Advent Week 2 | Tears
“O LORD GOD OF HOSTS,
HOW LONG WILL YOU BE ANGRY WITH YOUR PEOPLE’S PRAYERS?
YOU HAVE FED THEM WITH THE BREAD OF TEARS,
AND GIVEN THEM TEARS TO DRINK IN FULL MEASURE.”
-PSALM 80:4-5
As jaunty holiday music blasts sentimental happiness, the psalmist’s talk of eating and drinking tears feels inappropriate, even rude. Yet the message of Advent is not one of superficial optimism, but rather of tenacious hope. Jesus becomes incarnate not because the world overflows with peace, joy and kindness. Jesus comes to earth to bring light to those who sit in deep darkness.
Days of aching, seasons of longing – each of us serves terms of suffering.
The birth of Jesus, the colliding of the mystery of divinity with the finitude of humanity, means that nothing – no feeling, no experience, no question, no doubt, no pain – is off-limits to God’s redemptive power and saving grace. Jesus himself knows the diet of tear-filled bread and water; his mother, Mary, does, too. Do not be ashamed of screaming, “O Lord God of Hosts, how long?” That groan from the dark night of the soul reverberates through history and all the way up to heaven. That cry is answered by Immanuel, God with us, no matter what.
FOR REFLECTION
When have you eaten the “bread of tears”? How about your neighbors? Our country? Our world? How might the bread of tears be replaced with the bread of life?
Around Christmas it feels difficult to express lament and sadness. How can you make room for those who may find this season not one of delight but one of pain?
How long, O Lord God of Hosts, will we eat and drink salty tears? We trust that no feeling or experience is off-limits to your redemptive grace, Lord, and so we cry out to you in our weakness and sorrow without shame or embarrassment. We pour out our hearts to the One who sends Immanuel to save us. We wait for your face to shine upon us, the light no darkness can overcome. We wait in hope even as we pray in anguish. Amen.
December Prayers | In him all things hold together
“All Things.” Oil, gold & silver leaf on panel. 48 x 36 inches.
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
I recently was commissioned by my church, All Souls, to commemorate Christ the King Sunday. This painting above, entitled, “All Things," is, I think, a fitting way to mark both the end and beginning of our church year. I hope you can sit with it for a minute in a brief “visio divina” to see what the Christ child might be saying to you this day.
Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) is hosting a juried virtual Advent exhibit entitled, Yes!. The above work as well as 26 others are available for your Advent meditations.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
Colossians 1:15-17
The Love of Morning
It is hard sometimes to drag ourselves
back to the love of morning
after we’ve lain in the dark crying out
O God, save us from the horror. . . .
God has saved the world one more day
even with its leaden burden of human evil;
we wake to birdsong.
And if sunlight’s gossamer lifts in its net
the weight of all that is solid,
our hearts, too, are lifted,
swung like laughing infants;
but on gray mornings,
all incident—our own hunger,
the dear tasks of continuance,
the footsteps before us in the earth’s
belovéd dust, leading the way—all,
is hard to love again
for we resent a summons
that disregards our sloth, and this
calls us, calls us.
-Denise Levertov
Advent Week 1 | Gates
“AND JACOB WAS AFRAID, AND SAID, ‘HOW AWESOME IS THIS PLACE! THIS IS NONE OTHER THAN THE HOUSE OF GOD, AND THIS IS THE GATE OF HEAVEN.”
GENESIS 28:17
Jacob sets out on a journey. On his way he stops for the night, finds a stone for a pillow, and settles into sleep, only to have his slumber disrupted by a vivid dream of a ladder travelled by angels, bridging the divide between heaven and earth, between the holy and human. God comes up close to Jacob, speaking promises of eternal blessing and companionship.
As we prepare for the birth of Jesus and the return of Christ, all around us God opens the gates of heaven, breaches whatever barriers we erect, and reveals ladders between the divine and dailiness in our lives. God arrives to stand beside us – to bless us and make us a blessing, even to all the families of the earth.
FOR REFLECTION
As you enter this season of Advent, where do you sense God’s close presence? How can you invite an awareness of God with you wherever you are?
Where do you encounter gates? What are they keeping in or keeping out? When you see a gate this week, imagine God breaching it and seeking out those on the other side.
How might you be blessed in order to be a blessing to all the families of the earth?
Lord, who knows no bounds and whose blessing is for all the families of the earth, forgive our limited vision and diminished imagination. Visit us in our vulnerability and open any gate that seeks to keep you at bay from any aspect of our lives. Open our eyes to see your angels all around us and unlatch our hearts to welcome you. Amen.
Join us on Thursday, December 9 from 12:00-12:30 for a virtual Lunchtime Book Talk with Jill Duffield, author of Advent In Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects. To register: karen@theologicalhorizons.org. Thanks to Jill for allowing us to adapt her book for these Advent e-devotionals!
For your Thanksgiving Table | Growing in Gratitude
During this season of Thanksgiving, we invite you to gather with friends, family -- or simply take time on your own -- to count your blessings. May these tools help you to “cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life.” (Alexander Maclaren, 19th c.) We are grateful for YOU!
