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O Shizzle!

An electoral season parable

by Thom Fogarty and Micah Bucey

We learned of the following anecdote by way of friends at Judson Memorial Church in
New York City, involving Micah Bucey, Judson’s associate minister, and Judson
member Thom Fogarty, Artistic Director of 360 Repertory Theatre Company.
Thom tells the story, and Micah adds commentary at the end.

        Micah met me for lunch today to debrief on the fabulous reading of Alyson Mead’s “The Quality of Mercy” and talk back we had at Judson last Saturday.

        We are sitting in the lunch-time packed Waverly Restaurant and discussing race, sexism, religious leanings and the systems of institutionalized colonialism that are keeping all of us down and oppressed. And as those of you know me, my side will be colorful and explicit and bold.

        So I am aware that there is what seems to be a family of tourists sitting next to us. After 40 minutes of this focused and lively conversation Micah asks for the check and goes to pay.

        As soon as he does the woman, who is sitting right next to me, taps me on the shoulder and says, “I hope I don't offend you, but I am a conservative Christian from St. Louis here with my family and I could not help but overhear you two talking, and again I don't want to offend you”—and I'm thinking, O Shizzle!, she's gonna put me on blast for language or my anti-Christian views or our Black Lives Matters talk.

        Instead, she continued, “It sounds like you two are planning really great things, and I want to say thank you and hope you keep doing it. These are the things I wish we could talk about, but it is so hard to be us and know that until we can know what others go through we can't truly be free people. Even our church walks a harder line than we do.”

        Her husband smiled and nodded in agreement. Micah returned and we talked for another 10 minutes with them before we left. She got it. She feels it but grapples with living with it in her safe white world.

        What a great feeling to know we can indeed be the movement. Just by talking. And listening. And bless her for speaking up.

        Micah comments: 
It might sound trite to say such seemingly simple things (simplicity is radical in these complicated times), but change-making truly starts with personal connections, looking one another in the eye, getting over the hurdle of fear that often stalls these conversations, and agreeing to stumble through these murky topics together.

        “In this age of un-friending, of only seeking news outlets that contribute to opinions we already hold, of flailing and screaming in our own silos, intensely-curious question-asking is a simple, radical act. It’s time we make an art of approaching uncomfortable moments with open-hearted appreciation for how, at our best, we are all attempting to melt down the systems that have oppressed for so long and meld them into something new. The melting and melding just take an initial bold move of bringing ourselves closer to the fire.”

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News, views, notes and quotes

A note from Gerald,
prayer&politiks' guardian angel.

“Signs of the Times” is on vacation this week.
But two new poems have been posted. (See below.)

 

Turn off (what passes for) the news.
Boycott the season’s electoral charades.
Don’t give in to Pokémon’s promise of
“augmented reality.” Attend instead to
unmitigated reality: bloodied, stricken
and strewn. Offer grief the hearing it
demands, the voice it obliges, and
the risk it assumes.
—continue reading Ken Sehested's "Lamentations' call to arms: A poem inspired by the Book of Lamentations"

 

Magdalene’s recovery

The church’s first evangelist joins an elite group of saints

by Ken Sehested

        Hillary Clinton’s election this week as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee surely knocks another hole in the “glass ceiling” obstructing women’s full inclusion into the human enterprise. [1]

        It should go without saying that the struggle for gender justice is far from over; but every advance should be permitted its celebration—even for those who, like me, maintain profound concerns about Clinton’s entanglement with Wall Street’s domination of our economy along with her militarized foreign policy instincts.

Right: "Mary of Magdala" from Dina Cormick's "Heroic Women" series.

        Let me suggest, though, that an event last week will have longer-term implications for greater mutuality between women and men.

        I did not know until recently that the Roman Catholic Church (in common with the various Orthodox communions) centuries ago set 22 July as remembrance day for St. Mary Magdalene. Just weeks ago, on 10 June in another of Pope Francis’ bold moves, Magdalene’s remembrance day was upgraded from a “memorial” to a “feast” day on the Catholic liturgical calendar. [2]

        This modification may not sound like much to those of us in low-brow communions; but the elevation is actually quite significant in its context and will, very likely, open doors beyond as well. [3]

        Only one other female saint’s remembrance day is considered feast-worthy. That would be Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose “annunciation” in Luke 2 is anything but mild-mannered.

