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LENTEN DEVOTIONALS
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Why Musings?
- The Musings Page will be a place to consider thought-provoking, evocative, sometimes polemical but not overtly political, writings, quotes, ideas, and poetry on the Christian life in all its facets: spiritual, religious, ethical, and practical.
Lagniappe
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ExtraOrdinary Time
posted on February 4, 2012 by Musings
We are in one of two periods of the church liturgical year known as Ordinary Time. The first Ordinary Time falls between Epiphany and Lent. Ordinary Time is when we live our lives together as a church, with Christ walking amongst us. The lectionary features stories of Jesus teaching and healing and feeding and tending his flock.
In the spirit of Ordinary Time, we are providing links to some collective blogs, individual blogs, on-line magazines, and other resources that challenge, inspire, make us think and sustain us. We will post some more links in a few days and we have other blogs listed on Our Blogs We Follow panel on the left hand side of the page. Check those out as well. And please share the places that you have come across that provide food for your journey.
• Gathering Voices from The Thoughtful Christian
A place you come to learn more about spirituality, ministry, popular culture, engaging news stories, and find out how these everyday stories can become a part of your religious life.
• Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice
An online journal and community that examines, expresses, and provokes social justice as inspired by the prophetic gospel of Jesus Christ. As both a journal and a forum for conversation, action and community building, Unbound is at once the inheritor of the print journal Church & Society (98 years running) and the innovator of an interactive approach to supporting social ministry.
Patheos.com is the premier online destination to engage in the global dialogue about religion and spirituality and to explore and experience the world’s beliefs. Patheos brings together faith communities, academics, and the broader public into a single environment, and is the place where many people turn on a regular basis for insight, inspiration, and stimulating discussion.
Progressive Christian and Evangelical are two great portals full of diverse blogs on where our Christian faith and life intersect.
There are a rich diversity of voices in other portals featuring blogs from the Atheist, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, and Pagan communities.
A blog of the Environmental Ministries Office of the PC(USA). It includes a wide array of environmental topics: upcoming environmental events, links to interesting articles and studies, information on environmental advocacy, eco-theology topics, and success stories from churches that are going “green.”
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A New Definition of Greatness
posted on January 17, 2012 by Musings
No one can deny the power of the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. At least part of that power finds its roots in the majesty, cadences, language, stories, and images of the King James Bible. As a minister and son of a minister, King knew his King James Bible, and that knowledge permeated King’s speech patterns and thought throughout his too-short life. Our upcoming topic for Musings next week will be the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. To jump start that discussion and in celebration of Dr. King’s birthday, here are two links to Dr. King reading portions of Mark 10: 35-45 from the King James Bible and part of his sermon (the “Drum Major Instinct” sermon) on that text.
Mark 10: 35-45 and excerpt from The Drum Major Instinct
Excerpt from The Drum Major Instinct
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“Our God is Marching On!”
posted on January 16, 2012 by Musings
Yesterday we posted a portion of the address given by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on March 25, 1965 on the steps of the state capitol in Montgomery AL. This speech came to be known as the “How Long?” address. Today as we recognize and celebrate his birth, we are posting further excerpts from the speech. The full address can be read at: “Our God is Marching On!”
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, And the walls come tumbling down. Up to the walls of Jericho they marched, spear in hand. “Go blow them ramhorns,” Joshua cried, “‘Cause the battle am in my hand.”There is nothing wrong with marching in this sense. The Bible tells us that the mighty men of Joshua merely walked about the walled city of Jericho and the barriers to freedom came tumbling down. I like that old Negro spiritual, “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.” In its simple, yet colorful, depiction of that great moment in biblical history, it tells us that:
The battle is in our hands. And we can answer with creative nonviolence the call to higher ground to which the new directions of our struggle summons us. The road ahead is not altogether a smooth one. There are no broad highways that lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. But we must keep going.
