, stands the sorrowful goddess Metanoia. She invites those passed by with opportunity for reflection, mourning, and space to make a decision. An urgent decision. Metanoia literally means change. A changed mind, heart, behavior, life. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Metanoia and John – Transformation in Wilderness” →

Shaming or Shading is Not Organizing

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire1 Comment

GarzaA social media [re]post from Oakland-based organizer and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza (Dec 27, 2017):

I’ve been traveling the last two weeks, meeting people from many different places in the world. The number one question I’ve been asked—besides the questions about my hair, which we will definitely talk about later—is this:

What is your country doing about Trump?

And I have to be honest and say:
We have a resistance movement but it is very divided, and lacks a path to power.

And then I sit with the shame of that. I live in a country that does terrible things around the world. And those of us who know that lack a path to power.

So in 2018, my simple resolution is this: to work to contribute to building a movement that takes its work seriously and is clear about what the work is and what it is not. The work isn’t to like each other and be besties. The work is to do something about our country—for and with the oppressed people inside of it and for and with the people oppressed around the world—and that requires building a movement in the millions with people who may or may not have your same approach or even the same political line but certainly share the same interests.

That means the Left needs to learn from its errors and become a different Left that does the work of organizing. Shaming or shading is not organizing. In a nation with more than 323 million people, our movement cannot be comprised of a few thousand people who think the same way and feel good with each other. A path to power means taking power and building power. We can’t build power if we aren’t taking power, and power isn’t just about our feelings or what is in our minds.

So I’m making a resolution to take that mandate much more seriously. I hope others will join me, and I’m gonna work to make it so.

 

 

Grace Lee Boggs

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

GraceThis piece was developed during the second Bartimaeus Institute Online (BIO) Study Cohort 2016-2017.  These pieces will eventually be published in a Women’s Breviary collection.  For more information regarding the BIO Study Cohort go here.

By Jeannette Ban, 10/7/17

Grace Lee Boggs
Born: June 27, 1915 Providence, Rhode Island
Died:  October 5, 2015 Detroit, MI

Our challenge, as we enter the new millennium, is to deepen the commonalities and the bonds between these tens of millions, while at the same time continuing to address the issues within our local communities by two-sided struggles that not only say ‘no’ to the existing power structure but also empower our constituencies to embrace the power within each of us to create the world anew.

-From The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs

Until her death in 2015, Grace Lee Boggs lived, marched, and dreamed among her beloved community of 55 years in Detroit, Michigan. “I stayed involved because I stayed,” she said.[1] Detroit glows at the center of her tale, a city tumbling continuously through the chaos of automation and industrial collapse. Mirroring its periods of bloom and decay, Grace’s journey as an activist spanned the Marxist movement in the 1960s to the Black Power movement in the 1970s, culminating in a community-centered and community-led philosophy until her death. Continue reading “Grace Lee Boggs” →

Gate A-4

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance2 Comments

A4By Naomi Shihab Nye in Honeybee

Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning
my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement:
“If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please
come to the gate immediately.”

Well—one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just
like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. “Help,”
said the flight agent. “Talk to her. What is her problem? We
told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.” Continue reading “Gate A-4” →

Benevolent Powers

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as ResistanceLeave a comment

bonhoefferBy Dietrich Bonhoeffer, imprisoned Christmastime 1944

Faithfully and quietly surrounded by benevolent powers,
wonderfully guarded and consoled,
–thus will I live this day with you
and go forth with you into another year.

Still will the past torment our hearts
Still, heavy burdens of bad times depress us,
Ah, Lord, give our startled souls
the grace for which we were created. Continue reading “Benevolent Powers” →

Wild Lectionary: Let All Creation Praise

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Christmas 1B
Psalm 148

By Laurel Dykstra

The first Sunday after Christmas with the annual reading of Psalm 148, marks Wild Lectionary’s first anniversary: 51 blog posts, from diverse watersheds, reflecting on land, creation and indigenous justice themes from the readings of the Revised Common Lectionary. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Let All Creation Praise” →

Learning from Laughter and the Trees: Loved by the Generations

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Uncategorized2 Comments

IMG_1945By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

I was terrified for Isaac’s first day of school. Terrified he wouldn’t go. That we would see his tremendous stubbornness arise. Somehow, we made it. The thrill of the newness got him there. I woke up on Day 2 even more worried. The newness had passed. The daily reality would start setting in and the idea of staying home all day to play with me and Cedar would be hard to leave. Erinn had gotten an attachment to her bike so that they could ride the 3 miles to school each day. We hoped that the excitement of biking would help and that the exercise would help him with the long days of sitting and focus. But by Day 2, the excitement of the bike wasn’t enough. We started hearing “I won’t go.” I kept a smile on my face and a calm, upbeat attitude as my heart raced. I had been on the opposite side of his stubbornness and there had been times I had lost. It is a powerful force that only joy seems to be able to crack. We went downstairs with him kicking and screaming, stepped outside, and there…..was Grandpa. On his bike, helmet on, ready for a race. Continue reading “Learning from Laughter and the Trees: Loved by the Generations” →

The Manger

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Manger in Taiwan-taken by Marcia
Manger in Taiwan. Taken by Marcia Lee

 By Marcia Lee

As we walk during las posadas, we remember the journey of Mary and Joseph and their arrival to the manager in Bethlehem.  The image of the manger was first brought to the Christmas celebration by St. Francis of Assisi.  He said, “I want to do something that will recall the memory of that Child who was born in Bethlehem, to see with bodily eyes the inconveniences of his infancy, how he lay in the manger, and how the ox and ass stood by.” (From the accounts of St. Bonaventure).

St. Francis set up an empty manger in a cave.  It is said that as St. Francis preached, a vision of the baby Jesus came into the manger.  Prior to St. Francis, people did not include a manger scene in their Christmas celebration, but now we see them in churches and on the side of the road.  Continue reading “The Manger” →