        Moreover, Francis’ declaration, made via a decree from the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, [4] puts Mary Magdalene’s memory on par with that of the Apostles. [5] In fact, the Vatican announcement retrieves from history the title of Apostolorum apostola (Apostle of the Apostles) because she was the prima testis (first witness of the Lord’s resurrection), designations first named by Hippolytus in the second century CE and confirmed by “Doctor of the Church” Thomas Acquinas in the 13th century.

        To put it in a different light, Mary Magdalene (aka Mary of Magdala, per her identification as a resident of Magdala, a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee) was the Christian community’s first evangelist, since it was she to whom the resurrected Jesus appeared, instructing her to “go tell the others.”

Left: Sculped relief by Margaret Beaudette of Mary Magdalene proclaiming "The First Easter Homily"

        For 14 centuries, Magdalene’s reputation [6] in Roman Catholic teaching has been curiously scurrilous. In the long history of popular artistic imaging, she is often portrayed partially naked or at least as a seductive temptress—a kind of sexualized repentant, a voluptuous prostitute who became a follower of Jesus after he cast “seven demons” out of her. [7]

        It was Pope Gregory the Great in 591 who first conflated the identities of Magdalene with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:38-42), the sister of Martha and Lazarus, along with the unnamed “sinner” with the alabaster jar and long hair in Luke’s Gospel (7:36-50). [8] From that time until 1969, as part of the Vatican II reforms, Catholic teaching identified Magdalene with the “sinful, sensual woman weeping at Jesus’ feet, wiping up her tears with long and tangled hair” who was both “needy and subordinate.” [9]

        Nevertheless, she is named in the Gospels 12 times, more often than most of the Apostles.

        There are a number of theories as to why this prurience frames Mary Magdalene’s memory. One is because the early Christian Gnostic movement, denounced as heretical, gave her such a prestigious role.

        Another explanation might be envy, over the fact that the Gospel accounts feature a female with such prominence, outshining the male Apostles, refusing to abandon Jesus in his crucifixion and is first to meet the resurrected Christ. The submissive harlot became a foil for the church’s championing of submissive women.

        A third explanation involves purity motivations of an increasingly male-dominated church, which preferred to highlight the Virgin Mary over Magdalene’s invented association with prostitution. [10]

        “The problem, or danger, from the Church’s point of view,” writes Michael Haag, “is that Mary Magdalene had encountered the divine when she discovered the tomb was empty; in other words, she had a direct and personal encounter” and thereby “bypassed the workings, the function, the purpose of the Church.” [11]

        Even more so than this week’s electoral history, together these two Marys—Magdalene as the first evangelist, along with the Blessed Mother’s magnificat predicting the downfall of the mighty—align in a strategic deconstruction of any and every sort of submission other than to the Beloved’s presence, purpose, and promise.

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Endnotes

[1] “May [Hilllary Clinton’s] candidacy send a message to women everywhere that the glass ceiling that has held so many of them down is being broken, and that a new day is dawning, not only for women, but for all people everywhere.” From Tony Campolo’s prayer at the Democratic National Convention following Clinton’s securing the party’s nomination, 26 July 2016.

[2] See Elizabeth A. Elliott, “Mary Magdalene gets her feast,” National Catholic Reporter.

[3] The Catholic reform group FutureChurch already organizes 200-300 Magdala Day celebrations around the world.

[4] See the full text of the decree.

[5] For more background on the history of the changing story of the church’s appropriation of Mary of Magdala’s story, see “Who framed Mary Magdalene?” by Heidi Schlumpf, US Catholic.

[6] “The whole history of western civilization is epitomized in the cult of Mary Magdalene. . . .  How the past is remembered, how sexual desire is domesticated, how men and women negotiate their separate impulses; how power inevitably seeks sanctification, how tradition becomes authoritative, how revolutions are co-opted; how fallibility is reckoned with, and how sweet devotion can be made to serve violent domination—all these cultural questions helped shape the story of the woman who befriended Jesus of Nazareth.” James Carroll, “Who Was Mary Magdalene?” Smithsonian Magazine.

Right: "Mary Magdalene, Our Lady of Flowers" by Tanya Torres.

[7] The novelist Dan Brown, in his The Da Vinci Code mystery novel, portrays Magdalene as Jesus’ secret wife. In 2012 Harvard church historian Karen King claimed a recently discovered ancient papyrus proved that Jesus was married. Just recently Dr. King admitted the document was likely a forgery.

