As we approach the Joy candle, how can we be and what does it mean to be joyful in the midst of a very dark world?
By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann
I wrote this poem two years ago when I was pregnant with Isaac. These days in the wake of events in Ferguson, I still hold onto these worries and hopes of what it means to raise a white man today.
Mary, did you worry your son would grow up
to idealize the military and violence around him?
What did you sing in his ear?
What toys did you give him?
That taught him to put away the sword
and to give his life before shedding the blood of another. Continue reading “Mary, did you worry?”
By Tommy Airey
…large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.
Martin Luther King
**This post was updated, edited and reposted on December 11 at 12:45pmEST.
Last week, an old friend checked in on me. He’s a kind-hearted, hard-working and sincere follower of Jesus. He sent me a series of texts in light of the Ferguson decision and in response to what I have written about it. Here’s a sample:
I don’t think the thought ever crossed my mind that the life of a person of color was somehow worth less than that of a white person. I doubt very much that is the mindset of many police or judges either. Hard to believe the kid from Ferguson was killed because of that mindset given the facts in that case. Would be interesting to research the number of black people killed by white people vs. black people killed by black people. God dislikes all taking of life from the womb to the point of natural death. #Alllivesmatter
I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.
Martin Luther King, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, December 10, 1964
Continue reading “The Nobel To King: 50 Years Later”
Written by Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann. Published in The Witness in 1998.
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
James 5:7-11
Two weeks before my body succumbed to seizures in early September, an episode that resulted in the diagnosis of a brain tumor, I lay on my living room floor crying as I listened to “God Help Us” by the Miserable Offenders. Continue reading “As We Light the Candles”
Two months ago, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries and Word & World officially launched RadicalDiscipleship.Net, a daily-updated blog designed to chronicle and animate expressions of “Movement” Christianity in North America. The two organizations have had a deep and long history, partnering in the challenge of bridging the gulf between the seminary, the sanctuary, the street and the soil.
Headquartered in the Ventura River watershed of Southern California, BCM animates and builds capacity for communities of discipleship and justice through the work of theological animation and restorative justice, drawing on the giftedness and expertise of Ched Myers & Elaine Enns, respectively. Over the past decade, BCM has been experimenting with week-long institutes (twice per year) and webinars (once-a-month), in addition to mentoring, lectures, sermons & keynotes given around the world.
Through schools, retreats, and mentoring, Word and World draws faith-based activists from various movements into a community of discipleship focused on social & cultural analysis and biblical reflection for social transformation. The goal of W&W is to encourage and strengthen disciples to become “radically biblical and biblically radical” in their work for peace and justice. Since 2001, W&W has hosted a number of schools drawing on the depth of the Civil Rights movement (photo above), liberation theology, the peace movement and faith-based feminist, womanist, mujerista, and LGBT movements.
BCM and W&W are excited for two upcoming events in 2015 that will provide participants unique opportunities to wrestle with scripture, social analysis, movement history and discipleship practices “between the seminary, the sanctuary, the streets and the soil”: Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries’ Festival of Radical Discipleship in the Ojai Valley of California (February 16-20) and Word & World’s Land & Water School in Detroit (July 15-19).
Of course, virtually every community committed to radical discipleship finds itself, this time of year, staring wide-eyed at their dwindling budgets, asking: where will our financial resources come from this year? Indeed, to be conscience-strident is to be cash-strapped. In order to curate a truly community-and-gospel-rooted learning experience, we ask that you consider making a year-end contribution to either (or both) of these organizations. Thank you for participating in the Movement, in this blog project and for spreading the word.
In Loving Solidarity,
Lydia Wylie-Kellermann & Tommy Airey
Co-Editors, RadicalDiscipleship.Net
Click on to donate:
From John Main in The Present Christ: Further Steps in Meditation (1986):
Christ’s forgiveness of our sin is not the reprieve of a judge but the embrace of a lover. Our redemption is our being brought near–so near, in Christ, that we can no longer focus on God as an external object with the mind’s eye but are instead taken beyond all images to be in the presence of the truth, revealed in silence; the eye with which we see is the eye that sees us. Our vision itself is Christ.
“At our house, we remember Saint Nicholas of Lycia on December 6, before Christmas. We think of the good bishop listening in the night to the cries of those who are afraid or lonely or tired. We remember him searching his heart for what he might do to help them.
We leave our shoes outside the door. And when we find a gift the next morning, we smile to think of the saints of God in all times who have listened in the night and done whatever they could to show us the love of God.
We delight in the saints even now who are listening outside our homes or in our hearts. We give thanks for the communion of saints who have died, but continue to care for us. They are listening and reaching to us with all their love, because God intends for all of us and for all things to be cared for and to be alive with the joy of creation.”
Excerpt from St. Nicolas: The Good Bishop of Myra by Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann
In the wake of events in Ferguson and New York, 
how are you staying awake and alert?
We invite readers to write in their responses in the comments. Thank you!
