Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

The Northern Red Oak by Ron Dart

Milton Acorn died in 1986, and a year after his death, some of the finest poets in Canada contributed to a collection to honour the hard life and vivid

personal and political poetry of Acorn; the collection was called The Northern Red Oak. Fred Cogswell contributed a poem to the missive called ‘When I Think of Christ’. The poem is worth the pondering. 

          When I think of Christ

          I think not of heaven’s king

          but of a neighbour 

          who died in the fire

          of his burning barn to save

          a too stubborn horse. 

Ron Dart 

Milton Acorn: Christian Poet of the People by Ron Dart

                

        The Acorn picture I want to convey is of a maverick and

        outsider, a man who speaks out at the wrong time, asks

        embarrassing questions of human society, and will not be

        satisfied by evasions.                 Al Purdy

 

Milton Acorn (1923-1986) was, when alive, one of the most controversial Canadian poets, and since his death, there has been a growing interest in his life and poetic vision.

 

Acorn won the People’s Poetry Award forty years ago (1970) for his incisive and evocative missive, I’ve Tasted My Blood, and he was awarded the Governor General’s Award thirty-five years ago (1975) for The Island Means Minago. Both books of poetry walk the attentive reader into the white heat political vision of Acorn.

 

The fact that Acorn is one of Canada’s finest poets has meant that biographers have been keen to track and trace his unusual life and poetic journey. Out of This World: The Natural History of Milton Acorn (1996) and Milton Acorn: In Love and Anger (1999) tell the tale well of Acorn’s hard and demanding journey, but both tomes fail to properly deal with Acorn’s deeper Christian commitment.

 

Acorn was both a political and prophetic poet, and, as such, he could not be fitted into the partisan politics of the political left, right or centre. He was fond of George Grant and C.S. Lewis, and Acorn’s High Church Anglicanism was at the core and centre of his being. Acorn sought to live and write in such a way that his poetry embodied and reflected the voices and concerns of those on the margins. In short, his faith and his sense of  ecology, justice and peace were integrated at a demanding and profound level.

 

The fact that there is growing interest in Acorn yet once again means that three books are in the womb on Acorn that should be published in 2010-2011. These books will cover some of his finest poetry and critical essays on his poetry, science fiction, plays and prose. Acorn can be, for those that are interested in the artistic journey, a guide into the troubled waters of faith, poetry and prophetic politics. There have been few Christian poets in Canada of Acorn’s stature, and we still have much to learn from this acorn turned oak.

 

Ron Dart

Obama -- Nobel Peace by Wayne Northey

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their [Martin Luther King’s and Gandhi's non-violence] examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.” – President Obama, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech 

How can one deny that President Obama is a militarist and a mass murderer?  Theologian John McKenzie observed that no American President since the nuclear age has been unwilling to push the button.  Obama is likewise not unwilling, “sworn to protect and defend [his] nation”, at the risk of thousands more civilian deaths.  “The world as it is” at the state level has always called forth a violent solution to violence.  “Evil does exist in the world”, and what Martin Luther King Jr. said of the United States of America exactly a year before his assassination still obtains: “[T]he greatest purveyor of violence in the world today [is] my own government.”  America is prime candidate for “Evil Empire”. 

The “recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason” call forth a transcendence of same towards a new history of the state without violence.  It is thinkable and doable, and the only measure of human greatness.  There is one implicit truth in the above excerpt: To have a hope of being a bona fide peacemaker, Obama chose the wrong job.

Schooled in Denial - Brian Zahnd / Walter Brueggemann

Schooled in Denial - Posted by Brian Zahnd

Last night I dreamed I had a conversation with Walter Brueggemann.
Maybe it went something like this...

That's Brueggemann on pain, artistry and the role of the church in a culture of denial.
And a culture of denial is always part and parcel with imperial exceptionalism.
It's part of the mantra of the "we're number one" mentality.
So the empire arrogantly says...

I sit as a queen
I am no widow
I will never mourn
(Revelation 18:7)

But of course the empire provides no exemption from sorrow.
Yet it's in the pain of sorrow that hope is born.
Not the the panicked, desperate bid for cheap certitude--
But authentic hope in God which has always been an anchor for the people of faith.