[8] A legend in the Eastern church's tradition (which never associated Magdalene with sexual sin) has Mary of Magdala traveling to Rome and appearing before the court of Emperor Tiberius. When she tells Tiberius about Jesus’ death and Resurrection, he challenges her story, saying no one could rise from the dead any more than an egg in a dish on the table could turn red. With that, according to the legend, Mary picked up an egg, and it turned bright red in her hand. To this day, icons of Mary Magdalene often depict her holding an egg, and Eastern Christians still color their Easter eggs a bright red.
            Orthodox icons of Magdalene often depict her holding a container of myrrh used to anoint bodies of the dead.

[9] Joyce Hollyday, Clothed With the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us, p. 229.

[10] Three pieces of music about Mary Magdalene have made their way into pop culture in recent years, though each is written from the discredited view of Mary Magdalene as “penitent prostitute.”
       • “The Ballad of Mary Magdalen,” Cry, Cry, Cry (Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky & Dar Williams)
       • “Legendary Mary of Magdala,” Othar Winish
       • “I Don’t Know How To Love Him,” from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” by Mario Piperno, Riccardo Ferri, Mauro Picotto, and Andrea Remondini

[11] Author of The Quest for Mary Magdalene, in an interview with Emily McFarlan Miller, Religion News Service, 21 July 2016.

©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org
 

Most ordinary of days

A prose poem for "Ordinary Time"

by Ken Sehested

There are, to be sure, moments of high drama in the work of holy obedience:
      marches to be made, confrontations to be staged, dangers to be endured,
      corruption to be exposed, trips made to distant or unfamiliar places,
      occasional rackets to be raised, maybe even jail cells to be filled.

On rare occasions, the whole world is watching.

Much more often, the storyline of faith is lived without notoriety,
is forged without fanfare:
      in familiar places, in small acts of courage resisting petty tyrants,
      with commonplace forbearance in the midst of garden-variety stress.

Much more often faith is mapped by intersections with family and friends
      and neighbors and co-workers, in traffic lanes and grocery store lines,
      with tired children and harried partners.

All the while—like crack to the addict, drink to the drunk—the bread of
      anxious toil seduces with its illusory bliss.

To be sure, dragons need to be slain. Much more often, though, gardens
      need to be groomed, young ones tutored and old ones cherished,
      watersheds protected, hobbled ones freed, and civility practiced.

Mostly it’s these thousand million little things, the minute particulars that,
      strand-by-strand, are needed to reweave life’s shapely, sturdy fabric.

For these, persevering patience is more imperative than conspicuous daring.
For these, tireless collaboration is more important than personal heroism.

Give thanks and praise in these most ordinary of days.

Inspired by Galatians 5:19-26
©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

Lamentations’ call to arms

A poem inspired by the book of Lamentations (especially chapter three)

by Ken Sehested

Turn off (what passes for) the news.
Boycott the season’s electoral charades.
Don’t give in to Pokémon’s promise of
“augmented reality.” Attend instead to
unmitigated reality: bloodied, stricken
and strewn. Offer grief the hearing it
demands, the voice it obliges, and
the risk it assumes.

When not even Wendell Berry’s “peace
of wild things” will suffice—the wilderness
itself being salted and assaulted—turn to
the Lamentator’s naked confession for
uttering the heart’s howling confusion
amid terror’s ambush.

We have been driven into truth’s eclipse
by deceitful scripts. Besieged, every
bartering prayer is Heaven-shunned,
and treachery stalks, beastly threat
lying in wait. We, of self-anointing
greatness, are become laughingstock
of nations. For food, only gravel is given;
for bedding, only ashes.

The demands of frivolous piety insist on
consolation stripped of lamentation,
morning’s joy absent night’s sorrow,
penitential grace shorn of reparative
labor. We are exceptional only in
desecration and moonshine swagger.

Worst of all, we hardly know it,
veneered as we are in virtuous pretense
and affected innocence, the result of
expanding security obsession. As
if Heaven is deaf and dumb to earth’s
offense against creation’s purpose.

Are we thereby left to decompose in
the squalor of our own making?

No, comes a Voice from the wasteland,
for the Beloved is not yet done with
dust-conspired creatures and is not
angry beyond measure. And, in fact,
there are more than enough lovely
stories to be celebrated—heroic and
commonplace alike—of generosity
and justice, of goodness and mercy.
Let these be redeemed from memory’s
suppression to utter quiet light
in this loudmouthed era.

