A brilliant new book: geeks and prayer types please note

A Californian acquaintance of mine by the name of Sistertech has written a truly brilliant, not to mention humorous and touching, book of prayers.

Sistertech transmits her spiritual writings via my friend Pamela Hood, Ph.D., a professor of philosophy in San Francisco, and I recently received a copy of this Book of Uncommon Prayer. Here are a few samples from it.


1.1 Prayers for Morning

1.1.1
May The One in Charge bless us this day, keep us from evil viruses, and bring us stable wireless connectivity. Amen.

1.1.4
Dear One In Charge,
You have brought us in safety to this new day:
Preserve us and our tech devices
with your mighty power,
that we may not fall into sin,
or be overcome by phishing scams, spyware, viruses,
or other adversities;
and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose.
Amen.

1.1.5
A Morning Psalm for Social Media Users
Open my _____ (state name of social media program or website),
O One in Charge,
and my tweets shall proclaim your praise.
Create in me a clean cache
and renew a right spirit of updating within me.
Cast me not away from my Twitter stream,
take not your holy inspiration from me.
Give me the joy of sending tweets again.
Sustain me with bountiful followers
and plenty of content to retweet.
Amen.

1.4 Prayers for Sleep

1.4.1.
O One In Charge,
while our bodies and computers rest
from the labors of the day
and as our RAM, caches, and our souls are released
from the thoughts of this world,
grant that we may stand in your presence
with tranquility, quietness, and peace.
Amen.

1.5 Prayers Before and After Meals

1.5.5.
O One in Charge,
bless this caffeine to our use
and us to thy service.
Amen.

1.5.6
Bless the bunch that munch
this lunch.
Amen.

1.5.7.
O One in Charge, Giver of all good things,
may this food and drink restore our strength,
giving new energy to tired limbs,
and new thoughts to weary minds.
Amen.

2.0 Traditional Prayers (Fran, you will love this one)

2.2. Hail Holy External Drive

Hail, holy two terabyte storage drive,
mother of mercy,
Hail keeper of our life's work,
our sweetest digital files,
and our hope of promotion.

To thee do we cry,
poor banished children of incessant computer crashes;
to these do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping
in this valley of infected and corrupted files.

Turn, then, most gracious defender,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this, our exile,
show unto us the blessed repository of our files:

O clement, O loving, O sweet
terabyte drive.

Pray for us, O perfect external drive,
that we may be made worthy of thy promises of safety.
Amen.

There are prayers to various appropriate saints as well.

There is also a wonderful rendition of the Prayer of Saint Francis, but I will not reproduce it here. You'll have to buy the book!

4.0 The Collects

4.6.2.
For Those Who Offer Technical Support

O One In Charge,
we pray that your grace may always precede and follow
those who offer technical support on their service calls.
May they continually do good work
and not make matters worse.
Amen.

Under 5.4, Ministration to the Sick, there are prayers for sick computers, for the restoration of a hard drive, for computer repair personnel, and so on.

There are also Various & Sundry General Prayers & Thanksgivings including a System Administrator's Prayer for Wellbeing and a prayer For Victims of Gaming Addiction and, of course, For Tech Devices We Love.

I particularly like the Reconciliation of a Penitent, which includes the following:

Penitent:
I confess to The One In Charge,
to geeks everywhere, and to you,
that I have sinned by my own fault
in thought, word, and deed, in things done and left undone;
especially for
__________
__________
__________
__________
___________

(attach digital file if more space is needed.)

For these and all other transgressions which I cannot now remember,
I am truly sorry.
I pray The One In Charge to have mercy on me.
I firmly intend to get a grip,
wake up,
and smell the coffee,
and I humbly beg forgiveness of The One in Charge
and all tech devices,
and I ask you for counsel, direction, and absolution.

Here the witness may offer the penitent counsel, comfort, absolution or a hard time.