Don't give up.
You are loved.
And you are going to make it.

BZ

Everybody's wearing a disguise
To hide what they've got left behind their eyes.
But me, I can't cover what I am
Wherever the children go I'll follow them.

Blind by Al Sergel

blind

today, I woke to the reality of being older than the day before.

life happens. 

it does not abide.

my willingness to allow life to stagnate into a definition of “it's just part of the process” is a sign of my agreement with modernity.  it's my cooperation with the violence of this age.

far from being a peacemaker...

i am blind.

i am deaf.

and, often, i am a common thief pick pocketing God.

Forgiving Dr. Mengele -- Review by Peri Zhand

Tonight, while Brian spent yet another evening working on his new book, "Unconditional? The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness", I watched a documentary called "Forgiving Dr. Mengele."

Eva Kor and her sister Miriam were identical ten year old Jewish twins, and because they were twins they were yanked from their mother as they stood in line to face the crematorium in Auschwitz, Poland. Their mother and every other family member perished. They were saved so that they could be used to be part of medical experiments, cruel barbaric acts of torture devised by a Nazi maniac physician named Dr. Mengele.

Prophecy and Reconciliation by Bob Ekblad

Prophecy and Reconciliation
Bob Ekblad
Nov 26, 2009

I am amazed by how the Holy Spirit is at work actualizing Jesus’ work of breaking down the “barrier of the dividing wall” (Eph 1:14) through the gift of prophesy. Prophetic words bridge divides between God and humans, the past and present, believers and unbelievers, people of diverse ethnicities, nationalities, theological traditions, political ideologies, bringing reconciliation amidst every imaginable difference. God is at work reconciling the world to himself, gathering his children into a united family in Christ. 

Advent on the Streets by Chris Hoke

Advent on the Streets

Early on a rainy Sunday morning in Seattle's U-District, over a dozen homeless youth spill into the cozy church room from the hard, wet streets on which they survive. I drive down from the Skagit Valley to this weekly Bible study they call God Talk only once a month. So almost every time I sit down in the nook of couches and we go around saying our names, the faces are mostly new to me. They're sleepy, and guarded. But beneath their hoodies and oversized coats, beanies and bandanas, there are tender eyes that peek out, hoping to hear good news. Otherwise, they can leave for a smoke, or simply fall asleep. 

As the leader for the morning, I've got a few minutes to give them reason to suspect staying awake and present is worth it. My joy is to show them (and myself, by seeing it in their eyes) that the story inside the Bible has much more to do with their bitter lives on the streets than existence inside a warm home and church.

9/11: Their Voices Cry Out -- by Ron Dart

                                  9/11:

                     Their Voices Cry Out 

    To Peter Dale Scott and ‘Deep Politics’

 

Brittle brown, red and rust leaves

had fallen, I

was on Sabbatical, children had

just left for

another day of school.

 

It was a blue sky day in Abbotsford,

not so elsewhere.

Terrorists had hijacked planes, towers

were sliced through like scissors

through thin paper, down, down

went the citadels.

Discernment: Testing My Own Voice by Brad Jersak

DISCERNMENT: TESTING MY OWN VOICE

In recent days I have been thinking about our dialogues with God and how we weigh them. I started noticing that when the prayer conversation alternates: God, then Brad, then God, then Brad, and son on, I was diligent to test what God is allegedly saying. I test to see whether the voice of God is really God or not God. I check that voice according to the three-legged stool of the Word, the Body and the Spirit, as recommended in Can You Hear Me? Tuning in to the God who Speaks.

But I neglected to test MY voice. And why should I? After all, it’s my own voice, isn’t it? Or is it? But when I began to categorize the themes that came under the umbrella of ‘my voice,’ I noticed something. On the one hand, there was the voice that agrees with and responds to God in faith. We could call that the voice of my ‘true heart,’ or the voice of the ‘new creation,’ or the ‘new me.’

