NIce work, Steven. I suspect your life and theology are blending in well with all you have experienced, learned and been inspired by. Blessings to you.
This is beautiful, A. I expect your daughter and you are wonderful teachers for each other. And if you seem to get in the way as parents sometimes do, she'll just move you.
Stages of a revolution
Pro
phet
Pro
test
Pro
gress
love this.
Please let us be this kind of revolution.
.
Yes--sign me up!
late last night
a thought
came up on me
that I am
the embodiment
of my theology
my thoughts
about the divine
(on my best days)
are mirrored in
my actions
just as
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
was transformed by
"the black Jesus"
he encountered
in Harlem
or the work
of forgiveness that
Desmond Tutu
made flesh
in South Africa
or most famously
in the U.S.
Martin Luther King Jr
testified and protest
with his entire being
the equality
of humanity
from the poor
and segregated
parts of town
to the cities
and fields around
the word
Lord,
let my theology
become embodied
in me
that my life
proclaims
with
voice and action
your
Shalom
Yes. good. If more folks did this shalom thing there would be a lot less cow poop circulating out here.
True
This is worthy theology. Thank you for sharing this word.
NIce work, Steven. I suspect your life and theology are blending in well with all you have experienced, learned and been inspired by. Blessings to you.
It has been quite the experience, often not pleasant, but I am using it to grow so that I understand things differently
Thank you.
Blessings to you as well
Raise your hand
in the meeting
or clear your throat
at the dinner
Say the thing that’s
bothering everyone or
bothering no one
the thing that lands
in your stomach
like a rock
that speaks to you:
this isn’t right
something must be done
-
Swallow the fear that
someone will call you
negative or
overdramatic
that someone might
write you off
that you won’t be
universally liked
that no one will
hear you
-
Raise your hand
or clear your throat
hold the sign or
make the call
because you know:
this isn’t right
something must be done
this is really beautiful.
Yes, “something must be done”. I love it.
This is beautiful, Grace. Thank you for being a voice that speaks up.
I am pro-test.
We test the bounds that tell us what we can do
We test our hearts to see what cannot survive this way
We test the patience of those who wish we'd just shut up
We test the cage of the status quo until it bends and breaks
-- And if we are being crushed by the machine
It is the machine that we must change
Not us.
yes yes yes
break the cage
step out of the machine
such helpful words today
thank you
Thanks for reading!
I love this Lisa--creative, clever and prophetic. Thank you!
Thanks so much!
.4 me.
"Say" is an easy
but fickle mouthpiece.
Jiggly.
Like standing on jello.
"Do" is harder.
but more like a rock.
.4 me.
jiggly.
made me giggly.
and wonder what it would be like to stand on jello.
thanks for this.
Do is harder!!
Do is so much harder!!!
Prōtestārī
So often, on my journey
through the cosmos,
I imagine myself
a lone traveler
whose only concern
is self-protection
and self-preservation;
but then I come across
someone else whose story
opens my flow of Cheek Creek,
and I find myself neck-deep
in passionate empathy,
wondering what I can say
and do to make a difference.
If I sit with them long enough,
I feel called to the witness stand
of life, where threads of connection
beg me to speak the truth
I feel in the deeps of my marrow;
and until I take this risk,
I know I’m little more
than an unmoored buoy,
drifting in a sea of nothingness.
Prōtestārī, indeed,
is the testimony
of our deepest kinship,
revealing the thread
of solidarity that weaves us
into a garment of hope.
open that flow
This is splendid, Todd. An insightful poem of depth and breadth. Thank you!
My daughter protests
every perceived injustice
with such ferocity.
.
She is still learning
what it means to be a person,
but she is also teaching me.
.
I am certain she is capable
of moving mountains with her
deeply rooted self belief.
.
All she really needs
to change the world
is for me to let her be.
friggin' hard to let them be, yes?
YES! So rewarding when I manage it, though.
This is a tough job for a parent, a friend, a spouse. Give me grace to give them grace to be.
