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Signs of the Times  •  1 April 2016  •  No. 66

Abbreviated issue

This edition of “Signs of the Times,” (and next week’s) is abbreviated to clear space for hiking in Arches National Park in Utah. (You’ll be jealous when you view these National Geographic’s photos of the park.)

Above. Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah. Photograph by Thomas Piekunka.

Processional. Riverdance longest line world record (3:01).

Invocation. “Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, / arrayed with the lighting of his glory, / let this holy building shake with joy, / filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.” —Exsultet, “a dramatic invitation to heaven and earth to join with the Church in joy and jubilation.”  (click the “show more” button to see lyrics) 

Call to worship. “We are kindred all of us, killer and victim, predator and prey, me and the sly coyote, the soaring buzzard, the elegant gopher snake, the trembling cottontail, the foul worms that feed on our entrails, all of them, all of us. Long live diversity, long live the earth.” —Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire, a classic in earth-anchored spirituality, written in the mid-‘60s while he was a park ranger at Arches National Park

I love it when geriatrics draw a crowd. In case you haven’t already seen this video of The Stones roll into Cuba. (1:13. Thanks Dan) Crowd estimates range from several hundred thousand to over a million.

Put chocolate back in Easter!!! “Chocolate manufacturers in the U.K. have removed the word ‘Easter’ from the holiday egg candy that has delighted millions of children for generations. But a demand that manufacturers put Easter back on the packaging of chocolate eggs has become the latest culture war issue on the eve of Christianity’s most important holiday.” —Trevor Grundy, Religion News Service

This is pretty amazing. A restaurant owner in Noble, Oklahoma, was so dismayed over state budget cuts for human services that he took to Facebook to alert fellow citizens and then offered free meals over the next three months to those directed affected. —Dallas Franklin, KFOR News Channel (Thanks Roger)

Visualization of how small efforts can lead to big changes: Domino chain reaction. (2:33 seconds)

Hymn of praise, as gardens are prepped for spring. “Garden Song” (“Inch by Inch”), Pete Seeger.

We all have have multiple images, stories, experiences, and memories through which we “read” Easter’s import. The church’s triumphal clamor has often been that Jesus emerged from entombment kicking butt and taking names. I think it’s more like cellist Vedran Smailović’s decision to play in Sarejevo’s streets during the city’s long siege (5 April 1992-29 February 1996) by Bosnian Serbs. Nearly 14,000 were killed.

Right. Vedran Smailović, cellist of Sarejevo.

        •Listen to this recording of his performance of the “Albinoini Adagio” as a protest against the war and a prayer for peace.

        •Read Dan Buttry’s profile of Smailović at ReadTheSpirit.

Confession. “Donald Trump is a reflection of the ugliness within us, but only that. The ugliness itself is ours and we are long overdue to face it.” —Leonard Pitts, “Defeating Trump won’t erase the forces that made him possible”

Recommended longer read. A debate over the relative value of protesting Donald Trump events has been underway in certain circles. If this is a topic of interest, I highly recommend George Lakey’s “What Trump protesters can learn from the civil rights movement.” —Waging Nonviolence

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 Ken Sehested’s “Psalm 30 interrogation: For Madeleine, too soon departed”

¶ “Stretching back to the Book of Exodus . . . the first two women in recorded history moved from dialogue to action, when Miriam, sister of Moses, reached out to the daughter of Pharaoh. In a joint effort to defy the royal decree and kill the baby boys of the Hebrew slaves, these two women, both princesses, saved Moses, who grew up to become the liberator of the House of Israel. . . .
            “When Pharaoh’s daughter goes to bathe in the Nile, she hears the cries of the infant and is filled with compassion and seizes the moment to act. Some verses later, when Moses is already grown, and God reveals God’s self to Moses, God uses the same words; I heard the cries of my people, and indeed it was to time act. So what we have here is not Imitatio Dei. . . . [H]ere we have a story, where God imitates us, a woman no less, and an Egyptian daughter of the tyrant. This to me is the essence of dialogue, to be able to hear the cry of the other, to literally reach out and act, intervene. . . . And in the process . . . change the course of history!” —Rabbi Naamah Kelman, “The holy work of dialogue,” Changing the Present, Dreaming the Future: A Critical Movement in Interreligious Dialogue

Right: Photo by Malcolm Marler.