O Taste and See That the Lord is Good (3 minutes)
Bring your awareness to your five senses. Now craft a prayer to the God who surrounds you with good things and the capacity to savor them!
O God who created this body of mine,
I am thankful that I can TASTE ______________________
I am thankful that I can SEE __________________________
I am thankful that I can TOUCH _______________________
I am thankful that I can SMELL _______________________
I am thankful that I can HEAR ________________________
Personalize the Psalm (4 minutes)
Reflect on prayers you’ve prayed over the past year --- and times when you have been aware of God’s provision and protection. As you read Psalm 28, imagine yourself jumping, shouting and singing in gratitude to God – then finish the psalm with your own words of thanks!
Psalm 28:6-9 The Message
Blessed be God— he heard me praying.
He proved he’s on my side; I’ve thrown my lot in with him.Now I’m jumping for joy, and shouting and singing my thanks to God:
The Silent Gratitude Map (15 minutes)
Gather into groups of up to 5 people and take a large sheet of paper and pens or colored markers for each group. Follow these prompts
#1 Silently reflect upon things in life for which you are grateful.
As each of you thinks of something, write it onto the sheet, and place a circle around the word/s. Everyone can write at once! Write as many as come to mind.
#2 Now draw a line from your circled items and write a reason why you are grateful for each one.
For example, if Ali writes, ‘my home,’ she might draw a line to it and write the words, ‘I can relax.’
#3 Take a few minutes to silently read others’ various responses and draw your own lines and write reasons you’re grateful for others’ items. Fill up the paper!
For example, if Jon also feels grateful for a home, then he might draw a line from Ali’s circle and write his own a reason.
#4 Now talk together about what you learned through the exercise.
Share Your Blessings (4 minutes)
“All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.” (John Calvin, 16thc.)
Consider the “Divine deposits” in your life.
Can you think of one particular blessing that you might use for the benefit of a neighbor, friend, family member or stranger? How might you put that into action this coming week?
Write your intention.
It’s THANKSGIVING Time! (8 minutes)
When does it feel like THANKSGIVING to you? Read the poem “Thanksgiving Time” by Langston Hughes (1902-1967) then recruit family or friends to help write one more verse of your own. (Rhyming is optional!)
When the night winds whistle through the trees
and blow the crisp brown leaves a-crackling down,
When the autumn moon is big and yellow-orange and round,
When old Jack Frost is sparkling on the ground,
It's Thanksgiving Time!
When the pantry jars are full of mince-meat
and the shelves are laden with sweet spices for a cake,
When the butcher man sends up a turkey nice and fat to bake,
When the stores are crammed with everything ingenious cooks can make,
It's Thanksgiving Time!
When the gales of coming winter outside your window howl,
When the air is sharp and cheery so it drives away your scowl,
When one's appetite craves turkey and will have no other fowl,
It's Thanksgiving Time!
What says THANKSGIVING to you? Write one final verse!
When…(use lines or opaque/tinted blocks beginning with the word When -- To create three-four lines of poetry)
When…
When…
It’s Thanksgiving Time!
Better Late Than Never (15 minutes)
#1 Collect notecards, envelopes and stamps.
#2 Take a few minutes to think about the past. Now write a letter of gratitude to someone in your life who has never been properly thanked for their kindness, whether large or small.
#3 Address the envelope and put it in the mailbox. Better yet, deliver and read your letter in person. Emails and phone calls count, too!
Calling & Constraints | Reflections by Fellow Thomas Hamilton '21
I grew up with a great reverence for NASA. My father was a kid when American heroes like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were plastered across every newspaper, with the Apollo program hitting its stride. I couldn’t help but adopt the same enthusiasm for everything space travel. Ostensibly, I was pretty good at math in high school, and I did alright in the one physics class I took. So, I was keen on being an astrophysicist before coming into college. I quickly learned that my skills were not as developed as some of the geniuses that go here, but I figured nothing comes easy. I was willing to struggle, to grind myself down to the bone to give this dream a fighting chance.
The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, certainly speaks. Maybe His voice isn’t explicit or well defined, but God has the wonderful ability to place special convictions within us. When it came to rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah didn’t have some booming command from God. He said that He simply “put it into his heart” (Neh. 2:12). Paul redirected his ministry based on a personal “ambition”, preaching where Christ has not already been named (Rom. 15:20). I’ll go ahead and say these are examples of a “calling”, a growing desire and ability to serve the Lord through satisfying the hunger of the world. The hope is that whatever our perceived purpose or calling is: 1) we’re good at it, 2) we love it , 3) we can be paid for it and 4) the world needs it. What’s maybe left out of the whole “calling” conversation is the reality that we will face constraints. Not all of these areas are going to intersect and that is the inevitability of our fallen nature.
