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| On the road, an hour south of Lorain, Ohio |
Monica Lewis-Patrick
On March 15, we moved
out of Michigan. Again. This second half of the month has served up separate
vocations for the two of us. Lindsay headed West for a few days of spiritual
retreat and recovery, followed by deep and meaningful time with family, friends
and partners in this work of soul accompaniment.
Besides some needed time of deepening and grounding rejuvenation after all the time on the road, another highlight was getting to pal around with these little buddies, whose tender love and care for each other and everyone around them acts as deeply prodding witness, as well as compelling invitation to more healing, nurture, presence, and delight. We sure are lucky to be Aunt and Uncle to these little guys!
Besides some needed time of deepening and grounding rejuvenation after all the time on the road, another highlight was getting to pal around with these little buddies, whose tender love and care for each other and everyone around them acts as deeply prodding witness, as well as compelling invitation to more healing, nurture, presence, and delight. We sure are lucky to be Aunt and Uncle to these little guys!
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| Lindsay and Nawny with nephews Riley (6) and Mason (2). |
Meanwhile, Tom packed
up the Corolla and headed South and East, before making a u-turn in
Philadelphia. Dear friends have hosted book readings in Ohio, New York,
Pennsylvania and Minnesota (with another one this weekend in Colorado!). Tom has had the opportunity to preach at two
churches (Episcopal and Mennonite) and has had rich time in dialogue with
so many friends, old and new.
In Ithaca (NY), the
Catholic Worker House hosted a conversation circle on the first full day of Spring.
What a powerful thing to spend time with Ellen and Clare Grady (right), long time Plowshares
activists who have been committed to non-violent direct action, specifically
naming and confronting America’s massive nuclear militarization!
Clare participated in
the Kings Bay Plowshares action, a group of seven activists who entered Kings
Bay Naval Submarine Base (the largest in the world) in St. Mary’s, Georgia on
April 4th, 2018 to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into
plowshares.” They carried hammers and baby bottles of their own blood, calling attention to the ways in which nuclear weapons kill every day, by
their mere existence and maintenance. They chose to act on the 50th anniversary
of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who devoted his
life to addressing what he called the “triple evils of militarism, racism and
materialism.”
On the night of the
book gathering, Clare was charging the ankle monitor she’s been wearing since
she was released for $55,000 bail. Clare and Ellen are two of the most
thoughtful and compassionate people we know. Clare told stories of her
three-and-a-half month stint in county jail in Georgia after the action. The
food was massively over-salted-and-sugared and they weren’t allowed any time outside. At
60, Clare was the elder in the cell and the inmates respected her immensely as she led bible studies and was a constant pastoral presence for these women. It was during this time that Lindsay got to write postcards to Clare with daily Al-Anon readings, as an act of solidarity to encourage and sustain her in the carrying out of this important witness.
The witness of the
Kings Bay 7 straddles the border of “radical” and bat-shit crazy. These
Christians take oppressive, violent and unjust realities seriously. They are committed to raising awareness with the very real possibility of spending years
in federal prison. Despite their commitment to peace and love, they have been
deemed “a danger to the community” by the federal judge hearing their case. Just like Dr. King who was arrested 19 times in civil disobedient actions! We do not feel called to experiment with nonviolence on military bases, but we are inspired and
energized by the courageous witness of these mentors. It is a reminder that, in our quest for peace and justice, we don't all do the same thing—but we are each prodded to do something. Some of us get arrested. Some of us write postcards and spread the news. This is how it works.
Spiritual practitioner
Joanna Macy’s definition of an activist is “anyone who does something for more
than personal advantage.” Yes. We all do this in many profound ways, in many diverse contexts. The power of Steadfast Love challenges
us with two sides of the same coin. On one side is the commitment to kindness
and gentleness in all our relations. Flip it over and we are pressed to connect
the dots and tell the truth about the oppression and violence that are
stripping millions and billions of people of life and dignity. Silence is not an option. We must take the bull by the horns. This is how we build a world that is not dependent on someone else's suffering.
The fact is that the
U.S. has 14 Trident Submarines, each two football fields long. Each carries
missiles with the power to destroy more than a thousand Hiroshimas. The U.S.
government is starting the process of replacing and upgrading these. It will
cost more than $170 billion over the next two decades. This strips resources
from the Earth and from the poor and marginalized in North America and all over
the globe. Now is not the time to double down on nuclear weapons. It’s the time
to walk away from violence so that we can resource
those who are truly suffering.
This is precisely what Dr. King called for in
his incredible “Beyond Vietnam” speech in 1967. King lamented the "conscientious blindness" that plagued white Americans--the way we protect our lifestyles from inconvenient truths by burying our head in the sand. We don't want to know just how bad it is. And it is really bad. One of the tasks of soul accompaniment is walking alongside precious people who are daring to pull their heads out of the sand and stare reality in the face by holding grief in one hand and gratitude in the other. This is the way of radical hope, transcending the cynicism, despair and/or indifference that so often nag at us.
There is so much more
to write about the people we’ve met on this book tour--from campus ministers to organic farmers to psychotherapists to full-time parents to thrift store managers to retired volunteers to teachers and yoga instructors and pastors and engineers and artists and even traveling salesmen. These folks are subverting ordinary lives into redemptive narratives. We will tell some of their stories in the coming
months. There is so much radical hope in places faraway and right around the corner.
God willing, we will be officially in Bend, Oregon on April 10th.
It is a new start in a new place, which will no doubt present us with new invitations, opportunities, supports, and challenges around what it means to live faithfully into our vocations as part of it, and we are grateful for the continuity of getting to engage work we love as we make the transition: namely, this work of accompanying, articulating and advocating with and for so many Beloved & Beautiful Souls working together across the continent to weave a more just, vibrant and Life-sustaining world for all. There's no adventure we can imagine we'd rather be on. Grateful for this next step along the journey!
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| Celebrating with dear friends Erinn and Lydia Wylie-Fahey in Detroit, who we will sorely miss! We are, however, grateful for both the continuous and new ways in which our partnership persists 2000 miles away. |
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| With mentors Jim Perkinson and Lily Mendoza, almost six years after we met them at this Thai Restaurant on the Eastside of Detroit. |
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| We finally cleared our arrest warrants for joining the Poor People's Campaign for some holy, nonviolent rebellion last summer at the state Capitol in Lansing! |
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| We say "goodbye" to the Huron River who held us for the past two years. |
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| All packed up. Like a real life game of Tetris. Unfortunately, we had to leave behind a few items. |
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| Thumbs up on Pacific Coast Highway. |
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| Let's keep butting heads against this unjust system!!! |
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