But the Way forward begins with
truth telling borne by sorrow’s tears
and mourning’s elegy. The grief to
be spoken shall only begrudge the
heart’s malcontent and its vainglory
habits. The penitent journey, the Way
of the cross, leads home, only to home.

Lament’s despondence spirals not in
despair, nor shame, nor derision, nor
humiliation. Lamentation is a call to
arms, arms freed from bloody
consignment, arms open to Mercy’s
advance and earth’s relief.

Ye who are weary, come home.

©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

News, views, notes, and quotes

Signs of the Times  •  13 July 2016  •  No. 81

Processional. “Ella’s Song,” Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Call to worship. “If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one / Drying in the color of the evening sun / Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away ‘ But something in our minds will always stay ‘ Perhaps this final act was meant / To clinch a lifetime's argument / That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could.” —Sting, “Fragile,” performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Botti and Dominic Miller (Thanks Garth)

Invocation. “You may write me down in history / with your bitter, twisted lies. / You may trod me in the very dirt, / but still, like dust, I'll rise.” —Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise," National Public Radio (Listen to Angelou reading and/or read the text.)

Good news. “The number of Black farmers in the United States is suddenly growing again. In 2012, there were more than 44,000 of them, up about 15 percent from 10 years earlier.” —Sylvia Harvey, “The Resurgence of Black Farmers," Yes! Magazine

At right, Ieshia Evans, a nurse and mother of two, arrested during the Black Lives Matter demonstration following Alton Stirling's killing by police. Photo by Jonathan Bachman, Reuters. For more information on this photo, see Catherine Thorbecke, “The Story Behind the Striking Photo of a Woman in a Dress Next to Armed Police in Baton Rouge,” ABC News.

¶ "If I love you, I have to make you conscious of things you do not see." —James Baldwin

¶ “‘Put those damn weapons down. I’m not going to tell you again, goddamn it. Get those goddamn weapons down.’  That was the first command of one of Louisiana’s most revered figures, General Russell Honore, when he arrived in New Orleans in 2005 to direct the military recovery after Hurricane Katrina.  The General’s directions have not been followed in Baton Rouge. . . . When [in 2014] Ferguson police showed a militarized response to protestors, General Honore was again plainspoken. ‘Any time we have policemen pointing weapons at American citizens, they need to go through retraining.’”  —Bill Quigley, “Baton Rouge: ‘Put Those Damn Weapons Down,'” Huffington Post

Hymn of praise. “Venite exultemus Domine” (“Come let us praise the Lord”), William Byrd, performed by Quite Cleveland. (Thanks Roy.)

¶ “The [Black Lives Matter] demonstrators didn't block the bridge because they don't care about the law. They blocked it because they still do.” —read more of David Waters’ "A bridge in Memphis becomes a symbol of deep divide, deeper wish to unite," in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, where interim police chief Michael Rallings joined the march which shut down part of Interstate 40

Left, "Our Lady, Mother of Ferguson" by Mark Dukes.

This is amazing! Innocent black man befriends the crooked cop who framed him and sent him to Jail for four years! —CBS News (3:00 video. Thanks Dan.)

Good long read. For those interested in the history of racial discourse, Julian E. Zelizer’s “Fifty Years Ago, the Government Said Black Lives Matter” has a detailed account of the political maneuvering behind the crafting and release of the 1968 Kerner Commission report that sought to analyze the causes of race riots that rocked the nation in the summer of 1967. Zelizer’s article serves as the introduction to Princeton University Press’ 2016 edition of The Kerner Report: The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders.

¶ “I want the Dallas Police Department to see I support you. I defend you. I will care for you. That doesn’t mean I will not fear you. That doesn’t mean that when you approach me, I will not have a visceral reaction and start worrying about my personal safety.” — Parkland Memorial Hospital trauma surgeon Dr. Brian H. Williams, an African American who treated Dallas police officers shot by a sniper on 7 July, recounting his own tense moments from earlier encounters with police, in Elahe Izade, The Washington Post

Hopeful news. “A group of former senior military officials and veterans, including Gens. David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal, have launched a veteran-focused gun law initiative. The initiative, Veterans Coalition for Common Sense, is spearheaded by Capt. Mark Kelly, a former Navy combat pilot and astronaut whose wife, Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., was the target of an assassination attempt in 2011.” —Alex Horton, Stars and Stripes (Thanks Dan.)

Make America brutal again. Donald Trump’s election campaign comments superimposed over video from lunch counter sit-ins in the 1960s. (It's pretty stark.)

