Love in a Dangerous Time

This is a very special edition of Love in a Dangerous Time. It’s special for two reasons.

First, this episode was recorded on the GooseCast Stage at the Wild Goose Festival, on July 8, 2016. The Wild Goose, as most of you know, is where Spirit, Justice, Music & Art come together and over 3000 people of faith spend a weekend digging deep into their souls to grow and be transformed. This year, The Goose added a program to offer progressive Christian podcasters a chance to do a live episode on stage with an audience. There were twelve of us and it was a total blast. And it was called, of course, the GooseCast.

Recording in a tent, on the very busy grounds, lets you hear all of the ambiance of the Festival, while we’re having our conversation.

The second reason this is a special episode is that my guest is none other than Jim Wallis. You know Jim as the leader of Sojourners, one of the staunchest, fighting for justice, Christian organizations

around for over 40 years. Their magazine, both on paper and online, is must reading.

Back in April, we lost one of the most important peacemakers we’ve ever had, in the person of Father Daniel Berrigan. At that time, Jim published an article in Sojourners called “How Daniel Berrigan Helped Save My Faith” in which he told of his long and close friendship with Berrigan and the theological impact this peacemaking elder had had on him over decades. The theme of the Wild Goose Festival this year was “Story: Receive, Respond, Reshape,” and Jim Wallis’ stories about Fr. Dan, his faith, his political work, his poetry and his sense of humor were right on the money for the Goose.

If you don’t know much about Fr. Dan Berrigan, or if you know a lot, you’ll find this interview moving, interesting and valuable.

(Note: To order these books, click the picture. It will take you to Amazon.com. Love in a Dangerous Time will receive a small advertising fee.

Last fall, I heard the conversion story of a friend here in New York. In many ways it was a typical testimony of how Jesus’ love made her world ok. This kind of a story doesn’t usually move me. I keep thinking that there’s got to be something more here than feeling good. But she went on to tell of her other conversions and I began to learn a lot from her about faith and about changing the world.

Today, Chantilly Mers, has come to the Love in a Dangerous Time World Headquarters to share her story with the Lovers. This is a time to listen and think about the possibility that opens up if you are committed to learning what Jesus was up to.

Please comment below, at LoveInADangerousTime.net, or better still at our Facebook discussion page at

Facebook.com/LoveInDTime. Let’s talk about this.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/chantillymers

chantillymers.com

Hey, Lovers. Welcome to Love in a Dangerous Time. It’s so good to be back with you. Things are a little slower in the summer, so I’m going to install a summer schedule to try to even it out a bit. You’ve already noticed that I haven’t been my usual machine-like self, with a new episode every week. So, for the summer, I’ll put out a new episode every two weeks. I hope this is enough to keep you coming back. I have some good interviews lined u, so you won’t want to miss any of it.

I hope everyone is planning to go to Wild Goose in a couple of weeks. That’s from Thursday, July 7 to Sunday, July 10, in Beautiful Hot Springs, North Carolina. I often say it’s a cross between Church Camp and Burning Man, and it really is. Lots of great music, art and politics. And lots of late-night conversation about issues around living in our faith in such a way that we really do help change the world.

This year, for the first time, The Goose will feature a podcast stage, called GooseCast. We’ll have 14 of the leading progressive Christian podcasters on stage, in front of an audience, recording an episode of their cast. So stop on by and meet some of the folks you’ve been listening to. My on-stage episode will be on Friday at 1:30. I’ll be interviewing Jim Wallis, of Sojourners, on his friendship with Fr. Daniel Berrigan.

And Wild Goose understands that podcast listeners are the coolest people in the world, so they have offered you, our listeners, a 25% discount on your tickets. Just use the promo code, “GooseCast2016” when you’re ordering.

I want to be sure you know that we now have special Facebook group just for Lovers. It’s at

facebook.com/LoveInDTime. I hope lots of you will go there occasionally to participate in discussions about the various episodes. I’ve had interviews with some controversial people over the last two years. Leave a comment if they piss you off, or inspire you to new heights.

And Lovers, today’s episode is a talk with Rev. Julian DeShazier, a Chicago pastor whos church has given sanctuary to an undocumented man, from Mexico, who has been ordered by the Immigration Service to leave his family and move back to Mexico. We talk about the reasons that Rev. DeShazier’s church decided to take the risk of supporting their neighbor.

The other aspect of this interview is Rev. DeShazier’s alter ego, JKwest, who is a very conscious rapper in the Chicago area. He’s got a new album, called “Lemonade” (no relation to the Beyonce alum of the same name), and we open wit a cut from it called “Whatever Happened.”

