Recent

9 July 2015  •  No. 29

¶ Invocation. Listen, O people of the Way, and take note. Your ancestors were once illegal aliens in the land of Southern Appalachia. Boat people, all of you, undocumented immigrants. Scots-Irish trash; crackers and kaffirs, wetbacks and wops; gooks, goyim, gringos and gypsies. / Strangers we were, with no stake in the Promise; hopeless, helpless, beggarly-born. (Continue reading “Strangers we were,”  by Ken Sehested.)

¶ Hymn of praise. Kate Campbell, “Jesus and Tomatoes Coming Soon,”  Get your own “Jesus and Tomatoes Coming Soon” bumper sticker ($5 postpaid) at katecampbell.com.  While you’re there, sample the tracks from her fabulous new album, “1000 Pound Machine.”

¶ Good read. “How a White Supremacist Became a Civil Rights Activist: The story of a KKK leader’s transformation shows us that we need not live forever with the kind of violence we saw in Charleston last week.” —Araz Hachadourian, Yes! Magazine

¶ Title Nine this. The men’s 2015 world cup soccer game payment was $576 million, nearly 40 times as much as for women’s $15 million prize. The US men’s team is ranked 27th in the world. The women’s team ranked #1. National Women’s Soccer League salaries range from $6,000 to $30,000. In aggregate, the women make 98.6 less than men. —Mary Pilon, “The World Cup pay gap: What the U.S. and Japan didn’t win in the women’s soccer final”

¶ “In the immediate aftermath of the massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, the the US House of Representatives epresentatives Appropriations Committee quietly rejected an amendment that would have allowed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the underlying causes of gun violence.” —“Quietly, Congress extends a ban on CDC research on gun violence”

¶ The first of 12 Republican Party presidential candidate debates is less than a month away. The field will be culled to the top 10 (of 16 current or probable) candidates based on polling. “A big field does not allow depth of discussion of issues—‘these are debates for the age of Twitter,’ says Princeton political historian Julian Zelizer—and encourages grandstanding and showboating by candidates desperate for attention. ‘My favorite part of the campaign,’ said Patrick Millsaps, Newt Gingerich’s presidential campaign chief in 2012. ‘It’s not great for democracy,’ said Zelizer, ‘but it’s good TV.’” —Rick Hampson, “10-Candidate Debate: Circus, cattle call or not mess?”

¶ Megamouth Donald Trump, currently polling second among Republican candidates, recently had some scurrilous comments about undocumented Mexican immigrants—comments which may force other GOPers to make more substantive policy proposals on the topic of immigration. This fall would be a good time to plan special Christian education programs on the topic. Among the resources you can consider are “Out of the House of Slavery: A Bible study on immigration,” and “Strangers & Aliens: A collection of biblical texts regarding the fate of immigrants.”  Litanies for worship: “Strangers we were,” inspired by Ephesians 2:11-12  and “You shall also love the stranger.”

Mexican artist Dalton Avalos Ramirez created this Donald Trump piñata (at right) as a response to Trump’s bloviations.

¶ Lection for Sunday next. “Come away . . . and rest a while” (Mark 6:31a). See “Steal away,” a litany for worship inspired by Mark 6:30-34.

¶ Hymn of assurance. “Steal Away,” Wells College Concert Choir.

¶ How did this association come to be? This area “is populated with too many still singing ‘gimme that old time religion’ and with extreme gun rights advocates believing that every person toting a loaded weapon at all times is best for America.” —letter to the editor, Asheville Citizen-Times

¶ Gimme that REALLY old time religion. “So now the LORD says, "Stop right where you are! Look for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16a, b).
        •“But [the unrighteous] said, ‘We will not walk in it’” (Jeremiah 6:16c).
        • For “they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no limits in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy” (Jeremiah 5:27b-28).
        • “Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place”  (Jeremiah 22:3).

¶ It was a “controversial sermon” earlier this year that got MidAmerica Nazarene University Chaplain Randy Beckum into trouble with his school’s administration. Some in his chapel audience were upset by his suggestion that Christians should take seriously Jesus’ injunction to love one’s enemies and his questions about Christians’ use of violence. The Olathe, Kansas, school’s president issued a statement affirming academic freedom, even when the opinions “may not reflect official policy . . . and our core values.” —Christian Century

¶ Competing text. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest motherf**cker in the valley.” —Jamie Foxx as Marine Staff Sergeant Sykes in the movie “Jarhead,” about “Operation Desert Storm” in 1991 following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait

¶ Support our troops! “Members of the Texas-based Helping a Hero charity told ABC News that [former President George W.] Bush charged $100,000 for his 2012 speech at a charity fundraiser for veterans who lost limbs in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. The former president was also given use of a private jet at a cost of $20,000 and former First Lady Laura Bush was paid $50,000 to speak to the group last year.” —CNN

¶ “No one should be surprised, let alone dismayed, that the negotiations [between the US and Cuba] have been tense. After all, 50-plus years of outright hostilities cannot be undone in the course of a few meetings. Both governments are under pressure from factions within their own countries to preserve the status quo.” (Stan Hastey’s “Reflections on changes in US-Cuba relations.” )

¶ “In the two years since the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, there have been at least 94 school shootings, including fatal and nonfatal assaults, suicides, and unintentional shootings — an average of nearly one a week.” —“Analysis of School Shootings: December 15, 2012 – December 9, 2014,” Everytown for Gun Safety

¶ “More people are killed by 'white supremacists, antigovernment fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims': 48 vs. 26 since 9/11, according to a study by the New America Foundation. (More comprehensive studies cited in a recent New York Times op-ed show an even greater gap, with 254 killed in far-right violence since 9/11, according to West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, compared to 50 killed in jihadist-related terrorism.)
        “But in a piece all about the ‘mismatch between public perceptions and actual cases,’ the entity most charged with making sure these match–the news media–doesn’t get much scrutiny. There is research on this question–such as a study from University of Illinois communications professor Travis Dixon, summarized in the Champaign/Urbana News Gazette.
        “Between 2008 and 2012, about 6 percent of domestic terrorism suspects were Muslim, or about 1 in 17, according to FBI reports. — Jim Naureckas, “That Most Terrorists Aren’t Muslim May ‘Come as a Surprise’—if You Get Your News From Corporate Media”

¶ Speaking of the disconnect between public perception and actual fact, stories of shark attacks on the US east coast have everyone talking. But did you know you’re 20 times more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark? 52 times more, by deer and other mammals? 58 times more, by bees and wasps? And when was the last time you paused, before driving to the market, to ask yourself “Maybe it’s too great a risk (since 33,000 people die in auto accidents each year)?” —Christopher Ingraham, “Chart: The animals that are most likely to kill you this summer”

¶ This just in. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed legislation authorizing the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds. Last week the SC Senate easily approved the measure. Following 13 hours of debate that ended shortly after midnight Wednesday, the House followed suit. The flag is scheduled to be lowered at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

¶ “We long for our churches to be safe places to doubt, to ask questions, and to tell the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable.”
        These words, from a popular young author in progressive Christian circles, have a certain sophisticated cachet. But I wonder if the import indicates more than a kissing-cousin kinship with the me-and-Jesus piety of evangelical culture—substituting the unfettered mind for the redeemed soul, retaining the elevated self as the center of Redemption’s story.
        So, I asked, what different rendering would I give? Here’s my attempt—which, admittedly, isn’t quite as concise:
        “We long for churches that incubate Spirit-inspired risks, that permit joyful exuberance alongside full-throated grief, that embrace the world’s agony in anticipation of its coming revelry.”
        What about you? How would you express your similar longing? —Ken Sehested

¶ Distracted walking. A 17 June report issued by the National Safety Council (NSC) claims there were an estimated 11,101 injuries reported between 2001 and 2011 as a result of “distracted walking.” The NSC also reports that 1.6 million car crashes occur annually as a result of cell phone use, and one out of every four car accidents in the US is caused by texting while driving. View the short video, “When Texting While Walking Goes Wrong—Funny Accidents and Falls.”

¶ Call to the table. “Mexican-American theologian Virgilio Elizondo highlights the importance of fiestas” for people in Latina/o cultures. (‘Elements for a Mexican American Mestizo Christology’ in Jesus in the Hispanic Community). “After recounting the oppression that these people have faced due to unjust systems. . . he describes that fiestas provide an opportunity to celebrate the most valuable elements in their present lives. . . .
        “But fiestas, Elizondo affirms, have also eschatological elements that are prophetic and represent a call to action. While these fiestas may be used in some settings as a sort of drug to pacify the people, a true fiesta is a celebration of a new future in God. ‘In these fiestas, we rise above our daily living experiences of death to experience life beyond death. . . .  Fiesta is a foretaste and experience, even if for a brief moment, of the ultimate accomplishment (eschatological banquet).’”  —Nora O. Lozano, “A Summer of Baptist Fiestas, Baptist News Global

