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Vincent Gordon Harding, Freedom Fighter (1931-2014)
Vincent Gordon Harding with Rose Marie Berger, Sojourners, 2010 I am deep in the midst of grieving the loss of Vincent Gordon Harding–a friend, mentor, scholar, freedom fighter, mahatma, and now, an ancestor–who died in Philadelphia on May 19 from complications of heart surgery.
All great souls are also flawed–hagiography has no place in authentic mourning. True grief honors what has passed. No longer will I pick up the telephone and hear Vincent’s basso profondo, “Sister Rose Marie? Is it well with your soul?”
More later. Right now, I can only stand at the river, peering into the water in disbelief that it has carried him to the other side.
Roundup of Remembrances:
Vincent Gordon Harding and Rosemarie Freeney Harding, 1950s (Photo courtesy of Mennonite Historical Bulletin) Vincent Harding Built a New World by Dee Dee Risher
Remembering Vincent Harding, An Enduring Veteran of Hope by Ken Butigan
A gentle giant left us by Catherine Meeks
Vincent Harding by E. Ethelbert Miller
Vincent Harding, Civil Rights Author and Associate of Dr. King, Dies at 82 by Margalit Fox
Vincent Harding, a true hero by Celeste Kennel-Shank
In Memory of Dr. Vincent Harding, a ‘Prophetic Voice for Justice and Vigorous Nonviolence’ by Ben Sutter
MLK speechwriter, civil rights activist Vincent Harding dead by Kate Gibbons
Remembering Historian Vincent Harding, Who Drafted Dr. Martin Luther King’s Anti-Vietnam War Speech by Democracy Now!
Social Activism Loses ‘Peaceful Warrior’ Vincent Harding by Jamal Watson
Rest in Peace, Vincent Harding by Steve Thorngate
Vincent Harding: A light shines in the darkness by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Vincent Harding Dead: Civil Rights Activist, Speechwriter And Friend Of Martin Luther King Jr., Dies At 82 by Yasmine Hafiz
Vincent Gordon Harding by Black Fire, UVA
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Bertolt Brecht: ‘I Came Among Men in a Time of Uprising’
Bertolt Brecht An excerpt from Bertolt Brecht’s “To Posterity” (1939). Thanks to Mennonite Vietnam war draft resister Duane Shank for reminding me of this poem:
…2.
I came to the cities in a time of disorder
When hunger ruled.
I came among men in a time of uprising
And I revolted with them.
So the time passed away
Which on earth was given me.I ate my food between massacres.
The shadow of murder lay upon my sleep.
And when I loved, I loved with indifference.
I looked upon nature with impatience.
So the time passed away
Which on earth was given me.In my time streets led to the quicksand.
Speech betrayed me to the slaughterer.
There was little I could do. But without me
The rulers would have been more secure. This was my hope.
So the time passed away
Which on earth was given me. … –Bertolt Brecht -
Rabbi Waskow: Preparing for Sinai – Uniting Earth and Heaven, Words and Wheat
by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center
From the evening of Tuesday, June 3, through the evening of June 5, Jews will be celebrating the festival of Shavuot, which in most of Jewish life today is focused on the revelation and acceptance of Torah at Mount Sinai.
And since Shavuot became transcribed in Christian tradition into Pentecost, perhaps Christians as well as Jews might learn from reexamining this holy day.
The Hebrew word “Shavuot” means “Weeks.” Its name comes from the festival’s timing in regard to Passover: It comes after a “week of weeks,” seven weeks and one day, beginning on the second night of Passover.
In Biblical Israel, Shavuot was the celebration of a successful spring wheat harvest. For seven weeks, the community anxiously counted its way into the precarious abundance of harvest. The counting began on Passover as each household brought a sheaf of barley to the Temple, for the barley crop ripened before wheat.
On the 50th day, there was a unique offering at the Temple—two loaves of wheat bread—regular leavened bread, not unleavened matzah, on the only occasion all year when leavened bread was offered.
This agricultural celebration of Shavuot fit into the broad pattern of Biblical Judaism. During the Biblical era, spiritual leadership of the People was held by a hereditary priesthood defined by the body from birth and skilled in the body-rituals of bringing various foods (beef, mutton, matzah, grain, pancakes, fruit) as offerings to a physical place.
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Richard Rohr: Salvation from the False Self
Today’s meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation was helpful for me in remembering my ongoing need to realign myself with the essential Love that is the core of Christ – and not projections of myself in the fun-house mirrors of this world. Richard Rohr writes:“We all identify with our idealized persona so strongly when we are young that we become masters of denial and learn to eliminate or deny anything that doesn’t support it. Neither our persona nor our shadow is evil in itself; they just allow us to do evil and not know it. Our shadow self makes us all into hypocrites on some level. Remember, hypocrite comes from the Greek for “actor,” someone playing a role rather than being “real.” We are all in one kind of a closet or another and are even encouraged by society to play our roles. Until grace is fully triumphant we are all hypocrites of sorts.
Usually everybody else can see your shadow, so it is crucial that you learn what everybody else knows about you—except you! The moment you become whole and holy is when you can accept your shadow self, or, to put it in moral language, when you can admit your sin. Basically you move from unconsciousness to consciousness by a deliberate struggle with your shadow self. There needs to be a struggle, it seems, and usually many of them.
