With news flooded with stories of a government shutdown surrounding questions of immigration, I am excited to share a timely podcast interview.  Last year I was blessed to sit at table and interview Derek Jones of the Triangle Sanctuary Task Force about his work organizing churches and community groups to support people who are immigrants and facing discrimination and deportation.

During our talk tonight we enjoyed some Turkish lentil salad inspired by The Last Train to Istanbul, which tells the story of Turkish people who helped hide Jews from the NAZI government in World War II.  Most importantly to our questions today, we explored both the necessary politics of the Gospel claims and how these translate to our relationships with our immigrant neighbors.

This month we continue our series of "Profiles in Resistance", exploring stories of people of faith standing up against injustice.   At times the news of oppressive policies in government that hurt the poor, the disenfranchised, and minorities can cause us to balk.   But our various faith traditions here in the south-land are full of examples of those who have faced just such injustice square in the eye before, speaking truth to power, and successfully fighting to change the status quo.

In this month's podcast, we interview Chuck Fager, Quaker activist and author, about his own experience working against injustice with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's actions in Selma as well as his work through the Quaker House of Fayetteville.   He also highlights examples of people from Quaker history who have modeled the commitment to standing for justice and peace, resisting injustice in their day, suggesting some perspectives they can give in our contemporary work for justice in the south and small town America.

One of Chuck's current passions is the Snow Camp Outdoor Drama, which shares just such stories of faithful resistance in a family oriented outdoor setting, just a drive outside of the Triangle. Since his interview the Outdoor Drama has encountered some financial struggles.  To support the Snow Camp Historical Drama Society, go online to snowcampoutdoortheatre.com and click on the Donate link. Contributions are tax-deductible and can be made online or by mail to Snow Camp Historical Drama Society, P.O. Box 535, Snow Camp, NC 27349.  Also, you can find information at the same website about upcoming shows.

For our Holy Week podcast this  year, I want to share an old recording -- an interview with Rev. David Mateo, pastor Spanish language ministries at United Church of Chapel Hill, about his book JESUS DEPORTED, which re-casts the life of Jesus in the light of the experience of undocumented immigrants.   As we hear the call this season to take up our crosses and follow Jesus, Pastor David's vision of Christ standing with the poor and outcasts and of the church as tearing down all barriers at the table of the Lord is a refreshing vision that I think will inspire you during this Holiest of Weeks.

Enjoy!  

Your progressive redneck preacher,

Micah

In February, many of us have love on our minds, especially in the days leading up to and following Valentine's Day.   Yet sadly love can sometimes go horribly wrong.  In our podcast this month, we explore how love can go so wrong with Rev. Angela Roberson of the Congregational United Church of Christ in High Point, NC. In her interview, sh challenges us all to confront head on the specter of domestic violence, and gives practical advice about how to respond to those caught up in abusive relationships and situations in ways that are healing and liberating.

As the roads clear from snow and ice here in the south-land, with folk trading in hoodies and mittens for lighter clothes as things thaw after our winter storm, our monthly Progressive Redneck Preacher podcast highlights the voice of a fellow southerner who has thought deeply about our relationship with nature, Rev. Karen Richardson Dunn.

Karen Richardson Dunn is an ordained minister with the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ, and the facilitator for the conference's Creation Justice Network. She is also the forward-planning program coordinator for the Wake Forest University School of Divinity Food, Health and Ecological Well-Being Program. She lives in Asheville, NC, where she enjoys Creation in abundance.

In this month’s podcast, we talk about the call to care for God’s earth, the many ways we can recognize all creation as bearing the image of Christ, and the many exciting things she and others are doing here in the south-land to work to keep God’s good earth green.

For more information on Rev. Richardson Dunn’s ministry and opportunities to explore creation justice, check out  https://www.soc-ucc.org/soc-ministries/

Thanks for joining us at the family table yet again. Y’all come back now, ya here?

Your progressive redneck preacher,

Micah

In our most recent podcast, we speak with Rev. Angela Roberson about her work surrounding race, criminal justice reform, and the example of Christ who was targetted, mistreated, and ultimately executed by the criminal justice system of our day.    I hope her words challenge and inspire you as they did me, as we confront with how to work to bring justice and mercy into these systems of oppression in our time.

As we end Thanksgiving, a season traditionally set to celebrate harvest time, and turn toward Advent, I am excited to share a podcast interviewing  bluegrass, folk, and Americana musician Charles Pettee, about his “Folk Psalms” project.  In Folk Psalms the Biblical psalms are re-cast in the style of bluegrass music and  language of average working people.  These songs are not only delightful to listen to but also rooted in deep theological reflection on the connection between the spiritual life and  both the struggles of ordinary people and especially the land.  In addition to discussing these connection, Charles gives us a listen to some of his favorite FolkPsalms.

Keep posted on our podcast, on iTunes, Twitter, facebook, and our blog for further podcast!

 

Your progressive redneck preacher,

Micah

Just in time for All Hallow’s Eve, traditionally “Halloween”, and the last night of Domestic Violence Awareness month, is our newest podcast interview. In this interview we talk with Rev. Dian Jackson Davis, pastor of Mt. Zion United Church of Christ and author of The Phoenix – Rising from the Ashes, a novel about the experience of a woman overcoming the odds against abuse, racism, sexism, and embracing her life again. In her normal courageous way, Rev. Jackson Davis explores these issues and the many others often deemed as too “scary” to take head on in ministry.

After a short break due to having to focus on some family concerns, I am back with our newest Progressive Redneck Preacher podcast. At a time when many of us are feeling torn and heartbroken at rising prejudice and discrimination expressed in recent events here in the south-land, my interview with Rev. Dr. Rollin Russell highlights the fact our struggle is not new.

Over delicious cajun food celebrating his New Orleans upbringing, Rollin shared stories of resistance and reconciliation by faith heroes here in the southland from the Congregationalist tradition within which my United Church of Christ rests. Rollin shared so much wisdom from his experience at the heart of bridge-building and justice-focused ministry and so many stories of heroes in justice work from his tradition, that I anticipate doing a series of podcasts out of the complete interview. My hope is we can have interview others about profiles in resistance to injustice not only from his United Church of Christ tradition but also others rooted in the south-land, including trailblazers from Baptist, Methodist, Quaker, and other faith traditions.

In this podcast. we talk with Rev. David Mateo, author of the book JESUS DEPORTED and pastor of social justice and Spanish language ministries of United Church of Chapel Hill about issues being faced by Latinx folks & undocumented immigrants in our communities.