Witness:
Chill out.
Everything's copacetic.
The One In Charge has deleted all your sins.

Penitent:
Whew! Thank God!

And just in case one of your machines has a birthday today...

6.11 For a Birthday of a Tech Device
Watch over this device, O One In Charge,
as its days increase;
bless and guide it wherever it may be.
Strengthen it where it is turned on;
comfort it when it receives error messages;
raise it up if it is dropped;
and in its memory
may thy peace which passeth understanding
abide
all the days of its life.
Amen.

And there are, of course, Sistertech's Ten Commandments. Do not drink coffee while reading them. Especially when you read the Sixth Commandment:

"Thou shalt not kill thy laptop by spilling within it half-caf/half-decaf, 2%, extra tall, double mochas or any other fluids."

The Sabbath-keeping and no-adultery commandments are good, too.

The Faith FAQ is terrific.

Now this is a book that "prays well."

The book is on sale at 15% discount till August 15 and it is also available as an e-book in pdf form if you prefer.

I know I've posted two pieces of book p.r. in a row, but it's summer, a good time for reading. You will also need this tech-y prayer book when fall comes along, or long before that if you have anything to do with a computer. Yes, you.

Postcript to the Adorable Godson: Don't you dare buy this: I'm sending you one as a new-tech-job present.

A day of mindfulness: more in the "DO SOMETHING for Health Care Reform" series

I promised you a mindfulness exercise for Tuesday and it's Thursday. I really ought to remember that Tuesday and Wednesday are my long days at work. I did, mindfully, watch two presidential speeches, one each day. I will post links to them, back-dated, so you will find them below soon.

What I meant to do, though, and I am doing now, is to invite you to take a break from the politicking and letter-writing and move into a day of mindfulness about health. Your health. The health of others. What constitutes good health.

This goes beyond good health insurance coverage, of course. A few times today and this evening, observe your breathing. Then take some deep, slow, breaths.


When you get up, what do you do for your own health and well-being? What does your understanding of health include in your daily life? Sleep? Food? Exercise? Drinking water? Laughter? Community? Spiritual practice? (For some this means prayer or meditation, for others it may mean Tai Ch'i or reading or baking. Think about what this means for you.) Intellectual or physical activity? Creative work?

As you go about your day, do you think about your health? In what way? What is the place of self-care ? How much time and energy does worrying take? Do you have one or more conditions that require treatment or visits to health practitioners?

Simply observe. Do not judge.

As you go about your day, do you think about the health and well-being of others? In what way? What form does this take? Who are the others? Are they persons and animals who are members of your household? Are they at your workplace? In your congregation or other community of spiritual practice? Are they at the place where you volunteer?

Take your time. Notice.

Are there ways in which "health" becomes particularly concrete for you? Are there ways in which "health" is an abstraction?

What happens when you take time simply to observe, to notice, and then perhaps to name, taking time out from the rush of acting and doing?

See what happens to your day, your health and your approach to health when you consider these questions.

Try to do this without judgment and without undue rush.

If you like, write us in the comments to this post and let us know your observations, experiences, and thoughts.

Peace to you.

Trinity as practical doctrine

A relational ontology* focuses on personhood, relationship, and communion as the modality of all existence. This secures for Christian theology a basis for a theology of God that is inherently related to every facet of Christian life. To say that the doctrine of the Trinity is ultimately a practical doctrine with radical implications for Christian life makes sense when the theology of God is removed from the realm of speculation on God in se** to the real of reflection on God-for-us as revealed in creation, in the face of Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit who brings about communion between God and creature.

* ontology: the study or concept or understanding of being.
** in se: Latin for "in itself" [herself/himself/godself].

If you ponder this passage, you'll see that it is not as dense as it seems at first.

With thanks to FranIAm for drawing my attention to this quote from Catherine Mowry LaCugna's God For Us: The Trinity and Christian Life. (New York: HarperCollins, 1991, [pbk] 1993), 250.

