Watershed Eucharist

On October 15, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

By Laurel Dykstra, printed in Geez 54: Climate Justice

Salal + Cedar is a Wild Church community in the lower Fraser Watershed. Our Eucharistic prayer and our outdoor worship are active reminders that we do not practice our discipleship and celebrate our sacred meal in First Century Palestine nor on “England’s pleasant pastures” but among a little lifeboat of companions on the territory of the Coast Salish People at a time of global climate crisis.

Our Eucharistic prayer names the creatures – plants, animals, waterways, of our bioregion. Under our creative-commons-take on liturgy as the work of and for the people – you are welcome to borrow and adapt this prayer to your work and biome. In return please credit us, note that you have made changes, and make a financial contribution to Indigenous land defenders near you. Continue reading “Watershed Eucharist” →

A New Afrikan Speaks on Climate

On October 8, 2019October 7, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Identity, and History, Uncategorized, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

By Will See. Published in Geez 54: Climate Justice
Listen to Will read his piece:

Sometimes I give tarot readings. Rarely, if ever, for others.

It’s a practice I do for myself occasionally when I want to ask a question of a Power beyond my limited conscious mind.

I have a deck that I like. The New Orleans Voodoo Tarot Deck by Louis Martinez. These images and the corresponding descriptions feel ancestral yet present, African and at the same time, diasporic. Continue reading “A New Afrikan Speaks on Climate” →

This resurrection will likely be painful

On September 24, 2019September 16, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Uncategorized3 Comments

hopeful_redemption_700_525_90 — Credit: Samira, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mink/4466099617/

By Bre Woligroski. This article first appeared in Geez magazine Issue 25, Spring 2012, The utopia issue.

Those of us wannabe revolutionaries who have been working, praying and calling out for significant social change have found some tangible positive signs lately.

Our world is shifting. Some sort of change is in the air and it makes my heart leap and stirs my soul.

Stories of resistance play on every newsfeed; on a global scale, symptoms of the collapse and the collective rejection of capitalism are becoming evident. Between the Arab Spring, the struggling economies of the U.S., Greece and Italy and the growing commitment to the Occupy movement, something is moving and changing. A new way of relating to each other is on the proverbial horizon. Continue reading “This resurrection will likely be painful” →

Community is Bullshit

On September 17, 2019September 16, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

5109515877_515607c86a_b_800_600_90 — redit: James Darling, https://flic.kr/p/8MvB4k

By Katie Hoogendam. This article first appeared in Geez magazine Issue 43, Fall 2016, The Collectivity Issue.

The following piece is rooted in my experience as a university student at the Oregon Extension, an intentional educational community based atop a mountain in Lincoln, Oregon.

The Oregon Extension was formed by a collective of independent Christian professors in the mid-1970s and grounded in the works of Thoreau, Dostoevsky, Annie Dillard, and Wendell Berry. It is known for its cultivation and examination of “big ideas,” and has been touted as a space for seekers of all stripes and disgruntled Christians alike. This article is an update of a story that originally appeared in catapult magazine [online] and in Road Journal magazine in 2008.

God, please help me not be an asshole, is about as common a prayer as I pray in my life. – Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix

The year is 2001. Professor John casts his gaze across the batch of eager new students and, pausing for dramatic effect, calculates the measure of our idealism on some internal register built upon years of guiding sanguine undergrads. “Community is bullshit,” he grunts, turning away without explanation. Continue reading “Community is Bullshit” →

Five Years In: Let’s Keep Composting Empire Together!

On September 10, 2019September 9, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire2 Comments

A Message from our Curators:

It’s really hard to believe that RadicalDiscipleship.net has been curating posts every day for five years. These voices have provided inspiration and challenge for those of us subverting popular and powerful versions of colonial Christianity. As we move into Year Six of this journalistic vocation, we’ve made an undemocratic executive decision to scale down our content. We believe this is good news as we’ve heard consistently from folks that it is quite a challenge to “keep up” with our daily onslaught of deep posts. Continue reading “Five Years In: Let’s Keep Composting Empire Together!” →

Salted the Nile with her Tears

On August 28, 2019August 27, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Uncategorized1 Comment

By Kelley Nikondeha, o

Salted_the_Nile_with_Her_Tears_800_533_90 — : “Striated Heron,” Nile River, Luxor, Egypt, Becky Matsubara CC, flickr.com/beckymatsubara.

riginally printed in Geez magazine on Mothering.

A cry broke the early morning silence and interrupted the royal daughter’s bath.

Already knee-deep in the river, she knew instantly that it was a Hebrew baby. On the opposite shore a mother, exhausted from the crossing, dragged her wet body out of the river and collapsed – arms now empty.

As an adopted child, I grew up mesmerized by Moses with only a cursory interest in his mothers. Sunday school lessons didn’t help, offering a sentimentalized characterization of these women – the one who let go and the other who saved the boy through adoption. But as I grew, so did my understanding of the mothers. I learned their story existed against a socio-political backdrop complete with hard edges and harder choices. Continue reading “Salted the Nile with her Tears” →

Indigenous Resistance Lifts the Veil of Colonial Amnesia

On August 14, 2019August 13, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Sawatzky-throwing_fish_800_534_90 — Robert Spence and Lionel Flett fishing on Split Lake. Credit: Matthew Sawatzky

By Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. This article first appeared in Geez magazine’s winter 2014 issue, Geez 36: The End.