I decided to stop pursuing my dream of being the cool space guy a while ago. I simply was not that good at physics, and grad school was entirely too expensive. Was I disobedient to God’s call? Nah. I’ve found I can do other things too. I lead a bible study once a week. I like being a vessel for the Lord to lead others to faith. I enjoy listening and giving a space for others to share. Heck, I’m pursuing a career in vocational ministry. It’s a complete 180 for sure, and I’m not saying our callings have to be that radical. But, it’s something I truly love, and it’s a job where I believe I can honor God best. There are still some constraints that come with that. The pay isn’t exactly that great (sorry Dad), and as a white guy, I’m going to have to spend some extra energy breaking down my own privilege to be able to empathize with ALL of the members of my community. It’s a privilege and a blessing to even have the ability to consider a calling. Those in poverty are just trying to make ends meet, taking up whatever job is available. Soon-to-be mothers are pressured with the task of finding a work-life balance, juggling new constraints on time and energy while raising a needy child. I champion that purpose can be found in whatever job we undertake. As Christians, our work is a form of worship to our Lord; it is how we work that gives shape to our respective part within the body of Christ (Col. 3:23 & 1 Cor. 12:12). The Great Commission, the duty we’ve been assigned to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19), is more than enough purpose. It is within our worldly jobs that we have been given the holy authority to be the salt and light of the earth! How wonderful is that.
November Prayers | For God's nearness in the coming dark
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
As we settle deeper into fall, let's attend gently to our bodies and those around us and know that the Lord is near, especially in those places of fear and decay and increasing darkness.
“The Lord is near to those who call upon him: to all who call upon him faithfully.”
Strange God who made dying beautiful,
I abandon myself to your curious beauty this day.
Let me cherish the blood and bone of all the life you have given
when the fears of no-life creep in and I am cold.
May I befriend the dark with open eye at summer's end.
May I stoke the feisty fire of my desire as vibrant as the leaves I see.
May my creative impulses leap like the speckled salmon as I embrace the
fertility of winter.
May I love the ground on which I stand, as the leaf mould and decay of
summer mulches the soil and strengthens roots.
May I hunker down, curled up like a hedgehog, in dark peace of quiet.
May my wholesome table bulge with roasted earth fruits, steaming pies and
warming drink, fuelling my body for the wintry days.
Let me celebrate the sacred vigour of dying as I welcome this autumn day.
O Living One,
bring comfort in the warm damp drizzly days
when the copper glow of autumn is colourless and grey.
For it is summer’s end and all is put away,
hidden in the unknown darkness,
like our fears of womb and tomb that we do not willingly invite,
until they interrupt our day-to-day and reckon with our real time.
Be with all this day living in that slow moment-by-moment capsule
of birth and grief.
Protect our fragility when we are sealed in by shock,
and help us to honour the special gift of tenderness at that time.
Treasure of my soul, as the light glints with topaz and amber,
And you gild the season and crown the trees
bejewel my time with moments when your presence shines through.
Bless me with your precious love as I set out this day/lie down this night.
-Tess Ward
From The Celtic Wheel of the Year: Celtic and Christian Seasonal Prayers
Leadership Lessons | Vintage Lunch with CDR Simpson + Natasha Sistrunk Robinson
Mentoring coach Natasha Sistrunk Robinson returns for a conversation with Navy Cdr. LaDonna M. Simpson, decorated Commanding Officer of the USS Carter Hall. Commander Simpson and Ms. Robinson are both graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy with much to share on faith and leadership. All are welcome. In person outdoors under the white tent at St. Paul’s on the Corner and livestreamed on Facebook on Friday, Nov 5.
Free lunch catered by Soul Food Joint will be served at 1:00. The program begins at 1:15pm ET.
Books Sojourner’s Truth and Mentor for Life by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson will be for sale by Sycamore Tree Bookstore.
Commander LaDonna Simpson is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and holds a Master of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University.
CDR Simpson serves as Commanding Officer of USS CARTER HALL (LSD 50). Her operational tours have spanned the Fifth and Sixth Fleet Areas of Responsibility to include deployments in support of Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM. She served aboard USS CARTER HALL (LSD 50), USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71), USS BULKELEY (DDG 84), USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75), and recently served as Executive Officer onboard USS CARTER HALL (LSD 50).
Shore assignments included duty on the staff of the Director, Surface Warfare (N96) as the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Section Head, the staff of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education) (N133) as the Surface Nuclear Officer Program Manager and within the Navy Appropriations Matters Office for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (FM&C) as a congressional liaison.
Decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (three awards), and the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (two awards).
For All Saints Day | November 1
“God creates out of nothing. Wonderful! you say. Yes, to be sure, but God does what is still more wonderful: God makes saints out of sinners.”
Søren Kierkegaard
All Saints Day, in which the global church honors those saints who have passed on, both known and unknown, both famous and obscure; is celebrated by Methodist, Lutheran, Anglican, and Roman Catholic traditions on November 1. Here is a litany for that day.
A Litany for All Saints Day by Fran Pratt
God, we remember those Saints who have gone before us;
We lament their passing,
And honor their legacy.
We give thanks for all we have learned from them.
Those who followed the Way of Christ faithfully,
We follow their example.
Those who made mistakes along the way,
We learn from their experience.
Those who made progress for peace,
We continue their work.
Those who lived simply and quietly,
We are enlightened by them.
Those who gained honor and distinction without pride,
We are humbled by them.