Confession. “When the night has come / And the land is dark / And the moon is the only light we'll see / No I won't be afraid / Oh, I won't be afraid / Just as long as you stand, stand by me.” —Tracy Chapman, “Stand By Me”

We are largely unaware of the conflict and competing demands in our nation between our political and economic values, between democracy and corporate (largely-unregulated) capitalism. Where the former aims at a place for all at the table of bounty, the latter favors a kind of social Darwinism, survival-of-the-fittest logic that brooks no values other than market efficiency. The metric of profit in the former focuses on shared human rights; the latter, on exclusive property rights, rendered vividly with chilling effect on our Republic in the 2010 “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision which bestowed personhood on corporations. —Ken Sehested
        For further analysis, see Mark Blyth, “Capitalism in Crisis,” Foreign Affairs.

Bumper sticker prophecy. “I’ll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.”

Hymn of lamentation. “Melody from Orpheus and Eurydice,” performed by Dimitry Olevsky, violin, and Harout Senederemian, piano.
        Chaplain Alan Wright “didn’t know what he’d find in the emergency room” after racing to a Dallas hospital on 7 July in response to reports of casualties from sniper fire aimed at police escorting a “Black Lives Matter” march. Two days later he burst into tears during worship while listening to a rendition of Christoph W. Gluck’s “Melody from Orpheus and Eurydice.” (Ironically, in the recording noted above, you can briefly and faintly hear a siren in the background.) —Religion News Service

Words of assurance. “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” a bluesy rendition by Lauryn Hill and Tanya Blount of the traditional revivalist song of the early 20th century.

For the beauty of the earth. 35 seconds of spectacular photos of unusual birds. —“Wonders of the world” (Thanks, Susan.)

Preach it. “Intercessory prayer is spiritual defiance of what is in the name of what God has promised. Intercession visualizes an alternative future to the one apparently fated by the momentum of current forces. Prayer infuses the air of a time yet to be into the suffocating atmosphere of the present. . . . This is the politics of hope. Hope envisages its future and then acts as if that future is now irresistible, thus helping to create the reality for which it longs.” —Walter Wink, The Powers that Be: Theology for a New Millennium. Here’s a link for a longer excerpt on intercessory prayer.

¶ “Put another way, what passes for the news is often enough closer to a horror movie in which, just around the next corner, another nightmare is readying itself to leap out and scare you to death. Maybe it’s not what you really want to see, but once it starts, you can’t take your eyes off it. And that’s the point.” —Tom Engelhardt, TomDisptach

Call to the table. Let yourself be wrapped in “the ties that bind but do not strangle, the lover’s reach which does not entangle, the wing that shadows but never wrangles.” —continue reading Ken’s Sehested’s “Prayers while throwing stuff: Pondering grief from Baghdad to Baton Rouge, Medina to Minneapolis, Dhaka to Dallas”

In a 22 April address at Rice University in Houston, Texas, US Secretary of State John Kerry said “religious communities can play a role in achieving foreign policy goals around the world. Invoking religion in an unusually direct manner, Kerry said understanding the importance of faith is essential in diplomacy and working with religious leaders can help solve complex problems in foreign countries. ‘The more we understand religion and the better able we are as a result to engage religious actors, the more effective our diplomacy will be in advancing the interests and values of our people.’” Early in his term, in 2013, Kerry established an Office of Religion and Global Affairs. —Carol Morello, Washington Post

Altar call. “Give Me Jesus,” Wartburg Choir.

¶ “Cubans weigh in on Obama,” a video (1:42) from AJ+.

A resolution drafted by Ken Sehested in support of continued normalization of diplomatic ties between the US and Cuba was recent approved by the United Church of Christ (UCC) Southern Conference. The statement, “Bring Down the Wall in the Caribbean,” will be forwarded for deliberation at next summer’s biennial General Synod meeting in Baltimore.

A key purpose for this prayer&politiks site involves addressing the confusion surrounding the English word “politics,” commonly used in contradictory ways which confound our notions about spirituality. (If you haven’t read the “what is ‘politiks’?” column, I encourage you to do so.)
        Here is a recent example of this conundrum, in a brief article by a Croatian journalist regarding the European refugee crisis.
        In the first paragraph, Elvis Džafić writes, “The solution needs to be political in order for us to see the end of the suffering of innocent people.”
        However, in the third paragraph he says, “It would be great to see the church speak louder about this crisis and on the behalf of the people who need help instead of politicizing it.”

