I believe that our group is seeking deep understanding before turning our focus towards actions. A longtime source of wisdom for me has been the Indian spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, and I was drawn to look into what he said over the years on the theme of “partial action”. The following was compiled by doing … Read more
I found the recent presentation “Bonhoeffer and Resistance to Tyranny and Organized Stupidity” with Larry Rasmussen hosted by Fr. John Dear of The Beatitudes Center to be very informative. In the ensuing discussion after the presentation I learned of the connection from Bonhoeffer to William Stringfellow to Walter Wink and the theme of Principalities and … Read more
I highly recommend a talk on authoritarianism and Jesus by Dr. Brian McLaren, Dean of the core faculty of the Center for Action and Contemplation. It’s the clearest presentation I’ve found on the central dynamics of authoritarianism. Authoritarianism concentrates power in one person, party, or ideology using four techniques: I would add a fifth: dehumanizing … Read more
On Sunday I felt a nudge to attend Quaker meeting, During the silent worship my mind was drawn to the issue of climate change. In particular the action by the Trump administration to shut down the project by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to track billion dollar weather disasters. I was attending the meeting … Read more
Substack was down for a while today. It was worth the wait to read Heather Cox Richardson’s April 28 column devoted to a rousing speech! There has been a change afoot in the Democratic Party for a while now as its leaders shift from trying to find common ground with Republicans to standing firmly against … Read more
Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have. — H.G. Wells I heard the Wells quote from my father many years ago. Both he and my mother had been … Read more
“Honest to god, I’ve never seen anything like it . . . We look at these comparative cases in the 21st century, like Hungary and Poland and Turkey. And in a lot of respects, this is worse . . . These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable … Read more
In her January 28, 2025 column Diana Butler Bass begins with some reflections from a meeting with a group of faith leaders. The Rev. Traci Blackmon offered a reflection to the gathering about hope and resilience in the midst of the current political turmoil and crisis. “Every day,” she said, “I look at a photograph … Read more
Diana Butler Bass’ column in The Cottage for today is well worth reading and pondering. This is how she begins: We come to the most reflective, and most discomforting, time of the Christian calendar: Lent. This is the hard season. A time of repentance and repair. The Ash Wednesday passage from the Hebrew scriptures is … Read more
What does Jesus have to say about nonviolence? Why love your enemies? A clip from our rector’s sermon on Sunday. Difficult words that we need to hear.