W]e need to be scared to life, not scared to death. — William Sloan Coffin
by Ken Sehested
Blessed are the poor, they shall all be raised
Blessed, you mournful, sorrow turning to praise
Blessed are the meek, all the earth be yours
Blessed: all the hungry-hearted shall endure.
Chorus: Rock on, you beatitudes, teach me to pray.
Rock on, you beatitudes, help me obey.
Jesus, lead me on along the Pilgrim Way.
Rock on, ‘til the coming of the Bright New Day.
15 October 2015 • No. 42
¶ Invocation. “I could not move against this wind if I did not pray. / And all that is said of me that is untrue / would make 
lame my gait if I / could not free myself from / the weight of other's / malice. —Rabia of Basri (c. 717-801), among the most influential female Islamic saints and a central figure in the Sufi tradition
¶ Call to worship—salsified Beethoven. Beethovan’s 5th Symphony, Sinfonia Cinco Salsa arranged by Sverre Indris Joner.
Read more ›by Nancy Hastings Sehested
Mercy is not mercy if it is offered to those who deserve it.
It is not ignoring cruelties or violence.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
Recently declassified documents confirmed what many had long suspected, that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet ordered the 1976 assassination of former diplomat Orlando Letelier, along with his colleague, Ronni Karpen Moffit, in Washington, DC. This news is of especially personal significance.
§ § §
Read more ›In the book by his name, Job is addressed directly by the Lord God: “Gird up you loins, oh human one! I have questions for you. See if you can answer.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the children of God shouted for joy?
“Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth from my womb and fashioned its garment with clouds?
Read more ›8 October 2015 • No. 41
¶ Invocation. “The morning waits / across the pond / where fog meets frost / to mingle and declare / though substance change / and rearrange— / what is loved / cannot be lost.” —Mary Etta Perry
¶ Call to worship. “Shadows” by David LaMotte.
Writing 1571 in opposition to Bartolomé de las Casas’ advocay for indigeneous citizens of the Americas, an unnamed Spanish church official in Peru penned the following parable as a theological rationale for conquest:
"God acted . . . as a father who has two daughters: one very white, full of grace and gentility; the other very ugly, bleary-eyed, stupid and bestial. If the first is to be married, she doesn't need a dowry, but only to be put in the palace and those who want to marry her would compete for her. For the ugly, stupid, foolish wretch, it isn't enough to give her a large dowry, many jewels, lovely magnificent, and expensive clothes. . . .
"God did the same for us. Certainly we were all unfaithful, be it Europe or Asia; but in their natural state they have great beauty, much science and discretion. Little was needed for the apostles and apostolic men to betroth those souls with Jesus Christ by the faith of baptism.
Read more ›If you want to read about a European pioneer on Columbus Day, learn about Bartolomé de las Casas. His story is one of unfolding repentance over the course of his life in regard to treatment of the indigenous population of the Spanish conquest of the “New World.”
Born in 1484, Las Casas first traveled to the island of Hispaniola in 1502 along with his father, a Spanish merchant. Initially he participated in and profited from Spain’s enslavement of the population. In 1510 he was the first priest to be ordained in the Americas.
That same year a group of Spanish Dominicans arrived in Santo Domingo, and they were appalled at the injustices. Specifically, the Dominican Fray Antonio de Montesinos expressed public outrage, which had a significant effect on Las Casas and, in time, prompted him to become an equally outspoken opponent of the conquest.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood
and assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them
to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery
What Dan Buttry does in We Are the Socks is what he does better than anyone I know: Write vivid, easy-to-read narratives that are hopeful but not sentimental, honest but not cynical, revealing without being voyeuristic, personal without being self-serving, sometimes humorous but never silly. And the people he writes about, in these few selected episodes out of literally dozens of others from his global work, are not drawn from self-selected elites—the morally heroic or intelligent or ingenious. Mostly they are commonplace folk, drawn from every sort of circumstance, typical admixtures of hope and doubt, compassion and malice, vision and 
blind sightedness. Not your stereotypical candidates for sainthood. In other words, folk like us, like the ones in our churches and neighborhoods and families.
Let blessings leap from your lips, you People of Mercy!
For the One who saves is the One who serves.
Bring all that you are to this holy abode. Take off your shoes and lean into God’s breath.
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