On the other hand, there are these other voices that I assumed were my own as well: The voice of condemnation (beating myself up) that would then trigger the voice of self-pity (feeling sorry for myself), and the voices of shame, self-hatred, fear, worry, anger, and so on. In my head, I would hear and say, ‘I am afraid; I am angry; I don’t like myself; I’m not worthy,’ etc. Perhaps you know those voices as well.

War, Police and Prisons: Cross-Examining State-Sanctioned Violence by Wayne Northey

Podcast Download this episode (57 min)

 

The Western state arrogated to itself sole prerogative to commit violence against its enemies. The state’s domestic enemies are criminals, its international enemies whomever the current government declares such. This presentation addresses morally, philosophically and theologically the state’s right to commit violence, especially lethal violence. It will argue that issues of societal violence from schoolyard bullying to murder perpetuate ultimately due to state modelling in training and duties legitimated for its police, prisons and military. It will suggest an alternative.

A pdf of the presentation is available here.

The Making of Miracle -- Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

    Both religion and science — modern physics in particular— operate in the realm of faith based on the evidence of things not seen. Ask a physicist how many particles of non-baryonic "dark matter" he has seen, weighed and measured. "None", he will have to answer. "Why, then, do you believe in it." The only answer he can give is, "on the evidence of things not seen." Higgs Boson is another construct accepted on the evidence of things not seen. Cosmic string theorists must give a similar answer with regard to cosmic strings (although they are not so certain that they do exist).

    Quantum mechanics is not a final theory, but a transitional phase of physics. It has led us to understand that, from the perspective of human reason, strangeness and mystery are prevailing conditions of all existence. As we transition in modern physics, how much greater will the mystery become and how much more will the "strangeness" confound our reason?

American Exceptionalism by Brian Zhand

American Exceptionalism: The theory that the United States occupies a special place among the nations of the world and possesses a unique destiny in history.

I’ve heard it said, "American Exceptionalism is simply a fact." 

I'm sure it is.

Just like Greek Exceptionalism and Roman Exceptionalism and British Exceptionalism were facts too.

If you're not exceptional, you're just another nation. Exceptionalism is required of an empire.

Not to be uber-religious or anything, but I really do believe in Kingdom of God Exceptionalism. Really!

Plato's Cave -- Adaptation in Clay by Michael Ramsey

Plato's Allegory of the Cave: An adaptation in clay from Michael Ramsey on Vimeo.

"Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate" by Terry Eagleton" -- Interactive Review by Wayne Northey

Interactions With Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God
Debate, Terry Eagleton, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009, 185 pp.

Introduction

I had generally felt uninterested in the recent spate of neoatheistic publications, including The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and God is Not Great, by Christopher Hitchens. Both books and the “God Debate” are the focus of the book under discussion. In 2010, Eagleton, a noted literary critic and theoretical Marxist, is slated to give the most prestigious series of theological lectures in English today: The Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh, on “The God Debate”, that will continue his probing this theme. With Eagleton’s offering, I suddenly realized how vital to our very humanity this discussion is! What, if after all, both the dilemma of the human condition and its solution cut far more deeply than the best offerings of secular good works done by say the International Red Cross, the Canadian International Development Agency, or the American Peace Corps? What if, after all, most of the Christian West with its early inversion of the Cross into ultimate symbol of violence, the Sword, was massively unfaithful to humanity’s ultimate destiny of peace that Judeo-Christian Scripture knows as the Kingdom of God? This publication raises these issues exquisitely and much more. To read the rest of this article, download the pdf file here: Download Book Review of Reason, Faith, and Revolution

When I say . . . by Al Sergel

When I Say

For far too long perfectionism has been the hand over my mouth muzzling the truthful confession that I believe will prove to be another significant demarcation in my following of Jesus, my friend and Lord.

"I am a sinner."

"All have sinned and fallen short..." is not some nonchalant, politically correct excuse I use, but a celebratory song that I sing. A song, like a knife, that has a melody which cuts through the clouded piety my own thoughts, ideas and assumptions.

I fall short.

I sin.

It's easier to live in a vacuum where my throne room - with my idols, with my absolutes - is controllable...manageable.

It's perfect...perfect.

Yet, pinching my heart is another way.  Truly foreign to my ways, is a way of love.