Anna
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7 months ago
in Momentum on the Jesus Manifesto
Nathan,
My husband and I are experiencing a similar momentum pick-up right now. I have lived for over two years in this economically and every other way depressing area and have idolized the day when we could move out to greener pastures. Now, the possibility is almost a real choice, I find myself wanting to dig in and "start wildfires of spiritual imagination" instead of running away.
~Anna
My husband and I are experiencing a similar momentum pick-up right now. I have lived for over two years in this economically and every other way depressing area and have idolized the day when we could move out to greener pastures. Now, the possibility is almost a real choice, I find myself wanting to dig in and "start wildfires of spiritual imagination" instead of running away.
~Anna
1 reply
7 months ago
in Radical Dissent: Poetry By Wendell Berry and the Mad Farmer on the Jesus Manifesto
Speaking for my own community, if there were no industrialist/militarist/government props, it would blow away with the prairie wind. We've got an Army base/bombing range, a tire and cardboard factory, a state university, the Indian/Native American tribal cabals and casinos, a major defense contractor headquarters, box top stores, a wildlife refuge, and probably many other players I don't know about all within a 50 mile circumference.
People should plain old not be living here in the concentration they are. Agriculture has been a failure, but no one wants to admit it. The Feds bail out the farmers year after year. Oil is not such a major factor, though a little still is pumped further east. The Complexes keep the people here, like a gully collecting tumbleweed. I think it would be perfectly sane to move out and turn the land back over to roaming tribes and herds of bison.
People should plain old not be living here in the concentration they are. Agriculture has been a failure, but no one wants to admit it. The Feds bail out the farmers year after year. Oil is not such a major factor, though a little still is pumped further east. The Complexes keep the people here, like a gully collecting tumbleweed. I think it would be perfectly sane to move out and turn the land back over to roaming tribes and herds of bison.
1 reply
Jason Winton
Anna, good comments...have you ever read (or heard of) Wes Jackson? He founded the Land Institute in Salina, KS. They have been working to promote and research Natural Systems Agriculture for over 20 years, an approach that sees nature (not corporate or agro-business interests) as the measure for health and membership. On their website (http://www.landinstitute.org/) they state the reason behind their conviction, "The tendency of all natural ecosystems is to increase their ecological wealth. For instance, all prairie, left alone, recycles materials, sponsors its own fertility, runs on contemporary sunlight, and increases biodiversity." They seek to honor and mimic this system in the production of food for humans.
As a side thought (though an important connection to make), how can this type of thinking inform the ways we have learned to do evangelical church planting, evangelism, discipleship programs, etc.? What would it be like to find God at work in our place (sustaining it, loving it, holding it together) vs. importing Jesus-y products from the "experts" who live at a distance and do not honor the local names?
As a side thought (though an important connection to make), how can this type of thinking inform the ways we have learned to do evangelical church planting, evangelism, discipleship programs, etc.? What would it be like to find God at work in our place (sustaining it, loving it, holding it together) vs. importing Jesus-y products from the "experts" who live at a distance and do not honor the local names?
7 months ago
in Faith Half-Mast on the Jesus Manifesto
Many of us have the choice of attending non-peace churches or no church at all, unless we have the gumption to start a peace church. Then we might be awfully lonely. My husband and I chose the former. We get to be salt, creatively, in our context. Maybe, just maybe, we can be an open ear to someone who is thinking the same things but is afraid to speak out.
1 reply
Michael Cline
We give a lot of lip service to listening to the "other" among us...usually meaning the oppressed or the disenfranchised. But in this case, my "other" includes WWII vets and local leaders of the VFW.
That's a little harder to swallow isn't it? We tend to want to listen to the "other" in our midst as long as they aren't the "other" that looks a lot like us but just thinks differently.
That's a little harder to swallow isn't it? We tend to want to listen to the "other" in our midst as long as they aren't the "other" that looks a lot like us but just thinks differently.
Part of what helps is seeing that commitment to a certain kind of community -- a peace church or some new experiment in intentional community -- is not really an option right now unless I start it, and I'm not ready for that. A certain kind of commitment to community -- warts and all -- is readily available. It's just hard. I'm not saying there's never a time to shake the dust of your feet and move on (or get all Jesus on the Pharisees) but I guess I see cause to ponder slowly.