. . . the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we… — Matthew Arnold
by Ken Sehested
Headlines about the Orlando nightclub slaughter regularly include the phrase “largest (or worst) mass shooting in U.S. history.” (See some of the photos and all of the names of those killed in this ABC News post.)
Hardly. Not by a long shot.
Read more ›Signs of the Times • 10 June 2016 • No. 76
There is no subtle way to have a conversation about sexual assault and rape. Nevertheless, we must endure the discomfort.
If you can read no further on this page, I urge you to read the statement by the Stanford University campus rape victim. She remains anonymous, but she had the moxie to not only write this but also to read this missive (and it is long)—in court and in the presence of her attacker and the case’s presiding judge.
This is a modern-day epistle, a dispatch from the traumatized trenches of gender bias. See “Make a new name” below.
by Ken Sehested
Circle of Mercy Congregation
Text: Judges 19:1-30
There have been two special occasions in my life when I have become agonizingly aware of the special fear women feel over the threat of sexual assault.
The first happened when Nancy and I were counting the days before our 1973 wedding. Every couple weeks she came in from where she went to school in New Jersey to meet me in a chaplain’s office in New York City. We were doing a series of premarital counseling sessions.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
By now you know about the judicial lenience given by California Judge Aaron Persky to Stanford student Brock Turner for raping an unconscious woman at a campus party. You may also know about the absolutely clueless letter read to the judge by the student’s father.
And you were probably shocked to learn that a Vanderbilt University athlete, convicted of the same crime under similar circumstances, is facing 15-25 years behind bars. Turner got 6 months. One of the two is African American, the other white.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
Today’s text is the brutal story of the mighty warrior, Jephthah, whose bloody victory entails the sacrifice of his only child, a daughter, whose name is lost to history. Hear now and testify your resolve to Heaven’s intent:
Oh you, dear unnamed daughter, pawn of warrior’s reckless vow,
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Men: Our hearts sag with sorrow when the history of such misery is unveiled.
Women: Such truthfulness comes at a cost. But worthy is the truth.
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Introduction: To “steal away to Jesus” is not submission to injustice or passivity in the face of evil. Rather, it represents a strategic retreat to gather the weapons of the Spirit needed to reengage enemies in ways they fail to fathom and ultimately cannot thwart. Enemies are destroyed, by and by, when enmity itself is swallowed in death.
§ § §
Read more ›Signs of the Times • 2 June 2016 • No. 75
¶ Processional. “Get Right With God,” Lucinda Williams.
Above: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, VirginiaFellow citizens (in the US): We need to talk. Not just about Memorial Day but about an annual holiday calendar that includes no less than 13 days celebrating (directly or indirectly) a militarized history of our nation. (The annotated list is printed below.)
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
Does the Lamb of God truly take away
the sins of the world? The question is
more than a forensic exercise. The
question brings us to a momentous
fork in the road.
§ If so, then how can we who affirm this
conviction fail to live into its consequences—
promised though not yet prospered—of
withdrawing from and standing against
the logic of retaliation and every
bloodletting endeavor. It is not
JUST WAR.
It is
just war.
by Ken Sehested
“We’ll worship the hind legs off Jesus but never do a thing he says.” —Clarence Jordan
Let’s be honest. Jesus’ command to “love your enemies” is likely the New Testament’s most memorable yet most effectively ignored directive.
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