I love my country, but I think we should start seeing other people. — bumper sticker
by Ken Sehested
Listen, all you who stagger in desert waste,
disgraced by gloom’s unremitting groan, dragged
daily to death’s gate and the sea’s drowning flood.
The Blessed One stands at the gate of plenty.
The Beloved waits by the well of refreshment.
Signs of the Times • 23 August 2017 • No. 133
Afghanistan is "easy to march into, hard to march out of."
—Alexander The Great (4th century BCE)
Signs of the Times • 16 August 2017 • No. 132
¶ Processional. “O troubled dust concealing / An undivided love / The Heart beneath is teaching / To the broken Heart above.” —Leonard Cohen, “Come Healing”
by Ken Sehested
This article was originally published in Baptist Peacemaker magazine in 1995. Th
e version below is slightly edited.
One of the up-and-coming stars on the humor scene in the U.S. is Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be a Redneck If . . ." standup comedy (now in multiple illustrated book form and soon, I'm told, to be a television offering).
Read more ›Nancy Hastings Sehested
Text: 1 Kings 19:9-18
Circle of Mercy Congregation, Asheville, NC
August 13, 2017
Friends, I still believe that when history beams its light on these treacherous times, that we will be known less by the battles we won and lost, and more by the stories we loved and lived.
The stories from long ago and the stories from headline breaking news is one of fire and fury. The ancient story gives us the full array of human choices in the midst of struggles.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
I recall my first trip to South Africa, leading a delegation of US and European Christians for a first hand look at the apartheid regime. Over the course of 10 days we met with a host of groups and individuals, and even participated in an impromptu, multi-racial prayer vigil on the grounds of the South African parliament in Pretoria, 
something that was still illegal in 1989.
It was, as you might imagine, a stunning and profoundly revelatory journey. Four things still burn bright in my memory.
Read more ›Signs of the Times • 10 August 2017 • No. 131
Invocation.
Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by
We never get to stop and open our eyes
One minute you're waiting for the sky to fall
The next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all
—Bruce Cockburn, "Lovers in Dangerous Times”
Signs of the Times • 1 August 2017 • No. 130
¶ Invocation. Listen to my 3-year-old grandson recite e.e. cumming’s poem “I thank you God for this most amazing day.” (Special thanks to Marc Mullinax for technical expertise.)
Above: This beautiful “Nature Mandala” collage was created in June by children, and their teacher, Monica Hix, at a “Worship in the Arts” camp at First Baptist Church, Greensboro, NC.
Signs of the Times • 25 July 2017 • No. 129
Art ©John August Swanson http://www.johnaugustswanson.com/
¶ Processional. Traditional Samoan Medley performed by Choloration, a combined choir of Westlake Girls and Westlake Boys High School in New Zealand.
Read more ›Signs of the Times • 19 July 2017 • No. 128
¶ Processional. “There’s a Meetin’ Here Tonight,” Cantus.
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