That conversation took place today. Two days ago, on Saturday afternoon, I wrote this Facebook update:

Three friends from East, South, and West strolled on a yacht club boardwalk talking about the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. Srsly. Now we are writing. (Two theological works, one novel.) Tonight: silliness, boogie-ing, pre-nuptial and natal day (the groom's) festivities.

Who knew? Unlike Paul the BB, I am not among the 0.5 percent of preachers who like to preach on Trinity Sunday. Maybe this will change! I did once write a little something on the Trinity, to my own surprise.

I'll be on the road on Trinity Sunday, two weekends from now, so this is a little advance resource -- though there is never an inappropriate time to ponder the mysteries of the Trinity. (Another thing I thought I'd never say.)

Speaking of FranIAm, if you are a liturgical Christian (or perhaps even if you are not), you will like her "Ascension to Pentecost" series.

Or you can just ponder the Rublev icon.

Icon of Holy Silence

Thanks to my friend Moira (the same one for whom some of you have been praying) for leading me to this icon by Bill McNichols (William Hart McNichols, S.J.).

Here is a short commentary on the icon by the artist.

Annunciation!

With an exclamation mark, because the angel came to Mary with big news.

Acts of Hope invites you to a little trip down memory lane:

From two years ago, here.

From last year, here.

Now, where did I put my Annunciation Day sermon from five years ago? From the pulpit of a high Anglo-Catholic church, no less. I think it is on my wheezing old hard drive which I must take to the tech-y man. You'll just have to do with the Magnificat. Much better anyway. This is the version from the Carmelites of Indianapolis's People's Companion to the Breviary.

My soul proclaims your greatness, O my God,

and my spirit has rejoiced in you, my Savior,

For your regard has blessed me,

poor, and a serving woman.

From this day all generations

will call me blessed,

For you who are mighty have made me great.

Most Holy be your Name.

Your mercy is on those who fear you

throughout all generations.

You have shown strength with you arm,

you have scattered the proud in their hearts' fantasy.

You have put down the mighty from their seat,

and have lifted up the powerless.

You have filled the hungry with good things,

and have sent the rich away empty.

You, remembering your mercy,

have helped your people Israel,

As you promised Abraham and Sarah.

Mercy to their children, forever.

************** Luke 1:46-55

"Incarnation and Suffering" essay at Episcopal Café

My latest essay for the Episcopal Café is up today. It is called "Incarnation and Suffering".

The Café welcomes your comments. So do I -- both at the Café site, below the essay, and here. (If you only have time for one place, do comment at the Café.)

I hope that the essay speaks to you.


P.S. That's today's Café, and in yesterday's, you can read fine quotes on The Current Unpleasantness by MadPriest and Tobias Haller as well as a piece of the moving conversation about homeless and poor persons and our response by Wormwood's Doxy and Under There. Thank you, friends, and congratulations.

Voting as secular sacrament

We vote in order to change the country, to exercise our rights, to make our voices heard and a hundred other clichés as shopworn as they are true. But we also vote because it places us in direct fellowship with other citizens; we vote because it is a secular sacrament, an act of civic solidarity. Because it is the ultimate declaration that we are, indeed, all in this together.

From the final paragraph of this editorial in The Nation. Hat tip: truthout.

Give to the emperor...

... or as the old translation says, "render to Caesar..."

I haven't preached in a few months, since a while before the tree fell, as Kevin has very kindly not bugged me about getting back on the rota, but we recently had a convergence of my volunteering and his asking (he just got back from CREDO, the same program Padre Mickey went to --different place, different group-- and Caminante will go to next year, and from there had to go almost directly to Clergy Conference) and I am on for Sunday.

I have my thoughts about the several lessons for the day, but I am curious about your collective wisdom on the "render to Caesar" passage. So how 'bout it, campers? Your thoughts.

