Friends, I will embark on what I expect to be a life-shaping experience in Rwanda, Africa this Sunday. I will fly out from Greensboro at 6 AM the 18th and arrive in Kigali, Rwanda at 11:30 AM on the 19th. This will be my first transatlantic flight.

I’ve been doing a good bit of reading and documentary watching concerning the Rwandan genocide, African history, and postcolonial hermeneutics and theology. Much of that has been part of my independent study work that I structured around this trip. These studies have been life-shaping already.

Part of my self-imposed assignment is to keep a daily blog journal while in Rwanda. If you’re interested, you can tune in here at the Dogwood site for that. The second part of my assignment is to write a 20 page paper. The general scope of the paper is to evaluate the impact of postcolonial theology on Western church practice. I have some idea of this already, and I am interested in how my experiences in Africa will shape and/or alter my current premise.

My premise for my paper is this: Theologies of liberation, while engaging white proponents and thinkers, has largely been classified as a theology of the oppressed and marginalized. Such a classification has largely left white westerners with only one role to play in liberation theology; perpetrator. While this is definitely legitimate historically, it leaves a lot undone for white westerners who have shaken off the modern myth of western progress and greatness. It also fails to address what I believe to be a deep feeling of oppression felt among white postmoderns like myself. What I hope to argue in my paper is for the necessity of a theology of liberation for white westerners who face a daily onslaught of dehumanizing, identity-robbing propaganda perpetrated by corporations via a theocapitalist myth of accumulation. (That was a mouthful.) Put much simpler; I believe white westerners are oppressed by their stuff that they wrongly believe they have to possess in order to have value and meaning as a human being. Two Scriptures that I plan to interact with (so far) in this argument are Luke 12:13-21 & Ephesians 6:10-18.

We’ll see what happens!

This week’s Lectio reading has been read by contemplative author Phyllis Tickle. The reading for this week is John 1:1-14.

If you would like to find out what Phyllis is up to these days, or learn more about this wonderful writer and thinker, you can visit her website by clicking here.

Enjoy the reading and have a blessed week!

 

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I had the great privilege of getting to chat with Phyllis Tickle this week. The funny story here is that I got to do it twice! This was my first time using a conference call site that records your call and allows you to download it is as an mp3 for whatever your editing pleasure. Our first attempt happened Monday, and it was splended. The only problem is that I did not punch the code to record it. Hence the reason behind our having no Lectio reading this week. Phyllis was a champ and agreed to do it again, even though she woke up with a cold the day after our first chat. Cold an all, Phyllis did some Lectio readings for our series and made time to answer a few questions.

We’ll pick up where we left off in our Lectio series next Monday, and who better to get us going again than Phyllis Tickle. For now, enjoy this interview and the sharp wit and insight of a wonderful contemplative, writer, and friend. Thanks Phyllis!

 

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Silence in the face of wrongdoing, violence, and oppression is complicity. While there are human perpetrators of these injustices, we are reminded by the apostle Paul that those persons are blind to the powers at work through them. Our battle is not against flesh and blood because even perpetrators have been made in the image of God.

Our calling as reconcilers is to give sight to the blind and release to the captives. We pull up the afflicted and weighed down, and we pull down the proud and the arrogant. Our involvement in God’s kin-dom is, as Brian McLaren puts it, an involvement in a “divine peace insurgency,” where victims and perpetrators are healed and reconciled.

This series of podcast litanies is designed to engage your heart and mind in the liberating project of God’s dream for this world. These litanies will encourage you to listen, reflect, and participate, through prayers and readings, in the cultivating of consciousness, courage, and hope. Feel free to use these for personal reflection or for worship gatherings. You can download a hardcopy of the litany as well.

Our first litany is entitled “Unsettle Us Lord.”

Hard copy: Unsettle Us Lord

 

 Unsettle Us Lord [2:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Roots have come strong with some urban, political, prophetic magic in their latest album released this week. They’ve got some excellent guests on this album: Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Common, and more.

As usual ?uestlove’s drum-kit wizardry kicks well constructed, suspicion-laden lyrics through the dark corridors of contemporary skepticism. On this album lyricists focus their critique on issues such as theocapitalism, war, law-enforcement, black stereotypes, and techno-optimism. You cannot help but feel the unrest, and you cannot help but nod your head and start marching with the movement this album stirs inside.