The saint is precisely one who has no “I” to protect or project. His or her “I” is in conscious union with the “I AM” of God, and that is more than enough. Divine union overrides any need for self-hatred or self-promotion. Such people do not need to be perfectly right, and they know they cannot be anyway, so they just try to be in right relationship. In other words, they try above all else to be loving.
Love holds you tightly and safely and always. It gives you the freedom to meet the enemy and know the major enemy is “me,” as the old comic character Pogo said. But you do not hate “me” either; you just see through and beyond “me.” Shadow work literally saves you from yourself (your False Self, that is), which is the foundational meaning of salvation. For then “You too (your True Self) will be revealed in all your glory with him” (Colossians 3:3-4).”–Richard Rohr, ofm
Adapted from Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life (pp. 131-132) and Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, (p. 166)
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Pope Francis Calls for the ‘Legitimate Redistribution’ of Wealth (aka Preaches Gospel)
Read the whole story here.
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Fossil Fuel Divestment As Part of ‘Spiritual Worship’
Recently Bill McKibben (350.org) wrote a short note to readers of Tikkun magazine that serves as a good update on the fossil fuel divestment movement as a tool for combating climate change and shifting us toward a renewable energy economy.Over the past year I’ve met with a number of groups discussing “the divestment strategy,” comparing it to the anti-apartheid divestment movement (see Loosing the Bonds by Robert Massie). In those conversations I’ve seen very good people come out for and against the use of this tool.
I’m avowedly “pro.”
Those who are “con” usually get there because 1) taking on financial industries is outside their area of expertise so it seems impossible or 2) it will divert too much “people energy” away changing federal policies.
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Dorothy Day: Holy Dissatisfaction
Police flank Dorothy Day, seated at a farm workers picket line in Lamont, California, in 1973. “I loved the Church for Christ made visible. Not for itself, because it was so often a scandal to me. Romano Guardini said the Church is the Cross on which Christ was crucified; one could not separate Christ from his Cross, and one must live in a state of permanent dissatisfaction with the Church.”–Dorothy Day
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Abbot Phillip: On Training a Puppy
Abbot Phillip From Abbot Phillip’s Notebook (2014-04-30):
“Many years ago when I arrived in New Mexico, a good friend gave me a horse and told me: you can learn a lot about humans by watching this horse. Some months ago, we received a beagle puppy who is now 11 months old. He is just learning the disciplines of obedience. Again, I can see so many human reactions and responses in this puppy and he grows into a mature dog.
I see a lot of myself in him, but also see so much of our human situation. Right now the challenge with Joshua the Beagle is to have him get used to wearing a harness and walking with me. I am not his master, but I work on his training. He hates the harness. When I put it on him, he stops doing anything and just stands there, stubborn as he can be. He will not come even for a treat. Becoming a monk, or even becoming a Christian, is a bit like that. Learning to live a spiritual life is very much like that. No one wants a harness today. We want completely liberty. Yet it is the harness and obedience that give a dog happiness in the long run and protect the dog against accidents and incidents that anger others.
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Video: Peaceable Kingdom
I try to avoid the “cute animal” videos. But this one struck me as perfect for the Season of Light, post-Easter.
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Keystone XL: Everyday Without the KXL Is A Victory for Justice
Update from Bill McKibben on latest Keystone announcement from President Obama:
Today’s Keystone XL news from DC is both important and murky. In brief, the Obama administration announced yet another delay in their decision about the pipeline, meaning it may be past the midterm elections before a final call is made.
Three things strike me:
- In pipeline terms it’s a win. Every day we delay a decision is a day when 830,000 barrels of oil stays safely in the ground. Together we’ve kept them at bay for three years now, and will continue to until perhaps the beginning of next year it seems.
- In climate terms, it’s a disappointment. Since the State Department can’t delay floods and droughts and El Ninos, we actually need President Obama providing climate leadership. If he’d just follow the science and reject the stupid pipeline he’d finally send a much-needed signal to the rest of the planet that he’s getting serious.
- In movement terms, it’s a sweet reminder that when we stand up we win. Three years ago this pipeline was a done deal, and thanks to you it’s come steadily undone. We can’t match Exxon or the Koch Bros with money; we can and have matched them with passion, spirit, creativity, and sacrifice.
So the Keystone fight goes on — we hope many of you will be in DC next weekend for Reject and Protect, joining the Cowboy Indian Alliance to say “hell no” to the pipeline.The Alliance members coming to DC next week are some of the strongest leaders in this fight.
If you can’t be there yourself, can you show your support for the Cowboy Indian Alliance by telling Pres. Obama and Sec. Kerry to use this delay to meet with them? act.350.org/sign/cowboy-indian-alliance/
The decision to delay was made — supposedly — account for the impact of a possible new pipeline route in Nebraska. As it happens, next week Nebraskans and members of US Tribes and Canadian First Nations will be in Washington — it seems to me that it would be prudent for the President and Sec. Kerry to make plans to meet with the Cowboy Indian Alliance at their encampment and get their story of what this pipeline would mean on the ground.
The climate fight can’t be delayed. We need to keep building the movement, and we need to keep putting heat on leaders like President Obama till we win not delay but action. Today’s DC decision just reinforces the message that if we stand together we will make a decisive difference — and there is an important opportunity on the horizon to do that in the biggest way yet, to be announced soon.
The last thing to say is thank you. You are the strength in this movement, and together we will make even more amazing things possible.
Forward,
Bill McKibben for 350.org
Sources: “Keystone Decision to be Delayed” USA Today, April 18 2014
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Rose Marie Berger 