Art (at right) ©Julie Lonneman

¶ Altar call. “There is no one to send, / not a clean hand nor a pure heart / on the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, / a generation comforting ourselves with the notion / that we have come at an awkward time, / that our innocent fathers are all dead as if innocence had ever been / and our children busy and troubled, / and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready / having each of us chosen wrongly, / made a false start, failed, / yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, / and grown exhausted unable to seek the thread, weak, and involved. / But there is no one but us. / There never has been. —Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm

¶ Benediction. “For grace to be grace, it must give us things we didn’t know we needed and take us to places where we didn’t want to go.” —Kathleen Norris, Acedia and Me

#   #   #

Featured this week on prayer&politiks:

• “Stranger & Aliens: A collection of biblical texts regarding the fate of immigrants”

• “Strangers we were,” a litany for worship inspired by Ephesians 2:11-12

• “You shall also love the stranger,” a litany for worship

• “Out of the House of Slavery: A Bible study on immigration”

• “Reflections on changes in US-Cuba Relations” by Stan Hastey

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor. Don’t let the “copyright” notice keep you from circulating material you find here (and elsewhere in this site). Reprint permission is hereby granted in advance for noncommercial purposes.

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends.

2 July 2015  •  No. 28

¶ Invocation. “With good pleasure, in the beginning, the Beloved aspired all that now breathes. Then again, in the Lovely One, even Christ Jesus, the Wind of Heaven confounds the wail of rancor. Come, heaven! Come, earth! With mercy so tender, adopted in splendor, all bloodletting malice shall melt into praise.” (Continue reading “Good Pleasure,” a litany for worship inspired by Ephesians 1:3-14.)

¶ “Why is it that when we talk to God we’re said to be praying, but when God talks to us we’re schizophrenic?” —Lily Tomlin

¶ Just amazing. Vivian Boyack, age 91 (at left in the photo), and Alice “Nonie” Dubes, age 90, have been together for 72 years, and this past weekend they tied the knot in Davenport, Iowa. “This is a celebration of something that should have happened a very long time ago,” said Rev. Linda Hunsaker who performed their wedding. (Photo by Thomas Geyer)

¶ The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? —Pablo Casals

¶ “Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled there will be America's heart, her benedictions and her prayers.  But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.  She is the well wisher to the freedom and independence of all. . . . The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force . . . She might become the dictatress of the world; she would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit.” —President John Quincy Adams, Washington D.C., July 4, 1821

¶ It is a myth that “founding father” Benjamin Franklin recommended that a turkey replace the bald eagle on the first Great Seal of the US, created by the Second Continental Congress, though he did have disparaging words about the eagle. Some might say Franklin’s estimate of the eagle’s character flaws was inadvertently prophetic.
        “For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
        “With all this injustice, he is never in good case but like those among men who live by sharping & robbing. . . .” —Benjamin Franklin, writing from France on 26 January 1784 to his daughter Sally (Mrs. Sarah Bache) in Philadelphia

¶ The "lost" verse of Woodie Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." "In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple / Near the relief office – I see my people / And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin' / If this land's still made for you and me."

¶ “Our country has always held freedom in high regard, though these days the concept seems more likely championed by people who feel oppressed by their cell phone plan. . . .” —Becky Upham, “Hank III,” ashevillescene.com

¶ The American way. “Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage: / This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage. / An' you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A. / 'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way." —Toby Keith, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” (aka “The Angry American”)

¶ Lamentation. “If we lived in a world without tears / How would misery know / Which back door to walk through / How would trouble know / Which mind to live inside of / How would sorrow find a home?” —Lucinda Williams, “World Without Tears”

¶  “Unlike most countries, we have no overt national religion; but a partly concealed one has been developing among us for two centuries now. It is almost purely experiential, and despite its insistences [to the contrary], it is scarcely Christian in any traditional way. A religion of the self burgeons, under many names, and seeks to know its own inwardness, in isolation. What the American self has found, since about 1800, is its own freedom—from the world, from time, from other selves.” —Harold Bloom, The American Religion

¶ Words of assurance. Among the memory prods in Charleston’s aftermath is the reminder about the Spirit’s lurking—about whose presence we must foster, which whereabouts we must find, if we are to hear with clarity the proffered promise:
        “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever” (1 Corinthians 4:8-10, 18). —Ken Sehested

Artwork by Ricardo Levins Morales, ©RLM Art Studio rlmartstudio.com

¶ “There’s been a sea change moment out there and the issue has really come to light,” says Reggie Vandenbosch, chair of the Flag Manufacturers Association of America. “We’re just simply not going to participate in production or selling of these [Confederate flags] out of sensitivity and not wanting to create anybody any additional emotional pain.” —quoted in Gregg Zoroya and Hadley Malcolm, “Amazon, eBay pull flag sales from sites,” USA Today