Those who were martyred for their faith,
We commend them to your care.
They have finished their work on earth,
And it lives on,
Reverberating into our lives now
As the work of Christ lives on.
May the peace of Christ continue to inspire us
To good works, humility, simplicity and peacemaking,
As those foremothers and forefathers were inspired by him
To live in grace and love.
Amen
Interview with Goodwin Prize Winner Clare Kemmerer
We are thrilled to introduce you to our top Goodwin Prize winner, Clare Kemmerer (Yale Institute of Sacred Music), for her essay, "Sisters in Complicity: Anti-Judaism at a Late Medieval Convent.”
Abstract: Building upon the frameworks developed by Stephanie Jones-Rogers and Elizabeth McRae which centralize the role of women in perpetuating racial violence and discrimination, this paper expands their application to the racial and religious persecution of Jews in late medieval Europe. Offering a case-study of a medieval German convent, this paper seeks to complicate both the study of medieval racial politics and that of medieval women religious. Using artistic, economic and written evidence from the fourteenth-century life at Kloster Lüne, this paper explores the ways that class, gender, and religion allowed the nuns to uniquely participate in a culture of anti-Judaism.
Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life?
I spend a lot of time thinking about complicity writ large—and some of that time is spent considering my own complicity, and some of it that of historic figures or members of the Church. My research has taught me to be critical of institutional teachings, to acknowledge complex power relationships, and to have empathy for people who are radicalized by misinformation; practices that are I think as important (if not more important) to being a Christian leftist as they are to being a good medievalist.
How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background?
This is a tough question, as I'm not sure *I* have a theological background--my training is in art history. But put simply, this paper uses material evidence from a medieval convent (in the form of a large embroidery) to make a theoretical argument concerning the participation of the nuns at that convent in anti-Judaism in the Middle Ages. To be clear, I’m not talking about participation in some kind of physical event (i.e. a pogrom), but a slippery, hard to quantify participation in cultural anti-Judaism. To make this argument, I drew a lot from historians like Elizabeth McRae and Stephanie Jones-Rogers, who have both written about the role of white women in different aspects of white supremacy in the United States. My argument predominantly concerns the role of nuns as artists and religious figures in articulating an anti-Jewish theology, a role that is often scholastically ignored due to the assumption that women, especially monastic women, were so cloistered as to be completely removed from society. In a sentence, the paper seeks to complicate narratives of religious and racial oppression in the Middle Ages by acknowledging the complicity of Christian women, and highlighting their position at the complex intersection of oppressor and oppressed.
How might this award make a difference in your life as you consider your future?
Materially, it’ll allow me to do some follow-up research on this project, tracking down further archival materials in Germany. It’s also been a helpful and needed reminder that the work I do is in conversation with the modern Church, despite my medieval focus. I hope I’ll be able this coming year to do some writing about theology and complicity in a more modern and accessible context.
After completing my MAR at the Institute of Sacred Music, I’m planning to pursue doctoral studies in the History of Art, continuing my concentration in the art and material culture of the Middle Ages. Beyond that—we’ll see! It would be a joy to spend my time teaching or working with objects, but I’m open to all of the ways I might pursue those things, in and especially beyond the academic world.
How do you spend your time when you are not studying?
Recently, I’ve been trying to fall in love with reading novels again; Connie Willis’ beautiful science-fiction tributes to the joys and heartbreaks of history have been sustenance for many long train rides. I spent most of the pandemic living in New Orleans, where I enjoyed long walks around Bayou St. John, where the sunsets are magical and sherbet-colored and there are often pelicans diving. My partner converted to Catholicism this past Easter, so a lot of my down time has been theological, too; re-encountering or encountering aspects of the tradition through the lens of her curiosity. Lately I’ve been in Connecticut full-time, so I’m learning to love my new home through long walks among the changing leaves, glorious fresh bread from the bakery next-door, and trying to get to know my neighbors.
Any other comments?
My thanks to Theological Horizons, for their support of graduate students, to my advisor at the ISM, Vasileios Marinis, and to Nicole Paxton Sullo, who kindly edited an early iteration of this paper.
Jesus Christ & The Importance of History | A webinar with N.T. Wright
Please join us and our friends at the Consortium for Christian Study Centers for a webinar with renowned New Testament Scholar, N.T. Wright.
Christianity appeals to history. Something happened, in the events concerning Jesus, as a result of which — so Christians claim — the world is a different place. But how does ‘history’ actually work? What can it do to help the tasks of theology and apologetics, and above all the work of the gospel?
N. T. Wright is an English New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and Anglican bishop. Author of numerous books and articles, he is perhaps best known in scholarly circles for his multi-volume work Christian Origins and the Question of God, which includes The Resurrection of the Son of God and Paul and the Faithfulness of God. On the popular side, his commentaries in The New Testament for Everyone series stand out for their clarity and readability. Equally at home in the church and the academy, Wright was the bishop of Durham from 2003 to 2010. He then became research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary’s College in the University of St Andrews in Scotland until 2019, when he became a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford.
Shaka Sydnor on Hope
Shake Sydnor shares a 12 minute Spark Talk on Hope at our September Deeper Dialogues.
