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No images? Click here Saturday, May 20, 2023 Richard Rohr's Daily MeditationFrom the Center for Action and Contemplation Week Twenty Summary Evil Is a Social RealityMay 14 – May 19, 2023 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Week Twenty Practice Gathering Wood for the Divine FireRev. Alexia Salvatierra has worked for years nurturing social justice movements that challenge the systemic evils of our time. Here she recalls a Scripture reflection that civil rights leader James M. Lawson (b. 1928) often told to emphasize the importance of the small actions we can take: Reverend James M. Lawson … used to share with the new interns and staff his interpretation of 1 Kings 18:20–39. In the passage, Elijah is competing with the false prophets. They each build an altar of wood and pray for divine fire to come down. The fire comes down for Elijah but not for the false prophets. The wisdom that Jim would draw from the story was that Elijah’s success came from three elements—the fire, the prayer, and the wood. The fire is analogous to what happens in a movement when suddenly the number of people engaged multiplies and floods of human beings break down previously impenetrable barriers. The element of prayer is always critical. But the fire could not come down if there were no wood for it to burn. The building of the wooden altar is the slow, daily process of movement building, the endless conversations and meetings, the actions that seem to have no impact, the multiple defeats of initiatives and proposals. No human being can control when the fire comes down, but we can and must pile up the wood. Alexia Salvatierra and Brandon Wrencher, Buried Seeds: Learning from the Vibrant Resilience of Marginalized Christian Communities (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2022), 191. Image credit: A path from one week to the next—Exercise in Grief and Lamentation credits from left to right: Jessie Jones, Jennifer Tompos, Jenna Keiper. Used with permission. Click here to enlarge image. On retreat, the CAC staff used watercolors to connect to our collective grief. This is one of the watercolor paintings that came from that exercise. 2023 Theme: The Prophetic PathPractice with UsExplore FurtherMeet the TeamJOIN NOWWas this email forwarded to you? Sign-up for the monthly newsletter from the Center for Action and Contemplation for the latest news about our programs, including new books, podcasts, events, and online learning opportunities. The work of the Center for Action and Contemplation is possible only because of people like you! Learn more about how you can help support this work. If you would like to change how you receive these emails you can update your preferences or unsubscribe from our list.
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