¶ “It’s not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., former Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court

¶ “In a landmark ruling that many hope establishes a new global precedent for a state's obligation to its citizens in the face of the growing climate crisis, a Dutch court on Wednesday said that the government has a legal duty to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2020. The decision came in response to a lawsuit, launched in November 2013 by the Amsterdam-based environmental nonprofit Urgenda Foundation along with 600 Dutch citizens, which argued that the government was violating international human rights law by failing to take sufficient measures to combat rising greenhouse gas emissions.” —Lauren McCauley, “In Historic Ruling, Dutch Court Says: Climate Action is a Human Right”

¶ Confession. “We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.“ —Dorothy Sayers

¶ The coincidence of the massacre in Charleston on 17 June and the release on 18 June of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment (“Laudato Si,” Latin for “Praised Be to You,” which appears in “Canticle of the Sun” by St. Francis, the Pope’s namesake) resulted in the latter being squeezed from the news. Following are a few significant quotes.
        •”The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”
        •"Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years."
        •"The idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology . . . is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth's goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry at every limit."
        •"A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system . . . due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases released mainly as a result of human activity."
        •"Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start."
       •"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."

¶ If your primary source for public information on “terrorism” is mainstream headlines, you’d think jihadists are public enemy number one. But the 2014 Police Executive Research Forum says otherwise. “An officer from a large metropolitan area said that ‘militias, neo-Nazis and sovereign citizens’ are the biggest threat we face in regard to extremism.'
        “Despite public anxiety about extremists inspired by Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, the number of violent plots by such individuals has remained very low. Since 9/11, an average of nine American Muslims per year have been involved in an average of six terrorism-related plots against targets in the United States. Most were disrupted, but the 20 plots that were carried out accounted for 50 fatalities over the past 13.5 years. In contrast, right-wing extremists averaged 337 attacks per year in the decade after 9/11, causing a total of 254 fatalities.” —Charles Kurzman and David Schanzer, The Other Terror Threat,” New York Times

¶ Preach it. “Beatitudes,” Sweet Honey in the Rock

¶ Overheard. Waiting in line behind a woman speaking on her cellphone in another language. Ahead of her is a white man. After the woman hangs up, he speaks up.
        Man: “I didn’t want to say anything while you were on the phone, but you’re in America now. You need to speak English.”
        Woman: “Excuse me?”
        Man: *speaking very slowly* “If you want to speak Mexican, go back to Mexico. In America, we speak English.”
        Woman: “Sir, I was speaking Navajo. If you want to speak English, go back to England.”

¶ Altar call. “‘I am wronging no one,’ you say, ‘I am merely holding on to what is mine.’ What is yours! Who gave it to you so that you could bring it into life with you? Why, you are like a man who pinches a seat at the theater at the expense of latecomers, claiming ownership of what was for common use. That’s what the rich are like; having seized what belongs to all, they claim it as their own on the basis of having got there first. Whereas if everyone took for himself enough to meet his immediate needs and released the rest for those in need of it, there would be no rich and no poor.” —Basil of Caesarea, fourth century Greek bishop

¶ Benediction. “Time is how you spend your love.” —Zadie Smith

#   #   #

Featured this week on prayer&politiks:

• “Good Pleasure,” a litany for worship inspired by Ephesians 1:3-14 

• “There are more with us than there are with them,” a sermon on Elijah

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor. Don’t let the “copyright” notice keep you from circulating material you find here (and elsewhere in this site). Reprint permission is hereby granted in advance for noncommercial purposes.

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends.

26 June 2015  •  No. 27

¶ Invocation. A different “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah” (Since I Lay My Burden Down).  —Staple Singers

Photo at right: Jacob Kerr, Huffington Post

¶ Pride history. While posting this edition, news of the US Supreme Court’s decision validating the right for same-sex couples to marry. [photo cap: Jacob Kerr, Huffington Post]
        This news comes only days after another milestone moment: “Nearly 46 years after powerful protests there galvanized the modern gay rights movement, New York City's historic Stonewall Inn has been granted official landmark status. It was June 28, 1969, when police raided the Greenwich Village bar that served gay clientele in an era of intolerance toward homosexuality.” —Deirdre Fulton, “Stonewall Inn, Celebrated Birthplace of Modern Gay Rights Movement, Gets Landmark Status”

