Creation

The Top 11/80 Books Grant Read in 2024

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1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

2. Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk

3. God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life by Catherine Mowry Lacugna

4. After Method: Queer Grace, Conceptual Design, and the Possibility of Theology by Hanna Reichel

5. The Development of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Yoruba (African) Indigenous Christian Movement by Caleb Oluremi Oladipo

6. On First Principles by Origen

7. The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh: Pentecostalism and the Possibility of Global Theology by Amos Yong

8. So We and Our Children May Live: Following Jesus in Confronting the Climate Crisis by Sarah Augustine

9. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

10. Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity by Joerg Rieger

11. The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men by Vine Deloria Jr.

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night scene milky way background

Merry Christmas! Tis
the season of love and hope –
mindful of the trials
and tribulations of now –
and those yet to come –
but joyful that we are not
alone – God with us!

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Love-Rooted Faith and Hope: A Message for Resisting Despair

“And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

I hear much about faith and hope these days from Christians to celebrate Trump’s victory, or to silence those despairing the results. But what is meant by faith and hope in these messages? One message a proclamation of salvific victory in a deeply flawed human being, and one a bludgeon to silence those who disagree. For me, the answer is found in “the greatest of these:” Love. How must we center love to resist cheap hope and false faith? 

“We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 8-10).

As we explore what faith and hope rooted in love means, it is first important to note that God commands us away from despair. This is the current struggle of my own heart-faith work. However, it is clear to me that I can be perplexed and mournful, but not giving into despair.

Faith and hope are critical to resisting despair.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

After washing his disciples’ feet, a non-hierarchical and countercultural activity of humility and service, and also sharing a meal with his disciples, Jesus gives the commandment to love one another. This love is an action, a lifestyle, a way of being, that is observable and has a communal impact.

Washing feet as humble service; Eating together as fellowship and community building. These are the actions of love that Jesus is calling us into. And this active/communal love is the root of hope and faith.

Hope and face are not excuses to be passive and to ignore the suffering of humans and creation around us. Hope and faith that bare such fruits are cheap and fake. Hope and faith that bare fruits of harm and domination are evil and anti-Christ.

Love-rooted-Faith is the belief in God’s promise of peace and well-being for all creation.

Love-rooted-Hope is the state of being that washes over us from faith.

And Love, the very Being of God, is the source of divine strength that urges us into communal action based on faith and hope. Communal action that co-creates with God the promise of peace and well-being for all creation. God’s one day fully realized Kin-dom.

This day has not yet come. The dominating, violent, exclusionary, deceitful, and blasphemous promises of Trump will make the realization of that day harder.

But I refuse to despair. Love-rooted-Faith and Love-rooted-Hope, I must. For “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

I am not alone. We are not alone. God is with us. And we are called into action based on this love-rooted faith and hope to fight for the well-being of all people and creation.

May we make it so.

Amen.

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Grant’s 10 Favorite Books of 70 Read in 2023!

1. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, edited by Joy Harjo, with LeAnne Howe and Jennifer Elise Foerster

2. Poet, the Warrior, the Prophet, by Rubem Alves

3. Decolonial Christianities: Latinx and Latin American Perspectives, edited by Raimundo Barreto and Roberto Sirvent

4. Reading and Writing the Lakota Language, by Albert White Hat Sr.

5. Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization, by Elaine Enns and Ched Myers

6. Galatians: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, by Nancy Elizabeth Bedford

7. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, by Linda Tuhiwai Smith

8. Complaint!, by Sara Ahmed

9. Faith and Freedom in Galatia and Senegal: The Apostle Paul, Colonists and Sending Gods, by Aliou Cissé Niang

10. Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism, by Filipe Maia

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Unnamed (a poetic response to Acts 16:16-19)

Naming:

a human process

enacted at birth

to those deemed human

enough

to deserve a name.

The slave woman –

unnamed –

regulated to the margins

of knowability and purpose

through commerce and profitability.

