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by Ken Sehested

In an attention-deficit-disordered culture, alongside a news cycle that feels like a gerbil on a spinning wheel track, important news often goes unnoticed.

Taken together, in just the past few weeks, six dramatic actions on slowing ecological disaster are worth celebrating—even when you recognize that we’re still in deep doo-doo with regard to our climate crisis.

#1-3. Within a 24-hour period in the US, “three major oil and gas pipelines were stymied—two by court decisions and one by economic pressures—in moves that represent a suite of successes for the indigenous and environmental activists long opposed to pipeline development.” —Alejandra Borunda, National Geographic

Even my friend Greg—to whom I frequently turn for expertise on these matters and who is no optimist on whether our species will survive—says, yes, this pipeline news is big.

Why is this significant? Well, think of this principle: The stuff you get will always fill the space you have.

(For background: Over the last 20 years, the use of storage rental units has expanded by 444%.)

Fewer pipelines will mean less drilling, less storage and transport, and thus affect the price differential in regard to renewable sources of energy.

Regarding the latter, few people talk about the fact that the US heavily subsidizes fossil fuel companies. When you factor in both direct subsidies (hefty tax breaks) and indirect subsidies (tax dollars spent cleaning up the environmental impact of such fuels, plus picking up the tab for carbon-generated health issues), the US public spends more money subsidizing carbon generators than on the military. —Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone

To say nothing of the pandemic pork the administration has shoveled to oil and gas and other major corporations in recent months. —Andy Rowell, “Fossil fuel companies getting more U.S. bailouts than any other sector,” Oil Change International

By comparison, the Trump administration has rolled back the few policy incentives for renewable energy sources. —Nicole Gentile and Kate Kelly, Center for American Progress

To “level the playing field,” the US must enact vigorous incentives to renewable energy production.

#4. The US District of Columbia Court of Appeals just overturned what it called a “Kafkaesque” practice by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The details are arcane: Basically it entails abolishing an underhanded mechanism discouraging public scrutiny of its regulatory decisions. —Ted Glick, “A Climate Movement Turning Point?” PM Press

As Tom Waits put it, “The big print giveth / the small print taketh away.”

#5. Just recently the European Union made firm, measurable commitments to phase out fossil fuels by mid-century, which many observers say is both historic and influential. “It is the first roadmap by any governmental power that sets out how countries can decarbonise all their energy use.” —Leigh Collins, Upstream

#6. There is now even more evidence that substantial reductions in CO2 production is possible. A new study funded by the Guardian newspaper reveals that “Global carbon emissions from the fossil fuel industry could fall by a record 2.5bn tonnes this year, a reduction of 5%,” representing the largest drop on record. —Jillian Ambrose, Guardian

The report concedes that this reduction has come at high social and economic costs caused by the pandemic. Even so, these facts augment what environmental activists have said all along: Dramatically lowering our carbon footprint and forestalling a climate crash won’t be easy but is doable. It has more to do with political will and ingenuity than with the math.

You’ve seen enough sci-fi movies to know that if the earth were threated by space aliens, hundreds of millions of people, of all nationalities and political affiliations, would risk life and limb to forestall destruction. Is it possible to bring that magnitude of resolve and urgency to bear on our very real predicament?

Right: Art ©John August Swanson, "Psalm 85: Dwelling in the Word."

Doubt is not unreasonable, given our nation’s limp response to the coronavirus. For instance, compare the pandemic mortality rates of South Korea and the US. Both reported their first COVID-19 fatality on the same day, 20 January 2020. South Korea’s population is less than 16% of the US. But its per capita fatality rate is 0.2% of the US fatality rate.

So, yes, there are reasons to doubt whether our nation (along with other highly industrialized nations) can muster sufficient political will to change our nation’s carbon addiction.

But to reverse engineer Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is a vision, the people flourish.” Scientific innovation and technological prowess are part of the solution. But, at bottom, it’s a vision thing.