¶ “Columbia University on Monday announced that it would divest from the private prison industry and ban reinvestment in companies that operate prisons, making it the first college “ to divest. “The announcement follows 16 months of campaigning by the prison abolitionist group Students Against Mass Incarceration, which launched after a number of students discovered in 2013 that the school had invested roughly $10 million of its endowment in the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and G4S, two for-profit companies that operate private detention centers and prisons around the world.” —Nadia Prupis, “Following Student-Led Campaign, Columbia to Divest from Prisons”

¶ God Bless America—the song. Isaiah Berlin’s patriotic song, “God Bless America,” was first written in 1918 but not released until 1938 in the lead up to the US entry into World War II. The song was often sung at labor organizing rallies and in the early days of the civil rights movement. Berlin donated the song’s royalties to the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the USA. One of the song’s critics, Woodie Guthrie wrote “This Land is Your Land” as a rejoinder. The song has occasionally been played at professional sporting events as a substitute for “The Star Spangled Banner,” and numerous Major League Baseball teams play it during the seventh-inning stretch.

Art at right. www.OhioCountryCrafts.com

¶ God Bless America—the political benediction. In The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America, authors David Domke and Kevin Coe report that prior to President Ronald Reagan, the use of “God Bless America” was used only once in modern political history (beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inauguration), by Richard Nixon, as he attempted to extract himself from the Watergate scandal. The phrase is now something of a political piety. —See their article in the 29 April 2008 edition Time magazine

¶ The use by politicians of “God bless America” is typically spoken as a kind of entitlement and backdrop to the use of the word “exceptional” in describing American presence in the world. Some years ago I wrote to biblical scholar/activist Ched Myers, asking him about this presumptuous usage.
        His research turned up the fact that “Of the 41 appearances of the Greek verb eulogeoo (literally ‘speaking a good word’), only twice do we find it in the imperative mood. In neither case does it involve God. It does, however, involve us. In Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Plain he invites his disciples to ‘Bless those who curse you’ (Luke 6:28). These instructions are later echoed by the apostle Paul: ‘Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse’ (Romans 12:14)." Blessings are to be commanded not to me and mine but to them and theirs. (See Myers' “Mixed Blessing: A Biblical Inquiry into a ‘Patriotic’ Cant”)

¶ “‘What to the Slave is the Fourth July?’  by Frederick Douglass [5 July 1852] is not only a brilliant work of oratory. It speaks to our every frustration spurred by the gap between the ideals of the United States and the reality we witness every day. . . .  As Douglass says, ‘Had I the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.’” —Dave Zirin, The Nation, 4 July 2012

¶ For a review of how US patriotism and free marketeering press-ganged Christianity into service in the mid 20th century, see “How ‘One Nation’ Didn’t Become ‘Under God’ Until the ‘50s Religious Revival,” the National Public Radio interview with Kevin M. Kruse, author of One Nation Under God.

¶ There are two great ironies behind the “Liberty Bell,” associated with the founding convictions of the United States of America. (Continue reading “Proclaim Liberty: Two ironies behind that iconic bell.”)  See also “Proclaim Liberty: A litany for worship around US Independence Day”

¶ Lection for Sunday next. Here in the US, the shadow of our nation’s 4 July Independence Day almost always overshadows the assigned Scripture text for the day. If you’re looking for a principal alternate text, I recommend Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land and unto the inhabitants thereof.” Tell the story of the “Liberty Bell.” (See the note above for background.)

¶ “The doors are open at Emanuel this Sunday, sending a message to every demon in Hell and on Earth that no weapon, no weapon, shall prosper!” —Rev. Norvel Goff, named interim pastor at Emanuel AME Church following the 17 shooting, referencing Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, says the Lord.”

¶ This 12+ minute video features Rev. (and state senator) Clementa C. Pinckney reviewing the history of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, the oldest black church in the South outside of Baltimore. (Thanks, Buddy.) The state of South Carolina banned black churches in 1834 out of fear that such communities would foster slave rebellions.

¶ “As President Obama told the nation’s mayors Friday, ‘Every country has violent, hateful or mentally unstable people. What’s different is not every country is awash with easily accessible guns.’ The president’s remarks about Charleston marked his 14th statement about shootings—11 of them in the US—since he took office.” —Rem Rieder, “No, not ‘too soon’ to talk about gun control"

¶ In the surge of writing following the massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, the most significant may be Roxane Gay’s “Why I Can’t Forgive Dylann Roof.” I think it most significant not because I agree but because it states what so many assume because of a culturally-warped reading of Scripture. (Continue reading “Forgiveness is not forgetting.” )