WHAT IS THE DEEPER DIALOGUES INITIATIVE AT UVA?
Deeper Dialogues is a series of facilitated and structured small-group conversations around five topics of human flourishing taking place through June 2022. It is sponsored by Theological Horizons in partnership with Essential Partners. ALL ARE WELCOME.
WHAT IS THE GOAL OF DEEPER DIALOGUES?
The Deeper Dialogues initiative has three primary goals:
● To convene a variety of stakeholders — faculty, students, staff & administrators — from across the university community to improve understanding and connection around common challenges and goals;
● To leverage the unique resources of the university context (e.g. intellectual curiosity, original research, physical proximity) to facilitate honest exchange and promote greater collaboration between and among various members of the university community; AND
● To give community members an experience of reflective structured dialogue in which conversations of meaning and purpose foster a university culture of greater compassion and care, with the added hope that participants will leave equipped with dialogic communication tools transferable to other UVA spaces, groups and discussions.
Interview with Goodwin Prize Winner Ryan Duerr
We are thrilled to introduce you to one of our Goodwin Prize Winners, Ryan Duerr (University of Dayton) for his essay, “Eco-Lutheranism and the Hidden God.”
Essay Abstract: Recently, Lutheran theologians have started using Martin Luther’s theologia crucis to construct a uniquely Lutheran approach to eco-theology. While Luther’s theologia crucis has, indeed, proven useful in this regard, it has also been used to promulgate an ecological ethic which advocates the alleviation of nature’s suffering in such a way that ignores the scientific consensus concerning the necessity of predation, pain, and struggle for the overall health of biotic systems. In order to correct this trend, I argued that eco-Lutherans ought recover Luther’s notion of God hidden “behind” revelation in order to complement their emphasis on God hidden “in” revelation.
Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life?
My intellectual work is motivated, first and foremost, by a desire to understand my faith and integrate it into every aspect of my thinking. But also, having been raised in a Lutheran home as well as formed in Lutheran churches and schools, I like to think of my work as contributing (in a small way) to the religious culture that has always provided me with a deep sense of community and identity.
What inspired you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?
I grew up in a home that highly valued both faith and education. My dad was a pastor and my mom a teacher, so a desire to learn as much as possible about my faith was instilled in me from a young age. I studied theology as an undergrad and then went on to seminary where I became particularly interested in the question of what it means to think like a Lutheran in a contemporary American context. This question fascinated me so much that I decided to pursue a PhD in theology at the University of Dayton where their department of religion specializes in studying the American Christian experience through the twin lenses of historiography and cultural analysis.
How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background?
In 1967, historian Lynn White convincingly argued that modern ecological crises have roots in the moral attitudes towards nature that were fostered by Western Christian theology throughout its history. Since then, theologians from across the denominational spectrum have scrambled to critically reexamine their own tradition’s view of nature and sought to excavate conceptual tools from its past which might help “convert” their tradition to being more eco-friendly. A handful of Lutheran theologians have recently looked to Martin Luther’s so-called “theology of the cross” as providing an entry point into serious reflection on ecological crises from a distinctly Lutheran perspective. In particular, the theology of the cross emphasizes both the folly of human wisdom when it is divorced from the cross of Christ as well as the way God “hides” in suffering, ironically working life through death, wisdom through foolishness, and strength through weakness. An “eco-theology of the cross,” therefore, might be fashioned which condemns our modern technocratic paradigm as a form of human-wisdom-gone-awry-apart-from-the-cross and points to the suffering of nature as a locus of God’s redemptive work which demands Christian attention.
My paper is supportive of such efforts to construct an “eco-theology of the cross,” but it cautions that it can (and has) been used to promote an ethic of love towards nature which is incompatible with the scientific consensus regarding the necessity of suffering and death for the overall health and well being of biotic systems. I argue that this should not deter Lutherans from using the theology of the cross to address ecological issues, but it should push them to recover another aspect of Luther’s theology, namely, the way that God hides “behind” suffering in addition to hiding “in” suffering. Not only did Luther understand God to be working in suffering to bring about healing, but he also recognized that God operates behind suffering in inscrutable ways which often seem, from a human perspective, to be at odds with God’s way of working redemption through suffering. For Luther, such ostensible paradoxes should be seen, not as a cause for despair but as an opportunity for faith. By integrating this second form of divine hiddenness into their eco-theologies of the cross, I contend that eco-Lutherans can coherently foster a qualified ethic of love towards nature that promotes and encourages ecological activism while also recognizing and respecting God’s inscrutable work “behind” the suffering which is integral natural systems.
How might this award make a difference in your life and what might your future look like?
This award helps validate my decision to pursue an advanced degree in theology. It also gives me the confidence to keep on with the work I have been doing and continue to put my work out there for others to read.
As a graduate assistant at UD, I get to teach an introductory level class on theology and religious studies. While doing so, I have learned that the old saw about teachers learning more than their students is 100% true. I continue to be amazing by how much I learn from my students each semester. Upon completion of my degree, I hope to continue teaching theology and religious studies at an undergraduate level so that I can keep on learning from students for many years to come.
