For whom is this a victory?
“When soldiers return from war, they cry because they are alive. Their parents, wives, husbands, children and friends cry for joy. But when the parades end, what do they have? What do the wives, husbands, children, brothers, and sisters of soldiers receive when their loved ones return from war after so much fear, hatred, and[…]
Salvation, Inside Out
” . . . the events of the New Testament are an intervention into the core structure of violent humanity in order to change it into something loving, peaceful, and life giving.” –Anthony Bartlett I would like to consider the above proposition through the lens of Matthew 3:13-17, the account of Jesus’ baptism.[…]
Forgive and Forget? No Way!
When folks ask me about my fascination with forgiveness and my dedication to it, I tell them that my life has been a laboratory in it. I have needed forgiveness, and received it, in abundance. I have also suffered injuries that have required its practice if I was to heal. But I must confess another[…]
Seminary in the Street
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” –Luke 24:32 Imagine that you and I grew up being taught that Jesus died to pay the price that God demanded in exchange for forgiveness of our sins, that God’s need for[…]
Something Entirely Different
” . . . God likes us so much that he has, in a sense, made available in our midst a way to dis-entangle us from the mess we inhabit, before we even knew that it was a mess, and instead has invited us to share with God, at the same level as ourselves, in[…]
Memorial Day Reflection
When you visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, you descend a pathway at the base of two black granite walls inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 American servicepeople who died in that war. The two walls form a kind of broad “V,” like wings, one pointing south toward the nearby Lincoln[…]
Not As The World Gives: gratitude for the peacemaking life of Daniel Berrigan
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” –John 14:27 On the first Sunday in May, I woke early for prayer and final preparation of a dialogue sermon on peace. The text was to be John 14:23-29, with particular attention to verse[…]
Mourning as an Act of Courage and Resistance
“Trauma inevitably brings loss . . . The survivor frequently resists mourning , not only out of fear but also out of pride. She may consciously refuse to grieve as a way of denying victory to the perpetrator. In this case it is important to reframe the (person’s) mourning as an act of courage rather[…]
At the Bottom of Things, Love
“Sometimes, in order to be human, we have to hold G-d fully accountable, for existence, for sin, for suffering. And then we discover, like Job, at the bottom of things there is only this accountability, limitless, for everything, everlasting, otherwise known as love. But to get there we have to be human first, like Jesus.”[…]
Remembrance, Forgiveness, and the Witness of Psychosocial Hope
“Why is it worth it to continue?,” Patricia Garcia, President of CoMadres in El Salvador, is asked. Paty responds as a survivor of abduction, rape, and torture. She speaks as someone who had to flee from the threat of death even as a child, and as the citizen of a nation still bearing the[…]