Preach it. “We are Muslims, Hindus, Copts, Evangelicals and Catholics, but we are all children of the same God who want to live in peace.” Pope Francis, speaking to hundreds of asylum seekers on 24 March to draw the world's attention to the dramatic plight of refugees and migrants in Europe and elsewhere. —Gerald O’Connell, America

Watch Pope Francis (4:00) washing the feet of refugees on Maundy Thursday. (Thanks Deborah)

Call to the table. “We created a version of Christianity where Jesus saves but he doesn’t teach.” —Alan Bean, “Do not despise the day of small things,” Friends of Justice

Altar call. “A Jewish child asks: “When you’re asleep, you can wake up. When you’re awake—can you wake up even more?” —Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Left: Photo by American Friends Service Committee

Benediction. “May Easter’s affection / spawn many children / who know / despite the trouble / the toil / the rubble strewn soil / the way of the cross leads home.” —"Easter's affection," a post-Easter poem by Ken Sehested

Recessional. “Easter Song,” Keith Green, Post resurrection-blues turned to joy.

Lectionary for Sunday next. “Discard your reluctance, you saints and you sinners: / Shout vowels of praise, sing consonants of delight. / On you, Dear Beloved, have I cast my care and / entrusted my fare. Let none rejoice over my sorrow; / let none reprise my grief.” —“Weeping may linger,” a litany inspired by Psalm 30

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Featured this week on prayer&politiks:

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

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

• “Easter’s aftermath,” a poem

Right. Artwork ©Julie Lonneman.

©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 klsehested@gmail.com.

 

Weeping may linger

A litany for worship inspired by Psalm 30

by Ken Sehested

Discard your reluctance, you saints and you sinners:
Shout vowels of praise, sing consonants of delight.

On you, Dear Beloved, have I cast my care and
entrusted my fare. Let none rejoice over my sorrow;
let none reprise my grief.

In folly I abandoned the bonds of your Providence;
fool-hearted, my feet wandered wayward astray.

Take my mourning heart and teach it to dance;
tailor my grieving gown into festival attire!

O Radiant Refrain filling lungs with acclaim,
by your Name rid the earth of rancorous disdain.

Weeping may linger, the night’s fright encroach;
yet daybreak reports hint of joy’s sure approach.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

Easter’s affection

May Easter’s affection
spawn many children
who know
            despite the trouble
            the toil
            the rubble strewn soil
the way of the cross leads home.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

Both enchantment and chore

A poem about vocation

by Ken Sehested

Our vocation entails both enchantment and chore;
beatific vision and mundane devotion;
reverent rapture and disciplined restraint;
the dissolution of the ego’s ravenous edge and
discovery of the true self’s Center,
which combined provide
the joyful and fearless freedom necessary
to live in Creation’s broken and bruised places
to declare that another world
is not only possible
but is promised.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

News, views, notes, and quotes

Signs of the Times  •  21 March 2016  •  No. 65

Special "Good Friday" edition

¶ Recommended music for Good Friday. Henryk Górecki’s Third Symphony, Opus 36 (“Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”), second movement (“Lento e Largo,” 9:10).
        “No, Mother, do not weep, / Most chaste Queen of Heaven / Support me always.”
        This is the opening line to the Polish prayer to the Virgin Mary. The prayer was inscribed on wall 3 of cell no. 3 in the basement of the "Palace," the Nazi German Gestapo's headquarters in Zadopane, Poland. Beneath is the signature of Helena Wanda Blazusiakówna, and the words "18 years old, imprisoned since 26 September 1944."
        You can listen to the entire symphony here. (56:13)

 

Let the women talk! Let the women act!
Commemorating Women’s History Month

Below is the text of a peace petition issued 19 October 2000 from Jerusalem Link,
a partnership between Israeli women represented by Bat Shalom (Daughter of Peace)
and Palestinian women who were involved in the
Markaz al-Quds la l-Nissah (Jerusalem Center for Women – JCW).