I'll start: Doing biblical study is a little like doing detective work. The Gospels are not a reporter's account. They tell us as much about the communities that produced them and the communities for whom they were intended as they do about what was going on in Jesus' day. I remember being in a group of people in which one person (an older Presbyterian woman) said the meaning was obvious, and another offered a different, equally obvious to him, interpretation. The fact is, this is one of those texts with which we have to wrestle, in today's context of today's empire. What is certain is that the text points to a preoccupation of the early Christian communities -- their relationship with the empire in which they lived. Remember, too, the last few Sundays, where economics shows up as a major theme. Here we have both economics and politics. And, as always, the kin(g)dom of heaven.

This is the context in which to place the election, the economy, and everything else. But I don't think the answer is a simple formula.

So, have a look. Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. Then go to the Comments.

P.S. One rule: I will not allow simplistic interpretations of or misuse of "Pharisees" as "hypocrites" or "bad guys." For more on "Pharisees" and Christian (including progressive Christian) misuse of the term and its promotion of both theological anti-Judaism and antisemitism, see some of Sarah Dylan Breuer's fine reflections on the topic. For Jesus and some of his followers, the Pharisees were family. The disputes with them were internal. We have treated them as if they were disputes with the greater powers of the day, ignoring those powers --those of the Roman Empire. The greatest Pharisee, after whom Jewish campus centers are named? Rabbi Hillel, of precious wisdom and revered humility. Nuff said. Read what Sarah wrote. She's the biblical scholar.

Matthew 22:15-22

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

"Alternative TV"

It's not a cable channel. It's the name of a poem. Even though calling God "he" makes me cringe, I still find the poem incredibly moving -- and theologically true.

Alternative TV

The old man on the screen sang
in a loud and shaky voice
and had probably never been very clean
in addition he had hardly any teeth left
a miner with black lung
of course he spoke dialect and his grammar was bad
why after all should he
show his best side to the camera

When god turns on his tv
he sees old people like that
they sing
in a loud and shaky voice
and the camera of the holy spirit
shows the dignity of these people
and makes god say
that is very beautiful

Later
when we have abolished tv as it exists
and are allowed to look at the skin of aging women
and are unafraid of eyes
that have lost their lashes in weeping
when we respect work
and the workers have become visible
and sing
in a loud and shaky voice

Then we shall see
real people
and be happy about it
like god

****–Dorothee Soelle


Part of the texts at the end of chapter 6, "Gazing: Icons, Images, and the Depths of God" in When in Doubt, Sing.

The Rev. John H. Thomas responds to the Rev. Wright brouhaha: the whole text, because it's so good

I have long been an admirer of the Rev. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, the church to which Senator Barack Obama and his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, belong. Obama and Wright's church, Trinity UCC in Chicago, is one of a very few African American and Afrocentric congregations in the UCC, a largely White denomination. It is also the UCC's largest congregation.

A friend read me this statement by the Rev. Thomas over the phone earlier today and I found myself cheering. I reprint this statement in its entirety rather than giving you only a link to it because I think it is an outstanding piece of analysis and public theology. I hope that many people read it. I fear that today's speech by Senator Obama and its coverage have eclipsed this insightful essay. It is, I think, the strongest response to the recent controversy about Pastor Wright and Trinity Church.

If you feel as I do about the speech, please spread it far and wide.

March 17, 2008

What Kind of Prophet? Reflections on the Rhetoric of Preaching

in Light of Recent News Coverage of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

and Trinity United Church of Christ

The Rev. John H. Thomas

General Minister and President

United Church of Christ

Over the weekend members of our church and others have been subjected to the relentless airing of two or three brief video clips of sermons by the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ for thirty-six years and, for over half of those years, pastor of Senator Barack Obama and his family. These video clips, and news stories about them, have been served up with frenzied and heated commentary by media personalities expressing shock that such language and sentiments could be uttered from the pulpit.

