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Elijah’s pity party

A litany for worship inspired by 1 Kings 19: 1-15

by Ken Sehested

Sometimes knees grow weak and hearts grow faint.

Sometimes vision grows dim and resolve wavers.

Sometimes we simply want Jesus to leave us alone.

The prophets, like the great Elijah, get frightened by the King Ahabs and the Queen Jezebels of this age.

Prophets get weary.

No one listens. No one pays attention.

The devil has every appearance of being in charge.

Every day brings more evidence that the market is rigged,

that when the rich wage war it is the poor that die,

that the cries of persistent widows no longer reach corrupt judges.

In the middle of this pity party, surrounded by history’s storms and quakes and wildfires, the sound of overpowering silence brings us to attention.

And a voice of stone-cold stillness settles in and announces,

“Get over yourself. Who said you are alone? You don’t know the half of it!”

Then, just as abruptly, comes the word, “Saddle up. Boots on. Face to the wind. Hat pulled low. Time to move.”

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©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

T.S. Eliot’s Pentecostal agenda

Refined by Pentecost’s blaze or consumed by war's conflagration

by Ken Sehested

        Pentecost Sunday is far and away my favorite moment on the church’s liturgical calendar.

        It wasn’t always so. In fact, I grew up with inherited suspicion of “Pentecostal” Christians. Their rambunctious style of worship—speaking in “tongues,” ecstatic trances, slayings in the spirit and, generally, excitable emotions—were considered reprobate in my pietist-revivalist culture. We had our amen corners, but other outbursts were frowned upon. Such intrusions into more restrained Baptist sanctuaries were considered divisive and inflammatory.

        I have this bit of news in my files as illustration. When Southern Baptists in Georgia came to their 1998 convention meeting, among the first orders of business was to vote on two proposed constitutional amendments for congregational membership in the body, both being causes for being “disfellowshiped.” The first was endorsement of homosexual behavior; the second, engaging “in non-biblical charismatic worship practices.”

        (“Pentecostal” and “charismatic” now are used interchangeably, though the traditions have different origins, the latter arising within socially marginalized populations—interestingly, the earliest institutions were significantly interracial.)

        It wasn’t until I chose chapters 2 and 4 in the book of Act as the subject of my seminary master’s thesis—an exegetical and historical study, with particular focus on the “community of goods” accounts—did I come to see how socially incendiary this narrative is.

        The story begins in chapter two, specifically naming a long list of nationalities present on that day in Jerusalem. The miracle of the fracture of linguistic boundaries—“each one heard [the disciples’ preaching] in their own native language”—represents a larger symbolic framework, with “tongues of fire” representing the presence of the Holy Spirit, which then overturned a profound horizon of social fragmentation, including economic sharing, and the Spirit being poured out without reference to age or gender or nationality.

        This is when I began understanding Pentecost as God’s Resurrection Movement (the birthday of the church) resulting from God’s Resurrection Moment (at Easter).

        Pentecost represents not so much the reversal of the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11—though in Acts there is an implicit rejection of the human hubris to “make a name for ourselves” outside the providence of God. The diffusion of many languages in the Babel story does not become univocal in the Acts story. But now all can “hear” each other. Babel is consummated.

        Nevertheless, the prophetic acts of spiritually-infused social regeneration begun at Pentecost are as threatening to current ordering as fiercely as ever. The Commonwealth of God will, everywhere and always until the end of days, be seen as subversive to the rulers of this broken, bounded, and troublesome age.

        Pentecost, T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem, “Little Gidding,” written after he survived the German bombing of London in 1941-42, occasions a fateful choice:

        “The only hope, or else despair / Lies in the choice of pyre . . . / To be redeemed from fire by fire.” Namely, to be refined by Pentecost’s blaze or consumed by war's conflagration.

        This is Pentecost's agenda. From what other purpose, or from what other premise, are we to proceed?

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©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

“By what authority do I preach?”

Background

On October 19, 1987, the Shelby County Baptist Association held its annual meeting at Audobon Park Baptist Church. Some weeks earlier a group of pastors meeting at Bellevue Baptist Church had assigned the Credentials Committee to investigate the “doctrinal soundness” of Prescott Memorial Baptist Church for having called a female pastor, Rev. Nancy Hastings Sehested. The Committee reported to the annual meeting that its investigation revealed that Prescott had been able to give both historical and Scriptural bases for its decision, and that in view of varying practices among member churches it would be unfair to single out one church for action. The messengers rejected the Committee’s report, and a motion was made to withdraw fellowship from Prescott for “irregularities that may threaten the fellowship of the Association.” The motion carried. While the motion was being debated, Rev. Sehested rose to speak, and a motion was made to cut off debate. After some confusion she was permitted to speak. She walked to the pulpit so she could face the audience, which was largely hostile, and made the following extemporaneous remarks.

I am Nancy Hastings Sehested, messenger from Prescott Memorial Church, pastor of Prescott Memorial Church, and servant of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am a full-blooded Southern Baptist. My mother is a Southern Baptist deacon. My grandfather was a Southern Baptist minister for 70 of his 93 years. My dad is a retired Southern Baptist minister for 50 years of ordained ministry.

My four siblings were the creative ones in our family, choosing creative careers. But me? No. I decided to follow in my dad’s and granddad’s footsteps and become a pastor.

By what authority do I preach?  That question you ask of me. It is not a new question. It is a question that was asked of our Lord Jesus Christ on a number of occasions. He had not the authority of the religious establishment, not the authority of the state. By what authority did he minister? By the authority of none other than the Holy Spirit that moved in his midst.

And so by what authority do I preach and bear witness to my faith? By the authority of the Southern Baptist Convention? By the authority of the Shelby County Baptist Association? By the authority of Prescott Memorial Baptist Church? No. No, my brothers and sister. By the authority of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, becoming a servant.

And following in his footsteps, as a servant of Jesus Christ, who took the towel and basin of water and exemplified the kind of servanthood that each one of us is called to live under, I found a towel with my name on it.

And each one of us has a towel with our name on it.

And who was it that taught me this wonderful freedom of the spirit? My Sunday School teachers. My pastor. My Southern Baptist church, who nurtured me and said, “God calls each one of us, so listen! Listen, Nancy!” And so I listened. They never said, “God calls each of you and with God everything is possible, remember, except to be able to stand behind a pulpit. Women can’t do that.” They never said that. They said, “With all things—God is able to do all things.”

The winds of the Spirit blow where they will. And we do not know whither they come and whither they go.

No, you’re right. It is not the autonomy of the local church that is under question here. It is not the autonomy of the Shelby County Baptist Association that is under question here. What is facing us is whether or not we will once again say that the freedom of the Holy Spirit is acting among us to call each one of us in whatever way we can to serve our Lord and witness to his light.

And while we are in this place debating about who can or cannot stand behind a piece of wood, there’s a world out there. And the cries of that world are growing louder. There’s a world that is desperately in need of all of us, a hurting world that is desperately needing each one of us to offer a word of healing and hope and the light that we carry within us.

Are we going to say to that world that not all things are possible with God? Are we going to say to that world, “No, not all things are possible. A woman cannot preach!”

But as you know, all things are possible with our God.

And so, what will we do tonight? How will the world hear us tonight?

Peter and John were questioned—by the religious people! They wondered, “How can uncommon and ‘irregular’ people like you preach and heal?”