Does your community of faith help you de-conform to the dying, carbonized “world” by the renewing of your mind (cf. Romans 12:2)? If not, find another. Or start a new one.

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©Ken Sehested, a church planter, @ prayerandpolitiks.org

by Ken Sehested

        There are four great ironies behind the “Liberty Bell,” associated with the founding convictions of the United States of America and inscribed with the phrase “Proclaim Liberty throughout the land and unto the inhabitants thereof.” The reference, from Leviticus 25:10, is a text that stipulates profound social renewal as part of God’s covenant with the Hebrew people, requiring the forgiveness of debt, reclamation of ancestral lands and the release of slaves every 50 years.

        In the first instance, the colonial Pennsylvania Assembly ordered the bell in 1751 to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges, Pennsylvania's original Constitution, which contains Penn's far-reaching ideas on religious freedom, his liberal stance on Native American rights, and his inclusion of citizens in enacting laws.

        The second great irony was the bell’s tolling announcing the opening of the first Continental Congress in 1774 was preface to the nation-building policies that enshrined slavery as a legal form of commerce, beginning a long history of political ideals being trumped by the lure of commercial gain.

        A third irony is that the bell, originally referred to as the “State House Bell” and “Independence Bell,” did not assume its current name until 1837 when it was adopted by the American Anti-Slavery Society as a symbol of the abolitionist movement.

        Finally, though it was recast twice, continued to crack, finally becoming inoperative after ringing to celebrate George Washington’s birthday in late February 1846—just two months before the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. In the war’s aftermath, Mexico ceded more than half its land to the US—Texas and present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming, at a cost of $0.0000256 per acre—representing a major advance in US “manifest destiny” land grabs.

        The phrase “manifest destiny” was first used in 1845 by newspaper editor John O’Sullivan advocating for the annexation of Texas. However, the phrase’s precedence can be traced back as far as 1616 when an English colonization agent told his audience about this wonderful land, concluding “What need wee then to feare, but to goe up at once as a peculiar people marked and chosen by the finger of God to possess it?”*

        The idea has always been a contested one, and even its proponents understood it differently. Some assumed such destiny would be powered by moral suasion, as an example to be replicated; others inferred it as authority for direct intervention.

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*Quoted in A. Stephanson, Manifest Destiny: American Expansion and the Empire of Right (Canada: HarperCollins Canada Ltd, 1995), xii.
©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

by Ken Sehested

I will likely be considered antiquated, maybe maniacal, even apoplectic when I say we in the US (with derivative outbreaks elsewhere) are under the spell of the demonic, of those who worship death’s malicious craving, specifically the sacrificial scalp of dissenters, of those who do not genuflect in its presence, of any and all who stand in the way of imperial designs, who claim authority to divide the world into makers and takers, to shape all reality in service to the ruthless pursuit of power’s conceit, arrogance being the elixir of indefinite, everlasting rule of the strong over the weak, the privileged over the disdained, the worthy over the maimed.

Not just rule, but a despising and revulsion of the frail, now consigned as burnt offering to an unholy, odious, heinous god; a god who justifies caging children, who threatens fire from (nuclear) heavens, who shrugs and scoffs at the sight of trauma, of those begging for breath, during pandemics, racial and economic pandemonium, and ecological devastation; who laughs at every attempt of impeachment, whose word is less than worthless, whose every step is concealed in deceit, whose smirking face tells lies at every turn, whose law has become a license for infamy.

And all the profiteering minions chant: “It’s the cost of doing business. Nothing personal.”

Nevertheless, “The Word came, saying: ‘Mortal, say to this people: You are a land that is not cleansed. Your officials are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, destroying lives for dishonest gain. You have practiced extortion, committed robbery, oppressed the poor and needy, and extorted the immigrant’” (cf. Ezekiel 22).

And yet the rapacious laugh: "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" (Psalm 73:11) Which is to say, scream all you want; none hear the cries of the despoiled. Your God has hung a “do not disturb” sign on heaven’s door.

