Week 4

Thoughts from Class

This week we read the book Healing Resistance by Kazu Haga. The book is laid out in three parts, where Haha first lays out the groundwork on healing resistance before diving into the principles (the will) and the steps (the skill) of Kingian nonviolence. Here is an interview with an author for those who maybe aren’t readers. And an even shorter clip of the steps of nonviolence.

In working with Haga’s material, there are a few things that stood out to me in connection to expansive language and working towards a more inclusive and expansive church. First, Haga writes that for many people our reaction to conflict is fight, flight, or freeze. Haga proposes an additional response: face. “Facing means looking your assailant in the eye, not backing down, not giving into fear, and not reacting in kind. Facing also means genuinely listening to your partner when they are upset, hearing their pain, and taking full accountability for your actions without blaming or getting defensive.”

Infographic highlighting the Six Principles of Kingian Nonviolence

Another part of the lecture for this week was talking about what sort of media we engage with and how we engage with it. When thinking about media engagement in connection to the expansiveness of God, I was really struck by this slide.

Which brought me to think about the way that people respond to new or different language for God. Generally I suppose there are three groups of people in this situation. 1) People who are openly promoting diverse, expansive, and inclusive language for God and the divine. 2) People who are openly promoting androcentric and patriarchal language for God and the divine. 3) People who don’t have a strong opinion either way.

Response to Scripture

The scriptures for this week were: Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22; Sirach 35:12-17 or Psalm 84:1-7; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; and Luke 18:9-14

Psalm: I especially like this passage for the week because 1) the imagery is powerful and 2) God is referred to as God. As the text speaks to the sparrows being able to build their nest in God’s place of worship, to find space for rest, I imagine how we are all invited to find the same comfort. The courts of the Lord, the kindom of God, has space for everyone.

2 Timothy: The Lord stands by and blesses us in our struggles, and the Lord is a just judge.

Resources

(1) A song or hymn connected (2) a media piece - art, film, music, cartoon, meme, blog post, etc. (3) an action someone could take - prayer, legislative action, meditation, petition to sign etc. Each resource is related or connected either the lectionary text or the focus area of expansive language.

Song/Hymn

I have to admit, I’m a sucker for finding new musical versions of scripture, especially the Psalms. So this week I want to share Psalm 84, performed by Jason Silver.

Pop Culture Reference or Media Piece

I was recently introduced, through some image searches for sermon prep, to the work of Harmonia Rosales, an Afro-Cuban American woman. Every image I’ve seen is powerful and deserves more attention than I’m often able to give. From her biography, “Rosales draws on the energy of living life as a woman of color and society's objectification of that identity. Yet her subjects embody something within us all as they serve as conduits to an inner struggle within our society, which she depicts through metaphorical crowns and deities. The primary purpose of her art is and will always be to encourage sympathy, empathy, and empowerment.”

For this week I chose Abduction because of the eagle. While obviously not a sparrow, I think the imagery still connects with some of the Psalm of the week. There are also multiple verses in scripture that use eagle as an image for God.

Action

This week I want to invite you to read, and pray, this prayer from St. Anselm.