One is tempted to ask whether these commentators ever listen to the overcharged rhetoric of their own opinion shows. Even more to the point is to wonder whether they have a working knowledge of the history of preaching in the United States from the unrelentingly grim language of New England election day sermons to the fiery rhetoric of the Black church prophetic tradition. Maybe they prefer the false prophets with their happy homilies in Jeremiah who say to the people: "You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place." To which God responds, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. . . . By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed," (Jeremiah 14.14-15). The Biblical Jeremiah was coarse and provocative. Faithfulness, not respectability was the order of the day then. And now?

What's really going on here? First, it may state the obvious to point out that these television and radio shows have very little interest in Trinity Church or Jeremiah Wright. Those who sifted through hours of sermons searching for a few lurid phrases and those who have aired them repeatedly have only one intention. It is to wound a presidential candidate. In the process a congregation that does exceptional ministry and a pastor who has given his life to shape those ministries is caricatured and demonized. You don't have to be an Obama supporter to be alarmed at this. Will Clinton's United Methodist Church be next? Or McCain's Episcopal Church? Wouldn't we have been just as alarmed had it been Huckabee's Southern Baptist Church, or Romney's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

Many of us would prefer to avoid the stark and startling language Pastor Wright used in these clips. But what was his real crime? He is condemned for using a mild "obscenity" in reference to the United States. This week we mark the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, a war conceived in deception and prosecuted in foolish arrogance. Nearly four thousand cherished Americans have been killed, countless more wounded, and tens of thousands of Iraqis slaughtered. Where is the real obscenity here? True patriotism requires a degree of self-criticism, even self-judgment that may not always be easy or genteel. Pastor Wright's judgment may be starker and more sweeping than many of us are prepared to accept. But is the soul of our nation served any better by the polite prayers and gentle admonitions that have gone without a real hearing for these five years while the dying and destruction continues?

We might like to think that racism is a thing of the past, that Martin Luther King's harmonious multi-racial vision, articulated in his speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and then struck down by an assassin's bullet in Memphis in 1968, has somehow been resurrected and now reigns throughout the land. Significant progress has been made. A black man is a legitimate candidate for President of the United States. A black woman serves as Secretary of State. The accomplishments are profound. But on the gritty streets of Chicago's south side where Trinity has planted itself, race continues to play favorites in failing urban school systems, unresponsive health care systems, crumbling infrastructure, and meager economic development. Are we to pretend all is well because much is, in fact, better than it used to be? Is it racist to name the racial divides that continue to afflict our nation, and to do so loudly? How ironic that a pastor and congregation which, for forty-five years, has cast its lot with a predominantly white denomination, participating fully in its wider church life and contributing generously to it, would be accused of racial exclusion and a failure to reach for racial reconciliation.

The gospel narrative of Palm Sunday's entrance into Jerusalem concludes with the overturning of the money changers' tables in the Temple courtyard. Here wealth and power and greed were challenged for the way the poor were oppressed to the point of exclusion from a share in the religious practices of the Temple. Today we watch as the gap between the obscenely wealthy and the obscenely poor widens. More and more of our neighbors are relegated to minimal health care or to no health care at all. Foreclosures destroy families while unscrupulous lenders seek bailouts from regulators who turned a blind eye to the impending crisis. Should the preacher today respond to this with only a whisper and a sigh?

Is Pastor Wright to be ridiculed and condemned for refusing to play the court prophet, blessing land and sovereign while pledging allegiance to our preoccupation with wealth and our fascination with weapons? In the United Church of Christ we honor diversity. For nearly four centuries we have respected dissent and have struggled to maintain the freedom of the pulpit. Not every pastor in the United Church of Christ will want to share Pastor Wright's rhetoric or his politics. Not every member will rise to shout "Amen!" But I trust we will all struggle in our own way to resist the lure of respectable religion that seeks to displace evangelical faith. For what this nation needs is not so much polite piety as the rough and radical word of the prophet calling us to repentance. And, as we struggle with that ancient calling, I pray we will be shrewd enough to name the hypocrisy of those who decry the mixing of religion and politics in order to serve their own political ends.

