I had the great privilege of getting to chat with Phyllis Tickle this week. The funny story here is that I got to do it twice! This was my first time using a conference call site that records your call and allows you to download it is as an mp3 for whatever your editing pleasure. Our first attempt happened Monday, and it was splended. The only problem is that I did not punch the code to record it. Hence the reason behind our having no Lectio reading this week. Phyllis was a champ and agreed to do it again, even though she woke up with a cold the day after our first chat. Cold an all, Phyllis did some Lectio readings for our series and made time to answer a few questions.
We’ll pick up where we left off in our Lectio series next Monday, and who better to get us going again than Phyllis Tickle. For now, enjoy this interview and the sharp wit and insight of a wonderful contemplative, writer, and friend. Thanks Phyllis!
Silence in the face of wrongdoing, violence, and oppression is complicity. While there are human perpetrators of these injustices, we are reminded by the apostle Paul that those persons are blind to the powers at work through them. Our battle is not against flesh and blood because even perpetrators have been made in the image of God.
Our calling as reconcilers is to give sight to the blind and release to the captives. We pull up the afflicted and weighed down, and we pull down the proud and the arrogant. Our involvement in God’s kin-dom is, as Brian McLaren puts it, an involvement in a “divine peace insurgency,” where victims and perpetrators are healed and reconciled.
This series of podcast litanies is designed to engage your heart and mind in the liberating project of God’s dream for this world. These litanies will encourage you to listen, reflect, and participate, through prayers and readings, in the cultivating of consciousness, courage, and hope. Feel free to use these for personal reflection or for worship gatherings. You can download a hardcopy of the litany as well.
The Roots have come strong with some urban, political, prophetic magic in their latest album released this week. They’ve got some excellent guests on this album: Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Common, and more.
As usual ?uestlove’s drum-kit wizardry kicks well constructed, suspicion-laden lyrics through the dark corridors of contemporary skepticism. On this album lyricists focus their critique on issues such as theocapitalism, war, law-enforcement, black stereotypes, and techno-optimism. You cannot help but feel the unrest, and you cannot help but nod your head and start marching with the movement this album stirs inside.
I will be heading to Rwanda on the 18th of this month as part of the Amahoro Gathering. I have done a lot of reading on the history behind what took place there in the mid-90’s, and I am eager for the pilgrimage experience that we will have. Below is a moving video by artist Sara Groves on her experience in Rwanda.
This week’s reading has been offered by my wife Jennifer. She is a wife, mother, and all around busy body. She is the building administrator for the Associated Campus Ministries center at UNC Greensboro. She has been the Women’s Missionary Union director at our church for the last two years, and she is actively involved in our local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She’ll be running in their 5K “Race for the Cure” this Saturday. Jenn’s also a talented seamstress, so if you need some cute jumpers for the little ones, leave a contact in the comment section.
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I had the great privilege of getting to chat with Phyllis Tickle this week. The funny story here is that I got to do it twice! This was my first time using a conference call site that records your call and allows you to download it is as an mp3 for whatever your editing pleasure. Our first attempt happened Monday, and it was splended. The only problem is that I did not punch the code to record it. Hence the reason behind our having no Lectio reading this week. Phyllis was a champ and agreed to do it again, even though she woke up with a cold the day after our first chat. Cold an all, Phyllis did some Lectio readings for our series and made time to answer a few questions.
This week’s reading has been offered by my wife Jennifer. She is a wife, mother, and all around busy body. She is the building administrator for the Associated Campus Ministries center at UNC Greensboro. She has been the Women’s Missionary Union director at our church for the last two years, and she is actively involved in our local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She’ll be running in their 5K “Race for the Cure” this Saturday. Jenn’s also a talented seamstress, so if you need some cute jumpers for the little ones, leave a contact in the comment section.