And what did they say? You’ll remember that what they said was, “Whether it is right in the sight of God, you must judge. But I cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

And whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. For I cannot but speak of what I have seen and heard of a loving God, of a God who reaches out to each one of us, of a God who calls all kinds of “irregular” people like a murderer like Moses; to be a leader of people; and a persecutor like Paul, to be a leader of the early church; and women and men of all kinds of backgrounds: He transformed their hearts.

Are we going to say no to this incredible God who calls each of us?

You’ll remember that Jesus was questioned about his Biblical interpretation—in his own home town by his people at his church, who wondered if he was reading Scripture right by his interpretation of Isaiah 61. And you’ll remember that they did not like his interpretation because he included people who they thought needed to be excluded.

So I leave you with my testimony.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
because God has anointed me to preach
      good news to the poor.
God has sent me to proclaim release
      to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
Today this Scripture has been fulfilled
      in your hearing.”

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Nancy Hastings Sehested is a founding-co-pastor of Circle of Mercy Congregation, Asheville, NC, and a former maximum security men's prison chaplain. Her book, Marked for Life: A prison chaplain's story, will be published by Orbis Books in August.

News, views, notes, and quotes

Signs of the Times  •  6 June 2019 •  No. 194

Processional. “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” (“Come, Holy Spirit”), Taizé.

Nature’s own “tongues of fire”? Every year for a week or so between late May and mid-June people from around the country (and, this year, as far away as Australia) flock to the Smoky Mountains National Park (near where I live) for a unique occurrence: The annual appearance of synchronous fireflies (Photinus carolinus, aka lightning bugs), the only species in the US whose individuals can synchronize their flashing light patterns, part of their mating display. For more (including other photos and a brief video) see “Ryan Wilusz, “Smokey Mountains synchronous fireflies left us nearly speechless,” Knox News

Preface

Pentecost Sunday is far and away my favorite moment on the church’s liturgical calendar.

        It wasn’t always so. . . .

        Pentecost, T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem, “Little Gidding,” written after he survived the German bombing of London in 1941-42, occasions a fateful choice:

        “The only hope, or else despair / Lies in the choice of pyre . . . / To be redeemed from fire by fire.” Namely, to be refined by Pentecost’s blaze or consumed by the conflagration of war. —continue reading “T.S. Eliot’s Pentecostal agenda: Refined by Pentecost’s blaze or consumed war’s conflagration”

Invocation. “Quit your prayers for quick answers, for quick garden growth, quick flight across the country, quick salvation, and even quick death. Prayers for quick are what got us here. Today, pray only for breath, for in and out, for a chance to join these ancient openings and closings that move at no speed but their own.” — Kateri Boucher, Radical Discipleship

Call to worship. “When Pentecostal power erupts, all heaven’s gonna’ break loose. The boundaries will be compromised; barriers will be broken; and borders will be breached. Economies of privilege will be fractured, and the politics of enmity will be impeached. The revenge of the Beloved is the reversal of Babel’s bequest.” —continue reading “Pentecost,” a litany for worship

The US and Iran have again escalated belligerent threats, counter-threats, and military posturing. US National Security Advisor John Bolton, our nation’s leading warmonger, is the primary instigator behind this dangerous tantrum.

        In 2007 my congregation approved an open letter in opposition to this threat escalation. Then we reaffirmed and reissued that letter again in 2012 when tensions again dominated news headlines.

        “Despite assurances to the contrary from the U.S. Administration, we believe our nation’s leaders may be seriously calculating the benefits and risks of attacking Iran. Our reading of this moment in history, in light of our commitments as citizens and our convictions as followers of Jesus, impels us to oppose such a move.

        “We fear that our political leadership—led by the Administration with the complicity of Congress—is pushing us to the brink of moral, financial, ecological and diplomatic bankruptcy.” —continue reading “We Say NO”

In US media you will hear nothing about Iran other than sound bites and suspicion. Take the 55 minutes needed to watch this fascinating and informing travelogue program from Rick Steeves.

Right: Young Iranian women. Photo from Rick Steeve’s travel program, “Iran.”

¶ Unfortunately, few in the US know the long history of our country’s direct meddling in Iran’s affairs, including our overthrow of its democratically-elected government in 1953. For more background, read “Worried about increasing US-Iran tensions? You should be.”  and “The latest US-Iran dust-up: Reckless baiting . . . again.”

Hymn of praise. “All People,” a song for Pentecos, by Alana Levondoski.

Any and every independent broker of basic human rights and advocate of geopolitical restraint have cause to question Iranian behavior. But what’s fundamentally at stake for the US is the fact that 40% of the world’s oil production flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a 21-mile wide channel that provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and global markets. The US openly backs—including massive arms sales—far more despotic regimes in the region.

¶ “@BarackObama will attack Iran in order to get re-elected.” —Donald Trump, 17 January 2012

Muslim countries US has bombed or occupied since 1980. Iran (1980, 1987-1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo (1999), Yemen (2000, 2002-), Pakistan (2004-) and now Syria (2014-). —Jeff Faux, Huffpost

Confession. “If we can let ourselves go in prayer and speak all that is in our minds and hearts, if we can sit quietly and bear the silence, we will hear all the bits and pieces of ourselves crowding in on us, pleading for our attention. Prayer’s confession begins with this racket, for prayer is noisy with the clamor of all the parts of us demanding to be heard. The clamor is the sound of the great river of being flowing in us.” —Ann and Barry Ulanov

Hymn of supplication. “Hear me Jesus / Hide me in thy wounds / That I may never leave thy side / From all the evil that surrounds me / Defend me and when the call of death arrives / Bid me come to thee.” —Mary Lou Williams, “Anima Christi”

¶ “A pair of British artists have created this stunning installation of 9,000 silhouettes on a D-Day Landings beach to mark international Peace Day. (See photo at left.) The project, named, 'The Fallen' is a tribute to the civilians, German forces and Allies who lost their lives during the Operation Neptune landing on June 6, 1944.” —“1,000s of Stencils Mark Peace Day on Normandy Beach” (Thanks Abigail.)

Prophetic hymn of resolution. “Arise! Arise! / I see the future in your eyes. / To a more perfect union we aspire / And lift our voices from the fire.” —Jean Rohe, “National Anthem: Arise! Arise!” (click the “show more” button to see the full lyrics)

Satire alert. “Donald J. Trump’s bid to become a born-again Christian failed over the weekend after Jesus Christ turned down his friend request, campaign officials have acknowledged.

        “Jesus, who has not generally been active on Facebook, made a rare appearance on the social network on Monday to announce His decision to ignore the presumptive Republican nominee’s request for a personal relationship with Him.

        “In a brief post, Jesus offered the following explanation: ‘Just everything.’” —Andy Borowitz, New Yorker (Thanks Michael.)

Words of assurance. “Hush child. Don’t be afraid. Soon we will be in Zion.” —Kate Hurley, “Hush Child”

Testify. “’To effectively work in that kind of environment, at least in combat, you kind of have to let that dark side out a little bit. I used to call it 'the beast.’ Then when you talk to your kids and wife, you've got to put that away real quick." So said retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Paul Darling about his book, Taliban Safari, about his time in Afghanistan.

        “‘You're a very different person when you're hunting down human beings,’ he says. . . . ‘Civilization has a veneer that allows us to function and to cooperate and not do those bad things,’ he says. ‘I found in combat, and it was frightening to see, how thin the veneer of civilization really is. . . .’”

