There is all the difference in the world between the criminal’s avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience’s taking the law into his own hands in open defiance. This distinction between an… — Hannah Arendt
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.'”
by Ken Sehested
Admiring Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is not the same as being captured by it. Too many find it possible to respect the man but relinquish the mission.
It has become too easy to revere the dreamer but renege on the dream.
Read more ›Signs of the Times • 9 January 2019 • No. 182
¶ Processional. “Woke Up This Morning,” Resistance Revival Chorus (rehearsal). (Thanks Amanda.)
Selected and arranged by Rev. Missy Harris
Circle of Mercy Congregation
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Read more ›Signs of the Times • 4 January 2019 • No. 181
¶ Processional. “We Three Kings,” violin and orchestra, featuring Erika Blanco.
by Ken Sehested
Circle of Mercy Congregation
Asheville, NC
1 January 2012
Eleven years ago—when the calendar turned from 2000 to 20001—I got inspired by the televised review of New Year’s celebrations around the world, starting in Australia, and stayed up to write a poem. Here’s a part of it—and, by the way, the reference to “Gregory” is about Pope Gregory. It was during his reign as Roman Catholic Pontiff in the 16th century that the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar.)
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
O God of justice, ignite the hearts of our legislators with your commitment to truth and your demand for justice.
Give them wisdom to match their passion, intelligence to match their zeal.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
“I’ve slept since then.” That’s my Mom’s go-to line when trying, unsuccessfully, to remember something. After 90 trips around the sun, she says it more frequently.
“I’ve slept since then” also describes much of the public’s waning attention to the life and legacy of President George H.W. Bush. Given the information overload of our 24/7 news cycles and multiplicity of sources, that marker in our nation’s history is just so yesterday.
Read more ›Signs of the Times • 20 December 2018 • No. 179
¶ Processional. “Flash Flash – Jerusalem during the Christmas Tree Lighting party.” (Thanks Dick.)
by Ken Sehested
Mohandas Gandhi is popularly known as one who confronted empires. Yet those who knew him, or have studied him since, acknowledge the Mahatma spoke often of a more complex struggle against tyranny. The conflict is not only with the British, he would say, but also within our own communities and “with myself.” The Pauline vision generally, and the specific pastoral advice in this text, is rooted in just such a multidimensional understanding of reconciliation. There’s a seamlessness to the task which communities of faith are forever separating and assigning graded priority.
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