by Abigail Hastings
We sing ~
In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone ~
And perhaps that’s how winter
truly feels
Author: ppadmin
News, views, notes, and quotes
Signs of the Times • 4 February 2016 • No. 57
¶ Processional. Street percussion and dance in New York City, from “To the Culture” (2:28 minutes).
Right: Shelf cloud over Sydney, Australia, photo by Richard Hirst.
¶ Invocation. “Miserere Mei, Deus" (Psalm 51), by 17th century Italian composer Gregorio Allegri (5:44 minutes).
Read more ›Mamrean encounter
A meditation on the threat of refugees, the burden of strangers and the bounty of God
by Ken Sehested
Eons ago, “the Lord”—in the guise of three traveling
strangers—ventured into Abraham’s and Sarah’s
oaken camp at *Mamre, were given hospitality, and
then announced the promise of a fertile womb beyond all conceivable prospect.
Today, that same angelic presence peers through the eyes of yet more strangers, waylaid on some new Jericho Road, modern refugees from Cain's ancient madness, and
not so far from the ancient Mamrean encounter. Their apprehensive, hungering gaze
is arresting, innocently clawing at stingy souls, imploring more than furtive glances and alibis.
Deepening the Call
A wilderness fast in opposition to a "Desert Storm"
by Ken Sehested
The following was published in February 1991 by the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America (BPFNA), along with the names of 1,700 individuals who earlier formally endorsed the “Call to Prayer and Fasting” action sponsored by the BPFNA as one response of resistance to “Desert Storm,” the U.S.-led war against Iraq. This material was originally delivered at Prescott Memorial Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday evening, February 13, 1991, as part of the church’s Ash Wednesday service.
Two months ago we urged members of the Baptist Peace Fellowship (and any others who would join us) to engage in daily prayer and weekly fasting. We issued a document entitled “All Things Are Possible: Call to Prayer & Fasting.” Its purposes were to mobilize and amplify the voice of Baptists and others who opposed the prospect of war in the Middle East, to affirm diplomatic initiatives to resolve the conflict, and to suggest creative, practical and redemptive ways for Christians to express their convictions.
Read more ›Lent is upon us
A liturgy for Lent
by Ken Sehested
Call to worship
The season of Lent is upon us. Listen for your instructions!
Read more ›Spirit-led and Spirit-fed
A litany for worship inspired by Luke 4:1-13
by Ken Sehested
Drenched by Jordan’s buoyant power, confirmed by dove’s anointing perch, conformed to Heaven’s sundering plow, bewildering days now beckon.
Spirit-led and Spirit-fed, off to the famishing wilds now tread.
Read more ›Create in me a clean heart
A litany for worship inspired by Psalm 51
News, views, notes, and quotes
Signs of the Times • 28 January 2016 • No. 56
¶ Processional. “Traveller,” Anoushka Shankar, on sitar, dance by Shalini Patnaik. The dance form, Odissi, is one of the 
eight classical dance forms of India and is thought to be the oldest surviving dance of India.
Tibetan Prayer Flag Quilt by Peg Green, VA
¶ Invocation. "Oh, a storm is threat'ning / My very life today / If I don't get some shelter / Oh year, I'm gonna fade away." Watch David Wolfe's inspiring, multi-artist rendition of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' "Gimme Shelter."
Read more ›From ecstasy to epilepsy
A Transfiguration Sunday sermon
by Ken Sehested
Text: Luke 9:28-43
Once upon a time, Chris Semper and I both lived about an hour southwest of New Orleans, so we know about the significance of this time of year in South Louisiana. (TO CHRIS: Did you go to a lot of Mardi Gras parades?) The parades in New Orleans go on for more than a week; and lots of smaller towns down the bayous had at least one parade, all leading up to “Fat Tuesday,” the day before Ash Wednesday.
Mardi Gras is almost synonymous with “revelry.” Partying. Excessively so, in some cases. Bourbon Street, in the heart of the French Quarter and ground zero for Mardi Gras festivities, is appropriately named.
Read more ›Resilience Mojo for the Bonobo Year
A bleak midwinter sermon
by Abigail Hastings
Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34
I bring greetings from my home church, Judson Memorial in New York City, a sister Alliance and UCC church with deep Baptist roots as it’s a memorial to Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma in the early 1800s. One thing I love about Judson is that it’s always full of surprises—always swimming upstream with the unexpected. I was at a church last month that had a humongous cross up front that reminded me of the 18-footer we had at Judson over 50 years ago. Then we decided it was more authentic to desacralize the space, to recognize the deep marriage of sacred and secular when you see it embodied, literally for example, in our space with the dancers and artists of the time (Judson is generally regarded as the birthplace of postmodern dance). So in that tradition of “guess what we’re doing now?” — Judson’s been having Bible study, ya’ll!
And not the easy parts—we’ve been muckin’ around with major and minor prophets, and recently studied today’s passage, Jeremiah 31. It’s a familiar prophetic playbook: basically, clean up your act, O Israel, or Yahweh will go elsewhere. What the Lord required was pretty basic: treat others fairly, don’t exploit the stranger, the orphan and widow, don’t shed innocent blood, and knock off following other gods.[1]
Read more ›