Nurture that wonderful spirit and voice. I am sure that is just another reason you are a proud mother
Thank you, Steven!
They teach us so much - my oldest is 24 (gah!) and I seriously learn from her on the regular!
This is beautiful, A. I expect your daughter and you are wonderful teachers for each other. And if you seem to get in the way as parents sometimes do, she'll just move you.
She certainly will! 😅
I protest with my very being
Simply existing
In places where some are so sure
I Do Not Belong
I take up the space anyways
It is not that I do not hear their words
I hear them loud and clear
Like gongs demanding attention
They join a cacophony of voices
Already in my brain
You Do Not Belong
Those voice almost pulled me under
That confusing February afternoon
Convinced my very being
Hurt the ones I loved most dear
I know now what I didn't know then:
That day was a beginning,
not an end
The start of a journey to discover
I Have Dignity
By virtue of my very being
It is my birthright
To take up space is an act of protest
Against those voices
Within and without
Perhaps that is why
it makes me so angry
To see bad actors
dehumanize others
How dare they, I say
If anyone
gets to dehumanize anyone
I get to do it to myself
But since I cannot
Because I Belong
Then neither, my friend, can you
*****
A necessary postscript: you, too, Belong. If you are in crisis, please call 988
These words resonate with me, Katie: I Have Dignity
By virtue of my very being
It is my birthright
To take up space is an act of protest
Against those voices
Within and without
I'm so glad, Bruce. Those words are a learning- in -process for me still!
Grateful for your taking up space in the world, and here.
Thank you ❤️
the lady doth protest too much, methinks
doth me? thinks?
not so much
.
even so
it is long past due
to protest fully enough
to bring about
justice
mercy
compassion
goodness
and lives made authentic
through the cut and thrust
of human and humane exchange
reciprocal living
continual giving
instinctual grinning
perpetual singing
rituals bringing about
all the Earth
--and Her beloved creatures--
yearns for
.
the Lady, our Great Mother,
doth testify
just
right
Who else will speak up if I don't? Remaining silent is not an option!
We are all one humanity so what happens to one of us, happens to us all.
I love this, bob. The lady "doth testify just right," indeed.
Yes, Bob, “just right”.
Protest happens for me in quiet ways
not with placards, chants and marching.
I honor deeply those who carry the torch
it’s a crucial charge, a mission for reform
For me the motion is inward into the chasm.
Finding inside where tyranny persists in me.
How I oppress, suppress, and dominate.
For how can I demand outer transformation
if I am living an unexamined life.
.
I look to what I am for, to what I love
then find in me what gets in the way.
As I open to a collaborative way of being
the ripples of this begin to flow outward.
A grass roots protest that isn’t about
tearing down hierarchal forms from the top
then placing someone new in power.
No, it’s letting mycelial tendrils of inner evolution
eat away at the foundation beneath it all.
May it be so! Amen!
God of Apocalypse, God of Revelation,
God of the New Creation, two thousand years ago
you gave us a template for prophetic resistance
to oppression. Inspire in us the poetry
that will reveal You to this generation,
because we keep comforting the comfortable
and afflicting the afflicted.
“we keep comforting the comfortable
and afflicting the afflicted.” God of mercy, help us to stop this.
Amen, Bruce. Amen.
Such rich words full of thought seeds Kaitlin. Thank you 🙏
Until I speak I cannot join humanity's journey for solutions to peace and harmony.
Great word for a Monday morning. Love your poem as always. Thank you for sharing
Yes Kaitlin! “…a sacred point of contact
between what is and
what should belovedly be.” Yes! That’s it sacred and belovedly reverberate accurately in my heart!
Oh Kaitlin 💜 'a sacred point of contact' - yes! I love this so much, and it will help me with my own activism at this moment in time. Thank you.
Progress
Requires
Ongoing
Testimony
Examining
Suffering
Together
I love this, Rachel…especially “Together.”
This is splendid, Rachel and perfectly appropriate for these times!