Author: ppadmin

The prowess of Resurrection’s promise

A Holy Week meditation

by Ken Sehested
6 April 2016

“I shall wrassle me up a future or die trying.”
—Zora Neale Hurston, African-American novelist and folklorist
(and daughter of a Baptist preacher)

        Dustin Johnson is currently at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking. Talking about his talent, both physical and mental, one of his colleagues commented in an ESPN interview, “He’s fearless. It’s like he doesn’t really care if he wins or loses.”

        Obviously, that’s hyperbole. I’m sure Johnson does in fact enjoy winning. But the comment underscores something very important: Maybe Johnson’s greatest asset is not allowing the fear of losing to dominate his play.

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The war in Yemen

Why it matters*

by Ken Sehested
*For more background, see the 11 April 2019 (No. 190) issue of “Signs of the Times.”

        The news was easy to miss. I saw it in several media, but never “above the fold” or in the opening lineup of topics for cable news shows. And there is reason to debate how significant the news is, depending on your level of political optimism or pessimism.

        But the fact that Congress recently voted to exercise its never-before-used War Powers Act to cut off US funding for the Saudi-led  war in Yemen is at least unusual. The face that both the House and the Senate approved the measure is significant; though the margin in the Senate makes it unlikely they can override an anticipated veto by President Trump.

        Created in 1973, after the disclosure of a mountain of governmental lies deployed to sustain the war in Vietnam, the Act was supposed to return to Congress the constitutional mandate for declaring war. The Act has gathered dust ever since, despite the fact that the US has undertaken military action in at least 14 countries since then, including the war in Afghanistan, which has now lasted nearly as long as all our other wars combined.

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Wash your feet

A Maundy Thursday litany for a foot washing service

The following was used in a Maundy Thursday foot washing service, Circle of Mercy Congregation,
focused around the John 13 text of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet,

Long before the people of the Promise migrated to Egypt, long before their cries to heaven roused the ears of the Almighty, long before Moses led them on their freedom march to the promised land, the Lord God appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. As he did, three visitors suddenly appeared, and Abraham ran to meet them and bowed to the ground.

In the same way, Yahweh appeared in a vision to Isaiah, in the land of Judah, and said, Declare this to my people: “Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean!”

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Wash your feet

A Maundy Thursday litany for a foot washing service

The following was used in a Maundy Thursday foot washing service, Circle of Mercy Congregation,
focused around the John 13 text of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet,

Long before the people of the Promise migrated to Egypt, long before their cries to heaven roused the ears of the Almighty, long before Moses led them on their freedom march to the promised land, the Lord God appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. As he did, three visitors suddenly appeared, and Abraham ran to meet them and bowed to the ground.

In the same way, Yahweh appeared in a vision to Isaiah, in the land of Judah, and said, Declare this to my people: “Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean!”

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Blessed are you if you do them

Maundy Thursday’s mandate

by Ken Sehested
A 2018 Maundy Thursday sermon

        Last Friday several of the youth in our congregation joined several others from another congregation in our city, making the long drive to Washington, DC, to take part in Saturday’s “March For Our Lives” rally against gun violence.

        My wife Nancy, Circle of Mercy’s co-pastor, met them at the rendezvous point to offer a blessing on their journey. She said two things.

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News, views, notes, and quotes

Signs of the Times  •  28 March 2019 •  No. 189

Processional. A New Zealand haka, performed by students from various schools, paying tribute to two of their peers who died in the Christchurch shooting.

         “The haka is a ceremonial dance or challenge in Māori culture [of indigenous people in Aotearoa /New Zealand]. Often thought of as a war dance, haka are performed as a show of unity and strength, to welcome distinguished guests, or to acknowledge great achievements, occasions or funerals.” (Thanks Cynthia.) For more see “Christchurch shootings: How Maori haka unify New Zealand in mourning,” BBC News

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Find a trailhead to the ministry of reconciliation

What should the Christchurch massacre prompt from us?

by Ken Sehested

        What can you do to abate the harm caused by the mass murders in New Zealand mosques? Not much, in the scheme of things.

        Which is not to say there’s nothing at all to do.

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There is a new creation

The Apostle Paul’s vision of the ministry of reconciliation

by Ken Sehested

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything
has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given
us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,
not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
—2 Corinthians 5:17-19

        Few things are more uniform among Protestant churches the world over than Sunday school. Many are surprised to learn that this organized form of Bible study began in Britain in the 18th century. And its specific purpose was to provide literacy training for poor children. It was a ministry of reconciliation in an age when industrialization was deepening the chasm of poverty.

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