On the social nature of forgiveness and the community of the church

From the early writings of Dorothee Sölle (1929-2003). Emphases mine.

No one can save [oneself] alone and no one is forgiven alone, if forgiveness is taken seriously in the sense of being born anew.

But how does that happen? To experience the forgiveness of sins, we need a group of human beings who make it possible for us to begin afresh; at the very least we need partners who accept us as we are, who have faith in our repentance, who believe we are capable of communion. In the ancient church this social role was filled by the Christian community, which criticized and absolved the individual. But where do we find comparable groups in the Christian church today?.... It is out of the fear of making ourselves dependent on others that we appeal to God as absolute Lord and link our forgiveness and conversion to [God] alone. But can there be a nonsocial forgiveness?

Reflection on a forgiveness that is accomplished here "below" resolves this difficulty: damnation in fact occurs even here, consisting in the total isolation of the individual for whom a new beginning is no longer believed to be a possibility. In Germany those who have become aware of their sin from experiences in the Nazi era have scarcely any chance of conversion if they are alone.

Conversion is more than forgiveness because it includes the future. Our world obstructs the possibility of conversion, for its principles include the isolation of [people] from each other and their segregation according to privilege. People live as much as possible in small, intimate units; they organize their work in terms of meaningless and unrelated fragments, and their needs are reduced to those of the consumer. Pressure to achieve, built-in competition, loneliness and inability to communicate, and insistence on privileges are characteristic of a society in which we are not permitted to make a mistake or at least not to admit it. It is a society in which conversion is excluded.

The liberation of all, which is the intention of the gospel, suspends the isolation of modern capitalism. "Jesus wants us to be friends" – thus runs the first sentence in the Catechism in the Community of Isolotto. Thus in the groupings of [people] established by the gospel the theistic, private meaning of forgiveness of sins will become superfluous, because forgiveness has once again become a possibility in the common life. There is a turning away from isolation and from thoughts of achievement, and the experiences that men have with the gospel of liberation can be talked about.

Dorothee Sölle, Political Theology (first U.S. edition, 1974)

Mosaics and frescoes from Chora (Kariye) Church

A church sort of day: morning worship with the local Anglicans (smells and bells!) and afternoon at the breathtaking church of St. Saviour in Chora, a.k.a. Kariye. I am up correcting the last of the student papers and calculating final grades, since the grades are due first thing in the a.m., so words will have to wait, but meanwhile, some pictures. The church is now a museum. But the icons still speak.


Photos by Dick Osseman. Thanks to Arthur Holder for the URL.

Chrysostom, wealth, and poverty

In honor of yesterday's feast of St. John Chrysostom, here is a thoughtful piece from the Orthodox Peace Fellowship, "St. John Chrysostom and the Problem of Wealth".



To enlarge the icon to the right and see more of the color and detail, click on the picture.



The home page of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship website is here.

Cyprian of Carthage

All the parishes I know named St. Cyprian, Episcopal or Catholic,, are largely African American. On that last link, to the Mass of St. Cyprian related to Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. (whose CD cover you see at the right), click on the Responsorial Psalm link, "Proclaim God's Marvelous Deeds."

Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage in North Africa, comes to us today for his feast through the mighty pen of Padre Mickey of Panamá. Have a read.

August 14: Jonathan Myrick Daniels

A day late, almost two. I'm going to stop apologizing for posting late. Life is just late these days!

August 14 is the commemoration of Jonathan Myrick Daniels, seminarian and Civil Rights martyr.

Instead of the usual bio from the lectionary or the Daily Office, I thought you'd be interested in the bio from Virginia Military Institute (VMI), from which Daniels received his undergraduate degree.

