Disrupting a System of Wealth Extraction

On February 20, 2017February 10, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Sabbath Economics, Subverting Empire1 Comment

exodus A 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 February 19, 2017February 7, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Uncategorized1 Comment

A 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)” →

Resist

On February 18, 2017February 6, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, UncategorizedLeave a comment

“There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it. But you do not stand alone. You will learn that your trouble is but part of the trouble of all the western world.” – Elrond, J.R.R Tolkein, The Fellowship of the Ring

“I am, We are, He/She/It is”: Learnings from the South Pacific

On February 17, 2017January 30, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Uncategorized, Watershed Discipleship1 Comment

by Talitha Fraser with Kaumatua Gregg Morris

Allow me to invite you to join in for a game of kilikiti, to sing and dance with us, to walkabout… sit here at the campfire and I will tell you story…

Coranderrk was one of several Aboriginal missions set up in Victoria . Wurundjeri leaders William Barak and Simon Wonga advocated for Aboriginal people to live in their own place, their own way. Many times to petition the Victorian Government Barak and Wonga would gather a delegation together, speak to motivate and inspire them, then they would walk together the 60 miles (12 hours) to deliver the message: “Please leave us alone, give us our land back, don’t take it away again”. Leaders of one people to another, approaching as equal and in person. Continue reading ““I am, We are, He/She/It is”: Learnings from the South Pacific” →

Wild Lectionary: The Very Edges of Your Field

On February 16, 2017February 10, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed Discipleship1 Comment

Seventh Sunday After the Epiphany

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am YHWH, your God.” (Lev 19.9-10)

By Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson

More than any other biblical text, the book of Leviticus claims to express the direct voice of YHWH. Of the 160 uses of the phrase, “I am YHWH” in the Hebrew Bible, 49 uses are in Leviticus. And yet, the book may be among the least respected or understood scriptural texts. It is to this very chapter in Leviticus that Jesus turns when asked about the greatest commandments. Just a few verses down from the quote above we find: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Lev 19.18; cf. Mk 12.31). Indeed, not only Jesus, but also Paul and James—made into opponents of each other in the post-Reformation culture wars—cite Lev 19.9 as central to discipleship (Rom 13.9; Gal 5.14; James 2.8). Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: The Very Edges of Your Field” →

Prophetic Moral Challenge

On February 15, 2017February 6, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

barber From the Intro to Rev. William Barber’s recent Op-Ed:

President Trump’s first appearance at the National Prayer Breakfast met awkward silence on Thursday (Feb 2) as he began his comments by touting ratings when he was on “The Apprentice.” Unpracticed in the public performance of piety, the candidate who was praised for “telling it like it is” made even his white evangelical base momentarily uneasy as he demonstrated the impotence of their religion to overcome his narcissism. Excused as a “baby Christian” during his campaign, the teen-like Trump continues to expose the hypocrisy of white evangelicalism. Continue reading “Prophetic Moral Challenge” →

Sermon:On Practicing a Mystical Anarchist Ethic

On February 14, 2017February 6, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Uncategorized2 Comments

joanna shenk.jpg By Joanna Shenk, February 5, 2017, First Mennonite Church of San Francisco

Isaiah 58:1-12

When my older brother went to college, I remember being taken aback when he said his roommate’s mom was an anarchist. I felt so sorry for his roommate and figured he probably had a terrible childhood. In my mind, being an anarchist meant something related to the anti-christ. It was all one category to me because I thought it was all related to the same word. Continue reading “Sermon:On Practicing a Mystical Anarchist Ethic” →

#FaithJustice: Sacred Right to Rest

On February 13, 2017February 13, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Just Peacemaking, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

By Grecia Lopez-Reyes, Organizer with Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, originally posted on the Law At The Margins blog

For the past year and half I have worked as a Faith-Rooted Organize for Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE). I educate, organize, and mobilize the community of faith to walk in intimate solidarity with workers and their families fighting for a living wage, respect, and better working conditions in industries such as the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The ports are an industry that thrives from the sweat and labor of misclassified Port Truck Drivers. Due to misclassification, drivers are considered independent contractors and not employees, which requires for workers to be responsible for paying the lease of their trucks, maintenance, insurance, and fuel to name a few of the costs. Misclassification makes these drivers vulnerable to wage theft, while also denying them of benefits such as overtime pay, worker compensation, and health care. Read more here: “The BIG RIG Poverty, Pollution, and the Misclassification of Truck Drivers at America’s Ports a survey and research report.” Continue reading “#FaithJustice: Sacred Right to Rest” →

Saviors

On February 12, 2017February 2, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Just Peacemaking, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

From Howard Zinn’s The People’s History of the United States (1980):

The idea of saviors has been built into the entire culture, beyond politics. We have learned to look to stars, leaders, experts in every field, thus surrendering our own strength, demeaning our own ability, obliterating our own selves. But from time to time, Americans reject that idea and rebel.

Revolutionary

On February 11, 2017February 2, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

From Fannie Lou Hamer:

Christianity is being concerned about your fellow man, not building a million-dollar church while people are starving right around the corner. Christ was a revolutionary person, out there where it was happening. That’s what God is all about, and that’s where I get my strength.