¶ Ceremonial tears and politically-feigned regrets. “[T]his forgiveness [of Dylann Roof by family members of those killed at Emanuel AMC Church in Charleston] should not be misinterpreted as a dismissing of the greater evil. The forgiveness in Charleston is also an act of resistance to the attempts to lay the blame for this horror at the feet of one man.” —Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, “Justice After Charleston”

¶ “I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is the most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.” —Dylann Roof, accused of killing nine people in Charleston, South Carolina’s Emanuel AME Church

¶ "Make no mistake. Hate crimes are the original domestic terrorism.'' —US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, during a recent visit to the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama

¶ “To quote [Martin Luther] King about the "beloved community" and not get serious about gun violence in America is, at best, empty rhetoric, and at worst, a malignant mangling of his message. If you're going to quote King, then vote King: Get serious about gun control.” —Tavis Smiley, “5 Lessons Charleston Can Teach Us About Race, Guns and Healing”

¶ Demand a plan to address to gun violence. One minute of fed-up celebrities talking about guns is worth your time. “They packed more pissed-off celebrities than I could count into a 1-minute video for everyone to see.”

¶ This photo (right) is from the early 1920s, probably in Portland, Oregon, in which robed and hooded Ku Klux Klan members share a stage with members of the Royal Riders of the Red Robe, a Klan auxiliary for foreign-born white Protestants. A large banner reading “Jesus Saves” occupies a prominent position on the wall at the rear of the stage and testifies to the strong role that Protestantism played in the KKK philosophy of “100 percent Americanism.”

¶ Preach it. “Without truth, no healing; without forgiveness, no future. —South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

¶ Cascading changes in the Confederate flag’s public presence.
        • In South Carolina on Tuesday, lawmakers voted to take up legislation to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds, one day after Republican Governor Nikki Haley made similar remarks.
        • Also Tuesday, the governors of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia announced they would no longer be issuing state license plates featuring the Confederate flag. On Wednesday both of Mississippi’s US Senators called for removal of the state flag, which contains the Confederate flag.
        • Retailers Walmart, Amazon, Sears, Ebay and Etsy announced bans on the sale of Confederate flag merchandise.
        • One of the nation's largest flag manufacturers, Valley Forge Flag, on Tuesday also said they would no longer produce or sell Confederate flags.
        • In Mississippi, House leader Philip Gunn (R) called for the Confederate emblem to be removed from the state flag.
        • Tennessee lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are calling for the removal of statue of Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest from the statehouse.
        • In Kentucky, the Republican nominee for governor, Matt Bevin, is urging the removal of a statue honoring Jefferson Davis from the Capitol.

¶ Call to the table. “Forgiveness is the only way to reverse the irreversible flow of history.” —Hannah Arendt

Art at right ©Julie Lonneman

¶ Benediction. “My church and my country could use a little mercy now / As they sink into a poisoned pit it's going to take forever to climb out / They carry the weight of the faithful who follow them down / I love my church and country, they could use some mercy now.” —Mary Gauthier, “Mercy Now”

#   #   #

Featured this week on prayer&politiks:

• “Proclaim Liberty: Two ironies behind that iconic bell”

• “Proclaim Liberty: A litany for worship around US Independence Day”

• “Forgiveness is not forgetting: Charleston’s challenge”

• “In the Shadow of a Steeple: Time for a post-national church?”

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor. Don’t let the “copyright” notice keep you from circulating material you find here (and elsewhere in this site). Reprint permission is hereby granted in advance for noncommercial purposes.

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends.

18 June 2015  •  No. 26

¶ Invocation. “The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want / Green pastures rise and from the font / Flow waters, ever gentle, to surround me / My soul restored, my heart aflame / My feet will walk and for that Name / My lungs will lift to sing, Hallelujah. —Ken Sehested, first verse of new lyrics (adapted from from Psalm 23) to Leonard Cohen’s song, “Hallelujah.” 

Left: Banner hanging in the Park Road Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina.

¶ Graduation season. The recent vicarious experience of friends’ delight (and a wee bit of anxiety) at their children’s graduation pivots make me recall my own emotions in that season from some years ago, including a poem, “On the flow of tears.” 

¶ Hymn of assurance. “All My Tears,” by Emmy Lou Harris with Julie Miller

¶ Sweetitious (sweet + righteous). Courtney Vashaw, a Bethlehem, New Hampshire, school principal, got a surprise gift last week when her high school senior class voted to donate the $8,000 they raised (over the past 4 years) for their senior class trip to help with her medical expenses stemming from a rare cancer.