Daniels died while a seminarian at ETS (now EDS, the Episcopal Divinity School), killed in Alabama, a young White man protecting a young Black woman from being shot.

You'll see some interesting documentation at the VMI site.


O God of justice and compassion,
who put down the proud and the mighty from their place,
and lift up the poor and afflicted:
We give you thanks for your faithful witness
Jonathan Myrick Daniels,
who, in the midst of injustice and violence,
risked and gave his life for another;
and we pray that we, following his example,
may make no peace with oppression;
through Jesus Christ the just one:
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Eboo Patel and the Interfaith Youth Core (not a misspelling)

Excellent gleaning from NPR kitchen-listening during a late lunch hour: Eboo Patel, author of the new book Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation and founder of the Interfaith Youth Core (not a misspelling, you might expect it to be "Corps") in Chicago. Neal Conan interviewed him on "Talk of the Nation."

The book sounds good (based on the interview and on the excerpt on the website) and perhaps good for use with a college students' class or for a congregation- or community-based reading group or discussion group.

I'll post a few notes (scribbled in the kitchen -- I keep little pads of paper everywhere!) if I have time later on. Particularly interesting is the focus on youth and young adults and formation for religiously pluralistic living vs. formation for fanaticism.

Meanwhile, have a look (and a listen if you wish; the audio link is up) and let me know what you think.

An excerpt from the book on the "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" site speaks, as does the "Talk of the Nation" interview, of the influence of the Catholic Worker movement on Patel, who is a committed Muslim.

There was also a program featuring Patel, "Religious Passion, Pluralism, and the Young" on Krista Tippett's radio show "Speaking of Faith."

Media sites to bookmark:
Talk of the Nation
Religion and Ethics Newsweekly
Speaking of Faith

“The Truth Is Concrete:” God’s presence in the world and the Good Samaritan

A Summer Series post.

I just read a whole book (well, half read and half skimmed, depending on the relevance of the chapters to my current writing projects) by theologian (and poet and peace activist) Dorothee Soelle. (Or Sölle, as it is spelled in German.) It’s a book I had never read, since the Graduate Theological Union library (GTU, in Berkeley) didn't have it during my recent Ph.D. studies and although I had seen its title in Soelle’s very long bibliography, it was "only" a series of talks she gave on the radio, published in book form in the original German in 1967 and in English in the U.K. in 1969. It was never published in the U.S. as far as I know. God love the Harvard Divinity School (HDS, my M.Div. alma mater) library, where I found it last Monday.


Dorothee Sölle, The Truth is Concrete, trans. Dinah Livingstone (London: Burns & Oates, 1969) Original: Die Wahrheit ist konkret (Olten: Walter-Verlag, 1967).


Here are a few excerpts, with the part at the end of particular interest to some of us since it pertains to the Good Samaritan, about whom we hear tomorrow (well, today, I have just burned the midnight oil) in churches using the various major lectionaries.

I have changed the gender-exclusive language to match our contemporary sensibilities (and Sölle’s own later sensibilities) and put the changes in brackets.

Padre Mickey, you will like this first paragraph.