Thereby, you are left to your own grievous destiny. Pray only that your death is swift, your screams swallowed. In truth, “altruism is incompatible with freedom, with capitalism,” and with “the pursuit of happiness.” (Novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand, a favorite of banksters and gangsters alike, from her essay, “The Virtue of Selfishness.”)

“I will not trade my freedom for your safety!” “I need a haircut.” (Actual signs at recent protests demanding a reopening of the economy in the midst of a public health crisis.)

The Ancient of Days wails, “How long? How long will your priests barter amnesty for flattery? How long will your prophets pander lies, your judges abide fraud, your elected officials sell their services to the highest bidder?” (cf. Jeremiah 23:26) How long will you hoard what is not yours! (Habakkuk 2:6)

Those used for target practice, as grist for the mill, as anglers’ bait and fodder for canons cry out, backs against the wall: “How long, O Lord? How long!” (Job 8:2, 18:2, 19:2; Psalm 4:2, 6:3, 13:1-2, 35:17, 62:3, 74:9-10, 74:22, 79:5, 80:4, 82:2, 89:46, 90:13, 94:3, 119:84; Isaiah 6:11; Jeremiah 4:21, 12:4; Habakkuk 1:2)

Judgment awaits those who “plunder many nations, because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth” (Habakkuk 3:6-8). For "I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me," says the Almighty (Malachi 3:5).

Because “In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence. . . . Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.“ (Ezekiel 28:16-17)

Kindred: Conflicting claims to divine sanction are loose in the land. We face a moment of reckoning of historic significance. Silence is insufficient. Peace is not quiet. Withdrawal is a form of complicity with existing arrangements of power.

This is a spiritual struggle with incarnated impact shaping social, economic, and political choices. We must “Test the spirits to see which is from God” (1 John 4:1); and loudly, vigorously announce our conclusions from pulpits and public squares alike.

Therefore, within your assemblies, be persistent in “considering how to incite one another”—to provoke, stimulate, spur, stir, encourage—“to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24), to fulfilling the demands of justice, the prerequisites of peace, all of which are mediated by the imperative of mercy.

Stand, O Mortal, in the watchtower and scan the horizon. “For there is still a vision which will eclipse the ways of the wicked. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come” (cf. Habakkuk 2:1-3).

In the midst of this present turmoil, seek out the quiet of your heart’s deepest region. There, Breath is available, and a Sheltering Wing. There a Guiding Hand is proffered—not to escort you from history’s bloody reign, but through it to that far horizon foretold in our defining invocation: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).

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©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

by Ken Sehested
(in Pentecost’s wake 2020)

“The riches and beauty of the spiritual landscape are not disclosed to us
in order that we may sit in the sun parlour, be grateful for the
excellent hospitality, and contemplate the glorious view.”
—Evelyn Underhill

Almost every breakthrough begins with a breakdown.

Spiritually forming work is almost always uncomfortable and troubling, sometimes painful, occasionally threatening. In order to learn some things, we have to unlearn other things. As in Jesus’ puzzling saying, those who seek their lives must first lose them.

In the psalmist’s majestic image, we are destined to lie in green meadows beside still waters. But for now we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. “For thine is the kingdom” begins the closing affirmation of Jesus’ model prayer. Just before that, though, is the petition “deliver us from evil.”

Come, ye disconsolate, wherever ye languish

I’m remembering the first time, as a child playing football, I had my breath “knocked out” of me. I was terrified and literally thought I was going to die. Sometimes the journey of faith entails moments like that; yet another source of Breath is available to those who trust, as we are tutored in being still in the midst of havoc, fearing not in the face of threat.

To put one’s breath on the line, from the most ordinary of daily interactions to the more dramatic and rare occasions, is a statutory element of spiritual growth.

As the Apostle wrote, there is a kind of foolishness to faith; but it is not random or haphazard or unthinking. In addressing the world’s anguish, we hope to be effective. But our perseverance is not hitched to efficacy. We insert ourselves, compassionately and intelligently, because that's who we are. (Or at least who we are becoming.)

