by Ken Sehested
Sisters and brothers, don’t be fretful.
Don’t chew your nails or gobble your food.
Pace yourself, on both gas pedal and heart rate,
so you don’t race to ruin.
Author: ppadmin
Another Word is yet to be heard
A rant following the 14 February 2018 mass shooting at Douglas High
by Ken Sehested
“A child of God is dead. Can not we acknowledge in this country that we cannot accept this?” —former FBI agent and counterterrorism expert Philip Mudd, breaking into tears when talking about the 15 February 2018 school shooting in Broward County, Florida. Who could predict that a terror expert could be anointed as the Spirit’s agent in prophetic protest against the spirit of the age?
nothing says ash wednesday
or valentine’s day
like murdered children
Another Word is in the wind
A psalm of complaint and avowal
by Ken Sehested
Have mercy upon us, O Lord.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
—Psalm 123:3-4
In the end, if we are left to our own devices—to our
own amalgam of brains and brawn, of ingenuity and
charisma, sleight of hand and strength of arm, in
mobilizing sufficient force to bend the will of others
to our own, in accordance to self-ordained vision
masquerading as fate’s foreordained history—then
nothing is forbidden. All authority is subsumed in
the will to power.
News, views, notes, and quotes
Signs of the Times • 7 February 2019 • No. 185
¶ Processional. School principal Zhang Pengfei and students at Xi Guan Primary School in Shanxi Province, China.
Taxing matters
Tax laws and troublesome faith
by Ken Sehested
“Some people are so poor all they have is money.”
—Bob Marley
The question of tax fairness has long been on my radar. But it wasn’t until the phrase “marginal tax rate” made headlines recently that I realized few people know what it means, and my own understanding was pretty vague.
Read more ›We shall not be moved
Happy are you who do not heed the advice of evil ones, or take the path of deceivers, or sit in the chambers of the haughty. We shall not be moved!
But our delight is in the Way of Life; we labor along its path by day and we are wrapped in its protection by night. And we shall not be moved!
Because of this, you are like trees planted by fresh streams of water, yielding your fruit in season, holding your leaves without fail. Your future is assured. We shall not be moved!
Read more ›News, views, notes, and quotes
Signs of the Times • 25 January 2019 • No. 184
¶ Processional. “Hark, the Song of Jubilee,” Maungaturoto Congregational Church, Ralph Cullen, organist.
Come to the Waters
Litany of Confession and Pardon inspired by Isaiah 55
by Ken Sehested
Call to Confession
The Word of Strong Deliverance is whispered in the ears of all who long for the relief of pardon. “Listen,” says the Assuring One, “all of you who thirst for righteousness, who hunger for justice, come to the waters. All of you who know you are broke, who have no way of buying your freedom, no way of bargaining for joy—come, buy, eat and rejoice!”
Read more ›Good News for Yahoos – “The Year of the Lord’s favor”
The emphasis on justice in the biblical theme of “jubilee," cf. Luke 4:14-21 & Isaiah 61:1-5
by Ken Sehested
In his first sermon, Jesus chose to read from Isaiah 61, an explicit references to the
covenant terms from Mt. Sinai regarding jubilee observance and its profound
project of social, political and economic restructuring.
{Written in 1998, prior to being a founding co-pastor of Circle of Mercy Congregation, Asheville, NC.)
Read more ›News, views, notes, and quotes
Signs of the Times • 17 January 2019 • No. 183
¶ Processional. “Precious Lord,” performed by R&B singer Ledisi Anibade Young. Minutes before the assassin’s bullet found him, King called out, from the Lorraine Motel second floor balcony, to the music leader for that night’s rally, “I want us to sing ‘Precious Lord’ tonight.'”