We know that two peoples can live in this land. We know that our children deserve a life of dignity and peace. We do not want our children to be killed, nor do we want them to be killers. We must stop this madness. We must stop the use of brute force.

Let the women talk. Let the women act.

Let Palestinian and Israeli women lead the way. It was Israeli women who changed public opinion about the terrible and pointless war in Lebanon. It was Palestinian women who were courageous enough to engage in joint peace initiatives with Israelis. We the women can find an end to this cycle of violence as well.

Let the women talk. Let the women act.

The men tell us not to be scared. They all tell us to be strong. We are scared, and we want them to be scared too. We do not want to be "strong". We don't want them to think that they are strong enough to make the other nation disappear or go down in defeat and disgrace. We want each and every person to have the right to live in peace and dignity.

Let the women talk. Let the women act.

We want to share the resources of this land, its water, its vines, and its holy places. Jerusalem can be shared; this whole area can be shared between two independent and equal nations. Israel should not rule the lives of Palestinians. Neither Palestine nor Israel should believe that peace can be won through violence and force.

Let the women talk. Let the women act.

There are too many men with too many egos involved in burning this piece of land.

Let the women talk. Let the women act.

Bring the women in. The men have not done a good job here. They talk of a security based in might. We know that security means being good neighbors. Without forgetting the wrongs of the past, nor the unequal distribution of power, we will focus on how to live here in peace. We do not want the next generation of children to wear uniforms, to go to war. We want them to know self-determination and dignity, without the need to fight for them.

§  §  §

¶ Formed in 1993, Jerusalem Link was one of the most famous and internationally acclaimed women’s programs. Unfortunately, this collaboration failed.

“In spite of attempting to overcome oppressive ethno-national discourses affecting individual and collective identities,” this and other similar organizations “have not been able to dismantle the source of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, namely the power asymmetry between the ‘occupier’ and the ‘occupied.'" —“Jerusalem Link: Feminism between Palestine and Israel," Giulia Daniele

¶ Such failures, too, are part of our story. There will be many more before the dawn of the Beloved Community. Despite the brutal disappointments, such defeats need not immobilize us. Though it will chasten, break our hearts, make us limp, in the end despair is a form of narcissism. To carry on we must ripen, and find a way to get over ourselves—come to sense, intuitively (that is to say, in prayer), that more is at work than we can see or measure or predict. —Ken Sehested

¶ Preach it. “It’s Friday But Sunday’s Coming,” a short clip (3:34) from Tony Campolo’s most famous sermon.

¶ Benediction. “Two thousand years ago Jesus is left there hanging / Purple sky slowly turning golden / Cowards at his feet loudly laughing / Loved ones stumbling homeward / their worlds reeling / Red Tail above my head quietly soaring / Water turns from ice, creek is roaring / He says enough of all this shit, I am going."  —“Good Friday," Cowboy Junkies

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Featured this week at prayer&politiks:

• “Open Letter to My Daughter: Easter morning, with the stench of death still in the air,” a reflection on celebrating Easter when all is not well

• "Both enchantment and chore: A poem about vocation"

 

Prisoners of hope

Letter to a friend kidnapped in Iraq

by Ken Sehested

Introduction: On 27 November 2005 a group of four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) were kidnapped by a jihadist group following a meeting in a mosque in Baghdad, Iraq. One of the four was a personal friend, Norman Kember, a 74-year-old peace activist from England. I wrote the reflection below the next day. Having traveled in Iraq twice, once with CPT shortly before the 2013 US invasion, I took the news pretty hard.

Right. CPT kidnap victims (l-r): Tom Fox from the US, Norman Kember from the UK,  and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden.