These words I have given you just as they were given us by the unknown, long-dead, dark-skinned originator. Some now long-gone black bard bequeathed to posterity these words in ungrammatical form, yet with emphatic pertinence for all of us today.
———-
I know you are asking today, “How long will it take?” Somebody’s asking, “How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?” Somebody’s asking, “When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?”
How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.”Somebody’s asking, “When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?”
I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.” How long? Not long, (Yes, sir) because “no lie can live forever.”
How long? Not long:
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne,
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above his own.
How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
How long? Not long, because:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat.
O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet!
Our God is marching on.
Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah!
Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
© The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“How Long?”
posted on January 15, 2012 by Musings
March 1965 witnessed one of the emotional and political peaks of the civil rights movement. Months of voter registration efforts, marches and protests in Selma, Alabama, had culminated in the shooting death of a marcher by an Alabama state trooper in February 1965.
In response, leaders of the voter registration efforts decided to stage a march from Selma to Montgomery to confront George Wallace with the death of the marcher and his complicity in that act. Three efforts to make the march from Selma to Montgomery took place in March 1965. The first on March 7 is remembered as Bloody Sunday when marchers were gassed and beaten as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The second effort on March 9 was turned back by state troopers and a court injunction. On March 11, a Unitarian minister who had come to Selma in support of the marchers died as a result of a beating he had received in Selma.
On March 16, President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to present legislation that would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Finally, on March 21 after the injunction had been lifted, the marchers to Montgomery crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the first day of their journey to Montgomery. They arrived four days later where on March 25, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave what has become known as the “How Long?” speech on the steps of the state capitol. Below are some excerpts from that speech. We will post some additional excerpts tomorrow, the day we celebrate his birth. A complete copy of the text can be found here “Our God is Marching On!”
Last Sunday, more than eight thousand of us started on a mighty walk from Selma, Alabama. We have walked through desolate valleys and across the trying hills. We have walked on meandering highways and rested our bodies on rocky byways. Some of our faces are burned from the outpourings of the sweltering sun. Some have literally slept in the mud. We have been drenched by the rains.
Our bodies are tired and our feet are somewhat sore. But today as I stand before you and think back over that great march, I can say, as Sister Pollard said-a seventy-year-old Negro woman who lived in this community during the bus boycott-and one day, she was asked while walking if she didn’t want to ride. And when she answered, “No,” the person said, “Well, aren’t you tired?” And with her ungrammatical profundity, she said, “My feets is tired, but my soul is rested.” And in a real sense this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested.
……………
Today I want to tell the city of Selma, today I want to say to the state of Alabama, today I want to say to the people of America and the nations of the world, that we are not about to turn around.
We are on the move now.
Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. We are on the move now. The burning of our churches will not deter us. The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. We are on the move now.
The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. We are on the move now. The wanton release of their known murderers would not discourage us. We are on the move now.
Like an idea whose time has come, not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us.
We are moving to the land of freedom.
Let us therefore continue our triumphant march to the realization of the American dream.
Tweet© The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Imitator of Christ
posted on December 30, 2011 by Musings
From : Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
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Locating Our Lives in the Abandoned Places of the Empire
posted on December 13, 2011 by Musings
Everything in our society teaches us to move away from suffering, to move out of neighborhoods where there is high crime, to move away from people who don’t look like us. But the gospel calls us to something altogether different. We are to laugh at fear, to lean into suffering, to open ourselves to the stranger. Advent is the season when we remember that Jesus put on flesh and moved into the neighborhood. God’s getting born in a barn reminds us that God shows up even in the forsaken corners of the earth.
From: Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
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In the Lord I’ll be Ever Thankful
posted on November 23, 2011 by Musings
The Stated Clerk’s Column from the PC (USA) by Gradye Parsons November Column
In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful,
In the Lord I will rejoice!
Look to God, do not be afraid;
Lift up your voices: the Lord is near,
Lift up your voices: the Lord is near.