        “Societal and familial pressure not to share the ugliness has kept entire generations of combat veterans from talking about experiences perceived as just too terrible to share.” —Anne Kniggendorf, “To Answer His Wife's Question, A Kansas City Veteran Wrote A Book About One Day In Afghanistan,” KCUR

Hymn of lament. “In the cold grey light of the sixth of June in the year of forty-four / The Empire Larch sailed out from Poole to join with thousands more / The largest fleet the world had seen, we sailed in close array / And we set our course for Normandy at the dawning of the day / There was not one man in all our crew who know what lay in store” —Jim Radford, “The Shores of Normandy” (Thanks Kimberly.)

30th anniversary. “Tank Man” is the nickname of an unidentified Chinese man who stood in front of a column of tanks leaving Tiananmen Square on 5 June 1989, the morning after the Chinese military had suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests by force. Watch this short (2:35) video. (Thanks Ed.)

On the 100th anniversary of congressional approval of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, giving women the right to vote: It was a complex history, sometimes pitting women’s rights against the demands for racial justice.”

        “The 19th Amendment was colorblind,” said Weiss, adding that leading suffragists felt they needed to reach out to white racists to gain their votes. “The way it was implemented was not.” —Elizabeth Evans, “The complex role of faith in the women’s suffrage movement,” Religion News

Also on the topic of women’s suffrage:

        • Elizabeth Cobbs, “What took so long for women to win the right to vote? Racism is one reason.” —Washington Post

        • “Long ago a lie was told, a lie that laid the foundational bricks of patriarchy. The lie said, “Patriarchy works for everyone – especially men.” But the truth is patriarchy doesn’t work for everyone – even men.” —Erica Whitaker, “A coffee mug and a heated conversation saved me from my self-righteous view of patriarchy,” Baptist News

        • “By autumn, hundreds of women [protesting in 1917 at the White House for the right to vote] had been arrested for obstructing the sidewalk outside the White House. Many of them were sent to prison. Newspapers reported that women were tortured at Occoquan, the Virginia workhouse where several prominent suffragists served time. The idea was “to break us down by inflicting extraordinary humiliation upon us,” Eunice Brannan told The New York Times after her release. . . . Bedding was never washed, and the beans and cornmeal served to prisoners were crawling with maggots. ‘Sometimes the worms float on top of the soup,’ one woman wrote in an affidavit.” —Adrienne LaFrance, “The ‘Undesirable Militants’ Behind the Nineteenth Amendment,” Atlantic

Hymn of intercession. “The singing. / There was so much singing then / And this was my pleasure, too. / We all sang, the boys in the field, / The chapels were full of singing. / Here I lie: / I have had pleasure enough; / I have had singing.” —Birmingham Boys Choir, “I Have Had Singing”

Preach it. “So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars. Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies. Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears. Let’s claw ourselves out from the graves we’ve dug. Let’s lick the earth from our fingers. Let us look up and out and around. The world is big and wide and wild and wonderful and wicked, and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable, and full of meaning. Oremus. Let us pray.” —Pádraig Ó Tuama

Can’t makes this sh*t up. After President Trump’s royal pageantry in London, he flew to County Clare, Ireland, where he rented four limousines for a further eight mile trip to his golf resort near the village of Doonberg. The cost for that short drive? Just short of $1 million, or $116,879 per mile.” —Rory Carroll & Severin Carrell, Guardian

Call to the table. A young child, living with blindness and autism, is out for a stroll on a sunny day. She is drawn to the sound of a busker’s music. This is how we, in our locked-up selves, come to the table and are ushered into the serenity of the Spirit’s serenade.

Best one-liner. "Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine." —Henry David Thoreau

For the beauty of the earth. Swimming Spanish Dancer. (Hexabranchus sanguineus. 0:57 video. Thanks David.)

¶“Texas SandFest — the largest Native-Sand Sculpture Competition in the USA — is an internationally recognized 3-day family event that draws sculptors and tens of thousands of visitors from around the world each year to Sunflower Beach Resort in Port Aransas, Texas. “Liberty Crumbling” by Damon Langlois (pictured at right), won first prize. This year’s event raised $355,000 in donations distributed to area nonprofit organizations. To see additional sand sculpt photos see this link.  (Photo by Kastle Photography. Thanks Pam.)

Altar call. “Tell me what is it you plan to do / With your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver

Benediction. “The fear-tombed, nay-saying, people-pleasing / prisoner of scarcity, shame and threat— / that one has died. / The stone of Outcomes has been rolled away. / The linen grave-clothes of Consequences / are lying abandoned. . . . / Don't live as if you're afraid to be crucified. / Live as if you're already risen.” —Steve Garnaas Holmes, “Already risen”

Recessional. “Ole Time Religion,” Joe Bonamassa. (Thanks James.)

Lectionary for this Sunday. See “Resources for Pentecost Sunday” below.

Lectionary for Sunday next. “The voice of Wisdom,” a litany for worship inspired by Proverbs 8.

Just for fun. The sand pendulum, from the Science Academy. (Thanks Floyd.)

Art at left: Linocut art ©Julie Lonneman

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Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “T.S. Eliot’s Pentecostal agenda: Refined by Pentecost’s blaze or consumed war’s conflagration”

Resources for Pentecost Sunday

• “Pentecostal Passion,” a poem

• “Summon your nerve,” a call to the table on Pentecost Sunday

• “All together,” a litany for Pentecost

• “The promise of Pentecost,” a sermon

• “Adelante—Keep Moving Forward,” a litany for worship 

• “Worthy,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 29 and the Pentecost story in Acts 2

• “Pentecost,” a litany for worship

• “Kindle slavery’s funeral pyre,” a litany for worship inspired by Exodus 13:17-22 & the story of Pentecost in Acts 2

• “Why Psalm 104:35 needs to be included in the reading for Pentecost Sunday (Year A),” brief commentary

• “Day of Pentecost choral reading,” a choral reading script for nine voices
 
Other features

• “Dad’s ‘Heart Shield’ Bible,” a D-Day remembrance of my Dad

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor, as are those portions cited as “kls.” 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.

Feel free to copy and post any original art on this site. (The ones with “prayerandpolitiks.org” at the bottom.) As well as other information you find helpful.

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. You can reach me directly at kensehested@prayerandpolitiks.org.

 

We Say No, Again

Baiting Iran toward a dangerous collision

 by Ken Sehested
15 January 2012

        On the first Sunday on Lent in 2007, when tensions between the US and Iran were escalating, Circle of Mercy Congregation unanimously adopted a statement (“We Say No: A Christian statement in opposition to war with Iran—see below”) opposing an attack on Iran. With the recent assassination of another Iranian scientist—the fourth to be targeted in the past two years—tensions between our two countries are again at a boiling point.

      This is an appropriate time, on this observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, to reaffirm our earlier convictions.

      Virtually no one in the US media, Congress or Administration is willing to speak of this assassination as an act of terrorism. One can imagine the outcry here if US scientists were being targeted, if Iran’s submarines were patrolling our coasts, if our nuclear program were the target of a cyber attack, if our energy exports and financial transactions were blockaded, or if Iranian political leaders were openly calling for “regime change” in the US.

      No one denies that our two nations have real and substantial policy disagreements. What seems increasingly clear, however, is that the US is baiting Iran toward a dangerous retaliatory response.

      The legacy which Dr. King’s bequeathed to us—highlighted by the new memorial in our nation’s capitol—is more than a fanciful pipe dream or fairytale. Revering the dreamer while reneging on the dream only hollows his memory. If Dr. King is to be more than a public souvenir, his commitment to nonviolent struggle—stemming from his vision of the Beloved Community—must become our commitment as well. Thus the following convictions need reaffirming.

