Screen shot of newsletter blurb previewing our class. Lightly edited copy of an email I sent to my spiritual director today in advance of our session for June. I’ve been writing these for several years now, primarily in order to help me focus my mind before we talk. It’s not a record or an agenda of … Continue reading ‘From the river to the sea / we all need therapy’: Notes for a parish book study and spiritual direction, June 2024
Notes & quotes — ELCA’s Sumud (Arabic for ‘steadfastness’) initiative
d r a f t https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy9cjJcpNiA&t=250s Intro posted April 8 to YouTube. See ELCA website at https://www.elca.org/sumud. Have you heard of Sumud (formerly Peace Not Walls)? Share about this new initiative from the ELCA for justice in Palestine and Israel. Stay connected by LIKING and FOLLOWING us on Facebook (ELCA Sumud) and Instagram (@ELCASumud). xxx … Continue reading Notes & quotes — ELCA’s Sumud (Arabic for ‘steadfastness’) initiative
A blast email on white supremacy, anti-Semitism and a prize-winning editorial in Atlanta — ‘it’s complicated’ (Sundays@6)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euT1j7FUeHY A blast email Debi and I wrote for Sundays@6, our online adult faith formation group at Peace Lutheran Church, Springfield, for the seventh session of a book study on “The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism” by Jemar Tisby. In it I quoted a 1958 editorial by Ralph McGill, … Continue reading A blast email on white supremacy, anti-Semitism and a prize-winning editorial in Atlanta — ‘it’s complicated’ (Sundays@6)
Sundays@6: Lutheran missions in Jim Crow days and on the rez, ‘marked by parsimony and limited to acts of mercy’
Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1918 (Wikimedia Commons). In chapter 6 of The Color of Color of Compromise, titled "Reconstructing White Supremacy in the Jim Crow Era," Jemar Tisby continues to develop his theme that racism is infinitely adaptable to changing historical trends. Not only did the Southern white planter class cling to the "Lost Cause" … Continue reading Sundays@6: Lutheran missions in Jim Crow days and on the rez, ‘marked by parsimony and limited to acts of mercy’
Sundays@6: Lutherans in the Civil War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzSFgOSeqxs Satirical song about Germans commanded by Union Gen. Franz Sigel of St. Louis. Two things stand out in Jemar Tisby's treatment of the Civil War in The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism. The first, and most obvious: It was always about slavery, and that fact "has not … Continue reading Sundays@6: Lutherans in the Civil War
Sundays@6: How the Lutherans’ first African American pastor in Philly got shafted by the church he loyally served
Link HERE to order Jehu Jones icon by Mary Button. Lightly edited copy of a blast email Debi and I sent out to participants in Sundays@6, our online adult faith formation group at Peace Lutheran Church, Springfield, for the fourth session in a book study on “The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American … Continue reading Sundays@6: How the Lutherans’ first African American pastor in Philly got shafted by the church he loyally served
How white churches (including most Lutherans) split on slavery and self-segregated as the Black church grew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwWqkk4Ha70 Black History in Two Minutes (or so), narrated by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Lightly edited copy of a blast email Debi and I sent out today to participants in Sundays@6, our online adult faith formation group at Peace Lutheran Church, Springfield. Sunday will be the third session in a book study on “The Color … Continue reading How white churches (including most Lutherans) split on slavery and self-segregated as the Black church grew
Sundays@6: How did a 1493 papal bull influence white Americans’ relations with African and indigenous people?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3gF7ULVrl4&t=14s Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) elder explains lasting effects of 1493 papal bull. Lightly edited copy of a blast email Debi and I sent out today to members of our congregation, Peace Lutheran Church of Springfield, for the second meeting of our online adult faith formation book study on “The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the … Continue reading Sundays@6: How did a 1493 papal bull influence white Americans’ relations with African and indigenous people?
‘We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden’: Stray thoughts on original sin, medieval and Reformation theology
Jan Brueghel the Elder and Pieter Paul Rubens, Fall of Adam and Eve (Wikipedia) God is not a noun, that demands to be defined, God is a verb that invites us to live, to love and to be. -- The Right Rev. John Shelby Spong, Twitter, April 20, 2015 (qtd. Wikipedia) Maybe it's dumb luck, … Continue reading ‘We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden’: Stray thoughts on original sin, medieval and Reformation theology
Sundays@6: New parish book study on American churches’ history of complicity in systemic racism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNmm9cvmxmY&t=21s Trailer for video series on same content (Zondervan) Lightly edited copy of a blast email Debi and I are sending out to members of our congregation, Peace Lutheran Church of Springfield, in advance of the first meeting an adult faith formation book study on “The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's … Continue reading Sundays@6: New parish book study on American churches’ history of complicity in systemic racism
Ordinary Time 