Benediction. “Happiness is a life nourished by the love and goodness of God that contributes to the flourishing of creation. Even in the face of evil, rejection and suffering, a person who has learned to love well will experience pleasure and satisfaction from being herself—a person built from the loving use of God-given creativity, power and goodness. When that goodness takes up residence in us we realize that we are the living image of God, and that makes us happy.” —Ellen T. Charry, “Happy pursuits: A Christian vision of the good life,” Christian Century

Right. “The Rescuer” by Michael D. O’Brien

Recessional. Ukele Group from Wellington Girls’ College and Wellington College, New Zealand.

Lectionary for Sunday next. “All glory to you, Gracious One, who smiles on the earth, restoring the fortunes of our ancestors. / In your presence, the weight of shame is lifted, and we are drenched in pardon. / The cooling of your anger lifts mist into the air, and the fields drink their fill. / Restore us again, Savior and Friend; revive us to the joy of unyielding fidelity and steadfast love.” —continue reading Ken Sehested’s “Justice and peace will kiss”

Just for fun. “Rolling in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” performed by a who’s-who of award-winning bluegrass musicians, including John Hartford, Del McCoury, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, Stuart Duncan, Tony Rice, Sam Bush, Mark O´Connor.

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Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “Prayers while throwing stuff: Pondering grief from Baghdad to Baton Rouge, Medina to Minneapolis, Dhaka to Dallas”

• “Justice and peace will kiss,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 85

Left: StoryPeople by Brian Andreas

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

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends. You can reach me directly at kensehested@prayerandpolitiks.org.

Justice and peace will kiss

A litany for worship, inspired by Psalm 85

by Ken Sehested

All glory to you, Gracious One, who smiles on the earth, restoring the fortunes of our ancestors.

In your presence, the weight of shame is lifted, and we are drenched in pardon.

The cooling of your anger lifts mist into the air, and the fields drink their fill.

Restore us again, Savior and Friend; revive us to the joy of unyielding fidelity and steadfast love.

Unstop your ears, all creatures of earth, to the Voice of the Beloved!

*Allah will speak peace: Salaam! Shalom!

Steadfast love and faithfulness will embrace; justice and peace will kiss.

Earth’s soil sprouts your unflagging Presence; the skies radiate the integrity of your Way.

A good and gracious Countenance yields fertile goodness and bountiful mercy in our midst.

The steps of the One We Adore are marked and measured: By power forged in truth and molded in mercy.

O lovers of God, rejoice!

And again I say, Rejoice!

 

*”Allah” is not a Muslim name for God; it is the Arabic name for God. Christians throughout the Middle East use the word in personal and public prayer and worship.

©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

Ken Sehested, Circle of Mercy, 7.16.06, inspired by Psalm 85

Prayers while throwing stuff

Pondering grief from Baghdad to Baton Rouge, Medina to Minneapolis, Dhaka to Dallas (and points in between)

by Ken Sehested

We each pray for different
reasons in different seasons,
too often steady-headed,
manners-minded, when
indelicacy is now needed
        —prayers while throwing
        stuff against the wall—
whether in rapture or in rage,
banging against the cage of
knock-off propriety,
boorish pleasantries,
self-referencing piety
when it is precisely this
self-bordered life
that must be breached
if blood-soaked streets
are to stand a chance
in the light of
Judgment Day’s inquest,
crippled heart recoiling
from what it fears,
jaundiced against all
it cannot control,
cheered by death’s leer
and sacred call to arms—
        lest justice be denied!—
but brutal arms they be,
assaulting arms, separating
tissue from bone,
breath from lung,
hands from caress,
babies from breasts,
words from truth,
hopes from healing,
vision from revealing
the ties that bind
        but do not strangle,
the lover’s reach which
        does not entangle,
the wing that shadows
        but never wrangles.

Dare to rave within
Heaven’s hearing!
Scorch the roof of your
mouth with incantation.
Hurl your disquieted heart
at every tranquil caution.
Risk unpleasantry in the
company of angels.
Demand a hearing with
the Most High.
Journey with Job into
the whirlwind’s gale.
Demand an answer:

        Who, indeed, can
        deliver from this
        body of death?

The shackling terms of our
Constituting covenant, the
aftermath of independence,
seeding slave-harvested
bounty and monetized
virtue, still haunt and
impair our most beloved
intentions. From this
white-washed sepulcher,
       deliver!

By the waters of Babylon
we sit weeping,
asking
imploring
how can we sing
Deliverance’s song
in a strange land?