# # #

We Say NO
A Christian statement in opposition to war with Iran
Circle of Mercy Congregation, Asheville, NC (USA)
Lent 2007

. . . they are a law unto themselves and promote their own honor.
Their own strength is their god.
Habakkuk 1:7b, 11c

        Despite assurances to the contrary from the U.S. Administration, we believe our nation’s leaders may be seriously calculating the benefits and risks of attacking Iran. Our reading of this moment in history, in light of our commitments as citizens and our convictions as followers of Jesus, impels us to oppose such a move.

        We fear that our political leadership—led by the Administration with the complicity of Congress—is pushing us to the brink of moral, financial, ecological and diplomatic bankruptcy.

        As with the ancient empire described in the Prophet Habakkuk’s oracle, our government is setting its “national interests” above international norms of justice, usurping all authority to itself. With an escalating military budget—already larger than those of all other nations combined—we seem to have established our own destructive threat as the source of national glory and honor.

Pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out with fatness, their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against heaven, and their tongues range over the earth.
Psalm 73:6-9

        It is not our habit to engage in partisanship on any political party’s agenda. We believe in the separation of church and state. But not in the separation of values from public policy.

        In the Reformed legacy of the Christian community (toward which some in our congregation lean) there is a tradition of invoking a status confessionis, of declaring that some moments in history require the church to refuse neutrality and abandon silence. And in the Anabaptist tradition (toward which others of us lean), Jesus’ insistence on loving enemies precludes the willingness to kill them.

        Not only are these religious convictions suffering scandal; so, too, are the core values of this Republic’s founding. It was Thomas Jefferson, in 1807, who asserted, “The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.” Now, with the Administration’s 2002 “National Security Strategy” document, the U.S. claims (for the first time) justification for waging preemptive war. This policy undermines our democratic traditions, any and every theory of when war is “just,” and the very foundation of international law itself. The contradiction is staggering.

        Accordingly, should the U.S. preemptively attack Iran, we shall vigorously protest. For some of us, this commitment includes the willingness to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience.

        In the same way, we also pledge vigorous support for any leaders willing to consider Iran’s security concerns and national interests alongside those of the United States. Competition in belligerent behavior carries catastrophic risks. The only enduring security is mutual security.

        Another way is possible. Waging peace will require at least as much commitment—as much courage, pride, honor and ingenuity—as the pursuit of war.

        We say no to war against Iran. It is both a contradiction to the Way of the Cross and a defamation of national honor. We say yes to the strategies of multilateral diplomacy and other nonviolent initiatives. We invite other Christians, other people of faith, and other people of conscience to deliberate these convictions and consider similar commitments.

Postscript

You have sown much and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough;
you drink, but you never have your fill; you put the wages you earn in a bag full of holes.
Haggai 1:6

        We make this statement in the midst of Lent, the Christian season leading up to Easter. The traditional emphases of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving, all of which focus the mind and heart on the way gluttony corrupts our personal and common life. Appetites have a way of overwhelming wisdom. Righteousness is pursued by a commitment to clarifying disciplines: prayer, to calm the heart’s fretfulness; fasting, to purge the body’s toxic buildup; almsgiving, to recall God’s bias on behalf of those denied access to the earth’s bountiful table of provision.

        Sisters and brothers, especially in the household of faith: the Apostle Paul’s instruction—overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21b)—is both a spiritual truth and the foundation for politically realistic strategies to transform conflict. The Way of the Cross leads home.

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This statement, drafted by Ken Sehested, was unanimously approved by the Circle of Mercy Congregation in a called business meeting on Sunday, 25 February 2007.

Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

The latest US-Iran dust-up

Reckless baiting . . . again

by Ken Sehested

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer . . . who says Cyrus [“the Great,” 6th century BCE ruler of Persia,
modern day Iran, who freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity] is my shepherd and he shall carry out
all my purpose” for he is my “anointed” [the same word later used for Jesus in the Newer Testament].
—Isaiah 44:28-45:1

It’s quite possible that the last two days’ headlining spat between the US and Iran may be Trump’s desire to distract public attention from his domestic challenges. It is not inconceivable that, as some are saying, he’s willing to go to war with Iran in order to get reelected.

Whatever the case may be, it’s important to pay attention to how the Administration and the press are reporting this latest dust-up.

Today’s article on the subject in USA Today (Kim Hjelmgaard and David Jackson) is a perfect example of how the US often portrays itself (ourselves) as victims, effectively disguising our role as provocateur.

On Sunday night Trump sent a Twitter shout, in all caps, demanding “NEVER EVER THREATEN THE US AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKE OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE” (which contains the implicit threat of a nuclear attack). Trump was responding to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who, earlier on Sunday while speaking to an international group of foreign ministry officials, warned the US against a military attack on his country.

On Monday White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders put the blame on Iran, saying “If anybody’s inciting anything, look no further than to Iran.”

As if this history of belligerence began on Sunday. Not mentioned in news coverage are these facts:

1. In July 2017 John Bolton, currently Trump’s National Security Advisor, promised regime change “before 2019,” saying “I have said for over 10 years . . . that the declared policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the mullahs' regime in Tehran. The behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore the only solution is to change the regime itself.”

2. Not mentioned is that in May, weeks after unilaterally pulling out of a multi-lateral agreement with Iran to halt its nuclear weapons production, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in his first speech as secretary of state, outlined a 12-point list of demands on Iranian leaders, which the Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian called “silly.” Then, after Rouhani’s speech surfaced, Pompeo issued a statement portraying Iranian leaders as “mafia” and urged Iranian citizens to rise up against its government (hinting at US support).

Keep in mind that Pompeo’s derision of Islam dates from his days as a congressman from Kansas: “The threat to America is from people who deeply believe that Islam is the way and the light and the only answer.” He is not only a fervent evangelical; his piety expands to a theocratic governing vision: “[T]o worship our Lord and celebrate our nation at the same place is not only our right, it is our duty,” describing politics as a “a never-ending struggle . . . until the rapture.” —Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, “Pompeo, Religion, and Regime Change in Iran,” Common Dreams

3. On Monday night, US General Wesley Clark, former NATO supreme commander (and one-time advocate of “internment camps” to house “disloyal” American citizens) commented that such tit-for-tat recriminations between the US and Iran “go all the way to the Iranian revolution of 1979.”

He failed to acknowledge the reason for that revolution and the dramatic hostage-taking of US Embassy personnel in Tehran: In 1953 the US Central Intelligence Agency (with British allies) sponsored the overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, putting in its place the dictatorial regime of the Iranian Shah (“emperor”), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who provided bargain-basement access to the nation’s considerable energy resources by Western oil companies.

4. Few citizens recall that during the 1980s Iraq-Iran war the US removed Iraq from its “state sponsors of terrorism” list in order to supply crucial military intelligence to Iraq, as well as components of Iraq’s chemical weapons.

(General Clark has written cogently about the catastrophic effect a military strike on Iran. For more see his “Here’s the real cost of leaving the Iran deal,” CNBC.)

Or that the student hostage-takers at the US embassy in Tehran reconstructed and published 54 volumes of evidence, patched together from embassy files, revealing “CIA operatives . . . manipulating, threatening and bribing world leaders, rigging foreign elections, hijacking local political systems, shuffling foreign governments like decks of cards, sabotaging economic competitors, assassinating regional, national and tribal leaders at will, choreographing state-to-state diplomacy like cheap theater.” (Quote from Margot White’s Waking Up in Tehran first-hand reporting from that period, in David Swanson, “Waking Up in Tehran,” Global Research .)

