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Rose Marie Berger, Brian Bolton 7-01-2004
Rose Marie Berger, Brian Bolton 7-01-2004
Maybe your thwarted dreams of urban development, ancient Hebrew-style, have got you down. Or you could just be pining for a reason to turn off the television.
Ananda Robinson 7-01-2004
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters.... - Revelation 22:14-15
A voice whispered in my dream:
Either you love or you're happy,
but never both.
I don't know how to live
without the dogs,
without faces writhing
in the bone-spurred night, bituminous
duels of prophets
and scoundrels, flayed
condoms in gutters,
without the infinite idols
to which we bow
in our desperation, shadow-dancing gods
that every day destroy
the city I cannot
live without.
Michaela Bruzzese 7-01-2004
"In my chest full of flowers, Flowering wholly and only for Him, There He remained sleeping; I cared for Him there, And the fan of the high cedars cooled Him." In Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the Cross recalls the tenderness with which he cared for God. Clearly, he knew not only how to welcome God, but how to treat God as beloved. His experience is echoed this month in the numerous ways the faithful have welcomed and cared for the Holy One: Abraham welcomes God as guest and dialogue partner; the disciple Mary welcomes God as teacher, and Jesus teaches us to welcome God first as an enemy in need, and then as "Abba," our beloved dad. This Abba is not a remote, distant father but a devoted parent who cares for us with a mother's tenderness: "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you...your heart shall rejoice; your bodies shall flourish like the grass" (Isaiah 66:13-14).
In a world filled with overwhelming suffering and persistent injustice, the work of discipleship can easily become life-draining instead of life-giving. Discipleship can become a burden that prevents us from recognizing the most important thing: the presence of God with us, and loving this Abba as we are first loved - with all our hearts and souls. When we, like St. John, not only welcome but cherish God's presence, whether in the stranger, enemy, or friend, we are comforted so that our hearts shall rejoice, and our work of discipleship shall flourish.
Rose Marie Berger, Brian Bolton 7-01-2004
Ten Years of Freedom
South African voters elected a new national parliament and nine provincial governments in the nation's third "all-races" elections since the end of apartheid in 1994. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu (above) applauds after casting his vote. "Often they say the first election after democracy is the last," Tutu told SABCNews. "Many countries degenerate into dictatorships. We are disproving that. We are taking it in our stride."
Counting Your Cubits
Maybe your thwarted dreams of urban development, ancient Hebrew-style, have got you down. Or you could just be pining for a reason to turn off the television. Either way, pout no more! Uberplay and Inspiration Games brings you "The Ark of the Covenant," an intriguing tile-laying game for all ages that adds biblical themes to the award-winning German game "Carcassonne." Each drawn tile adds to land, a road, a temple, or a city. Then sheep, wolves, and strategically placed followers and prophets add to the earned points of completed projects.
"The game doesn't try to teach doctrine. It just gives people an opportunity to talk about history and have fun," said Uberplay's Matt Molen. He says it's the perfect combination of collaboration and competition. (Of course, in Jesus' version the rules are reversed. You win by how much you give away.)
Rose Marie Berger, Brian Bolton 7-01-2004
Xtreme Peace. Eight Palestinians and Israelis completed an Antarctic expedition called "Breaking the Ice" to prove that "our peoples can and deserve to live together in peace and friendship," according to their statement. Two of the Palestinians had served time in an Israeli prison. Two of the Israelis were former members of a commando unit.
Riot Report. Obdulio Villanueva - a former Guatemalan military officer serving a 30-year sentence for the 1998 assassination of Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi, a human rights leader - was killed in February during a prison riot in Guatemala City, according to Reuters.
Spotlight. South African Quaker, anti-apartheid activist, and theoretical cosmologist George F.R. Ellis won the 2004 Templeton Prize for advances in religion and science. Ellis is splitting the $1.4 million award between his retirement trust and a number of small South African nonprofit agencies.
The Editors 7-01-2004
For many years we've talked about interviewing environmental and culture essayist Wendell Berry.
The Editors 6-01-2004
This is not the annual Mother’s Day issue of Sojourners (we’ve never had such an issue).
Marianne Allen 6-01-2004
I very much appreciated "To Serve and Preserve" (by Ched Myers, March 2004), though I somewhat vary in my belief regarding [humanity] having dominion over the Earth. I firmly believe God gave this gift to [humanity]; however, with the awesome gift comes solemn responsibility.
Frances Wilkin 6-01-2004
As I read about how the majority of Americans still hold that the United States made the right decision in deposing of Saddam Hussein, I feel as though some way should be found to inform the citizenry about the process that was taking place in the United Nations as Sojourners was getting various nations to agree to your plan of handling Saddam
Jack DuVall 6-01-2004
Rose Marie Bergers article "Presidential Option for the Poor?" (May 2004) may be right to praise Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez for his commitment to improving the lives of poor people in that country.
David Wolf 6-01-2004
Jim Rices article ("A Vote for the Earth," March 2004) made no mention of the recent report by a Pentagon research group that urgently affirms what the scientific community has been saying about global warming.
Rose Marie Berger, Brian Bolton 6-01-2004
Faith is influencing the actions of shareholders, according to a February 2004 report by the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility. "ICCR members are at the forefront of the social and environmental shareholder movement," said ICCR Executive Director Pat Wolf.
Rose Marie Berger, Brian Bolton 6-01-2004
House and Senate conferees amended fiscal 2004 energy and defense authorization bills to reduce funding for research on nuclear weapons such as the "bunker buster," to create funding for studying the environmental impact of nu
Rose Marie Berger, Brian Bolton 6-01-2004
The mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts, sits in the hot seat each year at an accountability meeting of Catholic, mainline Protestant, and Jewish congregations called the United Interfaith Action of Southeastern Massachusetts to answer questions about past and future policies.