When Brecht was in exile in Denmark he had on his study wall the motto I have taken for the title of this book. It is an old sentence derived from Hegel by the Marxist tradition and now part of its wisdom. In Lenin it reads” This is the foundation of the dialectic: there is no such thing as abstract truth; truth is always concrete.” This principle is in harmony with the Christian notion of truth, or at least that Christian notion which I hold. It dismisses the view that truth is simply there and can be given unchanging expression. It considers the situations in which people live and the needs they feel. It does not forget the oppressed. For these determine our truth. Christianity sees the truth as concrete, historical and partisan. (p. 7)
Religion joins earthly to heavenly life by making the eternal present through liturgy and prayer, but it also shuts it up in a house and separates it from the profane things which lie outside the sanctuary. ... (p. 92)God no longer encounters [human beings] in the house of religion. What did this house mean to him? If prayer originally meant to exercise power, it was an attempt to control an even stronger power. The stronger power is conceived as far away, threatening and elusive. Ritual actions and prayers seek to bring God near. The idea is to make God present through holy vessels, actions, words or person. God’s presence must be conjured up.Now it becomes plain why Jesus no longer needs to keep people in the house of religion. God does not have to be made present, [God] is present. Religion seeks to overcome the gulf between God and [humanity]. But for Jesus this gulf no longer exists. God is out in the open, or, to be more precise, out in the open on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, even though [God] is overlooked by the priest and the Levite and only noticed by the Samaritan. No place can be more sacred than the place where the man who fell among thieves lies helpless and thirsty. No time is more solemn and closer to God than the time when people pass him by in his need. No words could be more pious than the Samaritan’s careful instructions to the innkeeper. “Take care of him and if you spend any more I will repay you when I come back.” If it is true that God is the most important person in this story, even though [God’s] name is not mentioned, it follows that there is no more need for ritual to make [God] present because [God] is already there. Jesus sends [us] out into the open because that is where God is, not in a special place but in the everyday life of every [person]. (p. 93)

Note: Sölle was not anti-ritual or anti-worship. She was more of a both/and person. But she is making a point here about what matters to Jesus and ought to matter to us. Note also when and where she is writing.

Within a year of the German publication of this book, Sölle and a group of friends, Catholic and Protestant, had begun monthly prayer gatherings now known as "Political Evensong" (Politisches Nachtgebet, more accurately translated "Political Evening Prayer") which blended socio-political reflection on current events and biblical study and prayer. Christians of various affiliations took part in these gatherings, as did religiously unaffiliated people. Most of the gatherings took place in Köln (Cologne). The experiment lasted about two years. Sölle, a Protestant of the Lutheran tradition, later married one of her companions from the group, former Benedictine Catholic monk and philosopher Fulbert Steffensky.

Illustration: Sadao Watanabe, The Good Samaritan.

Despair, hope, AIDS: the Keiskamma Altarpiece

The always thoughtful janinsanfran at happening-here?, who blogs about politics, culture, and community life, has a post, with many more pictures like the ones above and below (thanks Jan - I'm lifting them from you) on the Keiskamma Altarpiece, made of fabric by women of Hamburg, not Hamburg, Germany, but Hamburg of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It speaks of suffering and hope in the age of HIV/AIDS. It will take your breath away.

Thanks, Jan, for letting us know about this. The Keiskamma Altarpiece is at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. From there it will go to Seattle, Washington, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C.

We love Stringfellow (2): a basic Stringfellow resource

A Summer Series post.

William Stringfellow published a lot of books.

Most of them are out of print, though a few have been reissued recently by Wipf and Stock, bless their hearts.

Fortunately, there is a fine one-volume paperback anthology of selected works, which went out of print fast but is now on the market again, at least the last time I checked, which was last year. It's a great place to start reading Stringfellow and covers the major periods and preoccupations of his life.

William Stringfellow, A Keeper of the Word: Selected Writings of William Stringfellow, edited by Bill Wylie Kellermann (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1994).

Pentecost and Memorial Day: resources, reflections

Simple Village Organist has a poetic Pentecost post (how’s that for alliteration) courtesy of Hildegard von Bingen and a thoughtful Memorial Day reflection. Auntie Jane says: check ‘em out.

In the interests of equal time for canines, I also need to point out that Ed (Simple Village Organist, actually from not-so-village Immanuel Presbyterian on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles) has one adorable dog, appropriately named Anna Magdalena*, whom you can see here.

* As usual, take Wikipedia with a grain of salt, but this article looks like it is halfway decent. (Ed, please confirm this for us non-specialists.) This snooty postscript brought to you by Professor Jane, who has a note in every one of her syllabi telling her students that she does NOT want to see Wikipedia as a reference in any of their research papers because it is not a proper scholarly source, humph.