I NEARLY GAGGED ON MY GRANOLA  when I saw your name, about 10 paragraphs into a story summarizing the weekend’s violent episodes in Iraq. Having been among the references for your application some months ago to join the delegation, I knew, but had almost forgotten, you were there.

        The two-sentence account said that four “humanitarian aid” workers in Iraq had been kidnapped, naming only you: Norman Kember.

        Earlier, during the phone interview with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) staff checking your suitability for this trip to Iraq, I remember thinking: this will be a stretch for you. But then, being stretched is as integral to spiritual formation as the slower, more incremental kinds of growth. Besides, I have come to admire not only the courage of CPT but also their intelligence and street-smarts. I knew you would be in good hands.

        Even so, none of these thoughts—even knowing now that your three companions were seasoned travelers in conflict zones—could dispel the grief that washed over my breakfast table. It’s interesting what comes to mind in such stunned moments. Like my first night in your home, when I slept soundly through the history-making storm that came crashing through London in 1987.

Right. A photo of Norman Kember released to the media by his kidnappers.

        I referred to that story in the prayer vigil we did here for the four of you. For that occasion I created a poster with your enlarged photos. It was propped on the altar of the local Episcopal Cathedral and surrounded by votive candles, serving as the visual aid for our petitions. I mentioned that all of you would be embarrassed, maybe annoyed, that your faces are displayed rather than the millions whose lives have been taken or tattered by a quarter century of oppressive rule and violent conflict in Iraq. But your faces are not only yours. They are our intercessory portal into the larger world of which we know very little. I think that’s how intercession works: moving from the familiar to the slightly less familiar, on and on, until we find connection with the stark “otherness” of creation—and thereby with God.

        When news of our friendship reached British media outlets, several called for interviews or wrote asking for background. “Who is this person; and why is he doing this?” Odd how common it is to assume the soldierly commitment to face danger for the sake of national honor. But how outrageous—foolish! naïve!—at the thought that Christians might do likewise, for the sake of the beloved community. “What would happen,” as the CPT mission states, “if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?”

        As you might imagine, cynics abound. Popular talk show host Rush Limbaugh laced disbelief with gruesome glee in recent commentary on your kidnapping: “I’m telling you, folks, there’s a part of me that likes this.” Our own Commander-in-Chief’s blustery appeal to patriotic vigor in defense of the war sounds like history unfolding in reverse. Just this past Sunday he assured us that “we can win the war in Iraq—we are winning the war in Iraq,” now more than two years after having claimed “Mission Accomplished.”

        I’m confident that what you and your captive companions were finding is what CPT has been steadily reporting (including the first news of torturous happenings at Abu Ghraib prison), first-hand, for a decade: the escalating loss of faith in the purported U.S. reconstruction, stunning absence of security, scandalous lack of basic services, and continued violent reprisals by every armed sector in the country. A quarter of a trillion dollars doesn’t buy what it used to.

        Ironically, despite our plummeting international reputation, your kidnapping has provoked a global outpouring of Muslim and Arab protest against your captors and on your behalf. Notoriously as contentious and sectarian as their Christian counterparts, a stunning array of Muslim leaders and organizations have united to call for your release. I can only hope that some of these developments have made their way to your ears.

        Norman, if I could steal into your cell and whisper in your ear, I would say: “Fear not those who can only kill the body” (Matt. 10:28). Look what you’ve done, without even meaning to—which, more often than not, is typical divine protocol. I would also chide you for your self-depreciatory comment, before you left, about how “cheap” your Christian witness has been heretofore. There’s nothing cheap about 74 years of persistent advocacy for those with no place at the table. The race, my friend, is not to the swift.

        In the end, though, I would draw from your memory the assurance spoken by that ancient Semite, Joseph, whose ancestral home is not far from where you are shackled: They have done this for evil, “but God intends it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

        Whatever comes next, be confident of this: nothing is wasted. The heavy night of those who rule this dark solstice season shall end. For you, and all who sit in the shadow of darkness, light is coming. The Advent word is rarely heard outside the context of threat. "Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope" (Zechariah 9:12).

© Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org
This article was originally published 23 December 2005 in CommonDreams.org.
See Ken Sehested's writing from his 2003 trip to Iraq: "Journey to Iraq: Of risk and reverence" and the "Caitlin letters."

News, views, notes, and quotes

Signs of the Times  •  21 March 2016  •  No. 64

Early and abbreviated issue

This edition of “Signs of the Times” is both early and abbreviated—to clear space for another major writing assignment followed by hiking in Arches National Park in Utah. (You’ll be jealous when you view these National Geographic’s photos of the park.)
        This week’s edition, and those of the next two weeks, will be brief.

Call to worship. “Easter resurrection is never as assured / as the arrival of Easter bunnies. / Clothiers and chocolate-makers alike yearn / for the season no less than every cleric. / And yet, in my experience, the Spirit / rarely blows according to the calendar, / much less on demand.” —continue reading Ken Sehested’s “Easter’s aftermath”

Music suggestions for Holy Week.

        •Holy Tuesday. “Bridegroom Hymn.”

        •Holy Wednesday. “Sinner’s Prayer,” B.B. King and Ray Charles.
        “To love the right, / yet do so wrong. / To be the weak, / yet burn to be so strong.”

        •Maundy Thursday. “Lean On Me,” Bill Withers.
        “Lean on me when you're not strong / And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on / For it won't be long / 'Til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.”

        •Good Friday. “Stay With Me,” from the Taizé community of France.

        •Easter Eve. “Ain’t No Grave (Can Hold My Body Down),” A Southern Gospel Revival & Jamie Wilson.

        (See last week’s “Signs of the Times” for several more Holy Week musical suggestions.)

The peril of Holy Week cannot be endured without at least a hint of the Resurrection’s promise. To that end, below are two brief stories—one from today’s headlines, the other from recent history—to provide ballast in the storm.

Right: Air Force 1 on approach to the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. Photo by Jose Luis Casal. See story below.

Last remaining vestige of the Cold War under assault. In case you missed it, watch this historic video (1:10) of President Barack Obama and family deplaning in Havana, Cuba, this morning, 21 March 2016. —CNN

        Even during the Christian community’s Passion Week, a countersign—the Promise embedded within the Passion—can be discerned. History, despite its bloodied face, is not fated; and we, among history’s actors, need not abandon the field in hopes of a private realm of bogus atonement detached from fleshly circumstance.

        The last (and only other) sitting US president to visit Cuba was Calvin Coolidge, in 1928, and then only to speak at the 6th Pan-American conference. Following his term in office, former US President Jimmy Carter visited Cuba in 2002 and 2011. In fact, shortly after Carter was elected in 1976 he issued a secret directive on Cuban policy aimed at normalizing diplomatic relations. —continue reading Ken Sehested’s “Background to the touch down: President Bartack Obama’s historic visit to Cuba”

Two things distinguish the “Jesus Prince of Peace” icon. One is the sheer fact of the hand-drawn images of brutality and violence surrounding the central figure. This isn’t normal iconographic practice.

        The second distinctive is that the iconographer is a Baptist—not your usual religious affiliation for such artists. And he is from Georgia, but not that Georgia.

Right: "Jesus Prince of Peace" icon by Mamuka Kapanadze.

        The artist’s name is Mamuka Kapanadze. He is the iconographer for the Evangelical Baptist Church of The Republic of Georgia, whose liturgical culture is heavily influenced by the Orthodox tradition. —continue reading Ken Sehested’s “Jesus in the middle of the fighting: Story behind the “Christ Prince of Peace” icon”

Benediction. “Cellist Ruth Boden wanted to do something with music which ‘transcends the commonplace,’ and so in this video she puts her cello on her back to climb to the top of a mountain where she performs Bach’s cello suite.” (10:01)

Recessional. “Deportee: Plane Wreck at Los Gatos Canyon,” Bob Dylan.