§  §  §

The week of 4 July 2016
©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

News, views, notes, and quotes

Signs of the Times  •  6 July 2016  •  No. 80

Processional. “This Land Is Your Land,” Woody Guthrie.

Above: Redwood National Forest, California.

Special issue on
Woody Guthrie

        Woody Guthrie was born in the small town of Okemah, Oklahoma, named after a Kickapoo Native American chief. I knew his music long before I learned he was reared not so far from where I was born. For her wedding one of my grandmothers rode a covered wagon from North Texas to what was then called “Indian Territory.” My other grandparents worked in that same region under the feudal arrangement charitably called “sharecropping.”

        The town of Okemah was founded on land expropriated and reassigned, multiple times, from Native American peoples by the US Government. Okemah is in the middle of the region where Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee and Seminole nations in the US Southeast were forced marched (“The Trail of Tears”) following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The town is south of Tulsa, site of a major race riot in 1921 which destroyed what was then the wealthiest African American community in the nation. An hour’s drive west of Okemah is Oklahoma City, site of the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Murrah Federal Building by Timothy McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran.

        This land—like much land everyone—bears the contested scars of ownership. This dispute was the subject of many Woody Guthrie songs.

        Along with a number of artists and activists in his era, Guthrie was accused of being a communist. Once, when interrogated about singing at a left-wing rally, Guthrie commented: "Left wing, right wing, chicken wing—it's all the same to me. I sing my songs wherever I can sing 'em." Many have noted the Communist Party wouldn’t have wanted him anyway, given his disavowal of any political doctrine willing to sacrifice actual human beings on the altar of ideals.

        Tragically, Guthrie spent the last decade of his life in psychiatric hospitals, suffering from Huntington’s Disease he inherited from his mother. Little was known about the disease at the time. But his death in 1967 led to the founding of what is now the Huntington’s Disease Society. —Ken Sehested

For more background on Guthrie, see Rob Collins’s “Woody Guthrie: Portrait of a Populist,” Oklahoma Gazette.

Invocation. “I don't think a Christian is worth his salt who has not been called a Communist today. Trying to refute that epithet is about like running for your birth certificate when someone calls you an s.o.b.” —Clarence Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm

Call to worship. “Somos el barco, somos el mar, yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mí. We are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me.” —Sosmos El Barco (We Are the Boat),  by Pete Seeger, sung here together with Holly Near, Arlo Guthrie, and Ronnie Gilbert

¶ Guthrie used the 1930 A.P Carter gospel tune of “When the World’s On Fire,” for “This Land Is Your Land.”

Hymn of (populist) praise. “When I Rose This Morning,” Fellowship Chorale. 

The fireworks started early, long before the night’s dark background provided illuminating dazzle, testimony to the pyrotechnics expert on the afternoon NPR hour who said he still prefers the “big boom” type over the advanced visual displays.

        My wife retired early to our basement apartment to escape the roar. I always shudder on Independence Day for the dogs who shiver in fright at the noise.

        Every year the major networks compete on this evening for viewers tuned in for the liturgical assurance of patriotic songs, “bombs bursting in air,” celebrity cameos, and the inevitable heroizing of troops. The latter urge is understandable, given the agonizing affect of hundreds of veteran suicides every month.

        Yet there still seems to be little awareness of the connection between military necessity and our nation’s consumptive habits—the latter symbolized by the annual hotdog eating contest on The Fourth, in New York’s Coney Island, this year’s winner setting a new record of 70 wieners+buns devoured in the 10-minute contest. —continue reading Ken Sehested’s “This Land Is Your Land: Independence Day in light of Woody Guthrie’s enduring question about to whom the land belongs

Confession. “This old house is falling down around my ears / I'm drowning in a river of my tears / When all my will is gone you hold me sway / And I need you at the dimming of the day / You pulled me like the moon pulls on the tide / You know just where I keep my better side. —“Dimming of the Day,” Bonnie Raitt and Richard Thompson

The title of Guthrie’s autobiographical novel Bound for Glory was taken from the song “This Train (Is Bound For Glory),” an African-American gospel of unknown origin, first recorded in 1922. Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s 1939 recording  popularized the song.

Words of assurance. “Land of Hope and Dreams” by Bruce Springsteen, which ends with a refrain from "This Train."
      “This Train carries saints and sinners
       This Train carries losers and winners
       This Train carries whores and gamblers
       This Train carries lost souls
       This Train dreams will not be thwarted
       This Train faith will be rewarded”

Hymn of intercession. “Deportee,” Woody Guthrie, performed by his son Arlo Guthrie.

