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seeing gray

Posted on September 27, 2007 | Filed Under beauty, justice, the natural world

Writing in Sojouorners magazine (In the prison-industrial complex, is there hope for redemption?), Nancy Hastings Sehested, a Baptist minister and prison chaplain, describes a North Carolina maximum-security prison this way:

Colorful flowers mark the path to the gatehouse. Then the stripping away begins in earnest. It is a gray day every day in this prison. Gray walls, gray floors, and gray ceilings. The gray uniforms worn by the men can fade their faces into obscurity. The blue uniforms of the staff can create the same effect. Holding a gaze is crucial in seeing the person beyond the clothing. A simple …

the beautiful game

Posted on September 21, 2007 | Filed Under beauty, personal life

They call it the beautiful game.

I am a big fan of soccer, a longtime player and coach, and a big fan of women’s soccer and the United States national team in particular. My daughter (whom I coached and is herself an equally avid fan) attended World Cup games in 1999 in Chicago and in 2003 in Boston. We did not fly to China to witness any of this year’s World Cup matches, but we are watching and taping every US contest. We will be eagerly following their quarterfinal match this Saturday against England.

I am a diehard US fan, but I …

enemies of freedom

Posted on September 19, 2007 | Filed Under justice, politics, terrorism

How can we win against the “enemies of freedom” while proving to be an enemy of freedom ourselves???

Senate Rejects Expanding Detainee Rights: The US Senate failed to break a Republican filibuster blocking a vote on an amendment to restore habeas corpus rights to terrorism suspects. Democratic senators were joined by six Republicans in voting to close debate and bring the amendment to a vote, but still fell four votes short.

We cannot claim to be defenders of freedom and of the universal application of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all human beings, if we …

a cure worse than the disease

Posted on September 19, 2007 | Filed Under justice, terrorism

Chaplains have been systematically removing a wide range of religious books and tapes from the libraries of federal prisons under a directive issued by the Bureau of Prisons. The aim is to prevent federal prisons from becoming recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups. The banned materials include books by eminent protestant theologians (Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth) and contemporary evangelical leaders (Robert Schuller, Rick Warren).

Once more, our frantic response to a real, but elusive and unpredictable, terrorist threat has done more harm to human liberty and quality of life than any terrorist could. We are denying …

blessed are the poor in spirit

Posted on September 13, 2007 | Filed Under spirituality

From the inward/outward website:

Pray, even if you feel nothing, see nothing. For when you are dry, empty, sick or weak, at such a time is your prayer most pleasing to God, even though you may find little joy in it. This is true of all believing prayer.
- Julian of Norwich

straight story

Posted on September 12, 2007 | Filed Under arts and culture, beauty, simplicity

What a great movie!

I previewed David Lynch’s film the straight story last evening. It tells the real-life story of Alvin Straight, an elderly Iowan who rode a lawn mower two hundred and sixty miles from Laurens, Iowa to visit his ailing brother in Mount Zion, Wisconsin.

I will be showing the film as part of our monthly Movie Night at the Ensworths’ series for people from our church. It is a beautifully made film, beautiful in its simplicity and its emotional power and its celebration of human goodness, not a goodness that is artificial …