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Featured this week on prayer&politiks:

• “Christ has risen,” a litany for Easter morning, inspired by Psalm 118

• “Mutinous lips,” a litany for Easter, inspired by Psalm 118

• “Easter’s aftermath,” a poem

• “Refuge in the shadow,” a collection of Scripture for Holy Week, on "darkness" and "shadow" as the place of God's abiding presence

• “Choral reading of John 20:1-18,” a script for 8 voices of John’s resurrection account

• “Come to the Waters: Litany of Confession and Pardon,” inspired by Isaiah 55

©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 klsehested@gmail.com.

 

Christ has risen

A litany for Easter morning, inspired by Psalm 118

by Ken Sehested

Leader: Let all that breathes declare the good news.

Children (arms raised): Christ has risen!

Congregation (arms raised): Christ has risen indeed!

Leader: God’s love never quits.

Children (arms raised): Christ has risen!

Congregation (arms raised):  Christ has risen indeed!

Leader: When pushed to the wall, I cried out to God.

Children (arms raised): Christ has risen!

Congregation (arms raised):  Christ has risen indeed!

Leader: I’m no longer afraid: who would dare lay a hand on me?

Children (arms raised): Christ has risen!

Congregation (arms raised): Christ has risen indeed!

Leader: I was right on the cliff, ready to fall, when God grabbed me and held on strong.

Children (arms raised): Christ has risen!

Congregation (arms raised):  Christ has risen indeed!

Leader: I’ve been dismissed, discouraged, dismembered, diseased, distressed, disinvited, displaced and disregarded. But I’m not fearing anyone or anything. I’ve been to the top of Mount Mitchell, and I’ve seen the beauty of the land yet to come.

Children (arms raised): Christ has risen!

Congregation (arms raised): Christ has risen indeed!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

“Jesus in the middle of the fighting”

Story behind the “Jesus Prince of Peace” icon

by Ken Sehested

Two things distinguish the “Jesus Prince of Peace” icon (displayed below). One is the sheer fact of the hand-drawn images of brutality and violence surrounding the central figure. This isn’t normal iconographic practice.

The second distinctive is that the iconographer is a Baptist—not your usual religious affiliation for such artists. And he is from Georgia, but not that Georgia.

The artist’s name is Mamuka Kapanadze. He is the iconographer for the Evangelical Baptist Church of The Republic of Georgia, whose liturgical culture is heavily influenced by the Orthodox tradition.

As tensions were building before the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, Mamuka wanted "to think of something as an expression of protest against the injustice we were experiencing, but on the other hand be nonviolent and speak about peace." His friend and pastor, Evangelical Baptist Bishop Malkaz Songulashvili (yes, Georgian Baptist have bishops) said “we need an image of Jesus as Prince of Peace.”

"I wondered if it was okay with iconographical dogmatics to paint Jesus in the middle of war,” Mamuka said. “I had ideas in my head, but I could not visualize how could it be that Jesus was in the middle of fighting with someone who is dead, someone who is exploded. When I finished the icon I took a photo and sent it to Malkhaz and asked if he was happy. He said it was perfect."

Malkhaz later took a photocopy to a meeting of the European Baptist Federation where Russian Baptists were present, and it was part of the reconciliation between the Georgian and Russian Baptists. It was first published in a British magazine.

At an ecumenical meeting the Russian Patriarchate was supposed to participate but then backed out. Malkhaz set a photocopy of the icon as an offer of friendship, and the Russian Orthodox representatives came to the meeting. Jesus amid war is a new item in iconography.

Georgian Baptists have been at the forefront of numerous civil rights struggles in that country, including advocacy for religious freedom and opposition to discrimination against Muslims and gayfolk.

Georgia (Georgians themselves refer to their country’s name as Sakartvelo) lies between the Black and Caspian Seas, with Russia and the Caucasus Mountains on its northern border, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the South. The oldest human remains outside of Africa are from this region.

