Accompaniment

Philly, PA.  100 degrees.

I reckon we must approach the sweltering heat of the compost heap with the curiosity of children, instead of the righteous confidence of the priest.
Bayo Akomolafe

June bursted forth with relationship and travel.  We celebrated Melisa's retirement in SoCal after her three-decade+ reign in the classroom.  We hosted Chris and Alyssa for a MarriageStrong retreat as they prepare emotionally and spiritually for their November wedding.  We joined pastors, professors, parents and young professionals on the streets in Lansing, Detroit and D.C. for the Poor People's Campaign.  We shared intimate meals on many occasions, with leaders from Philadelphia, Kentucky, Indiana, multiple contexts in Southern California, North Carolina and, of course, Detroit.  These, and more, brought a harvest of prayer and protest, listening and learning, testimony and tears.  It was rich.  We are grateful and tired.  Spirit is diagnosing a heavy dose of sleep, solitude, salad and sits by the Huron.  Enjoy these images from the road.

Our friends Bryan and Ann, both university
professors, volunteering with the Poor
People's Campaign in Lansing, MI.

On June 4, Lindsay joined two dozen conscientious objectors in
an act of civil disobedience.  They blocked the staff
parking lot at MDEQ, the state agency that gave approval to
transferring the water source in Flint (which lead to
horrific lead poisoning this is still ongoing).  More recently, MDEQ also approved the deal
to give over billions of gallons of fresh water from Lake Michigan to Nestle for
$200 a year (bottled water). This was Lindsay's first arrest.

Chris and Alyssa, both high school teachers,
started out their summer in Ypsi for a
seven-session MarriageStrong Retreat.

The pedagogy of coupleship.

Marian Kramer sat in at a lunch counter in 1964.
Then she stared down Jim Crow and organized
a picket line.  Police threw her into a garbage
truck before she spent 8 days and nights in
solitary confinement.  On June 18, she got arrested
for blocking the Q-Line, a light rail that connects
bars, restaurants and stadiums in downtown
Detroit.  The city spent $180 million+ on it,
simultaneously continuing their egregious policy
of paying out private contractors to shut off water
to the same tens of thousands of low-income residents
whose taxes fund the Q-Line:
unrelenting and without mercy, even while our planet experiences
record high levels of heat in just this past week.

We debriefed our final Poor People's Campaign action in
Detroit with friends Tom, Bryan and Cait.  

We re-connected with Sheldon, Jenn and Ezra (3).  These three
returned to the States from Kurdistan and are now growing
their family (in number and Spirit) just north of Philly.  It was
a gift to check-in over meals and walks instead over Skype.

Our friend Valerie Jean was on the mic at the national Poor
People's Campaign rally in DC.  Valerie is a Detroit native who
resisted city officials attempting to shut off her water on multiple ocassions.
She has 5 children, many who have been active during this past 40 days of action.
It is the fierce conviction and persistence of women community leaders like Val,
whom we are gifted and prodded to follow,
that invites us forward into more just ways of relating and being in the world.
May those of us with ears to hear
follow her's and others'
wise and courageous lead during these challenging times.