By Rianna Isaak-krauss
we sit in darkness
longing for light
death all around us
yearning for life
remember the advent call to wait
to wait with pregnant hope
as we watch Mother God conceive
and give birth with Mary
give the gift of birth to Mary
Re-posting this Lectionary reflection from 3 years ago on radicaldiscipleship.net written by Ched Myers.
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Mark 1:4-5
–
Continue reading “What Does it Mean that Jesus “Apprenticed” with John the Baptist?”
Because Christmas has become so central to the American economy and American consumption is so central to global capitalism, this festival of ‘Holy Days’ has become a central expression and embodiment of American imperial domination, an imperial religion.
Richard Horsley, Religion and Empire (2003)
Truly, this Season signals a major tension for North American radical disciples. We resist and reclaim. Whether it is our love language our not, we give. But some forms of giving are far more redemptive than others.
It is in this Spirit that we offer gift ideas from more out-of-the-way, up-and-coming, long-suffering and open-hearted thinkers and artists. Links to their work are provided here and will eventually be added to our now-pemanent “STORE” tab up top. We hope this list is an Advent-instigator: please add your recommendations to the comments below or email us so we can add them to the store!!!
From the Poor People’s Campaign, coming to a watershed near you in 2018:
Lastly, a recommendation from author-activist Wes Howard-Brook fair-trade, organic chocolate from Mama Ganache. From WHB:
They are THE BEST! As we all know, corporate chocolate production is both a human and environmental horror show. The folks at MG use their profits to support farmers in West Africa in many ways, as explained on their website. I’ve been ordering from them for years!
It is the time of gathering in,
pulling lightly the earth,
turning under,
of looking out at dusk
from the door lintel
at the long road,
beckoning or wearying,
and offering gratitude for
every home space;
and every setting forth.
Oh Spirit Holy,
wrap us in silence this one
fragile moment of prayer,
and set us into our day, attentive.
Burn in us, and make us new-born,
newly-woke, resting in you.
Somewhere in this day before us
lies the pearl of great price;
the single, gleaming coin.
Somewhere in this day lies also
the wounded one by the road;
and the second touch,
ready to heal us again.
We draw to you now,
Beseeching.
Our hearts are not proud.
Our judging hands are spread open,
knowing that of which we are capable.
Draw us to our deeps,
O Spirit Who Is, and Who Is Coming,
And let our deepest yearnings
Be joined with yours.
Starting today, we will be posting prayers on Mondays on radicaldiscipleship.net. Please send your prayers or recommendations to lydiaiwk@gmail.com.
Advent 1B
Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37
By Jessica Miller
Many years ago, on a prairie in Michigan, I became a student of the landscape. Officially, I tracked phenology, or the study of seasonal phenomena. Mostly I would wander the tall grass, seeking changes in the flowers. Who is blooming? Who is senescing? Whose shoots are green and growing? Some days would be punctuated by the commanding, haunting, rolling trumpet-call of sandhill cranes. The sound yanked my head up out of the grass and up to the sky. Where were they coming from? Where were they going? Learning the birds and plants and just a tiny fraction of the invisible strings that tie them to the world (the temperature, the direction of the wind, the rising and setting of the sun) taught me how to listen to the Spirit. Where does she come from? Where is she going? You can never know for sure, and yet you can become familiar with her flight-paths. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Learn from the Fig Tree”
Advent Prayer by Lydia Wylie-Kellermann
Oh God,
This Advent we come to you
bent over with an ache in our soul,
with muscles that have held rage,
with eyes bloodshot from tears,
for there is a darkness this year
that is crawling with monsters.
The creatures of patriarchy, white supremacy,
and Christian hegemony
are emerging from their shadows.
Arrogantly crawling into our schools,
our churches and social media.
They are emerging as weaponized water
against water protectors
who are freezing to death.
They are emerging as walls and registries.
And it isn’t going away. Continue reading “Praying for a different kind of darkness”
An Advent sermon from Rev. Timothy Jones of Community Baptist Church of New Haven, CT–a look back at last week’s Hebrew Bible text Malachi 3:16-18:
There’s no question that the secular imagination of the Christmas Holiday has an influence on how we imagine this Advent season. There are many aspects of what I’m going to call “the Holiday Season” that overlap with Advent, but in some very real ways, we need to distinguish between “the Holidays” and Advent. There is, in the Holiday sense, a Happiness, a kind of jolliness that is associated with the season that is different from the very real and situated joy that should come from Advent. And sometimes I’m worried that the Jolly sensibility of the Holiday season makes it difficult for us to receive all that God has for us in this season. Continue reading “Recovering Our Advent Awe”
—Jan Richardson, from The Cure for Sorrow
So may we know
the hope
that is not just
for someday
but for this day—
here, now,
in this moment
that opens to us:
hope not made
of wishes
but of substance,
hope made of sinew
and muscle
and bone, Continue reading “Blessing of Hope”
Radical Discipleship 