David Swanson, author of War Is a Lie, put it: “The search for a good war is beginning to look as futile as the search for the mythical city of El Dorado. And yet that search remains our top public … — Robert C. Koehler
by Ken Sehested
12 September 2018
“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation
and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.”
—2 Corinthians 7:10
We are in a maelstrom of historical markers and liturgical import. For people of faith, it points to a significant fork in the road.
Read more ›by Nancy Hastings Sehested
A story from "Marked for Life: A prison chaplain's story"
On my last day, the staff acknowledged my service with a reception, where they presented me with three plaques: one from the governor of North Carolina bearing the state seal; one called the Old North State Award, for employees who stay a decade or more; and one from my colleagues bearing the words “The Chaplaincy Office has been forever changed. In recognition of the person you are, a love gift has been given to Freedom Life Ministries”—a transitional ministry for returning citizens from prison.
No turkey sandwiches were served, which I thought was a missed opportunity. My boss, however, did tell me that he would miss me. How dull his days must have been after my leaving.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
We need to recognize, and adjust in appropriate ways, to the
fact that we humans maintain a perverse fascination with
disaster. I’ll leave it to psychologists to explain why, precisely;
but this habit is easily illustrated: From “rubber-necking” on
the highway (slowing down to view the scene of a wreck), to
the media’s 24/7 coverage of hurricane news. We rarely recall
the car trips made without incident, or the sunny days that
predominate in the Bahamas’ and Outer Banks’ weather
patterns.
For whatever reasons, disaster stories and images are more
mediagenic. Our eyes and ears turn to them with the same kind
of compulsion as the tongue’s obsession with a broken tooth.
by Ken Sehested, with Kyle Childress
Written in the days following 11 September 2001
"How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become,
she that was great among the nations! . . . She weeps bitterly in the night. . . ."
Lamentations 1:1
Signs of the Times • 5 September 2019 • No. 201
¶ Processional. “Our great responsibility / To be guardians of our liberty / ‘Till tyrants bow to the people’s dream / And justice flows like a mighty stream.” —Jean Rohe, “National Anthem: Arise! Arise!”
by Ken Sehested
• “Labor Day: A litany for worship: For work that fulfills”
• “Labor in the shadow of sabbath,” a Labor Day sermon
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
Introduction
This collection of material is especially designed for use in planning a Labor Day observance—but also more: on work in general, both the productive and destructive varieties; on sabbath-keeping, which is so much more than blue 
laws; on discerning vocations and callings; on the terrorizing disconnect between commerce and the flourishing of every living thing; on the increasingly barbarous treatment of immigrants and refugees.
by Ken Sehested
Introduction
This collection of material is especially designed for use in planning a Labor Day observance—but also more: on work in general, both the productive and destructive varieties; on sabbath-keeping, which is so much more than blue laws; on discerning vocations and callings; on the terrorizing disconnect between commerce and the flourishing of every living thing; on the increasingly barbarous treatment of immigrants and refugees.
Signs of the Times • 23 August 2019 • No. 200
¶ Processional. "Circle Song,” Bobby McFerrin & the Kuumba Singers.
by Ken Sehested
“No one cops to their own ingrained white supremacy, even though white supremacy is the water
and we are the fish, and it’s unlikely that we are not at least a little bit wet.”
—Timothy B. Tyson
In recent years it feels like we have been drenched with news of a plague most thought was laid to rest with the successes of the Civil Rights Movement: festering white supremacy and white nationalism.
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