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

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.

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

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.

‘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

‘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).

‘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).

Tommy Pico’s ‘IRL’

www.goodreads.com/book/show/30968235

“I recoil

at we. Now we

know; We feel love

when; We believed

the Earth was flat

until; We stir with

heavy feeling bc…

I wipe my muddy feet

on the loveseat of We

unless I’m talking

about you and me.

Kumeyaays knew

a rounded Earth based

on the curve of stars

or didn’t, I’ll never know.

It’s a dark part inside me.

Books are fallible, towers

of letters with the power

you give them. It’s heartbreaking

to watch your pillars fall

Watch the crops dry up

and die House set on fire Forced

to dig up yr dead To. Literally.

Dig. Up. The. Old. Graveyard.

n move w/them onto a stone hill

where nothing that grows

can live. Penned in like cattle.

Approaching scientism,

universalism, a supremacy

of any given thought

process—strikes me A

hammer of dark spots. America

never intended for me to live

So that we never intended

to include me”

(Tommy Pico, ‘IRL,’ 70).

Poem in Geez Magazine’s 2021 Advent Devotion

I’m thrilled to share that my poem was included in Geez Magazine’s 2021 Advent book: ‘Songs for the Shadows: A Season of Embracing the Dark.’

If you don’t have a plan for advent devotions already, I highly recommend snagging yourself a copy today: https://geezmagazine.org/blogs/entry/songs-for-the-shadows

My poem is called ‘The Spirit Finds Me in the Darkness’ and is a re-imagining of Psalm 23.

The Co-Creation of the Lord’s Garden (Inspired by Isaiah 61)

The call of justice creation is upon us

because God’s Garden bears fruits

only of goodness and love;

injustice has no place to take root

in the Lord’s Garden.

Our Creator God invites us

to tend to the Lord’s Garden –

beyond performative words –

            toward a tangible justice harvest

for all people,

and all creation,

that cultivates the margins.

Our Gardner God call us

to provide clinical counseling

                        for those processing trauma;

to become abolitionists

of the prison industrial complex

and free prisoners from servitude to capitalism;

to expunge student debt;

to create housing for all;

to make medical and mental healthcare

                        accessible to all;

to demand an end to war

                        and instead fund the wholistic care

                                    of all children;

to end global hunger

                        and distribute hoarded resources

                                    equitably;

to lay fallow the Earth

                        from extractive industries

                                    and repent of our idolatrous beliefs

                        of private property ownership

over God’s creation.

We tend to these seedlings of justice –

toward the future harvest of God’s Garden –

            because they are right and just;

            because they are love;

            because God has covenanted with us

                        as followers of Christ

                                    to co-create the Lord’s Garden.

This is our salvation:

            to tend to the Earth

            and all of its inhabitants

            until God’s intended flourishing

springs forth for all creation –

from mutual co-creation –

            amidst adulation of praise,

            communal well-being,

            and the final fruition

of God’s glorious Garden.