Preach it.
       “When Jesus come to town, all the working folks around
       Believed what he did say
       But the bankers and the preachers, they nailed Him on the cross
       And they laid Jesus Christ in his grave”
       —Woodie Guthrie, “Jesus Christ”

Guthrie’s influence vs. Donald Trump’s arrogance. “Now I ain’t got no politics / So don’t lay that rap on me / Left wing, right wing, up wing, down wing / I see strip malls from sea to shining sea.” —Tom Russell, “Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall?”

Call to the table. “When it comes to the question of God blessing America, Scripture is pretty clear. Of the 41 occasions when the word “bless” is used in the Newer Testament, only twice is it an imperative—and neither involve God: In Jesus’ instruction to his listeners, “Bless those who curse you” (Luke 6:28) and Paul’s echo of the same: “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse” (Romans 12:14). In his upside-down kingdom dream, Jesus’ intention for blessing was not to sacralize violence but to draw enemies within Mercy’s reach.” —Ken Sehested, “This Land Is Your Land: Independence Day in light of Woody Guthrie’s enduring question about to whom the land belongs”

Guthrie’s “Oklahoma Hills,” recorded by his cousin, Jack Guthrie, was selected as the Sooner state’s official song in 2001.

The freedom to roam is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness or the right to roam.

            In England and Wales public access rights apply to certain categories of mainly uncultivated land—specifically "mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land." Developed land, gardens and certain other areas are specifically excluded from the right of access. Agricultural land is accessible if it falls within one of the categories described above. Most publicly owned forests have a similar right of access by virtue of a voluntary dedication made by the Forestry Commission. People exercising the right of access have certain duties to respect other people's rights to manage the land, and to protect nature.

            In Scotland and the Nordic countries of Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as well as the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania the freedom to roam may take the form of general public rights which are sometimes codified in law. The access is ancient in parts of Northern Europe and has been regarded as sufficiently basic that it was not formalised in law until modern times. —Wikipedia

Altar call.
       “Many a faith’s too easy shaken
        Many a heart too full of fear
        Many an eye is too mistaken
        Grievous to my savior dear
        Ain’ta gonna grieve my lord any more, not any more.”
       —“Ain’ta Gonna Grieve (My Lord Anymore),” lyrics by Woody Guthrie, tune by Jeff Tweedy & Jay Bennett, performed by Billy Bragg & Wilco

The Woody Guthrie Center was formally opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 27 April 2013.

Benediction. “Trouble Will Soon Be Over,” Blind Willie Johnson.

Recessional. “Hobo’s Lullaby,” Arlo Guthrie.

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Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “This Land Is Your Land: Independence Day in light of Woody Guthrie’s enduring question about to whom the land belongs”

• “Remind us again,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 82

• A new collection of annotated book reviews in “What are you reading and why?”
 

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

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends. You can reach me directly at kensehested@prayerandpolitiks.org.

The Liberation of Christmas: The Infancy Narratives in Social Context

Richard Horsley (2006), reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

Another cultural eye opener by Horsley, with the focus and emphasis on the social relationships reflected in the infancy narratives.  Horsley does not deal with the theological issue of the incarnation in the infancy narratives, but explores the ‘salvation embodied in Jesus in its historical context of concrete political, economic and religious relationships’ (p xii).  Horsley’s treatment emphasizes that Luke 1 & 2 reflect a Palestinian Jewish milieu (p 15).  He then claims that ‘our usual hearing of the Christmas story misses or avoids the politico-economic as well as the religio-cultural conflict (p 22). In his chapter on ‘Caesar and Census’ he quotes Roman poets whose language about Caesar is remarkably similar to the words found in Luke (‘saviour’, ‘lord’, ‘euaggelion’).  Another chapter explores the interaction with Herod, the Roman client king, and another section deals with the role of peasants in Palestine under Roman control. 

Horsley’s most fascinating treatment is in the chapter, ‘A Modern Analogy’, where he explores the significance of the infancy narrative to a church that is in league with Herod, not with a peasant couple, a church whose government is a recapitulation of the Roman empire working through client regimes and political repression.  The infancy narratives find their story retold in the repressive history of Central America that the new Roman emperor supports (or at least did).  The historical tradition of the infancy narrative is a reflection of today’s empire.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.