Witnesses to the Resurrection: Color on the Rise

chicoryBy Jim Perkinson, Detroit, MI

Resurrection shows up as color: the riot—bombastic or subtle—that is spring.  The oldest, most ancestral “return” from the grave is clearly the gift of plants—for millions of years now refusing to stay embalmed in earth.  Revealing every tomb as womb, disclosing soil—even dusty versions—as a compost deity!  Indeed, for the indigenous the globe over, the trash heap was the most ancient of shrines, the place where seeds and discards of every manner recombined into life. And Life, in every wild and insurgent upwelling shouts color. What hits the ear as percussion and polyrhythm, titillates the iris as shocking brightness. Red as wily ribaldry; green as svelte grammar; blue as primordial echo of grief or iridescent hint of the kiss of sky on water!   Tribal peoples have always known the truth that color is the first language of trance, of seeing beyond the surface of the present. The world over, resurrection-peoples have squeezed their resistance to the colonial into even so subtle an upsurge as chartreuse shoes and pupil-popping scarves.  In Detroit, Tyree Guyton makes paint a tool of spirit-war, pulling an entire neighborhood out of the grave.   Bronze-toned Jesus and purple chicory: signs of the same.  Irrepressible! Continue reading “Witnesses to the Resurrection: Color on the Rise” →

The Soulmaking Room

UR1525_Risher_Soulmaking_CVR-215x324.jpgIf I am honest with myself, I can’t actually remember the last time I read a whole book. The moments when I have total head space are few and far between diaper changes and a chatty toddler. But the moment I held this book in my hands, I knew I would simply have to find the time. So while nursing or walking to sleep, paragraph my paragraph, I have soaked these pages in. Dee Dee is an amazing writer who weaves together scripture and her story calling on each of us to remember our own stories, to hold on to those deep truths that matter, and to sing and dance through it all. This book is a gift. I am grateful to share this interview and encourage you to find yourselves in the pages of The Soulmaking Room.

Lydia Wylie-Kellermann: What is this book about?

Dee Dee Risher: The book is about using the difficult and challenging parts of life as a way to deepen your spiritual path and become more authentic. The only way I knew to do this was to share my own story. My own path is not nearly as difficult as so many people I know, but my insight was that we all have to deal with loss. Our social justice causes fail. Life rolls on and the positions we take on certain issues become more complex and more difficult to hold with integrity as we see many grey areas. Our beloveds die, leave us, or become someone else. Situations come up that are so incredibly unjust they have you asking whether there is a God in this world. The rich stay rich while the vulnerable have a thousand new ways to suffer. Often, we are in neither of those groups, so we watch the debacle, trying to take an ethical stand. Life ain’t easy, especially if you live with eyes open and conscience listening. Continue reading “The Soulmaking Room” →

Look! God’s tent is among humans!

Diane FairfieldBy Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson

Powerful images from the Bible’s closing chapters, Revelation 21-22, are featured in these ongoing weeks of Uprising. We focus here on the entirety of Revelation’s vision of “New Jerusalem,” and will return to John’s Gospel and Acts in coming weeks (painting right: “New Jerusalem” by Diane Fairfield).

No New Testament text reverberates more with Hebrew Scripture than Revelation. Almost every image in John of Patmos’ visionary description of New Jerusalem has a scriptural antecedent. The “new heaven and new earth” which he proclaims is indeed new, but also the fulfillment of all the hopes and dreams of God’s people throughout the ages. Continue reading “Look! God’s tent is among humans!” →

Hovering

Hovering
Photo: Michael Smith

By Tommy Airey

A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion…
Mark 4:37-38a

A violent squall came up,
waves of shame-based codependency,
white supremacy,
addiction to efficiency,
fear of intimacy,
lack of emotional competency
flooding my boat. Continue reading “Hovering” →

Learning from Laughter and the Trees: Tell Me About Easter, Mommy.

cherry
Photo credit: Erinn Fahey

By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

“Tell me about Easter, Mommy.” Oh, Shit. Has that time come already? How to explain resurrection to a three year old? How do I tell my kid that Jesus died and came back to life? How do I explain our most sacred story?

