Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Valley of Dry Bones by Doug White

"The hand of the Lord was upon me
    And He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord
    And set me down in the middle of the valley
    And it was full of bones.
    And He caused me to pass among them round about
    And behold there were very many on the surface of the valley
    And lo, they were very dry."  Ezekiel 37:1-2

    I have never experienced the horror of the battlefield.  I have been blessed to have been born in a time of relative peace and in a land that has known peace and security within it's borders.  I can't begin to understand the carnage of war and the devastation of a battlefield.

    But I have read the accounts of those who have.  In many cases the horror of the devastation left those witnesses choking on words in a vain attempt to describe the indescribable.

    A fifth century Roman historian described the scene of a Roman city that had been sacked by the armies of Attila the Hun.

    "The stench of death was so great the we could not stay within the city.  We camped outside and away from the city walls to escape it."

Pay by Chris Janzen

pay ( working title )

the I.M.F. come lookin for their fix
they'll take it in a pound of flesh
everyone makes a dividend off the interest

But a father is put to the test
when he watches his children go off (to make laces)
and he braces himself for another day
for a dollars pay
the minimum wage in the world's work place.

Chris Janzen

Interest by Chris Janzen

Intrest (working title)

Sullen corporate beggars
cut throats
in their quest for dollars
looking for buried treasure
in the flesh of those struggling to survive
swollen fingers prodding
swollen bellies
for pennies they do not have
It's a matter of interest on investment,
"you can understand that," says the devil
to a mother who silences a screaming child
on a milkless breast

Chris Janzen 

Walter Brueggemann's 19 Theses

1.     Everybody lives by a script. The script may be implicit or explicit. It may be recognized or unrecognized, but everybody has a script.

2.     We get scripted. All of us get scripted through the process of nurture and formation and socialization, and it happens to us without our knowing it.

3.      The dominant scripting in our society is a script of technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism that socializes us all, liberal and conservative.

4.     That script (technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism) enacted through advertising and propaganda and ideology, especially on the liturgies of television, promises to make us safe and to make us happy.

St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily 60

If a man readily and joyfully accepts a loss for the sake of God, he is inwardly pure. And if he does not look down upon any man because of his defects, in very truth he is free. If a man is not pleased with someone who honors him, nor displeased with someone who dishonors him, he is dead to the world and to this life. The watchfulness of discernment is superior to every discipline of men accomplished in any way to any degree.

Do not hate the sinner. For we are all laden with guilt. If for the sake of God you are moved to oppose him, weep over him. Why do you hate him? Hate his sins and pray for him, that you may imitate Christ Who was not wroth with sinners, but interceded for them. Do you not see how He wept over Jerusalem? We are mocked by the devil in many instances, so why should we hate the man who is mocked by him who mocks us also? Why, O man, do you hate the sinner? Could it be because he is not so righteous as you? But where is your righteousness when you have no love? Why do you not shed tears over him? But you persecute him. In ignorance some are moved with anger, presuming themselves to be discerners of the works of sinners.

About Authority & Hierarchy in the Church by Karel Marek

Recently I have been hearing a lot about people with titles of ‘spiritual father’ or ‘spiritual mentor’ or, conversely, about someone being a ‘spiritual son’ or being ‘under cover’ of someone in the church. 

Also along similar line of thinking, there has been a lot of emphasis on ‘authority’ which the apostles and prophets are supposed to derive from a position they have in some kind of spiritual hierarchy.  The way this doctrine is presented seems to me to veer a few degrees off the mark of scripture.  It makes a mockery of the type of father Paul was talking about in relationship to Timothy.  Of course, we know that the most dangerous lie is the one that comes closest to the truth.  I see that some of these leaders even consider themselves as generals in the army of the Lord.

All Stories Tear by Brita Miko

There is the scream. The scream so loud it will be the last word. The scream so loud it will render the man mute. The scream so loud the man will die. You cannot release such a cry and survive.  You can only release such a cry if it is the last thing you do. You can only release such a cry if all things are done.

It is the cry of death.

It fills the whole earth. The very earth shudders. The very earth splits. The very earth might not survive. The very earth tears.

The very rocks tear.

And history tears. And all stories tear. My story tears.

Jesus’ Subversive Victory Shouts in Matthew 27: An Empowering Theology of the Cross by Bob Ekblad

I exercise my ministry as executive director of Tierra Nueva in part through my role as chaplain to inmates in a county jail and pastor to immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. I also lead retreats and teach seminars to leaders who work with people on the margins indifferent parts of the world. As a Bible scholar and pastor in my particular ministry contexts it is almost impossible to not be politically engaged (though not necessarily in a partisan way). The effects of my context on my own research and the nature of my engagement will become evident as I lead you through the following Bible study on Matthew 27.

Click here to see the the rest of this essay.

JURIDICAL VENGEANCE OR CO-SUFFERING LOVE by Metropolitan Antony

JURIDICAL VENGEANCE OR CO-SUFFERING LOVE
A More Positive Exposition for the Moral Content
of the Dogma Of Redemption^[i]

In order to provide a completely Orthodox interpretation of the dogma of redemption for people interested in theological questions, it is necessary to produce a feasible work in which the interpretation of this dogma is the central thesis. Therefore, we will present our treatise in the same order as we have presented it in public lectures and class discussions, that is, by observing what constantly occurs before our eyes in life.

Winter Readings by Brad Jersak

I'm frequently asked what I've been reading lately and what books might be worth curling up with by the fireplace. As I manage my mental health through the trials of winter drizzle, seven books came to the fore. Some made my heart warm, others made my blood boil, all of them made me think and feel in important ways. The following are my very brief reflections (and aha! moments) on:

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
The Shack by William Young
The Evangelical Universalist by Gregory MacDonald
God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens
God at War by Gregory Boyd
The God of Intimacy and Action by Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling
Covenant of Peace by Willard Swartley