How do you spend your time when you are not studying?
I spend pretty much all of my free time with my favorite person in the world, Kaellyn, who also happens to be my wife. We can usually be found walking to a local coffee shop, spoiling our adorable little puppy Malcolm, or playing board games with the many friends we have made at UD.
Any other comments?
Thank you to the people at Theological Horizons for providing opportunities in which young, aspiring theologians can get their work read and recognized by established scholars in the field. Thank you to Dr. Vincent Miller for putting together the fantastic seminar on eco-theology that inspired and incubated my essay. And finally, thank you to all of the professors and graduate students in UD’s department of religion for creating a highly intellectual yet deeply spiritual environment in which I have been able to grow both as a student of theology and as a person of faith.
Interview with Goodwin Prize Winner Rene Guo
We are thrilled to introduce you to one of our winners of the 2021 Goodwin Prize in Theological Writing, Chengyuan (Rene) Guo (Yale Divinity School) for the essay, “A New Realism: First Generation Chinese American Theology of Liminal Complicity.”
Paper Abstract: In the context of COVID pandemic and Sino-American strategic competitions, Chinese Americans have been singled out by our kin and racialized as contagion. However, Chinese American Christians from the PRC should not be considered as pure victims of racism in this Thucydidean circumstance because we are also complicit with perpetuating oppression against other weaker groups. This essay explores liminal complicity as a theological alternative to liberation and reconciliation, which prioritizes our endless entanglements with structures of violence. This essay develops a new approach to Christian realism that bypasses the danger of liberation-themed grammar and the oppressed/oppressor binary in the Chinese American context.
What led you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?
I have always been passionate about political theology since my undergrad at Denison University. I devoted my senior research to black liberation theology and mass incarceration. During my master studies at Yale, I began to explore my own embodied theological voice through investigating state-church relations in the context of Chinese Christianity. My interest in political theology has allowed me to rediscover myself and my relationship to Chinese culture. Currently, I am pursuing a doctoral degree in world Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, researching the intersections between family, state, and religion in China. I had determined that my path would be to offer the Chinese church a pragmatic voice of reform that allows Chinese Christians to recalibrate our critical distance to political power.
How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background?
My paper formulates a first-generation Chinese American theological response to the structural competitions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. During the COVID pandemic, Chinese bodies became racialized as the ultimate threat to American security. It is easy for some to deploy a critical race lens without situating this episode in the great power conflicts that is going to define this decade. Rather than portraying us as pure victims of racism, I used a “liminal complicity” model to analyze our collusions with Empires—both the US and China. Through which, I modified Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism to allow us to speak theologically from the place of complicity and compromise. No great power is morally pure, and free of sin in the interconnected body of God. Both Chinese and Americans as imperial subjects remain complicit, implicated and tied to things we abjure. Instead of relying on one empire to combat the other, we should recognize the incredible price of nuclear power conflict to the creation as the body of God, and discover constructive ways to initiate dialogue and deescalate.
Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life?
My faith is impacted by the heritages of both awakenings and enlightenments. For me, faith and intellect are two sides of the same coin. I hope my pastoral training and research will have tangible effect on my work with seminarians in the future. In the past, I have written extensively about interfaith dialogue and theology of religions. I do this so that I may continue to prepare clergies to engage with religious diversity in their daily work through emphasizing the abundance of divine wisdom that exceeds our expectations. Since no one has the final say on the knowledge of God, we could all learn from each other while refusing to reduce our differences and the uniqueness of Christ.
How might this award make a difference in your life?
I am incredibly grateful to have received a Goodwin prize. It not only helps with my PhD budget, but also encourages me to continue to explore my authentic theological voice. Specifically, I hope my research could help the Academy and American churches to better understand Chinese Christianity, to see us as equal dialogue partners with real agency rather than helpless victims. I hope my work could enrich the theological dialogue and reduce misunderstanding in this turbulent era and raise the awareness about the racialization of Chinese people in American public imagination.
What do you hope to do with your degree?
At the beginning of my career, I thought I would either be ordained as a pastor in the United Church of Christ or pursuing tenure positions. Due to COVID pandemic, the structural collapse of the tenure market and struggling church finance made me reflect on my potential career path. I am deeply passionate about the faith development of seminary students and training future church leaders. In the future, I hope to work as a seminary administrator. I care deeply about preparing clergies with the fast-changing religious ecology, with the knowledge that immigration and growth of Christianity in non-western countries will greatly impact the pews. It is my hope that our next generation of church leaders will be well versed in African, Asian, Latin American, and diasporic theologies.
How do you spend your time when you are not studying?
I love cooking and I like to explore different styles of cuisine. Additionally, I like to enrich my knowledge by listening to different lectures on Youtube, including security studies, international relations, archaeology, history, literature, and law. As an international student, I also like to talk to my parents and younger brother, so I can always feel at home.
Psychologist Meg Jay speaks to our 20Somethings
Dr. Meg Jay declares that twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misunderstanding, much of which has trivialized the most transformative time of our lives. So what is the wisdom of twentysomethings? Watch Dr. Jay in conversation with students at a weekly Vintage Lunch, a Theological Horizons tradition.