Links:

http://universitychurchchicago.org/about/staff/

http://jkwest.com/videos/

I Woke Up (original version) – https://youtu.be/x554xj6f8xI

Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition

https://www.facebook.com/Chicago.Sanctuary

Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

https://www.crln.org/Immigrant-Welcoming

“Because the world is not at peace, any conduct – individual, group or mass – that essentially maintains the status quo, or admits only slow change, is not real commitment to peace.  To achieve peace, we must be revolutionaries, nonviolent revolutionaries.”

– Danilo Dolci (1924-1997), Italian social activist & poet

Hi, Lovers – My guest today is someone who everyone should know about. He’s one of the leading public intellectuals of our time. I’m of course talking about Cornel West. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. He has written over 20 books and has edited 13. Though he is best known for his classics, Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and for his memoir, Brother West: Living an

d Loving Out Loud. His most recent releases, Black Prophetic Fire and Radical King, were received with critical acclaim. And he has released a couple of albums of his own hip-hop, and he’s been arrested in the struggle God knows how many times.

Over the last few years, Dr. West has been calling himself a “Revolutionary Christian.” Sometimes he’s trying to distinguish himself from his very close secular allies who call themselves Revolutionaries as well. This idea of being a Revolutionary Christian appeals to me and I think to lots of Christians in these times of climate disaster, police murders, and the rising danger of war and fascism.

So that’s what we talk about here. How do we become Revolutionary Christians in these times? What should we be doing? What can we expect? How does it all relate to the Gospel, and Jesus?

I tell ya, Lovers, this is good stuff.

Please leave your comments on the website, LoveInADangerousTime.net, or make an audio comment using that feature of the site. You can also join the ongoing discussion at the LoveInADangerousTime Facebook page and read what other Lovers have to say.

So now, get ready for some hard boiled Love – in a Dangerous Time.

Links:

Cornel’s official site: www.CornelWest.com

The Wild Goose Festival – July 6-10 – Hot Springs, NC – WildGooseFestival.org  (be sure to use the promo code: GooseCast2016)

Lovers! It’s so good to be with you again.  I have a very interesting guest today, but first I want to talk with you about The Wild Goose Festival. The Goose will take flight on Thursday, July 7 and come in for a landing on Sunday, July 10. It all takes place in beautiful Hot Springs, North Carolina. As usual there will be dozens of amazing speakers, authors, leaders, artists and musicians coming together to think about what our faith means to us and what it means that we have to do. The Goose is both kid-friendly and adult friendly, so it’s time to get your tickets. That way you won’t miss any of the amazing speakers, performers, or beer & hymns.

This year you get a special bonus for listening to podcasts. You knew it was going to happen, right? This year, just because you listen to Love in a Dangerous Time you can get 25% off on your tickets, just by using the offer code: “GooseCast2016” when you go to WildGooseFestival.org and order your tickets. Lovers, that’s real money. And don’t forget to come to the GoosCast stage, where the cream of the crop of progressive Christian podcasters will be recording live episodes right there in front of an audience. Of course, you won’t want to miss the live recording of Love in a Dangerous Time, on Friday at 1:00, when I’ll interview Jim Wallis about his friendship with the late (and truly great) Father Daniel Berrigan, the amazing worker for peace. It’ll be epic!!

Today’s interview is going to be epic as well. Finnish/American theologian, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen just released (well, actually his publisher Eredmans just released) volume four of his five-volume systematic theology, A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, the title of this volume is Spirit and Salvation. Kärkkäinen is very committed to the experience of the Holy Spirit in life itself. He focuses quite a bit on the world-wide upsurge of Pentacostalism and refers to the daily experience of the Spirit in that world. Check out the link below.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Lovers, I have another little bonus for you. If you want to go deeper into his theology, I’m including a link to the audio from a book event featuring Kärkkäinen and four other theologians from the New York area discussing his work. This event was sponsored by New York Theological Seminary and organized by Professor Peter Heltzel.

NYTS Event – Part 1

NYTS Event – Part 2

So Lovers, I’m thrilled that you’re listening to this episode, but maybe you should get that 25% discount to Wild Goose right now. I’m just sayin’.

