Learning from Laughter: Fish Funeral

On April 7, 2015March 23, 2015 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology5 Comments

By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

“Keep your eye on these fish for a few days. You don’t want him to be around if one of them dies,” she whispers so Isaac can’t hear.

For his two year old birthday, we got three fish which he quickly named “Two, Baubee, and Three.” He’s learning to count and there really isn’t anything more exciting at the moment than the numbers two and three. He can tell them apart and feeds them every day. And when bedtime comes around he refuses to turn off their light because, he insists, the fish do not want to go to bed- just like him.

Yesterday, one of them did died. It started growing something gross on its face and by the time we got home, Baubee was gone. The store attendant’s voice was ringing in my head, “you don’t want him to see if one of them dies.” Actually, I think we do. Continue reading “Learning from Laughter: Fish Funeral” →

Learning from Laughter: Blessed by Sand

On March 24, 2015March 19, 2015 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology2 Comments

By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

I was pruning these same apple trees and grape vines when I first felt the pull of contractions. Today, it is a two year old that calls me down. “Mooommy,” he calls. He’s standing in the green turtle box filled with sand he collected with his grandpa from the shores of Lake Huron last summer. He stands there barefoot having demanded to take his shoes off even though it’s the middle of March and the snow has not yet fully melted. Continue reading “Learning from Laughter: Blessed by Sand” →

Learning from Laughter: A Series on Radical Discipleship Parenting

On March 10, 2015March 10, 2015 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology1 Comment

By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

I became a mom two years ago today. I can still feel Erinn’s hand in mine as she breathed with me through each contraction and reminded me what the pain was for. After more than two days of active labor, in one final push, this beautiful child leapt out head to toe.

Almost a year earlier, as we began to try to get pregnant, we had beloved friends over for dinner who were helping us conceive, one of them asked us “Why do you want to be parents?” Continue reading “Learning from Laughter: A Series on Radical Discipleship Parenting” →

It Runs in the Family

On January 23, 2015January 24, 2015 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology4 Comments

…this book is about how parents can create lasting and meaningful bulwarks between their kids and the violence endemic in our culture. It posits discipline without spanks or slaps or threats of violence, while considering how to raise thoughtful, compassionate, fearless young people committed to social and political change — without scaring, hectoring or scarring them with all the wrongs in the world.

This week we got a chance to talk with Frida Berrigan, author of It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood. Continue reading “It Runs in the Family” →

Teaching Joy

On January 8, 2015February 23, 2016 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as TheologyLeave a comment

By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

With his hand in the shape of a C, he touches his eye and lifts it to the sky as a smile appears on his mouth. He has spotted “the moon.” Even before the world has words, he knows joy.

It is a rare and powerful gift we have as parents to be able to teach joy. Continue reading “Teaching Joy” →

Witnessing to the Darkness

On December 18, 2014December 14, 2014 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Just Peacemaking1 Comment

Reflection given by Lydia Wylie-Kellermann at the Air National Guard Base in Battle Creek, MI where they have begun operating drones.

Luke 1:41-47

I am really grateful to be here today. I grew up spending Mondays in Advent at Williams International. So, this feels like just the right place to be.

These days, I find myself turning to Mary as a mother. She raised an incredible son. Continue reading “Witnessing to the Darkness” →

Within a Communion of Children

On September 30, 2014October 3, 2014 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Cloud of Witnesses, Theological Animation2 Comments

Written by Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann, she reflects on the decision of whether to baptize her daughter, Lydia. Jeanie was a writer, activist, and mother. She died after a long fight with brain cancer in 2005. This piece was published in 1986 for Detroit’s Catholic Worker paper On the Edge.

I didn’t want to baptize Lydia.

My love for her took me off guard. I’d only been able to see her and touch her for a few hours and already I wanted the world for her. I studied her while she lay in my arms to eat and she stared back. I cried often. I was overwhelmed. Continue reading “Within a Communion of Children” →

Hot off the Press: It Runs in the Family by Frida Berrigan

On September 25, 2014October 4, 2014 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Just PeacemakingLeave a comment

It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood

By Frida Berrigan

“A moving chronicle of the things that make for love and peace, elegantly written by a woman who knows more than most about both. How to balance family, children, intimate partnership with urgent rescue of the gravely endangered planet? With wit, stark honesty, and deep compassion, Frida Berrigan suggests a simple answer, drawing on the bliss and grit of her own life as a mother — and as an activist. …This book matters enormously.” —James Carroll Continue reading “Hot off the Press: It Runs in the Family by Frida Berrigan” →