Signs of the Times • 22 March 2018 • No. 156
¶ Processional. “All Glory, Laud and Honor,” Palm Sunday procession, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City.
Author: ppadmin
News, views, notes, and quotes
Signs of the Times • 13 March 2018 • No. 155
¶ Processional. “All my life I've been waiting for / I've been praying for / For the people to say / That we don't wanna fight no more / They'll be no more wars / And our children will play / One day.” —Koolulam leading 3000 people in Haifa singing “One Day” (Thanks Marnie.)
Choral reading of John 20:1-18
A script, using 8 voices, to tell aloud John’s resurrection account
by Ken Sehested
Introduction: Choral readings (this one for eight voices) are an effective way to enrich and dramatize the hearing of biblical texts in worship. See preparation instructions at bottom.
Early, [1]
on the first day of the week, [1, 2]
Read more ›I will put my law within them
Choral reading of Jeremiah 31:31-34
by Ken Sehested
Introduction: Choral readings (this one for five voices) are an effective way to enrich and dramatize the hearing of biblical texts in worship. See preparation instructions at bottom.
The days are surely coming, [1]
says the Lord, [all]
Read more ›Why good news is harder to find than bad news
by Ken Sehested
In her recent address at the Conservative Political Action Conference, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch trotted out the usual sarcastic criticism of those calling for gun control legislation in the aftermath of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. One thing she said, though, is spot on.
“Many in the legacy media love mass shootings. . . . Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media.”
Read more ›Call to the Table
Remembering Hugh Thompson, US Army helicopter pilot who stopped the My Lai massacre
by Nancy Hastings Sehested
It is difficult to look at the suffering of people. But during the My Lai massacre there was an American soldier who looked. He was a helicopter pilot named Hugh Thompson. From his copter he saw the bodies of men, women and children on the ground dead and wounded. He realized that something horrific was going on. He then saw some people 
hiding in a bunker, cowering. He saw advancing American soldiers.
He landed his helicopter between the Americans and the Vietnamese. He told the Americans that if they opened fire on the Vietnamese, then his crew would stop them, and open fire on them.
Read more ›Pulling back the veil: The call to penitential living
(In light of the 50th anniversary of the My Lai massacre)
Ken Sehested
Circle of Mercy, Asheville NC
18 March 2018
Texts: Psalm 51:10-19, Jeremiah 6:14-15
Most of you know I’m a pretty mild mannered sort of guy. I was reared to be nice. “Y’all be nice” was what my parents said any time I went out. Occasionally they would say “y’all be good.” But we were never told “y’all be truthful.”
Being truthful is not always nice. And tonight I’ve decided to come out swinging.
Read more ›Hope Remains
A story from prison
by Nancy Hastings Sehested
(excerpt from an upcoming book of stories from work as a prison chaplain)
As I greeted the men at the door for the midweek Christian service I was surprised to see Blake, a regular in the Wiccan group.
“Chap, I didn’t come for the service. I came to see you. I gotta see you now.”
Read more ›Shed a little light
Pastoral prayer in a season of madmen
by Nancy Hastings Sehested
Holy Light,
We stand somewhere in the shadows, in-between the battlefield of our struggles and the sanctuary of our souls.
Shed a little light on our way. Keep your lighted sanctuary within us portable, able to see clearly, to walk courageously, to withstand the forces that corrupt the truth of our belonging to your one world-wide family.
Read more ›Resurrection’s approach
A poem for Holy Week
by Ken Sehested
In praise of the Blessed One who
refuses to be named and tamed,
Who emboldens those previously
bearing no name—no privilege,
no recognition, the illegitimi of
the world—to rise up with
astonishing courage and against
all odds to challenge the webs of
corruption, injustice, and mortal
threat fashioned by politicians,
peddlers, prosecutors, and priests
who honor no truth save that of
their own seething imagination,
who broach the ancient boundaries
of shared beneficence, who sell
Heaven’s manna to the highest
bidder, whose security demands
foreclose on all who lack tribute,
and whose blessing is confined to
those staid to the lies inflicting
every plundered field, deaf to the
cries of those prostrate in mourning
and affliction. Easter in us, Tree of
all life and Trestle of every hope’s
flight from ruin’s despair. Vouchsafe
the promise, to earth’s castaways,
of the resurrecting morning to
come, whose approach opens
wide the gates of hell swallowing
every crucifying power.