This song by Jacques Berthier (Sing the Faith #2195) is one of my favorites of all the Taizé music. It combines the ingredients of gratitude, joy, fear, and the desire for the Lord to be near.
November is the season when we celebrate the harvest of the year and gather with family and friends to give thanks to God. That joy is diminished by the reality of so many folks out of work, so many neighbors who have lost their homes because of finances or natural disasters, and the many people who have lost all hope.
In the early 1930s, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “[Jesus] is the Lord of fear; it knows him as its Lord and yields to him alone. Therefore, look to him in your fear. Think about him, place him before your eyes and call him. …The fear will yield and fade, and you will become free through faith in the strong and living Savior Jesus Christ” (I Want to Live These Days with You, p. 134).
This was a strong affirmation to make in the midst of Depression-era Germany. I especially like the image of Jesus as Lord of fear – a Lordship based on our resurrection hope in the face of our greatest fear, death, and estrangement from God. Bonhoeffer also acknowledges the enslavement that fear can exert on our lives and faith; yet, in Christ we are freed up to live as God’s children in this world.
It may be tough to pray thankfully at your house this year. So pray the prayer that is honest and allows God in Jesus Christ to hear your fears. And may the peace that passes all understanding enter your heart and the hearts of those you love.
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The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak
posted on November 11, 2011 by Musings
Although exact figures are not possible, it is estimated that 60 to 72 million people died in World War II, including military dead of 22 to 25 million. Over 400,000 Americans lost their lives in the war. Two plaques in the narthex of the First Presbyterian sanctuary list the names of 285 members of our congregation who served during World War II. Ten of those names are “gold star” names. Go by the narthex this Sunday and share a moment of your time in honor and memory of those men and women.
Today’s poem is by the poet Archibald MacLeish. ”The poet Archibald MacLeish was especially aware of the importance of this sacrifice. As a young man, he had served as an artillery officer in World War I and had witnessed suffering and death on the battlefields of Europe. During the second World War, he took up public service once again, serving as the Librarian of Congress while still writing poetry. When the Library of Congress held a memorial service for all its staff members who had died in the war, MacLeish contributed a powerful poem that not only commemorated the dead, but also made it clear that those who survived bore a special responsibility to make the deaths of these soldiers meaningful. As you read this poem, think about what the poem suggests as possible ways to live up to such a great sacrifice. You might also think about the sacrifices that other people have made for you.”…. from the website of the Library of Congress.
THE YOUNG DEAD SOLDIERS DO NOT SPEAK
By Archibald MacLeish
Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses: who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night and when the clock counts.
They say, We were young. We have died. Remember us.
They say, We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done
They say, We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.
They say, Our deaths are not ours: they are yours: they will mean what you make them.
They say, Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say: it is you who must say this.
They say, We leave you our deaths: give them their meaning: give them an end to the war and a true peace: give them a victory that ends the war and a peace afterwards: give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died. Remember us.
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Ashbah
posted on November 11, 2011 by Musings
As we recognize Veteran’s Day we will feature two poems. Today’s first poem is by Brian Turner, who served for seven years in the U.S. Army. Beginning in November 2003, he was an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. More of his poetry is available at Turner.
ASHBAHBy Brian Turner
The ghosts of
American soldiers
wander the streets of
Balad by night,
unsure of their way
home, exhausted,
the desert wind
blowing trash
down the narrow
alleys as a voice
sounds from the
minaret, a soulfull call
reminding them how
alone they are,
how lost. And the
Iraqi dead,
they watch in silence
from rooftops
as date palms line the
shore in silhouette,
leaning toward Mecca
when the dawn wind blows.
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Poem for Our Dog Afraid of Thunder on a Rainy Day
posted on November 10, 2011 by Musings
Today’s poem by Leroy V. Quintana, a native New Mexican who served in Vietnam in the Army Airborne and a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol unit in 1967-68. More of his poetry is available at Quintana.
