Sanctuary: To Stand and Suffer With

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Just Peacemaking, Race, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

alexiaAn excerpt from the recent Christian Century interview with Alexia Salvatierra:

We sense that there are a lot of churches that can’t participate in the sanctuary movement because it is more radical than they are willing to be, including immigrant churches. We are creating something called the Matthew 25 Movement. It consists of individuals and congregations that pledge to protect and defend the vulnerable in the name of Jesus. This can mean a variety of things. There are churches that will pray and educate and give money. Others will participate in the creation of safe zones… Continue reading “Sanctuary: To Stand and Suffer With” →

A Mass Movement

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

keeangaAn excerpt from Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s “How to Build a Mass Movement,” originally posted at SocialistWorker.org.  Dr. Taylor is an assistant professor in Princeton University’s Center for African American Studies and the author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.

The issue for the Left is how we get from where we are today to where we want to be in terms of making our marches blacker, browner, and more working class. Simply complaining about it changes nothing.

There will no effective movement against Trump that doesn’t directly confront the issue of racism. It has to be front and center, and it seemed to me that the march organizers took that question seriously and made genuine efforts to shift shortcomings in their original approach. Continue reading “A Mass Movement” →

Small Acts of Resistance

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Uncategorized1 Comment

IMG_2726.jpgBy Vickie Machado

Resistance seems to be at the forefront of political action these days. Marches and protests manifest feelings that have been rising for some time now. As a former organizer, I appreciate this energy, passion and drive. However, often times I have been asked (usually by those opposed to such forms of nonviolent resistance): “Why? What good does this do? What is the outcome?”

Again, thinking like an organizer, I want to say: I understand your perspective. Some of these larger protests lack an “ask” or a particular direction. Normally representatives would be called, letters written, and petitions delivered. From a media standpoint, not every protest will make the news—especially peaceful gatherings and vigils— again displaying a sense of failure. They are a whisper in wind. Without a tangible outcome, where does this leave us? Continue reading “Small Acts of Resistance” →

Wild Lectionary: A Way Without Fear

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment
IMG_2492.JPG
Victoria Marie (blue) at the Break Free from Fossil Fuels action at the Burnaby Mountain, Kinder Morgan tank facility.

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
(many churches observe the Transfiguration this Sunday)

Isaiah 49:8-16
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6: 24-34

By Reverend Dr. Victoria Marie

Today I’m just going to touch on a few points in the Gospel reading in the hopes that they stimulate more thoughts and questions for all of us. To set the stage, look at the unrestrained resource extraction, our addiction to fossil fuels, and the consumerism that threatens to consume us and the earth. Yet, we all have to earn a living and unfortunately, some people have no other choice but to work for industries and systems that are killing us. We have been drafted into a system where we are trying to serve God but are enslaved by wealth; quite a dilemma! Upton Sinclair wrote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: A Way Without Fear” →

Not Always Black & White

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Just Peacemaking, RaceLeave a comment

lynn-hurBy Lynn Hur, originally published in The Mennonite and on the ReconciliAsian blog

The classroom is silent, apart from the ticking of the clock and the shifting of a chair. My English teacher looks at us pensively as my classmates awkwardly look around, waiting for someone to speak up. We had been beginning to read To Kill a Mockingbird, and the inevitable subject of race had been brought up again. My friend tells the teacher that she cried watching the assigned documentary following the Scottsboro Trials, and how she couldn’t believe the injustice of it all. Heads nod in agreement. I respond, commenting that this isn’t just something that happened, but is happening today as well. My teacher nods once again, agreeing. I try to continue, but get cut off. “Moving on,” he says. “You guys can talk more about that in a history class. We don’t have time to get too deep into the details.” Continue reading “Not Always Black & White” →

Save the Date: Beyond Vietnam as a Lenten Devotional on RadicalDiscipleship

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Just Peacemaking, Race, Identity, and History, UncategorizedLeave a comment

mlk3.jpgBeloved Community,

RadicalDiscipleship invites you to journey with us through the 40 days of Lent by reading and reflecting daily on Martin Luther’s King’s “Beyond Vietnam.”

March 1-April 16 Continue reading “Save the Date: Beyond Vietnam as a Lenten Devotional on RadicalDiscipleship” →

Disrupting a System of Wealth Extraction

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Sabbath Economics, Subverting Empire1 Comment

exodusA report on Exodus Lending from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Exodus Lending, which launched two years ago from a Minneapolis Lutheran congregation as the first alternative to  payday loans, has made its 100th loan, including to 41 working-poor borrowers who were refinanced from the “payday loan debt trap” and repaid in full.

“We had no idea the program would grow this big and help so many people,” said Exodus co-founder Meghan  Olsen Biebighauser. Continue reading “Disrupting a System of Wealth Extraction” →

Time to Kill “the Racist” (The Concept)

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Uncategorized1 Comment

eduardoA Facebook post from Eduardo Bonilla-silva, professor of sociology at Duke University and author of Racism Without Racists (2013):

It is time to kill the racist (the concept folks, the concept). “The racist” concept, derived from the racism-as-prejudice view, describes individuals filled with rage and hate against the Other—albeit Archie Bunker, the popular TV character, was presented as good-natured ignoramus. All versions of the racist, nevertheless, assume racist individuals have little education, are not cosmopolitan, come from working class backgrounds, and reside in the South or in working class neighborhoods anywhere in America. And, unfortunately, social scientists in general have reinforced this concept with their work, commentary, policies, and actions as the concept is ultimately a very useful defense of their own racial souls (poor whites are “racist,” but WE, liberal, middle-class, educated whites, ARE NOT). Continue reading “Time to Kill “the Racist” (The Concept)” →