It’s always been interesting to me when settlers talk about apocalypse. It reveals a kind of privilege and naïveté that is indicative of how complete the destruction of Indigenous peoples and our nations is in the mindset of most Canadians and Americans.

It seems strange to me that ideas of invasion, attack, occupation, and dispossession are recent fodder for television series such as The Walking Dead. This fictional reality is so strikingly close to the colonial legacy I was born into, at least in concept, it is sometimes difficult to see it as entertainment. Continue reading “Indigenous Resistance Lifts the Veil of Colonial Amnesia” →

What We Learn in the Kitchen: An Introspection on the Black Queer Daughter

On July 24, 2019July 15, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology, Race, Identity, and History, UncategorizedLeave a comment

By Kendall Waterman, Re-shared from Geez magazine.

What_We_Learn_in_the_Kitchen_800_644_90 — Amanda Greavette, “With Woman,”

“My mother connects me to a past I would have no other way of knowing. And in this sea of whiteness, of friends, enemies and strangers, I look at her and know who I am.”
– Michèle Pearson Clarke, Transition

Two minutes into a phone call with my mother and she has launched into a full review of her church’s leadership transition, recounting details of a recent board meeting in which she was obliged to provide her unique clarity.

“Visionaries need me, they can’t explain what they want but I can see it. If you shut up and leave me alone, I can make it happen.”

We go on to chat about a young family friend who just broke up with her first girlfriend.

“It’s a big mess. This is why God never designed women to be romantically involved with other women. Too many emotions.” Continue reading “What We Learn in the Kitchen: An Introspection on the Black Queer Daughter” →

Mothering Behind Bars: A Conversation with Siwatu-Salama Ra

On July 17, 2019July 15, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology, Race, Identity, and History, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Mothering_Behind_Bars_800_250_90 — Siwatu-Salama Ra and family, freesiwatu.org.

Re-share from Geez magazine.

Siwatu-Salama Ra is an environmental justice activist in Detroit, Michigan. Two years ago, she was arrested for pulling out a gun when someone violently threatened her two-year-old daughter. She was a licensed gun owner and never fired a shot. She was found guilty of felony firearm and given a two-year mandatory minimum sentence. She gave birth to her son while in prison. After serving eight months, she has been released on bond as she awaits her appeal. Her case raises many questions about self-defense, racial disparities in the justice system, and the treatment of incarcerated women. Her story also highlights the power of organizing and community. Lydia Wylie-Kellermann interviewed Siwatu while she was out on bond awaiting her appeal.

Geez: Could you start by introducing yourself and saying a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Siwatu-Salama Ra: My name is Siwatu-Salama Ra. I’m a daughter of a long-time community organizer and activist, Rhonda Anderson. I was raised by a single mother who raised all four of her children and grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. I followed a lot of what my mom did, and I started environmental justice work at about 14.

Recently, people have given me another title – a difficult title – of being a political prisoner. I was released from prison almost five months ago. I came home to a baby who was turning six-months-old, who I had given birth to in prison. And a three-year-old who is close to being four now. I left when she was two. Continue reading “Mothering Behind Bars: A Conversation with Siwatu-Salama Ra” →

Co-mingling of mischief

On July 16, 2019July 15, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Biography as Theology, Uncategorized2 Comments

20190813-DSC05253 — Geez staff: Em Jacoby, Lydia Wylie-Kellermann, Lucia Wylie-Eggert, and Kateri Boucher Photo credit: Daniel Wylie-Eggert

Dear Radical Discipleship readers,

These last few months my life has intertwined between daily posts on RadicalDiscipleship and the crafting of word and images for Geez magazine. I love the work. My heart rises to the gathering of stories and the power of word in our work for liberation.

I am struck by the ways that RadicalDiscipleship and Geez co-mingle in their theologies, their work, and the communities of writers and readers. They bless one another and I am blessed by them both. They are different looking limbs in the common struggle. I long to conspire more holy mischief between the two. My mind is percolating and if you have thoughts, send them my way.

In the meantime, I want to make sure the invitation for both readers and writers is explicit. RadicalDiscipleship is a daily online dose of spirit. Geez is a strictly off-line oasis of beauty and story arriving in your mailbox four times a year.

If you don’t believe me, Tom Airey, my fellow co-curator and friend said “Over the past few years, Geez magazine has been like an ice cold IPA for my soul.”

So, we are offering a rare deal to RadicalDiscipleship readers to subscribe to Geez for 20% off. (A one year subscription normally $39 a year would be $31.20 or a three year subscription for $105 is now just $84.) Simply click HERE and put in the code “RD”.

Also, if you want to join Geez’s monthly newsletter or sign up to be in our writers/artist list, click HERE.

Ok, that is as close to an ad as you are going to get on RD.

Love and gratitude for this community,

Lydia Wylie-Kellermann
lydia@geezmagazine.org