The little flock of Jesus has a larger, farther horizon. If and when we are faithful, it is only because we have heard and heeded the Word considered implausible by the logic of the world as is now constituted.

Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel

Beloveds, things are not as they seem. Live-streamed tragedy saturating the airwaves encourages voyeurism (translated: advertisers’ dollars) and blistered rage. Cast your gaze higher, farther, wider, deeper. Allow the Beloved to adjust your sight, to steel your engagement, to strengthen your weak knees, to introduce you to the joy sturdy enough to outlive every night of weeping.

Wait for, work for, intercede for Another Voice, the Paraclete, who is available to those without a prayer, to the indigent of heart, to the unarmed and the unassuming, to those not distracted by the propagandists and racketeers.

They who now prance among the princes of deceit know not that their sun is setting, their time is up. Heaven’s blessing on Earth’s creation has been suppressed but not recanted.

Even now, the advance guard of the new Heaven and the new Earth are breaching the empire’s walls of exclusion and treachery.

(New York City’s famed Wall Street, the global center of financial piracy, was in colonial times literally the location of a wall to protect the southern parts of the peninsula from Native Americans.)

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish

So take your cues from the Comforter. She will silence every threat, unravel every peril, forestall every danger, to safekeep your heart from every disquieting murmur.

Fret not over your breath, whether it can be stopped. It is merely on loan, and will be replenished by the self-same Breath who tamed the squalling waters before the first dawn’s light.

Let your prayer be: Give us today our daily breath.

For now, watch and wait. For now, let the groans of your heart channel the moans from the tear gassed streets, from the pandemic survivors’ grief, from every traumatized body and furrowed heart.

Locate your body near theirs. Intercede with loud protestations, with patient works of mercy, with unflinching demands for justice. De-invest in every derelict structure; re-invest in every neglected neighborhood.

Practice penitence, which alone offers the chance to heal wounds, renew covenant bonds, and halt history’s march toward tragedy. Perform Pentecost, whose edict privileges the commonweal over corporate avarice. Harness yourself to love’s demand, whose power alone can turn back the tide of fear-fomented vengeance.

Always, always remember: more is at work than what passes for the news.

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal

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©ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Italicized centered lines from “Come Ye Disconsolate,” Thomas Moore, adapted by Thomas Hastings. My favorite rendition of this song is the bluesy arrangement by Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway.

by Ken Sehested

The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre—
To be redeemed from fire by fire.
T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding,” lines from the final poem in his Four Quartets

T.S. Eliot’s poem, “Little Gidding,” was written in 1942 after the author survived the German bombing of London. He knew humankind faced a crucial choice: to be destroyed in the fires of enmity or to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to refine, renew, and redeem.

Eliot’s lines are strikingly relevant today, in the week leading up to Pentecost Sunday, as we watch the fires from Minneapolis following the police lynching of George Floyd—the most recent in long string of similar tragedies.

Late last night I sat in stunned silence, agonized in heart, fearful in soul, body limp, watching the fiery conflagration in Minnesota. I instinctively wanted to be surrounded by a corps of wailing women from traditional cultures. I wanted to unsee what I was seeing.

Alas, there is no unseeing, no getting around, only getting through. Which will require renewed zeal in exorcising the original sin of our nation: racism.

We keep thinking the worst of that is behind us. It’s not.

People of faith need to recognize that racism represents the scorching of Pentecost.

Pentecost is my favorite day in the church liturgical calendar. (Which is reflected in the many things—litanies, poems, sermons, and commentary: see “Resources for Pentecost.”)

In my thinking, Easter represents God’s resurrection moment; Pentecost, God’s resurrection movement. As Richard Rohr has written, “If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it.” Pentecost is when the little flock of Jesus begins its equipping as insurgents against the walls of hostility.

Let the fire of the Spirit work: to be redeemed by fire from fire.

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©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org