___________________________________________

Dr. Kärkkäinen’s Author Page on Amazon

Hi, Lovers – Before I launch into today’s – very special – episode of Love in a Dangerous Time, I

want to give you some really great news!!!  This year, the Wild Goose Festival will feature a special stage devoted to the many progressive Christian podcasts that you and I listen to all the time.  And, even more exciting, I can offer you a 25% (yeah, I know I said 20% in the recording, but it’s 25% – Really) discount on your tickets to the Goose. Just use the promo code “GooseCast2016” and your computer will do the math. Remember, The Wild Goose Festival (which is at Wild Goose Festival.org) is July 7-10, in beautiful Hot Springs, North Carolina. (Yes, you will be free to use the bathroom of your choice.) Love In A Dangerous Time’s live recording on the GooseCast stage will be on Saturday at 4:00. I’d love to meet you all, so come on by.

And now: Oh my Goodness! Lovers! I have an amazing interview for you today. Today is Sunday, May 15, 2016 and it is the eightieth birthday of none other than Wavy Gravy.  I usually release my programs on Monday, but it just seemed right to put this one out there on Mr. Gravy’s birthday. I recorded it back in February, while I was visiting my old stompin’ grounds of the San Francisco Bay Area, and visited Wavy at his Berkeley home.

I’m betting that a lot of you Lovers are too young to remember many of the names Wavy mentions, or be able to sing any of the songs by the bands who he’s worked with, but you will resonate with one of the most amazingly pure hearts on the planet. Wavy Gravy is the King of the Hippies, from his days as a Beat Poet, in Greenwich Village in the early sixties, to his time as the head of security at the legendary Woodstock Music Festival, to helping to form the Seva Foundation to eradicate blindness in the Third World, through cataract operations, to the “Nobody for President” campaign (“Who’s in Washington working for you? Nobody!!”). He even started a summer camp to teach circus skills and (more importantly, “human being skills”) to thousands of kids.

His bio is positively operatic. The best way to really familiarize yourself with him is to watch a recent biographical film, “Saint Misbehavin’” (see link below), or read his autobiography, “Something Good for a Change: Random Notes on Peace Thru Living” (also, see link below)(… and check out page 81!!).

I edited almost nothing from this interview. Wavy is the classic storyteller, and his stories are a rich window, not only into the very special culture of the sixties, but into the heart of generosity and love. That’s his life. That’s why I would absolutely nominate him for sainthood.

A word to the more conservative among you. You’ll hear Wavy talk positively about using some of the favorite drugs of the sixties. I understand how that might bother you and even undermine your ability to listen to him talk. But please, listen to the whole interview. This guy is for real. And he’s done a lot to make this world a much better place.

If you have something to say about this program, or about Wavy Gravy, please leave a comment at LoveInADangerousTime.net, in the comments section about this episode. Or you can now leave a comment, and join the conversation, at my new Facebook community page at www.facebook.com/LoveInADangerousTime. I’d love to hear from you, no matter what you have to say. So let’s talk.

To quote Wavy Gravy (who is actually quoting Ken Kesey – the author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”), “Always put your good where it can do the most.”

Enjoy.

WavyGravy.net

CampWinnarainbow.org

Seva.org

“Probably the best known statement about charity, approaching the status of a truism, is, ‘Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime.’ This has been supplemented by various further suggestions, including investigating who owns the pond, forming a fishing collective, or supporting community organizing methods which will allow this beleaguered fisherman to choose his own goals. But fish distribution, in various modes, remains across the board the primary faith-based response to poverty and need, performed on a massive scale.”

This is a quote from the PhD thesis of my guest today, Dr. Joe Stife, who received his degree only a few weeks ago from Union Theological Seminary. We both belong to a discussion group that meets on Wednesdays at the most famous restaurant in the world, and for a month we discussed Joe’s work, coming to a consensus that he has written something that will make a big difference in the lives of Christians whose discipleship is all about trying to truly end poverty.

Joe uses his academic skills combined with a considerable amount of activist experience over some twenty years to shine a light on the history of not only the practices of charity, but the ways that Christians have thought about the poor and our responsibilities to them over the millennia. He then shows how these ways of looking at the poor and charity have led to the bureaucratized practices we see the government and the Church using today. He then takes a look at how we might better use our understanding of the Gospel to do more effective and humane work in this area.

As of yet, Joe doesn’t have a publisher. It’s only been a few weeks, but it will be published and when it is, I’ll put a link on LoveInADangerousTime.net to help you buy a copy (or several).

A word about next week. The inimitable Wavy Gravy will be my guest. I’ll be releasing the program on Sunday (May 15, 2016) rather than Monday, because it’s Mr. Gravy’s eightieth birthday. If you’re not familiar with this icon of mirth, love, and powerful politics, take a look at a film about him called “Saint Misbehavin’” (Click HERE), or you can order the disk at Amazon.com.

My apologies. There is a lot of white noise on this recording!