¶ Newly-announced GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. In a 2010 interview with Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump said he went to church “when I can. . . . Always on Christmas. Always on Easter. Always when there’s a major occasion. I’m a Sunday church person.” —Religion News Service

¶ The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, who leaves the show in August, is already regretting he won’t be around to cover Trump’s presidential run. Tuesday night’s Daily Show opening (10+ minutes—the Trump spotlight starts at about 4 minutes in) featured its reporters going orgasmic at Trump’s announcement. Should be a good fall for comedy.

¶ “An active-duty Army chaplain with the elite 75th Ranger Regiment has published a book titled, Jesus Was an Airborne Ranger, and appeared in uniform to promote it, raising questions about the service endorsing Christianity as the Pentagon wages wars in Muslim countries.” —Tom Vanden Brook, “Ranger chaplain causes friction with book," USA Today

¶ Call to confession. "How can you say 'Our Father' if you plunge steel into the guts of your brother? Christ compared himself to a hen: Christians behave like hawks. Christ was a shepherd of the sheep: Christians tear each other like wolves. —15th century Dutch priest and theologian Desiderius Erasmus, “War Is Sweet to Those Who Have Not Tried It”

¶ Ramadan Mubarak! (Have a blessed Ramadan!) Some 1.5 billion Muslims began observing Ramadan today, beginning a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting and deepened attention to spiritual formation in commemoration of the first revelation of the Qur’an to Muhammad according to Islamic belief. This annual observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam.  Because the cycle of the lunar calendar does not match the solar calendar, the dates of Ramadan shift by approximately 11 days each year. The ending of Ramadan is marked by the holiday of Eid ul-Fitr, which takes place either 29 or 30 days after the beginning of the month. Here’s a brief, helpful introduction to the season, “Ramadan 2015: Facts, History, Dates, Greeting and Rules About the Muslim Fast.” 

¶ Given the world in which we live, among our most urgent tasks involves interfaith conversation, particularly to delegitimize violence done in the name of religion. On this topic, see “Speak out clearly, pay up personally: The purpose, promise, and peril of interfaith engagement”  by Ken Sehested, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, and Muslim chaplain Rabia Terri Harris. Also see “Building a Culture of Peace: An Interfaith Agenda.” 

Painting in the design at right: "Farm Worker" by Vincent van Gogh.

¶ Several high-profile stories involving religious leaders that do not include public embarrassment seem to suggest a hopeful trend. A little light bulb in my head came on when word arrived (thanks, Abigail) that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the creation of a Clergy Advisory Council, comprised of faith leaders from across the city, “to maintain a direct line of communication” between faith communities and City Hall. —NYC, Official Website of the City of New York,
        Then I recalled the high visibility of faith leaders working at mediation and violence reduction efforts following racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland.
        And now, on the brink of his much-anticipated encyclical on climate change, Pope Francis’ influence on public opinion and policy debates is being heralded from unlikely sources.
        “The encyclical is going to over one billion Catholics,” reaching an audience “that the scientific community could never do,” says Jeff Kiehl of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “I mean, it’s just unbelievable.”
        “I’m not a religious person at all,” said Gavin Schmidt, a NASA climatologist. But the Pope’s statement “is probably going to have a bigger impact than the Paris negotiations” [the United Nation’s December conference on climate change]. —Gregg Zoroya, “In pen stroke, pope may alter climate debate,” USA Today

¶ Researching quotes about Father’s Day (and, previously, Mother’s Day) is not unlike being a tasting judge in a county fair cotton candy making contest. By the fourth bite, the stomach is rumbling; another four and the taste buds themselves are suing for relief. Words like maudlin and mawkish and schmaltzy and mushy come to mind.
        •As with so many things: Sentiment often outweighs substance when it comes to “family values.” For instance, the US is the only developed country that does not guarantee paid paternal leave to workers.
        •Early in our congregation’s life: Believing that parenting is still among the most common faith-forming experiences, we organized moms and dads to speak about faith and parenting. We discovered, though, that a number of folk have volatile emotions on the topic. So we stopped such observances.
        •Gender gap: The amount of money spent per person on Mother’s Day gifts in 2015 was $173 ($21.2 billion total). Anticipated spending per person on Father’s Day is $116 ($12.7 billion total).
        •Parenting dreams, economic nightmare: “Before the recession, 12 out of every 100 American children got food stamps. After the recession, 20 out of every 100 American children got food stamps. That's nearly a 70% increase, from 9.5 million kids in 2007 to 16 million kids in 2014, at the same time that US wealth was growing by over $30 trillion.”  —Paul Buchheit, “Four Numbers That Show the Beating Down of Middle America” 

¶ “My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply. ‘We’re raising boys.’ —baseball Hall-of-Famer Harmon Killebrew

¶ Words of assurance. My nominee for a Father’s Day hymn is Eric Clapton’s “My Father’s Eyes,” for the guitar work as well as the tune and lyrics.