Or the “Iran-Contra” affair in the mid-‘80s, when the Reagan Administration secretly sold military arms to Iran (in violation of an official arms embargo) to fund the US “contra war” in Nicaragua, opposing the Sandinista government, funding which Congress prohibited.

Or the 1988 incident when the US Navy shot down an Iranian passenger plane, flying in Iranian airspace, killing all 290 passengers, after which President Reagan expressed “regrets.”

Or that the US currently has two dozen (that we know of) military bases in 10 countries surrounding Iran, in addition to at least one Naval carrier group in the Persian Gulf region.

As Jeff Faux has written (“Why Are We in the Middle East?”), “The [US] rationale is embarrassingly circular—we must remain in the Middle East to protect against terrorists who hate America because we are in the Middle East.”

You don’t have to believe that Iran’s current leaders are innocent of the charges brought against them to acknowledge that the US has sought to work its will on the Iranian people for a long time and is currently pursuing a reckless game of brinkmanship with potentially catastrophic consequences.

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•For more on this dangerous threat, see “Worried about increasing US-Iran tensions? You should be.”

•For a local congregation’s confessional statement opposing such a war (approved in 2007, reissued in 2012), see “We Say No, Again: Baiting Iran toward a dangerous collision.”

©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

Memorial Day: A historical summary

Why being for peace is not enough

by Ken Sehested

        As a child I wasn’t aware that Memorial Day observances were intended for those felled on the battlefield. I though of it as a day of familial remembrance, honoring relatives gone before us—veterans and non-veterans alike—something akin to a low-church All Saints Day, but with flowers. Lots of flowers.

        For decades, to this day, one of my uncles in southern Oklahoma assumes the duty of trimming grass, pulling weeds and placing wreaths on the Rowell, Sehested and Young burial plots in the small town of Marlow, where I was born and where my own name is carved—with only a birth day for now—in a granite slab that stretches across my immediate family’s plot, where both my father’s body and my sister’s ashes are buried.

        Decorating the graves of fallen soldiers goes back at least to the fifth century BCE, when the Athenian leader Pericles offered tribute over the graves of Pelopponnesian War casualties. (Among the most tragic and enduring statements of political reality—“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”—comes from the Greek historian Thuycydides’ The History of the Pelopponnesian War.)

 

U.S. Civil War origins of the holiday

        In the U.S., however, the tradition originally referred to as “Decoration Day” sprang up in response to the Civil War.

        Where the first such commemoration was held is murky. Boalsburg, Penn., Vicksburg, Miss., Waterloo, N.Y., and Carbondale, Ill., make the claim (along with some 20 other cities). It wasn’t until 1966 that a Congressional resolution formally recognized the village of Waterloo as “the first observance of Memorial Day [on 5 May 1866] as a national holiday.”

        Most such observances were in April or May, when plenty of flowers were available. Not surprisingly, women primarily were the ones who took the initiative. Even the first national leader to issue a proclamation marking the day—for 30 May 1868—General John A. Logan, Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, was said to have been inspired by his wife’s account of viewing women in Petersburg, Va., decorating the graves of Confederate soldiers. Two years earlier the New York Tribune printed a story of Columbus, Miss., women laying flowers on the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers.

        Decoration Day ceremonies were often occasions for a renewal of bitter regional rivalries. In Arlington Cemetery, Confederate and Union gravesites were segregated from each other, and in some years soldiers prevented people from decorating the graves of Confederates. In New York, the first state to declare 30 May a holiday, Confederate veterans were not allowed to parade with their flag or uniforms. In the South during Reconstruction, Decoration Day provided a rallying point for continued resistance to the Civil War’s conclusion and the occupying Union troops. In other Northern cities the occasion featured diatribes against freed slaves and abolitionists. Rarely if ever was the day devoted to celebrating the emancipation of slaves.

        (Contrary to popular opinion, most Unionists were not abolitionists. In fact, the most deadly race riot in U.S. history was in July 1863 in New York City, after President Lincoln signed legislation ordering a military draft. For five days poorer white residents —mostly Irish, then New England’s “white trash”—looted and burned, targeting mostly African Americans, including an orphanage. In the end there were at least 120 fatalities and over 2,000 wounded. “Freeing the slaves” was not a widespread motive for the war. President Abraham Lincoln himself wrote: "I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.” In the lines of a popular rhyme in Northern cities when the war broke out, “To the flag we are pledged, all its foes we abhor. And we ain’t for the ni**er, but we are for the war.” For background, see R. Blakeslee Gilpin, “A War Not for Abolition, New York Times.)

Other interesting facts about the holiday

        •Shortly after the war’s end, some 10,000 freed slaves in Charleston, S.C., dedicated a cemetery holding the remains of Union prisoners of war.

        •Nine former Confederate states still have an official “Confederate Memorial Day.”

        •A 1905 story in The New York Times reported that a two-year-old mystery had finally been resolved, involving the repeated decoration of a tall granite shaft in a Westchester, N.Y., cemetery commemorating the deaths of Confederate soldiers. The Daughters of the Confederacy claimed the wreaths had not been their doing. As it turns out, two Unionist women’s organization had been secretly placing the memorial flowers.

        “Although the services yesterday were nominally intended to honor the Confederate dead,” wrote the Times journalist, “the graves of Union soldiers had the highest heap of flowers on them, and they were put there by the Southern women.”

        •The current Memorial Day holiday observance, placing the date on the last Monday of May, was not established by Congress until January 1971.

        It’s hard to comprehend the devastation of the U.S. Civil War. The official death toll of 620,000 soldiers (civilian casualties were not tallied)—almost equal the death toll of all subsequent U.S. wars—represented two percent of the population. Two percent of our nation’s current population comes to more than 6,000,000.

Being for peace is not enough

        A reported conversation following World War I between Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd-George of Great Britain and Georges Clemenceau of France speak well to the situation under consideration.

     Among them it was asked, "Do we want peace?"  Their agreed answer was, "Yes." Then it was asked, more probingly, "Are we willing to abandon colonialism?"  And the British answered, "No, of course not."  It was further asked, "Are we willing to forego any claims for reparation against the Germans?"  This time it was the French and the Americans who said, "No."

     Then, within that influential threesome, the perceptive insight was voiced, "What we really want is not peace, but only quiet while we enjoy the spoils of our victory in war."

     To say it more concisely: We all want peace. But we also want what we cannot get without war. Which is why it’s not enough to be for peace.

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©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

This article slightly expands the original which was first printed in the 26 May 2008 edition of “EthicsDaily.com,” electronic publication of the Baptist Center for Ethics.

News, views, notes, and quotes

Signs of the Times  •  9 May 2019 •  No.193

Processional. Blue Ridge Mountain Dancers with Pete Seeger, at the Newport Folk Festival, 1964. May 3 was the 100th anniversary of Seeger’s birth.

Invocation. Bread baking, kitchen-dwelling, breast-feeding God, / We return to your lap and to your table / because we are hungry and thirsty. / Fill us again / with the bread that satisfies, / with milk that nourishes. / Drench parched throats with wet wonder; / feed us ‘til we want no more.” —continue reading “Bread baking God”

Call to worship. “Imagine if every church became a place where everyone is safe but no one is comfortable. Help us to hold one another to the truth.” —Rachel Held Evans, rest in peace (I’ve gathered my top 10 favorite quotes from Evans—add one or more of your own to this list.)

Good news. “‘We've Made History’: Ireland Joins France, Germany and Bulgaria in Banning Fracking.” —Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch

Hymn of praise. "Pie Jesu" (“Merciful Jesus”), Andrew Loyd Hebber, performed by Hauser (cello), Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra Choir Zvjezdice, & Josephine Ida Zec (vocals).

