I am descended from White settlers to North America and have benefited from the dispossession of Indigenous communities in the Upper Midwest, Northern Rockies, and Pacific Northwest. The systems put in place to bring about that land theft are largely still intact and continue to shape the way I understand…
• What’s your earliest memory of becoming aware that some people looked different from you? I grew up on military bases. I think what you’re probably aiming for is when did I figure out that it MEANT something. The first conscious othering I knew was our German friends who had…
KATIE COOK Reflections on My Life as an Ally First, I apologize for the length of this reflection. I could have included a lot more, but I didn’t think you’d want to wade through it. My story begins in the 1950s. I think I chose myself as an ally to…
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6Dear OEF Siblings, Thank you to those who submitted art, poetry, and prose reflecting on our commitment…
Totally unqualified to write on the subject and requesting your indulgence, I continue your servant council’s Lenten reflections on this year’s topic though I am pretty certain that I am the least knowledgeable in our little order and perhaps even the most unsure-footed among all of God’s followers when it…
On our fridge we have tacked up a quote from Martin Luther King that reads “if you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless…
Scripture: Luke 1:38 — “Mary said, ‘Here I am, the Lord’s slave. Let it become for me just as you said.’” Exhortation: The angel’s message to Mary was strange. The Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem was empty: there was no ark. Many common people in Galilee, and those in…
In Luke 2:1-20, the emperor Augustus and the governor of Quirinius, men of power, wealth, and privilege, are the backdrop of what appears to be an ordinary couple in a difficult situation: they have freshly arrived in town and Mary is great with child, about to deliver, but the inn…
Scripture: John 1:26-27 — “Standing among you – unknown to you – is the one coming after me; I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandal.” Exhortation: The one who is coming – who, as John says, “is greater than I” – the greatest of all (who…
Scripture: Mark 1:4 — “John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Exhortation: Baptism initiates us into a life – a way or path – of repentance. When we are baptized, we become lifelong penitents. When John baptized Jesus, the Spirit kissed him with approval and anointed…