The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. — Steve Biko
Signs of the Times • 16 March 2016 • No. 63
¶ Processional. “Khen Ephran,” Coptic Orthodox hymn for Holy Week.
¶ Invocation. “Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” —Deuteronomy 8:17
Read more ›Easter morning, Sunday 24 April 2011
Marion Correctional Institution
(maximum security prison for men)
Text: John 20:1-18
by Ken Sehested
It was still dark when Mary Magdalene crept away from her home, down the street, up into the garden to where Jesus had been buried two days before. Joseph of Arimathea had bravely volunteered to take Jesus’ body away from the Golgotha killing ground. Nicodemus, with whom Jesus had earlier met secretly at night, also came to the burial place, bringing traditional ointments and spices to retard the smell of a decomposing body, along with linen, the customary burial garment of the time.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
Oh LORD, you are my shepherd, I shall not want.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
Jump for joy, oh people! For amid the screaming commercials and blithering campaign ads, the Redeemer has heard our aching voice.
God hears! God knows! This is our assurance against all blistering deceit.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
Turning from darkness (death) to light (life) is a major theme in Scripture. But there is also a minority report, where darkness and shadow are the place of God’s abiding Presence.
“Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit. Guard me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” —Psalm17:1, 8
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
O Breath of Heaven and Earth’s Delight, to your shelter we flee from enmity’s fright.
Incline your ear to each whimpering voice collapsed by the weight of earth-splitting fear.
Read more ›Signs of the Times • 10 March 2016 • No. 62
¶ Processional. St. Mary’s Academy (New Orleans) Marching Band.
¶ Invocation. “Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Osanna, Osanna in excelsis” (“Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. 
Hosanna, hosanna in the highest”), “The Ground,” by Ola Gjeilo, performed by the Heritage Concert Choir at Western Washington University.
by Ken Sehested
Is there no song to be sung, no bell to be rung, no laughter from the fields at play with their yield? Would that my mouth be formed and my lips unleashed to speak a word, a true and hearty word, to all grown deaf with grief.
Make our tongues worthy—make them constant and true—to sustain the weary with a word.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
The Rock of the Righteous is our God:
Who marks the boundaries between justice and vengeance;
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
From the depths of distress, every sail sagged and limp,
my mutinous lips offer insurrecting sighs.
With heart-aching hope doth my voice still rejoice.
Incline us, consign us, to steadfast Embrace.
Subscribers receive full access to the entire prayer&politiks site. It’s free. Each week you will receive an automated email with a link to the new edition of the Signs of the Times column. All you provide is you name, email address and city, state or province, and country. This information is never shared with any other party. The only other agreement you make is to receive two solicitation letters per year, one in the spring, the other in the fall. (Which you are free to ignore. Your subscription is still free, and you may “unsubscribe” at any time.) This is our modern begging-bowl. Contributions are our sole source of support.