Confession. “There are times when life is cruel beyond imagination and against all explanation. At such times, we simply wrap our arms around the still-breathing bodies of those we cherish. And we pray, and we sing, and we speak tenderly through the tears, chanting aloud or silently the promise that one day, all tears will be dried; one day, all mourning will pass away; one day, all crying will cease; one day, death itself shall come undone (Rev. 21:4). Vaya con Dios, my friend, as you journey through the valley of this deathly shadow.” —condolence letter to a close friend after the trauma of losing a dearly beloved

Well, that’s a start. “The provincial government in British Columbia, Canada, has amended workplace legislation to prevent employers to force women to wear high heels at work.

        “‘In some workplaces in our province, women are required to wear high heels on the job. Like most British Columbians, our government thinks this is wrong. That is why we’re changing this regulation to stop this unsafe and discriminatory practice,’ said BC premier Christy Clark. A mandatory high-heel dress code “is a workplace health and safety issue,” she said. ‘There is a risk of physical injury from slipping or falling, as well as possible damage to the feet, legs and back from prolonged wearing of high heels while at work.’” —Summer Brennan, Guardian

¶ “I once suffered a miscarriage shortly before Mother’s Day. When I entered the sanctuary that Sunday, an usher carrying a basket of carnations greeted me. ‘Happy Mother’s Day, pretty lady!’ He innocently beamed. ‘I know you must be a mom! Here’s a flower.’ In a sudden daze I accepted the flower from his hand and rushed to the bathroom crying.” —continue reading “Pastoral dilemmas with observing Mother’s Day”

Words of assurance.  “Down in the valley while on my knees / I asked my Jesus, carry me please / He promised that he’d take care of me / If I would lift him up / He said if I  / Be lifted up  / He said if I / Be lifted up (be lifted up) / I’ll be your father, I’ll be your mother / I’ll be your sister, and your brother.” —Emmy Lou Harris, “If I Be Lifted Up”

Professing our faith. “Peace is the fruit of love, a love that is also justice. But to grow in love requires work—shard work. And it can bring pain because it implies loss—loss of the certitudes, comforts, and hurts that shelter and define us.” —Jean Vanier, rest in peace

Short story. “During the Christmas holidays of 1964, [Jean Vanier] visited a friend who was working as a chaplain for men with learning difficulties just outside Paris. Disturbed by conditions in which 80 men did nothing but walk around in circles, he bought a small house nearby and invited two men from the institution to join him.” —continue reading Martin Bashir, “Jean Vanier: Founder of L’Arche dies,” BBC

Hymn of contrition. “Gospel shoes are laced with shackles and chains / Fitted for the poor runners of the race / Now every hand is folded shape of a gun / Target's ever changing but the war it rages on / So the armies march onward for the mother and the son / As this world of screaming color is bleached in the blood.” —Madolin Orange, “Gospel Shoes”

Word. “I wanna talk about the grief. I know a lot of people they really wanna stick on the hope train. Let’s just be hopeful, it’s all gonna be okay.

        “We need to sit in the grief. We need to sit the enormity of the issues because I’m telling you; if we don’t sit in the reality of the situation, we are just going to spend all this time, all this energy, this life force — giving to false solutions and I really don’t want that for our generation moving forward. I don’t want to just be taken away by these commercials for our greater future and then put all this energy into it and realize in 30 years, oh my gosh — what have we really done?” —Ayana Young at Humboldt State University (Thanks Shelley.)

Hymn of supplication. “We hunt your face and long to trust that your hid mouth will say again / let there be light, a clear new day. / But when we thirst in this dry night, / we drink from hot wells poisoned with the blood of children. / And when we strain to hear a steady homing beam, / our ears are balked by stifled moans / Wellspring gold of dark and day, be here, be now.” —James Taylor, “New Hymn”

Preach it. “It’s the realization of how to create a culture which is no longer a culture just of competition, but a culture of welcoming, where tenderness, where touch is important. It’s neither sexualized nor aggressive. It has become human. And I think that this is what people with disabilities are teaching us.” —read more of Krista Tippett’s interview with Jean Vanier, “On Being” (Thanks Mike.)

¶ “Ramadan is about re-establishing your relationship with God.” [The daytime fasting means that] “every day of Ramadan reminds us of our life cycle. We start the day strong, like we’re very young.—we’re ready to go. But by the end of the day, no matter your age, you get very weak, and you’re reminded of your death. Then [after sundown] you break your fast and are reminded of Paradise.” —listen to the first 1:06 of this video “A Ramadan etiquette guide for non-Muslim” (Thanks Kristen)

        • “Why Ramadan is called Ramadan: 6 questions answered.” —Mohammad Hassan Khalil, Religion News

        • Here is a short overview of the tradition and practices of Ramadan.

        • Learn how to pronounce the traditional greetings in Arabic: "As-salamu alaikum," which translates “Peace be upon you”; and the traditional response: “Wa alaykumu as-salam,” or “And unto you peace.” (The transliteration of the Arabic into English varies in spelling. Here is one very brief aid in pronouncing of these two phrases.)

      • For more on the commonalities in peacemaking traditions among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, see “Peace Primer II: Quotes from Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Scripture & Tradition.”

      • For more on the need for building interfaith coalitions, see “The things that make for peace: The purpose, promise and peril of interfaith engagement.”

Can’t makes this sh*t up. “Our objective is to get the Islamic Republic of Iran to behave like a normal nation,” says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo [without the least bit of irony, given that the US has 45 military bases in countries bordering Iran]. —Pompeo quoted in Lolita Baldor & Zeke Miller, Associated Press

Hymn of lament. “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” Odetta.

Call to the table. We come to your lap and to your table / and rediscover your romance with the world. / As you nourish us with the bread of life and the milk of your word, / let your Spirit hang an apron around our necks. / Fashioned and patterned like that worn / by our Lord-become-friend, Jesus.” —continue reading “Bread baking God”

The state of our disunion. On Monday, 6 May, the United Nations released a report saying that one million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction due to climate change, “with alarming implications for human survival.” On that same day, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blocked an Artic Council policy statement referencing extreme polar ice melting, instead celebrating the amount of money to be made on the new shipping lane being created by the thaw, which would add dramatically to the flooding threat of rising sea levels. —Rick Noack, Washington Post

        For context on the latter, watch this short (2:44) video on “How Earth Would Look If All The Ice Melted.”

Best one-liner. “I would rather put a song on people’s lips than in their ears.” —Pete Seeger (3 May was the 100th anniversary of his birth)

Hymn of intercession. “Holy Mother, where are you? / Tonight I feel broken in two. / I've seen the stars fall from the sky. / Holy mother, can't keep from crying. / Oh I need your help this time, / Get me through this lonely night. / Tell me please which way to turn / To find myself again.” —Eric Claption & Luciano Pavarotti, “Holy Mother”

For the beauty of the earth. Incredible time lapse footage shows a beautiful sunset in Western Australia, followed by a view of the Milky Way as it spins overnight into dawn. —ABC News

Altar call. “You will always have what you gave to love / In this life the love you give / Comes back around / To be your treasure / What you lose will be what you win / A well the echoes down too deep to measure.” —Beth Nielson Chapman, “Deeper Still”

Pastoral suggestion. If you’re willing to veer off the lectionary reading for this Sunday, consider preaching from Proverbs 8, featuring the character of “Wisdom” (“Sophia”).

