When U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was interviewed in May 1996 on CBS 60 Minutes news program, reporter Leslie Stahl spoke this comment and question: "We have heard that a half million c… — anonymous
by Ken Sehested
Following the dramatic response to Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, the text reports that the newly-formed People of the Way devoted themselves to listening and learning, to lingering in each other’s presence, to potluck dinners, and to prayer—with praise and pintos, songs and salads, received and given ’round the Bountiful Table.
Hands and hearts, bound together, loosed for life and Love’s consent.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
’Neath the canyons of vengeance
lies the valley of bones.
Many bones. Dry bones.
Bleached by remorse and hope’s demise.
Child of Eden’s failure and Noah’s fortune.
Forsaken.
Forgotten.
Forlorn.
by Ken Sehested
The psalmist proclaims: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Who can imagine a fear-mongering, molesting God?
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
Gracious One, who jealously guards the lives of those at every edge, we lift our heavy hearts to your Mercy.
We live in a fretful land, anxious over the ebbing away of privilege, fearful that strangers are stealing our birthright.
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There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God will quench the thirst of all who drink from this river of delight. (Psalm 46:4 ; Psalm 36:8)
Living water! ¡Aguas de vida!
Read more ›by Ken & Nancy Hastings Sehested
We thank you, God, for water.
By it you give life to plants,
Animals, and all humankind.
We thank you that in the beginning
your Spirit of creation moved over
the face of the waters.
by Ken Sehested
And what do we mean when we speak of the Lordship of Christ? Is this to say that the Holy One is the ultimate author of vengeance and retribution? Of demeaning power and humiliation?
No, a thousand times, NO! The Lordship of Christ speaks of the coming end of all lording, of the day when the cords of subjugation will unravel.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
One: Give our elected officials your justice, O God.
All: And your righteousness to all who follow them in office.
Read more ›by Ken Sehested,
Wake up, sleepy-head! Rouse yourselves, all you who have been sedated by the mindless blather coming from statehouse and church house alike. Knock some sense into each other, all you who have come to believe that that strength comes from your own hand, that security is held by your own harness.
With my own eyes I saw the Blessed One before me: Christ above me, Christ before me. Christ behind me, Christ within me.
Read more ›Joseph. Obscured brother, consigned to the margins of Incarnation’s story. Calloused hands now shield the shame of face disgraced.
Thoughts of Mary smudge the heart as tears smear the cheek. Betrothed of Mary now bulging with child. Whose? How, and Why?
Unable to provide more than squalid accommodation in your beloved’s night of travail. Enduring embarrassed encounters with wild-eyed shepherds and strangely-clothed pilgrims from obscure and distant lands, each with incredulous stories of starry encounters.
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