Meg Jay, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist, and an Associate Professor of Human Development at the University of Virginia, who specializes in adult development and in twentysomethings in particular. She earned a doctorate in clinical psychology, and in gender studies, from the University of California, Berkeley. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review and on NPR and BBC. Her TED talk “Why 30 Is Not the New 20” is among the most watched of all time. Visit her website. Discover her book. The Defining Decade: Why Your 20s Matter and How to Make the Most of Them.
Meg Jay at Vintage Lunch, September 2021
October Prayers | For our longings & desires
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
Throughout the pandemic, there's been a massive movement of people in the US - leaving or starting new jobs, moving from here to there. Some transitions have been through a certain degree of privilege. For many, external pressures are the driving force. This month, let's consider the tender place of our desires amidst such upheaval. Where do our longings fit within our occupations and vocations?
“I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it”
Blessed be the longing that brought you here and quickens your soul with wonder.
May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire that disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.
May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease to discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.
May the forms of your belonging - in low, creativity, and friendship - be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul.
May the one you long for long for you.
May your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.
May a secret Providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.
May your mind inhabit your life with the sureness with which your body inhabits the world.
-John O'Donohue
More resources on vocation & longing:
Talk with Rev. Bill Haley for our Fellows.
Dr. Chris Yates on The Loss of Longing in an Age of Curated Reality
Announcing the 2021 Goodwin Prizes!
The board of directors of Theological Horizons is pleased to announce THE 2021 LOUISE & RICHARD GOODWIN PRIZES FOR EXCELLENCE IN THEOLOGICAL WRITING
A $2,500 prize has been awarded to Clare Kemmerer (Yale Institute of Sacred Music) for the essay, "Sisters in Complicity: Anti-Judaism at a Late Medieval Convent.”
Abstract: Building upon the frameworks developed by Stephanie Jones-Rogers and Elizabeth McRae which centralize the role of women in perpetuating racial violence and discrimination, this paper expands their application to the racial and religious persecution of Jews in late medieval Europe. Offering a case-study of a medieval German convent, this paper seeks to complicate both the study of medieval racial politics and that of medieval women religious. Using artistic, economic and written evidence from the fourteenth-century life at Kloster Lüne, this paper explores the ways that class, gender, and religion allowed the nuns to uniquely participate in a culture of anti-Judaism.
A $1,000 prize has been awarded to Ryan Duerr (University of Dayton) for the essay, “Eco-Lutheranism and the Hidden God.”
Abstract: Recently, Lutheran theologians have started using Martin Luther’s theologia crucis to construct a uniquely Lutheran approach to eco-theology. While Luther’s theologia crucis has, indeed, proven useful in this regard, it has also been used to promulgate an ecological ethic which advocates the alleviation of nature’s suffering in such a way that ignores the scientific consensus concerning the necessity of predation, pain, and struggle for the overall health of biotic systems. In order to correct this trend, I argued that eco-Lutherans ought recover Luther’s notion of God hidden “behind” revelation in order to complement their emphasis on God hidden “in” revelation.
A $500 prize has been awarded to Chengyuan (Rene) Guo (Yale Divinity School) for the essay, “A New Realism: First Generation Chinese American Theology of Liminal Complicity.”
Abstract: In the context of COVID pandemic and Sino-American strategic competitions, Chinese Americans have been singled out by our kin and racialized as contagion. However, Chinese American Christians from the PRC should not be considered as pure victims of racism in this Thucydidean circumstance because we are also complicit with perpetuating oppression against other weaker groups. This essay explores liminal complicity as a theological alternatives to liberation and reconciliation, which prioritizes our endless entanglements with structures of violence. This essay develops a new approach to Christian realism that bypasses the danger of liberation-themed grammar and the oppressed/oppressor binary in the Chinese American context.
We are deeply encouraged to see young scholars of such promise and commitment and we offer our warm congratulations to all who participated in this year’s competition.
Karen Wright Marsh | Executive Director, Theological Horizons
Meet our new Leadership Associate - Grace Medrano!
We are so excited to introduce you to Grace! She will be our first ever Leadership Associate, a one year position that offers a recent graduate a chance to learn the ropes of working at a non-profit campus ministry.
Tell us a bit about your background.
My family is originally from Honduras, but I was born and raised in Northern Virginia! I grew up attending a Hispanic church in Petworth, D.C. I hold my church so near to my heart -- it has been a refuge, a home, and a family for me. I grew up singing old worship songs in Spanish, eating pupusas in the lobby after service, and receiving hugs from a dozen different hermanas on Sunday. Coming to UVA and stepping into American Christian community was a pretty significant culture shock! I am so glad to be here though, and I'd love to talk more about my thoughts on culture, faith, and belonging.
What drew you to Theological Horizons? How is it different for you than other Fellowship groups at UVa?
I was drawn to TH because of its commitment to making a space for both Christians and seekers within academia. TH does a really great job of creating an environment where all are welcome to come together, discuss big ideas, and find a welcoming community. TH is also unique in that it allows students to explore faith while asking questions, engaging in dialogue, and engaging in self-reflection. It's awesome to have the opportunity to engage with faith intellectually.