Right: Dad and me, circa 1952.

¶ Lectionary for Sunday next: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15. In his work to gather donations for the destitute church in Jerusalem, Paul makes references a God-Occupying axiom: “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” But this is no first century United Way appeal. This instruction goes to the heart of Exodus-rooted covenant theology, given by the very Shining Presence of God to the Egypt-émigré Hebrews during their long walk to freedom, announcing daily manna: Each was to gather only enough for the number in their tents. The result: Those who gathered much had nothing left over; those who gathered little had no lack. Any surplus gathered “bred worms and became foul” (Exodus 16:9-21).
        Also: Two litanies for worship based on next Sunday's lectionary Psalm 130: “Amnesty” and “Draw Near.” 

¶ Last week’s Senate approval of the USA Freedom Act did not include renewal of the National Security Agency’s electronic surveillance program—a program which two federal courts have previously struck down and a White House-appointed review report revealed in 2014 “had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism.”
       One of my Senators, Richard Burr, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, complained that “We have a program that has never had one breach of personal privacy, and there’s really no compelling reason to change the structure of the program other than that the public is uncomfortable with it.”
       To which my hometown paper responded in an editorial: “The logic is fascinating. Burr seems to be saying unconstitutional laws are all right as long as you can’t prove rights have been violated, and it doesn’t matter what the people think.” —“In Congress, a win for the Bill of Rights,” Asheville Citizen-Times

¶ “Enhanced interrogation” torture techniques have long been part of US military tactics. Pictured at left: Marines waterboarding a prisoner of war in the 1899-1902 war in the Philippines. An illustration similar to this appeared on the 22 May 1902 issue of Life magazine. 

¶ In other, more significant Senate news, on Tuesday the chamber resoundingly (78-21) approved a measure forbidding the use of torture by any agent of the US government. The norm replacing current “enhanced interrogation” will be the Army’s Field Manual, which allows sleep and sensory deprivation, measures condemned by the UN Committee Against Torture. Nor does the Field Manual prohibit “extraordinary rendition,” shipping prisoners to other countries to be tortured.
       Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Senate Intelligence Committee vice-chair, has championed this legislation—against enormous odds—for six years. Significantly, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ), who endured torture while a prison in the Vietnam War, was a key cross-aisle ally on this bill.

¶ Out of sight, out of mind. In April 2014 the US Senate quietly stripped a provision in the intelligence operations bill requiring the President to publicly disclose information about drone strike casualties. Public attention may now be catching up. A May 2015 Pew Research survey found that the public has “become much more likely to voice their disapproval over the US drone assassination program.” —Buddy Bell, Voices for Creative Nonviolence

¶ Preach it. “Americans’ right to free speech should not be proportionate to their bank accounts. —US Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

¶ Call to the table. “Any Christians who take for themselves any more than the plain necessaries of life, live in an open habitual denial of the Lord. They have gained riches and hell-fire.” —John Wesley, whose birth anniversary is 17 June.

¶ Benediction. “From the cowardice of accepting new truth, from the laziness of being satisfied with half-truth, from the arrogance of thinking we know all the truth: Deliver us, O Lord.”  —“A Wee Worship Book, Fourth Incarnation” by the Wild Goose Worship Group, Glasgow: Wild Goose Publications

AS THIS ISSUE WAS IN PRODUCTION, the bloodied news arrived that nine people have died in a shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C. I caught a short news clip from Attorney General Loretta Lynch saying this kind of crime "has no place in a civilized society."
        But let's get real: It does have a place. The legacy of our racial history, the outrageously easy access to guns, a nation in a seemingly perpetual state of war—these are among the key components that fuel our volatile culture of violence. 
        Vigorous hand-wringing has not helped.

#   #   #

Featured this week on prayer&politiks:

• “Draw Near,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 130

• “Amnesty,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 130 

• “Turn Strong to Meet the Day: A Son’s Tribute to His Dad” 

• “On the flow of tears,” a graduation poem for my daughters

• “Speak up clearly, pay up personally: The purpose, promise, and peril of interfaith engagement”

• “Building a Culture of Peace: An Interfaith Agenda” 

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor. Don’t let the “copyright” notice keep you from circulating material you find here (and elsewhere in this site). Reprint permission is hereby granted in advance for noncommercial purposes.

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends.