Today, we honor the work of Fritz Eichenberg (October 24, 1901 – November 30, 1990) on the 25th anniversary of his crossing over. Eichenberg was born in Germany, immigrated to the States during the Nazi era, became a Quaker and, after meeting Dorothy Day in 1949, frequently contributed illustrations to the Catholic Worker newspaper.
From Brendan Byrne in The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel (2000):
We retain the doctrine of the “Second Coming” in our affirmations of faith, not because we literally believe–as fundamentalists do–that Jesus will one day appear as Son of Man on the clouds of heaven, but because we believe that the biblical assertions to that effect affirm the eventual triumph of God’s sovereignty in the universe and that all is provisional till that occurs.
This Advent, as we light the candles in the dark and sing for Emmanuel, let’s be even more intentional than usual in clearing the commercial Christmas assault
from our minds and hearts. Whatever God is calling us to has little to do with shopping and driving ourselves into a frenzy creating the “perfect” holiday. We need to honor the silence and the dark, to remember our stories, to teach the youth in our lives what we believe matters. We need to recall, to intuit, to dream the life we’re called to and then make a plan that allows us to strip down enough to have it. In the course of that, of course, we need to give thanks for all that we are and for those traveling in our circles and beyond. -Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann, THe Witness 1998
By Tim Nafziger, on the 10th anniversary of the kidnapping of Norman Kember, Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Tom Fox.
On that last day of ordinary time
Norman, Harmeet, Jim and Tom walk across a parking lot
in Baghdad and get into a van.
Years later, Jim can’t remember “those last, unremarkable motions.” Continue reading “Advent’s Eve, 2005”
By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann
Last March, Isaac joined us in a circle with eight college students having just completed a week long immersion trip in Detroit. We sat in the dark passing a candle around naming gratitudes for the week. The candle traveled around the circle again and again as the room filled with the realization of abundance in the relationships and the learning. Isaac sat quietly, on the eve of his second birthday, watching in awe and listening and waiting patiently for his turn to hold the candle and name a gratitude. Each time he held the candle he smiled, looked around, and proudly named something….almost always it was for “playing trains.” But I was amazed that he got the concept and indeed named what he was grateful for.
This kid has continued to be filled with gratitude. He says thank you all the time! Isaac and I have been working in the backyard stacking wood for the winter and each time I hand him a log he says “Thank you mommy.” And I can’t help but say it right back repeating it with each piece of wood. A couple months ago, we sat down to dinner, and before we held hands to sing a prayer, out of the blue he said “Thank you for cooking dinner mama.” That may just have been his first complete sentence! Damn, I am a lucky mother. This kid is an amazing reminder of the constant goodness and gratitude in our lives. Continue reading “Learning from Laughter: Gratitude as the only Resistance to Greed”
By Ched Myers, for the 1st Sunday in Advent (Luke 21: 25-36)
Note: This is the first of a series of Ched’s occasional comments on the Lukan gospel readings from the Revised Common Lectionary during year C, 2015-16. Other commentators during Year C will be Wes Howard Brook and Sue Ferguson. Check this site weekly!
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First Advent is the beginning of the Church’s liturgical year; we begin a new cycle of readings, keyed now to the gospel of Luke. As do the last weeks of Ordinary Time (see my comments on Mark 13 earlier this month), the first week of Advent draws on the synoptic apocalypse, the “last things” clearing the way for renewal—cutting through the sentimentality of the season with prophetic realism.
Continue reading ““Staying Awake in a Crapulent Culture”: Why We Should March for Climate Justice this Weekend”
Last week began the trial for Bill Wylie-Kellermann and Marian Kramer for blocking the water shut off trucks in Detroit a year and a half ago. The trial continues to be underway. Here is Bill Wylie-Kellermann’s opening statement to the jury.
11/20/15
Good afternoon…
Thank you for serving on this jury. I myself am called to serve on a jury the week after Thanksgiving so, depending on how long this trial goes, I could be very soon sitting in your seat. Part of me frets about how I’ll do it after a week of trial (who will cover pastoral calls and soup kitchen), but I do understand the importance of it, especially given the seat I’m in today. I’m a native-born Detroiter and honored to be counted among the people of Detroit, eligible for a jury, part of a body that brings conscience and care to serving justice in the City. Continue reading “Opening Statement- Homrich Trial”
From artist Anthony Freda:
By Ric Hudgens
Despair is easy. Anyone can
do it. We’ve all lost someone.
We hear the news. We know
our time is short. Our hearts
will break and break again.
But giving up too soon is
its own reward. Please wait.Not everyone surrenders. Some
find refuge in the cracks
of the darkness. That place
where courage grows. We
will live there. Don’t close
your eyes. Take my hand.
Let’s go find it together.
By e.e. cummings
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
Radical Discipleship 