Listen to the Stones

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

HumphreyBy Matthew Humphrey (right),

Not one stone will be left stacked upon another
the teacher said, the twinkle in his eye dimming just a moment,
as they all gasped, Say it’s not so!
Their human gaze traced in adorned temple stones.
Listen to the stones, my friends.

The stones… on which Jacob dreamed at Bethel – the house of God.
The 12 stones… circled round, gathered up from Jordan rivers banks,
by ancestors, all gathered at Gilgal, the circle of standing stones. Continue reading “Listen to the Stones” →

A Hole in the Roof or a Whole New Roof?

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as TheologyLeave a comment
Chava
PC: Lisa, a guest at the Catholic Worker

By Chava Redonnet (right), from the most recent bulletin of Oscar Romero Inclusive Catholic Church.

In July of 2017, when we were trying to buy the house that is now Serenity, the man who came to inspect it had good news for us. Although there were some holes in the roof at the back of the house, and some water damage, his opinion was that if we could get those holes mended we could wait five years to replace the roof. Yay! That was good news. Chuck and Mike did a lot of work that first year and got those holes fixed and the water damage repaired. It was one of our many miracles, that getting the house useable happened without a huge expenditure of funds, thanks both to the volunteer work of Chuck and Mike, and to the damage being fixable.

When we hit the two year mark this summer, realizing that we were just three years away from replacing the roof, we talked about starting a roof fund for the $10-15,000 it is likely to cost. Continue reading “A Hole in the Roof or a Whole New Roof?” →

Wild Lectionary: Another World Is Possible

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment
ClimateStrike20190927-02
Photo Credit Brynn Craffey, Vancouver Climate Strike, 2019

Proper 28 (33) C
Isaiah 65:17-25

By Brynn Craffey

This week’s first Lectionary reading from Isaiah features a vision of the Almighty who promises to create, “new heavens and a new earth,” in which, “the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.” Restoration is a theme running through Isaiah, and today’s passage conjures up visions of utopia in my soul. I imagine old paradigms collapsing, social justice replacing unfairness throughout the land, and communally supported programs, such as Medicare for All and robustly-funded public health care systems, ensuring that, “No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.”  

Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Another World Is Possible” →

Let Me Sing to You Now, About How People Turn into Other Things

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

indexA Review of The Overstory by Richard Powers, by Sarah Holst. Originally published in Geez 54: Climate Justice.

Last year, during the enormous, bursting green of Minnesota in July, my partner and I welcomed our first baby into our arms and into the cradle of the Tischer Creek Watershed.

Somewhere within those first months of the strange unveiling upheave of being a mama, I learned to read a book with one hand while balancing a baby sleeping on my chest. We were fortunate to welcome a stream of loved ones into our home in this time, and one of them brought with her The Overstory, a book travelling on the relational lines of beloveds deeply embodying lives of meaning in a time of climate catastrophe (like adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy before it). Continue reading “Let Me Sing to You Now, About How People Turn into Other Things” →

#climatefuture

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

Screen Shot 2019-11-09 at 2.58.42 PMFrom Michelle Martinez, a Latinx-Mestiza environmental justice activist, writer, and mother, who is working on a 30-day challenge to reframe our #climatefuture positively. 

I want to breathe a cold Nov moment, quiet rustling of leaves, not smog sirens, so I can hear our ancestors’ cantor.

I want human sun houses to warm, drink tea and get VitD all winter, replacing warm car naps and drivethrus.

I want grapevines and cucumbers and other edible climbers to replace chain link fences.

I want Black Friday to mark the day we make per pupil allotments equal across all zip codes. Continue reading “#climatefuture” →

Wild Lectionary: This House in its Former Glory

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment
256px-Burlington_Heights_looking_south
Harlington Heights, looking south David A. Galbraith, CC

Proper 27(32)C
Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Psalm 98

By Sandy Reynolds

I am often confronted with the destruction of the natural world from my backyard. I live near the escarpment trails that run through the city of Hamilton, Ontario. On a clear day, you can see across the bay to the CN Tower in Toronto. Frequently the view is hazy and the landmarks in the distant are barely visible. Looking through the all too familiar yellow-tinged smog I try to imagine what this land was like when it was pristine. Before my people came. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: This House in its Former Glory” →

Unsettling Histories: Decolonizing Discipleship- An Invitation

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Identity, and History, UncategorizedLeave a comment
0877e485-be58-4cb9-9657-b5fd2e11f63a
“Bartimaeus Billabong”, painted for the 2019 BKI by Australian Indigenous artist, Safina Stewart. www.artbysafina.com.au

2020 BARTIMAEUS KINSLER INSTITUTE

February 17-21, 2020

Forest Home Camp, Oak View, CA

Questions? Email us.

Unsettling Histories: Decolonizing Discipleship

Following on from BKI2019, when we listened to and learned from a range of Indigenous voices, this year we are focusing on the work required of us white settlers to build deeper solidarity with Indigenous peoples.We have a new flyer (please use it) and a new program planning committee (PPC), including the BCM team, former attendees of multiple BKIs, local Chumash indigenous leaders and past BKI planners -artist Rev. Bob Two Bulls (who is kindly gifting use of his artwork again) and Rev. Art Cribbs from LA. As Art put it “The 2020 BKI aims to help us restore “20/20” vision”.

BKI 2020 is the middle year of a 3-year sequence curated to build capacity for Indigenous solidarity from different angles: at the 2019 BKI Indigenous Justice and Christian Faith: Land, Law, Language we listened to Indigenous Voices; in 2020 we will focus on the work required of white settlers; and in 2021 we’ll learn from the experience of non-white, non-indigenous settlers of color.

 

EcoFaith Recovery and the Practices for Awakening Leadership

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Uncategorized, Watershed Discipleship2 Comments
DISCOVER_Our_Stories_800_942_90
“Discover Our Stories” by Sarah Holst

By Solveig Nilsen-Goodin, originally published in Geez 54: Climate Justice

“Are you a self-help group?” “Are you a church?” “Where do you worship?” We get these questions a lot! But for EcoFaith Recovery, the answers are more evolutionary and revolutionary than simply yes or no.

EcoFaith Recovery was birthed in 2009, when Robyn Hartwig began calling together friends and colleagues in Portland, Oregon, to try to make sense of our addictive culture and its escalating symptoms – the economic, social, ecological, and spiritual crises culminating in global warming and climate chaos. Gathering in those early years, we embarked on a process of discovery. Not unlike the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, we discovered that we felt more sane just by coming together. We felt less alone. We were less despairing. And we also discovered common experiences and feelings among us that compelled us to seek a way of recovery. Continue reading “EcoFaith Recovery and the Practices for Awakening Leadership” →

A Word to White Men

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological Animation2 Comments

BWKBy Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, presented at the inaugural Council on the Way convened by Ruby Sales in Washington D.C. on October 19, 2019

You, White men, Christian and not, sit in darkness, unseeing how you are advantaged by aggression against others. Your humanity suffers a gaping wound you have been taught not to feel. You are justified by a faith that is an idol and a lie. You are in bondage to a system and a spirit, white supremacy, which is nothing less than a form of death itself. Continue reading “A Word to White Men” →