The Georgian language belongs to its own ancient linguistic group, including their own alphabet, unlike no other language spoken outside the region. It first became a unified kingdom in the 9th century; was conquered for a period by Mongols in the thirteen century; was the subject of rivalry between the Ottoman and Persian empires; was annexed by Russia in 1801; and did not regain its independence until 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia became one of the first states in the world to convert to Christianity in the early fourth century, when the King of Iberia Mirian III established it as the official state religion. The missionary who effected this conversion was a woman—Saint Nino (pictured at left), thought to come from a Greek-speaking Roman family in Cappadocia (part of modern Turkey). Nino is venerated by Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches as well as Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic Churches.

I think St. Nino would have been proud of this part of her legacy.

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©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org
For a profile of Georgian Baptists’ first female bishop, see Ken Sehested’s “Listen to the Daisies: A profile of Georgian Baptist Bishop Rusudan Gotsiridze.”

I am indebted to my dear friend Dan Buttry for alerting me to this story and for providing key pieces of information. Dan has been present, shoulder to shoulder, with Georgian Baptists and others in nonviolent direct action resisting injustice in that country.

Listen to the daisies

A profile of Georgian Baptist Bishop Rusudan Gotsiridze

by Ken Sehested

      Baptists and bishops have never played well together. With a few exceptions, neither has been friendly to clergywomen. So how to explain the anomaly of Bishop Rusudan Gotsiridze of the Evangelical Baptist Church (EBC) of the Republic of Georgia?

      Certainly one of her influences was St. Nino, the 4th century Cappadocian woman who first evangelized her homeland, the region then known as Caucasian Iberia, which became only the second kingdom, following neighboring Armenia, to officially convert to Christianity. But there was also her grandfather, a Baptist pastor.

      “When our Archbishop started a Bible school in our church, lots of young women came to study theology. Most of us thought we would use this experience teaching Sunday school, or being good mothers for our future children. We never imaged some of us would become ministers.”

Right: Rusudan Gotsiridze (foreground left) during her 2008 ordination.

      I first met Rusudan at the 2009 Global Baptist Peace Conference held in Rome, Italy, where she led compline prayers each evening, and then noon prayers one day at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, hosted by the Benedictine monks who shepherd that congregation. What many conferees considered liturgical boundary-crossing was no stretch to a Georgian Baptist, whose worship is heavily influenced by the Orthodox tradition, complete with incense, icons and colorful clerical garb.

      In their own country, the EBC is more known for human rights advocacy. Rusudan’s mentor, Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, was a key figure in the nonviolent Rose Revolution of 2003 that swept from office holdovers from the country’s previous Soviet-aligned regime. He is known by many as a major voice in support of human rights and interfaith collaboration.

      Rusudan herself played a pivotal role in her country’s expanded protection of religious minorities. In July the parliament passed an amendment to Georgia’s Civil Code recognizing five other, non-Orthodox groups, including Baptists. Assigned to represent the EBC on a committee shaping that religious liberty legislation, Rusudan initiated a meeting with leaders of the other recognized religious bodies and convinced them to remove all limiting language, effectively extending legal status to all faith communities.

      Significantly, one of the first human rights initiatives taken by the EBC after the demise of the Soviet Union was opening a path to ordination for women. Though her graduate degree is in Western literature and language, she continued to take theology courses. Her talents were noticed by EBC’s leaders, who appointed her to a succession of church leadership.

      Long story short: On Pentecost Sunday 2008, the EBC ordained Rusudan as a bishop. Though, along with her pastoral duties, she also is a trainer on gender justice with the International Centre on Conflict and Negotiation, which she says “is just another form of my ministry.”

      “Perhaps the most difficult obstacle I faced [with church leadership roles] was my own self-perceptions. Being young, and being female, are two great disadvantages. It took some time before I could give myself the needed affirmation.”

      Sound familiar, anyone?

            “I never would have imagined taking on the responsibility of a bishop. On the Sunday I was ordained—kneeling in front of the altar with a huge open Bible over my head—all I could see was a bucket of daisies. The little flowers were looking at me. And I knew God was there with me, saying do not be afraid, my daughter. I will be with you.”

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This article was originally published in the Winter 2012 issue of Folio, newsletter of Baptist Women in Ministry.
©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org