Today we’re going to talk with a couple of people who are taking the whole idea of ministry to a new, and really fun, level. We’ll talk about “Carnival de Resistance,” with Tevyn East and Jay Beck.

But first, I want to apologize for doing only one episode in the month of April. Of course, the episode that I did put up, number 61, “BELOVED EARTH COMMUNITY – Doing Climate Work in a Large Church, with Beth Ackerman”, was a really good one about a very large church in New York and the movement within the church to divest from fossil fuel companies. There’s lots of good info there (including a very useful document they’ve produced) that will be useful to any congregation that’s working on this Earth-saving project. So, if you missed it, please go to LoveInADangerousTime.net and listen. You’ll be glad you did.

So April has been a busy month. Between a paying gig (I know you know that podcasting doesn’t pay most of us) and some family things that came up, I fell behind on lining up interviews, and well… things just piled up. But I’m back now with some really interesting things in the pipeline. One thing to look forward to is a very special interview with Saint Misbehavin’ himself, Wavy Gravy. It’s a gem, and Wavy is a gem too. That one will drop the day after Mr. Gravy’s eightieth birthday (which his May 15).

Getting back to the business of podcasts not paying. Actually they cost. There are monthly fees that must be paid, and equipment, and the occasional marketing effort. And it wouldn’t it be great if I was able to make a living doing this work that I love so much. So, Lovers, maybe it’s time to step up the plate and go to my Patreon page – patreon.com/loveinadangeroustime, or you can click the icon on the front page of LoveInADangerousTime.net – and sign up for a monthly contribution of one dollar or more. I support a couple of podcasts on Patreon myself. It’s pretty painless. Every little bit counts and when you put your dollar (or 2, or 5) together with a whole bunch of generous Lovers, suddenly it becomes some real money and I can put more focus on this podcast. There are some pretty snazzy rewards for becoming a patron, but I’m sure none is so great as the warm, toasty feeling in your heart, because you are a patron of a podcast that gets you into the middle of the conversation about what’s next for the Church. It’s a beautiful thing.

Note: I’m having a problem with the video on Patreon right now, but it’ll be fixed in the next couple of weeks.

Now, back to Carnival de Resistance. Tevyn East & Jay Beck have created a full-blow circus that takes the audience (participants, actually) into another world of consciousness and through sometimes life-changing experiences. They use all the arts – music, dance, theatre, painting, wild costumes, crazy hats, and sometimes bizarre ways of talking and acting – to blast open the fences we build around our way of being in the world. And all of this comes from their solid understanding of the Gospel and how it can lead to deep change. They have been working for many years with their long-time mentor, theologian, Ched Meyers. A lot of their work is focused helping people learn how to love and protect our planet, and how to love our “neighbor” in ways that can bring justice. They do some really great things, and their story is fascinating. I think now it’s time to go the interview and see how it changes your life.

Links:

Short video about the Carnival

www.carnivalderesistance.com

facebook.com/carnivalderesistance

Gorgeous pics from their recent residency in Charlotte, NC 

Today we take on Climate Change. My guest is Beth Ackerman, who’s a member of The Riverside Church, here in New York – only four blocks from the Love in a Dangerous Time world headquarters. Beth is the sparkplug who started a very exciting movement among Riversiders to take action on this life-or-death issue facing us all. We talk about her own story of how the “Beloved Earth Community” was formed at Riverside, and some of the interesting particularities of doing social justice work in a very large church.

If you are doing social change work in your community, as a church group, you’ll find this interview very interesting. Linked below, are two very informative documents that the Beloved Earth Community created and that you find useful in the work you’re doing in your own congregation.

If you would like to be put on the mailing list for The Beloved Earth Community’s newsletter, send me an email ([email protected]) and I’ll get your email address to Beth.

Full disclosure: I am a former member of The Riverside Church, and worked with Beth and the Beloved Earth Community before I left.

Links:

Beloved Earth Community’s document about divestment.

Divestment FAQ

We have another musical show for you today, featuring Charles Pettee, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who has taken the Psalms and set them to bluegrass style music. This is really going to be fun, so stick around.

Today’s program is going to take us into the Psalms. I have to confess that in my upbringing I never got interested in the Psalms. So I don’t know them very well at all. Charles Pettee has taken on the project of turning these ancient songs and poems into contemporary Bluegrassy folk songs, and this really brings them to life. These songs make it more possible to imagine yourself in the Psalm – praying, lamenting, or ripping God a new one for some injustice you think that God has done.

We’ll transition into the interview with a cut from Charles’ first Psalm album, Steady Love. The cut is called Refuge and it uses the words of Psalm 144. Enjoy.

www.FolkPsalm.com