Benediction. Women: Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! / Men: Speak up, that all may hear! / W: Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. / M: Oh, brothers, can you hear?” —continue reading “Mother’s Day,” a litany for worship, drawn from the words of Julia Ward Howe

Recessional. “Like a Woman,” Ryan Amador, a modern Mothers’ Day anthem celebrating the women who teach boys to grow into a different kind of manhood.

Lectionary for this Sunday. “The One on the Throne will pitch his tent there for them: no more hunger, no more thirst, no more scorching heat. The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them, will lead them to spring waters of Life. And God will wipe every last tear from their eyes." —Revelation 7:15b-17

Lectionary for Sunday next.

• “Oak and ash, black bear and red robin, ladybug and dragonfly, you city-folk and you farmers, acclaim the One whose breath is your bounty, whose mercy is your salvation.” —continue reading “Acclaim the One whose breath is your bounty,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 148

• “Hallelujah,”  a poem adapting Psalm 23; musical rendition performed by Ken Medema, a Leonard Cohen tune

Just for fun. Watch master potter Vernon Owens create a ceramic candlestick holder on the wheel.

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Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “Hallelujah,”  a poem adapting Psalm 23; musical rendition performed by Ken Medema, a Leonard Cohen tune

• “Acclaim the One whose breath is your bounty,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 148

For Mother’s Day

• “A brief history of Mother’s Day”

• “Mother’s Day,” a litany for worship, drawn from the words of Julia Ward Howe

• “Bread baking God,” a poem

• “Pastoral dilemmas with observing Mother’s Day” 

Other features

• “Eastertide: The outing of the church,” an essay

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor, as are those portions cited as “kls.” 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.

Feel free to copy and post any original art on this site. (The ones with “prayerandpolitiks.org” at the bottom.) As well as other information you find helpful.

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. You can reach me directly at kensehested@prayerandpolitiks.org.

 

Ten quotes from Rachel Held Evans

(Feel free to add yours)

"Rachel Held Evans, a well-known Christian blogger, author, and joyful troublemaker online, died on Saturday [4 May 2019] from massive brain swelling after being hospitalized for an infection, according to her family. She was 37. Evans leaves behind two little kids, a husband, and four books to her name. Her death has been met with an up-swelling of grief and appreciation from loyal readers, famous pastors who sparred with her, and, especially, young people who saw her as a mentor." —continue reading Emma Green, "Rachel Held Evans, Hero to Christian Misfits," Atlantic

Here is a quick roundup of my top 10 quotes from her faithful heart and creative hand. —kls

• “Imagine if every church became a place where everyone is safe but no one is comfortable. Help us to hold one another to the truth.”

• “This isn’t a kingdom for the worthy; it’s a kingdom for the hungry.”

• “Cynicism is a powerful anesthetic we use to numb ourselves to pain, but which also, by its nature, numbs us to truth and joy.”

• Speaking to the scrupulous, genuflecting tradition of biblical authority in which she was reared, Evans wrote: “Everyone’s a biblical literalist until you bring up gluttony . . . or divorce, or gossip, or slavery, or head coverings, or Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence, or the ‘abomination’ of eating shellfish and the hell-worthy sin of calling other people idiots. [on the latter, see Matthew 5:22].”

• “I thought God wanted to use me to show gay people how to be straight. Instead, God wanted to use gay people to show me how to be a Christian.”

• “The apostles remembered what many modern Christians tend to forget—that what makes the gospel offensive isn’t who it keeps out but who it lets in.”

• “Jesus said his Father's House has many rooms. In this metaphor I like to imagine the Presbyterians hanging out in the library, the Baptists running the kitchen, the Anglicans setting the table, the Anabaptists washing feet with the hose in the backyard, the Lutherans making liturgy for the laundry, the Methodists stocking the fire in the hearth, the Catholics keeping the family history, the Pentecostals throwing open all the windows and doors to let more people in.”

• “While the word charity connotes a single act of giving, justice speaks to right living, of aligning oneself with the world in a way that sustains rather than exploits the rest of creation.”

• “It seems those most likely to miss God’s work in the world are those most convinced they know exactly what to look for, the ones who expect God to play by the rules.”

• “This is the difference between charity and justice. Justice means moving beyond the dichotomy between those who need and those who supply and confronting the frightening and beautiful reality that we desperately need one another.”

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News, views, notes, and quotes

Signs of the Times  •  30 April 2019 •  No. 192

Processional. “Lord I’m free, free, free, Lord I’m free.” —Melanie DeMore, “Free, Free, Free”

Invocation. “We seek justice in the world, we fight for the flourishing of each and all, not just because we suffer with others, but because we sense the luminosity and love the loveliness.” —Mayra Rivera

Special issue
EASTERTIDE: THE OUTING OF THE CHURCH
A collection of short reflections

Introduction. “Eastertide was the period when the early followers of Jesus were forced to recalibrate their messianic expectations. Good Friday’s execution was a crushing blow to their hopes. Despite Jesus’ repeated teachings to the contrary, the apostles still presumed Jesus would be the leader of a divinely-inaugurated coup d’état that would expel Roman occupiers and restore King David’s regal dynasty.” —continue reading “Eastertide: The outing of the church”

Call to worship. “For this, improbably, is the / Little Flock of Jesus empowered: / To stand amidst the rule of the / imperium, the markets of the / emporium and the impunity / of their praetorian guards—  / each with global reach and / aspirations, though none / so imperative as the / implausible mercy of God. . . . / How, indeed, shall we then live / in this enduring season between / Easter, / God’s Resurrection Moment, and / Pentecost, / God’s Resurrection Movement?” —continue reading “This Little Flock of Jesus”

Hymn of praise. “Death’s flood has lost its chill  / since Jesus crossed the river; / Lover of souls, from ill / my passing soul deliver.” —St. Mark’s Church Choir, “This Joyful Eastertide”

The entire universe’s supply of tears is insufficient to wash away the tragedy of human enmity. This is why Easter’s promise is not just important but is essential to any thought of any tomorrow devoid of death’s fragrance. —kls

Confession. "Is the sweetest melody the one we haven't heard? / Is it true that perfect love drives out all fear? / The right to be ridiculous is something I hold dear / Oh, but a change of heart comes slow. . . ." —U2, “I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight”

¶ “We should not be surprised that the women are overcome with 'fear.' The disciples have in fact been described as ‘fearful’ (phobeisthai) at several important ‘passages’ in their journey with Jesus: both stormy boat crossings (4:41; 6:50), his transfiguration (9:6), the portents of his execution (9:32), and the journey up to Jerusalem (10:32). . . .

        “The second epilogue, like the first (8:21), ends with a challenge to the reader in the form of an unresolved question. Will we ‘flee’ or will we ‘follow’? . . . We do not entirely understand what ‘resurrection’ means, but if we have understood the story, we should be ‘holding fast’ to what we do know: that Jesus still goes before us, summoning us to the way of the cross. And that is the hardest ending of all: not tragedy, not victory, but an unending challenge to follow anew. Because that means we must respond.” —continue reading this short excerpt from Ched Myers’ book, “Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus,” reflecting upon the open tomb ending of the first Gospel. “Jesus Still Goes Before Us”

Hymn of supplication. “Abide With Me,” David Hartley, steel guitar.