We’ve spent the last year and a half learning about death, holding it sacred, singing songs, holding fish funerals, burying my Grandma Bea, and visiting my mom’s grave. We’ve tried to hold the tension of telling him the truth and also being gentle with his heart paying close attention to any moments of confusion or fear. We made a decision to be honest with him about the very earthly reality of death, something that even adults in our culture try to ignore. Death is a beautiful, ordinary, and hard part of life. Continue reading “Learning from Laughter and the Trees: Tell Me About Easter, Mommy.” →

¡Grandma Teresa, PRESENTE!

Grandma TeresaBy Cait De Mott Grady, a eulogy for her grandma, Teresa Jane Shaughnessy Grady (right), who died on Sunday, April 10th in her home in Ithaca, NY

I am Caithraoine Jane De Mott Grady, daughter of Ellen Grady and Peter John De Mott, granddaughter of Teresa Jane Shaughnessy and John Peter Grady, great granddaughter to Mary Baldwin and Tom Shaughnessy. Sister to Marie, Nora, and Saoirse. Cousin to Manny, Gabriel, Isaiah, Ana, Leah, Rosie, Oona, Jack (Jass), Thaddeus, Michael, Seán, Ariel, Madailein, and Clare. Niece to John, Laurie, Clare, Paul, Larry, Mary Anne, Teresa, Oscar and Cesar. Continue reading “¡Grandma Teresa, PRESENTE!” →

Landmark Vatican conference rejects just war theory, asks for encyclical on nonviolence

Bandiera_pace-300x201Update from Rose Berger

I’m pleased to share news of our phenomenal gathering this week in Rome. Please read the article from the National Catholic Reporter (below). We have had a tremendous week. Today we were able to deliver the final document to the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace. Marie Dennis addressed an envelope to Papa Francesco containing the statement and a personal letter and it was placed on Cardinal Turkson’s desk for delivery. Continue reading “Landmark Vatican conference rejects just war theory, asks for encyclical on nonviolence” →

Miriam

DSC_0158.JPGBy Tevyn East, Carnival de Resistance

“So Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days; and the people did not set out on the march until Miriam had been brought in again.”      Numbers 12: 15

In May of 2012, I entered into an artistic collaboration with Jay Beck, my now husband and partner in producing the Carnival de Resistance. We had established that I would come up to Philadelphia and together we would create works of theater that re-contextualize stories from scripture, based around each of the four elements: Water, Air, Earth, and Fire. Immediately upon landing, we discerned that we would first focus on the voice of water and that I would delve into the story of Miriam, Moses’ sister. Little did I know that this choice would throw me straight into the deep end! Continue reading “Miriam” →

I give them life of the age to come!

LightBy Wes Howard-Brook & Sue Ferguson Johnson

As we continue through the season of Uprising, the lectionary pulls a passage from John’s gospel totally out of context (John 10.22-30). It finds Jesus in the temple during the festival of Chanukah, the celebration of the military victory of a guerrilla band of Judeans over their Seleucid (Greek) oppressor, some two centuries before Jesus. It is the only mention of Chanukah in the Bible (the books which describe the battles leading to the feast are in 1-2 Maccabees, which are among the Apocrypha and not part of Hebrew Scripture). It comes after a long series of confrontations and challenges in and around the feast of Sukkoth, aka “Tabernacles” or “Booths,” that fills John 7.1-10.21. Chanukah carried no scriptural mandate requiring all male Israelites to journey to Jerusalem, as did the three torah-temple feasts of Pesach (Passover), Sukkoth and Shavuoth (Pentecost), as found in Deuteronomy 16. Thus, we can imagine that those still in Jerusalem during the rainy, winter season would be the “true” Jerusalemites, those most eager to hear a word about a coming “messiah” who would vanquish the Romans with military power and divine authority. Continue reading “I give them life of the age to come!” →