But God knows her name –

our names –

in the deepest sense

in the fullest sense

beyond even how we know ourselves.

The unnamed woman is known

fully and completely

as a beloved child of God. 

Sofia –

Is that your name?

The Holy Spirit present –

manifested in an unexpected form

to challenge and convict

to defy the social/cultural

norms and expectations.

To remind us,

all of us,

that the truth of God

is proclaimed loudly and boldly

where people are willing

to be transformed

to be changed

to take action –

if we are only willing

to humble ourselves

and listen

to the revelation visible

within the goodness

of all Creation.

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Happy Fourth of July

Be grateful for what you have,

they say.

Okay.

I’m grateful for my marriage

with my husband.

But many folks across the country,

emboldened with power,

want to rip our marriage apart,

calling our love unconstitutional,

along with many other nasty

words, phrases, and threats.

Seeking the goal of allowing

states to make our union illegal,

or perhaps a full-fledged federal ban.

So I’ll be grateful for what I have,

as I’ve been told,

before it all gets legislated away.

Happy Fourth of July

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Preparation Prayer

Lord,

prepare my ears to hear the suffering

shield my heart to not take on that pain

warm my soul toward genuine empathy

enliven my mind to interpret and translate

and sharpen my tongue to speak the wisdom

of Your Holy Spirit

Amen.

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‘Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth,’ Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley

One of my goals for 2021 is to be more intentional in immersing my heart, mind, and soul in transformative teachings from folks outside my own experiences/perspectives.

I’m thrilled to be starting this 100 day journey of spiritual reflection with our Creator God through ‘Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth,’ the new book from brilliant theologian, farmer, activist, and scholar Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley.

I invite you to consider joining me in this 100 day journey and order Rev. Dr. Woodley’s new book today: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506471174/Becoming-Rooted

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‘Nature Poem’ by Tommy Pico Review

www.goodreads.com/book/show/32311036

“NDN teens have the highest rate of suicide of any population group in America. A white man can massacre 9 black ppl in a church and be fed Burger King by the cops afterward. A presidential candidate gains a platform by saying Mexican immigrants are murdered and rapists

It’s hard for me to imagine curiosity [in America] as anything more than a pretext for colonialism” (Tommy Pico, ‘Nature Poem,’ 40).

“Look, I’m sure you really do just want to wear those dream catcher earrings. They’re beautiful. I’m sure you don’t mean any harm, I’m sure you don’t really think abt us at all. I’m sure you don’t understand the concept of off-limits. But what if by not wearing a headdress in yr music video or changing yr damn mascot and perhaps adding .05% of personal annoyance to yr life for the twenty minutes it lasts, the 103 young ppl who tried to kill themselves on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation over the past four months wanted to live 50% more” (Tommy Pico, ‘Nature Poem,’ 56).

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‘Advancing the Mission: The Order of Deacon in the United Methodist Church Book’ by Margaret Ann Crain

www.goodreads.com/review/show/4327901192

As a United Methodist Deacon, I am in awe and Thanksgiving of Margaret Ann Crain for putting together this comprehensive and highly enjoyable historical overview of how the current Deacon order came to be: through persistence, obedience to the Holy Spirit, and strategic planning! This book is a gem and I recommend it to every person who is curious about diaconate ministry!

Also, this quote was one of the most succinct and helpful descriptions of the call to Deacon ministry I have seen to date:

“What is a deacon? A deacon is an extension of the mission of the church, and extension of the Eucharistic table of Grace, wherever she or he is appointed. A deacon is also accountable to the UMC, accountable to uphold the highest standard of ethics to bring the needs of the world to the local church. Deacons are entrepreneurs, seeking out places to respond to the calling that God has placed on their hearts. Deacons are enfleshed representatives of Christ, seeking to contribute to the transformation of the world. Deacons are embodied mission” (Margaret Ann Crain, ‘Advancing the Mission,’ 132).

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