¶ “The sealing of the tomb is, I believe, notoriously misunderstood. I grew up with a Sunday School notion that to seal the tomb was a matter of hefting the big stone and cementing it tight. The seal, in my mind’s eye, was something like first-century caulking–puttying up the cracks to keep the stink in. Not so. This is a legal seal. Cords would be strung across the rock and anchored at each end with clay. To move the stone would break the seal and indicate tampering. . . . To move the stone and break the seal is a civil crime. The resurrection is against the law.” —continue reading this short excerpt from Bill Wylie-Kellermann’s book, “Seasons of Faith and Conscience”

¶ “Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it. He destroyed Hades when He descended into it. Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with. It was in an uproar because it is mocked. It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed. It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated. It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive. Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see. O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory?” —excerpt from the Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom (347–407 CE) Archbishop of Constantinople. To see the full text, and more about Chrysostom, see this Orthodox Church in America link.

Words of assurance. For what can we hope? “Only this: confidence that / the dust is not that of / abandonment, but / of adama, of earth, earth / from which all adam receive / breath, and shall again, on / that rapturous occasion when / creation comes / unbound.” —continue reading “Psalm 30 interrogation: For Madeleine, too soon departed”

Right: Barbara Rose Jones is featured in one of 18 statues of leaders and participants in the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial in Richmond, Virginia commemorating protests which helped bring about school desegregation in the state. After losing a court challenge to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas) Supreme Court ruling outlawing school segregation, number public schools in Virginia were closing—some for only a day, but one entire school district, Prince Edward County, remaining closed for five years. (See more below.)

Short story: an April remembrance. “On April 23, 1951, quiet teen Barbara Johns (1935-1991) organized a strike of 450 students, fed-up that their dilapidated school in Farmville, VA had no desks or cafeteria and was dangerously overcrowded. An NAACP lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court, but, ordered to integrate, the county chose instead to close all public schools for 5 years! White terrorists forced the Johns family to leave town. But Martin Luther King Jr. was right about the arc of the moral universe. Persistent activism won out. In honor of Johns’ courage, a state office building in Richmond has been renamed for her.” —Pam McAllister; see more of her profiles—usually of unrecognized heroes—at her blog, “Activists With Attitude”
        For more on Johns, see “Virginia celebrates first-ever Barbara Johns Day,” WTVR, Richmond, Va.

Professing our faith. Once “the power of Easter has burst upon us . .  now we no longer strive to be good because we have to, because it is a duty, but because our joy is to please him who has given all his love to us! Now our life is full of meaning!” —Thomas Merton

Hymn of resolution. “The shackles are undone / The bullets quit the gun / . . .The stone it has been moved / The grave is now a groove / All debts are removed / Oh can't you see what love has done?” —U2, “Window in the Skies” (Thanks Kevin.)

¶ “One empty tomb poses no threat / to present entanglements, / any more than annual and / specially-adorned sanctuary / crowds encroach on Easter morn. / It’s Easter’s aftermath, / resurrectus contagio, / contagious resurrection / that threatens entombing empires / with breached sovereignty. / The Lamb Slain sings / of tribulation annulled, / of death undone, / of heaven reraveling the / sinews of soil and soul.” —continue reading “Easter’s aftermath”

Did you know? After fire ravaged the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, innumerable commentators mentioned in their statements of grief how this building represents “our shared European heritage and identity.” Few know that the architectural design owes its origins to Middle Eastern predecessors. —Diana Darke, Middle East Eye

¶ “The journey towards peace / is one in which the end is not / known at the beginning. / Frequently, the journey cannot / be made by flying over the conflict, / or by driving past the conflict. / Those paths are tempting, / but in the end often futile. / It’s only by walking through the conflict, / with the people who are living it, / sharing the dust, and the fatigue, / stumbling on rocks, and starting again; / weeping with those who weep, / and rejoicing with those who rejoice / that transformation can be reached.” —Janice Jenner, in “Footpaths,” newsletter of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University

Hymn of intercession. “When Jesus wept, the falling tear / In mercy flowed beyond all bound. / When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear / Seized all the guilty world around.” —OnlyAStarvingWriter, “When Jesus Wept” (Thanks Tim.)

Preach it. “But hope is not about what we expect. It is an embrace of essential unknowability of the world, of the breaks with the present, the surprises. Or perhaps studying the record more carefully leads us to expect miracles . . . to expect to be astonished. . . . And this is grounds to act. I believe in hope as an act of defiance. . . . There is no alternative, except surrender. And surrender not only abandons the future, it abandons the soul.” —Rebecca Solnit, excerpted from “Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities"

Your weekly devotional. Take a 17 minute break as you begin Eastertide to listen to Mahler’s “Symphony No. 2 Mov V,” featuring the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, and soloists Miah Persson & Anna Larsson (Thanks Kimberly.)

Can’t makes this sh*t up. The Trump administration is threatening to veto a UN Security Council resolution seeking to end the use of rape as a weapon of war. Why? Because the resolution contains language on the need for victims’ support from family planning clinics. —Jake Johnson, Common Dreams

Call to the table. “It isn’t always easy here. We share in the conflicts common to all creation. Sometimes the vision seems slow, and weariness overtakes us. But joy sustains, and grace is sufficient. Our guiding creed is the Rule of Mercy. To its Author alone do we pledge faithfulness.” —continue reading “Covenant vows for new and renewing members,” a litany for worship

The state of our disunion. “Someone had to pick the cotton / Someone had to plant the corn / Someone had to slave and be able to sing / that’s why darkies were born.” —lyrics to “What’s Why Darkies Were Born,” sung by Kate Smith (1907-1986), who premiered the iconic song, “God Bless America”

Best one-liner. “The funny thing about the heart is a soft heart is a strong heart, and a hard heart is a weak heart.” —Criss Jami (Thanks Amy.)

¶ “Easter demands not sympathy for the crucified Christ but loyalty to the risen Christ. The proof of Easter is not a rolled-away stone, but carried-away Christians.” —William Sloan Coffin

For the beauty of the earth. When the trees slow dance: video from above of forest in Tulum, Mexico, swaying in the wind. (1:04 video. Thanks Kathryn.)

Altar call. “The greatest failure in the history of Christian thought is the separation of souls from bodies, spirit from soil, the wrenching of hearts from habitation—all representing the abdication of the realm of earth from the rule of Heaven. It is the great anthropomorphic heresy: that redemption is for humans alone, and then only for some ethereal essence: no bodies, no biology, no hills or dales, neither minnows nor whales.” —continue reading “Realm of earth, rule of Heaven: Bodified faith and environmental activism”

Benediction. "Martin Luther King did not become an icon of social change by giving a speech that said ‘I have a complaint. No, he dreamed of a different kind of world." —Rabbi Michael Lerner

Recessional. A most familiar piece of music—but that’s not the point. It’s the spontaneous dance. Count me among those who have a hard time sitting still and quiet in worship when splendor and/or revelation break out. (2:27 video. Thanks Martha.)

Lectionary for this Sunday. “Discard your reluctance, you saints and you sinners: Shout vowels of praise, sing consonants of delight. . . . Take my mourning heart and teach it to dance;  tailor my grieving gown into festival attire!” —“Weeping may linger," A litany for worship inspired by Psalm 30”

Lectionary for Sunday next. “The One on the Throne will pitch his tent there for them: no more hunger, no more thirst, no more scorching heat. The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them, will lead them to spring waters of Life. And God will wipe every last tear from their eyes." —Revelation 7:15b-17

Just for fun. The Hooded Grebe Courtship Dance. —National Geographic

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Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “Eastertide: The outing of the church,” a new essay

 • "Easter’s aftermath,” a poem

• “Realm of earth, rule of Heaven: Bodified faith and environmental activism,” an essay

• “Earth Day: The link between Easter and Pentecost,” an essay

• “Psalm 30 interrogation: For Madeleine, too soon departed,” a poem

• “Weeping may linger,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 30

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