What's your role at TH and what are some hopes you have within it?
This year I'll be a Leadership Associate with TH and I'm super excited! I'll be helping to plan and implement TH events and programs. I'm hoping to grow in understanding of my talents and abilities and have a better idea of what kind of career I want to pursue in the future. I'm also super excited to work alongside TH staff and students!
What kind of work could you see yourself doing 5 years from now?
I graduated undergrad having obtained a TESOL certificate. I'd love to work with adult English-language learners here in the US, maybe teaching English? I'm still figuring that part out! I studied Mandarin Chinese in high school and college and it's my ultimate bucket list item to teach abroad in mainland China or Taiwan. Overall, I'm passionate about providing support for adult immigrant populations and I'm also passionate about Christian ministry. We will see where I end up!
If you had a free day in Charlottesville, how would you spend it?
A friend took me tubing on the Rivanna earlier this summer! It was so restful and restorative to just float along with the current. I'd probably choose to go tubing at Riverview Park with some friends and then grab pizza at Mellow Mushroom.
September Prayers | For peace
There is much to be grieving and concerned about in our world today from the violence and instability in Afghanistan to the earthquake and hurricane ravaged Haiti to the ongoing pandemic. As we begin a new month, let us pray for God's peace within and among the nations.
Lord,
Lead us from death to life,
From falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Let peace fill our hearts, our world and our universe.
Let us dream together, pray together and work together,
To build one world of peace and justice for all.-spoken by Mother Teresa in 1981
Isaiah 9:7 “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this."
Summer Pause - August Edition
The Pond - A poem by Mary Oliver
August of another summer, and once again
I am drinking the sun
and the lilies again are spread across the water.
I know now what they want is to touch each other.
I have not been here for many years
during which time I kept living my life.
Like the heron, who can only croak, who wishes he
could sing,
I wish I could sing.
A little thanks from every throat would be appropriate.
This is how it has been, and this is how it is:
All my life I have been able to feel happiness,
except whatever was not happiness,
which I also remember.
Each of us wears a shadow.
But just now it is summer again
and I am watching the lilies bow to each other,
then slide on the wind and the tug of desire,
close, close to one another,
Soon now, I’ll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I’ll be singing.
Cole Arthur Riley | Black Liturgies
“God who rests,
It is difficult for us to imagine a Christ who, having all power and capacity to heal others, still at times walked away. Who napped unapologetically in the face of danger. Give us the courage to rest. The holy audacity to do absolutely nothing at all. And, as we do, allow us to hold vigil for the tombs of this world while honoring that we are neither savior nor slave. Grant us a slowness that allows us to feel what hurts and what makes healing possible. Let our rest be our liberation.”
KATE BOWLER PODCAST | Everything Happens
At age 35 enjoying her dream job and new son, Kate was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. As she's battled and written through her diagnosis, she has also gathered a community of fellow sufferers who reveal insights about life's unexplainable heartaches. Kate Bowler will be our Scoper Lecturer April '22! Listen to her podcast HERE.
golden rod glory, 36 x 24 in., oil on canvas
ARTIST CHRISTEN YATES | golden rod glory
“The golden rod are beginning to bloom here in Virginia spreading their gentle golden glow over our increasing back to school anxieties. My current show up at the new Dairy Market gallery here are quiet meditations on the natural world.” All work available for purchase. View here.
Watch the beautiful new music video by friends Daniel and Lauren Goans of Lowland Hum.
DR. CURT THOMPSON Beauty, Desire & Human Flourishing
Psychiatrist Curt Thompson examines the neuroscience of longing, beauty and community asking, “What is the role of beauty in our context of sky-high anxiety levels - and for the greater rhythms of our lives?”
This webinar was hosted in partnership with our friends at Coracle on July 29th.
An INVITATION | Welcome New Students
We are still welcoming new students into our community! Send us any names and contact information and we'll be sure to lavish them with love.
August Prayers | For the Church
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
Our relationship with the church has been challenged and stretched greatly during the pandemic. Some have found comfort and support, others have slowly slipped away. As we prepare to enter back into more regular and in-person rhythms, let us pray for our churches, that they could be a unified and powerful witness to the radically restorative love of Jesus.
John 17: 20-23 (NIV) “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Prayer for the Church from the common lectionary).
Some resources for church unity and renewal:
Essential Partners - These are our friends out of Cambridge, MA helping us with our new Deeper Dialogues initiative. “For three decades, Essential Partners has invested faith leaders and community members with the tools to address polarizing conflicts. [Their] approach has been proven to generate trust, understanding, and connection across unbridgeable differences."
The Living Church - TLC is a corporation governed by members of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion seeking to champion the catholic and evangelical faith of the one Church and to hasten the visible unity of all Christians. TLC publishes The Living Church magazine, in continuous publication since 1878.
Christian Community Development Association - An ecumenical association of churches and ministries to inspire, train, and connect Christians who seek to bear witness to the Kingdom of God by reclaiming and restoring under-resourced communities.