Prayer: Where We Begin

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized3 Comments

dark_path_field_path_pathway_tree_organic_agriculture_outdoors-1338816.jpg!dBy Dee Dee Risher

It is the time of gathering in,
pulling lightly the earth,
turning under,
of looking out at dusk
from the door lintel
at the long road,
beckoning or wearying,
and offering gratitude for
every home space;
and every setting forth.

Oh Spirit Holy,
wrap us in silence this one
fragile moment of prayer,
and set us into our day, attentive.

Burn in us, and make us new-born,
newly-woke, resting in you.

Somewhere in this day before us
lies the pearl of great price;
the single, gleaming coin.

Somewhere in this day lies also
the wounded one by the road;
and the second touch,
ready to heal us again.

We draw to you now,
Beseeching.
Our hearts are not proud.
Our judging hands are spread open,
knowing that of which we are capable.

Draw us to our deeps,
O Spirit Who Is, and Who Is Coming,
And let our deepest yearnings
Be joined with yours.

 

Starting today, we will be posting prayers on Mondays on radicaldiscipleship.net. Please send your prayers or recommendations to lydiaiwk@gmail.com.

Mary’s Song

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

Tax CutsA [re]post from Margaret Anne Ernst, Associate Student Pastor at Brookmeade Congregational Church, UCC:

An intertextual reading of Luke 1:45-55 aka Mary’s Song and “Winners & losers in the Senate GOP tax bill.”

And Mary said,
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Continue reading “Mary’s Song” →

sheep and goats, meat and drink

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment
Valerie Jean
PC: Valerie Jean (Detroit, MI)

by jim perkinson (St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Detroit, 11-26-17)

the sheep and the goats
the goats and the sheep
the left
the right
the day
the night

nothing here about church
but the good fundies all say
you must believe with your heart
have the word on your lips
insist jesus is lord
or you will have no part Continue reading “sheep and goats, meat and drink” →

Artemisia Gentileschi: A Hero Among Women

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology, Uncategorized1 Comment

picThis 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 Lola West

To appreciate the significance of the female artist Artemisia Gentileschi, 1593-1653, we must first understand the men who helped mold her. Such is true of many of the female artists during the pervasive, unyielding patriarchy, as seen in the Italian Renaissance. Growing up in the 17th century, Artemisia Gentileschi spent much of her early life being defined as the daughter of celebrated artist, Orazio Gentileschi. The senior Gentileschi was a pupil and follower of Caravaggio, a renowned male artist who was known for capturing emotion through his biblical renderings.  Caravaggio was to the 17th century art scene as Leonardo Dicaprio was to every adolescent girl in the 1990’s- a big deal. His revolutionary style encouraged the movement of artistic realism based in biblical narrative. In an era when written word was directed exclusively to the highly educated, the realist movement also appealed to the illiterate, breathing life into viewer’s emotions and stimulating a devout religiosity amongst Italians. Continue reading “Artemisia Gentileschi: A Hero Among Women” →

Wild Lectionary: Learn from the Fig Tree

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed Discipleship3 Comments

PhotoAdvent 1B

Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37

By Jessica Miller

Many years ago, on a prairie in Michigan, I became a student of the landscape. Officially, I tracked phenology, or the study of seasonal phenomena. Mostly I would wander the tall grass, seeking changes in the flowers. Who is blooming? Who is senescing? Whose shoots are green and growing? Some days would be punctuated by the commanding, haunting, rolling trumpet-call of sandhill cranes. The sound yanked my head up out of the grass and up to the sky. Where were they coming from? Where were they going? Learning the birds and plants and just a tiny fraction of the invisible strings that tie them to the world (the temperature, the direction of the wind, the rising and setting of the sun) taught me how to listen to the Spirit. Where does she come from? Where is she going? You can never know for sure, and yet you can become familiar with her flight-paths. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Learn from the Fig Tree” →

Peace On Earth and the Politics of Christmas

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

CrossThe Alternative Seminary will be un-domesticating biblical tales of liberation for all radical disciples in the Philly area next weekend:

Saturday morning, December 9
9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Project HOME, 1515 Fairmount Avenue

 

Part of President Trump’s vision of “making American great again” is that – to hell with political correctness – we will all be able to say “Merry Christmas!” again.

This is deeply ironic but sadly telling:  Much of the Christian church in the United States has been co-opted by an American gospel of prosperity, racism, violence, and militant nationalism.  The celebration of Christmas is often wrapped in innocent, feel-good, Hallmark-card imagery. But in fact the biblical texts describing the coming of Jesus are making powerful assertions about the politics of the Bible that speak very much to our contemporary global crises.  We will reflect on the “nativity narratives” in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke to see how they express core biblical themes of justice and liberation.  We will try to “un-domesticate” these tales of liberation and reflect on how they are truly challenging us in terms of our allegiance and our discipleship.  A perfect event for Advent.  A light breakfast will be served.  A $5 donation is requested to cover costs.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Will O’Brien at (215) 842-1790 or wobrien@alternativeseminary.net by December 3.

The Alternative Seminary is a program of biblical and theological study and reflection designed to foster an authentic biblical witness in the modern world.  For more information, see www.alternativeseminary.net.

Love & Drugs

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By Dave Pritchett, Wilderness Way Community (Portland, OR)

Addiction and Systems of Isolation

Every morning I walk into the addiction medicine center where I work, and scan the crowd attempting admission. Every morning, the faces of people hoping for treatment mimic the national trend of opiate addiction–overwhelmingly white, young men, in their 20’s and 30’s. While it is true that people struggling with mental health as well as people living in rural settings are statistically more susceptible to opioid pill addiction, heroin users tend to be urban men in their 20’s.

Because of this, my role in addiction medicine often feels similar to the men’s work I do. Continue reading “Love & Drugs” →

Christ the King Sermon: Bossy and Beautiful

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Cloud of Witnesses, Theological Animation, Uncategorized2 Comments

momBy Lydia Wylie-Kellermann
November 26, 2017, at Day House Catholic Worker in Detroit

“Let me show you how to fold this, Grandpa,” Isaac said after he picked up a dish rag off my dad’s kitchen floor. He carefully folded it just as he had learned at school. At night, we’ve been reading The BFG and it is slowed down by the fact that Isaac pauses regularly to point out all the words he can read on each page. It’s incredible! I love watching all these incredible things he is learning and knowing that I am not responsible for it. I just get to delight it in. Continue reading “Christ the King Sermon: Bossy and Beautiful” →

What the Tears Falling to the Ground Might Yet Fertilize

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

BayoBy Tommy Airey

Earlier this month, I started Bayo Akomolafe’s recently-released These Wilds Beyond Our Fences seeking spiritual solidarity.  Like most, my soul has been squeezed by concentric circles of cacophony. Climate catastrophe rages (globally) while a major political party (led almost exclusively by white men) denies it all and “successfully” utilizes weapons of voter suppression, legalized bribery, gerrymandering and Russian collusion to take full reigns of power (nationally and state-wide). Meanwhile, water shutoffs and home foreclosures pelt a city cloaked by leaders calling it a “comeback” (locally).

These rings of austerity and white supremacy have formed the ice rink of an epic institutional collapse. Families, faith communities, foundations, the “free” market and finance—these fail to offer compelling solutions for any of it. Instead, they drive the Zamboni. These are maddening times and no one, it seems, is really sure what to do about it.  Confusion reigns. Continue reading “What the Tears Falling to the Ground Might Yet Fertilize” →