Blog

by Ken Sehested

My mentor-cum-friend Walker Knight has died. It wasn’t a surprise—his health has been poor for several years. For him, and his family, it is likely merciful.

Acknowledging as much, though, doesn’t ease what appears to the living as a certain dimming of the light. Read more ›

by Ken Sehested

Another school shooting. Sirens wail. First responders race.

Video shows the now-common recessional, with rifled law enforcement escorting a parade of students from school grounds. So oft repeated it’s now a kind of ritual liturgy.

Then a repeat of the predictable press conference, where scads of local elite get their turns in repeating the mantras. Sheriff, police chief, mayor, FBI agent, school superintendent, hospital administration, all chiming in: awful, tragedy, distress, heartbreak, failure, regret, unimaginable. Read more ›

by Ken Sehested

§ "Don't call me a saint. I don't want to be dismissed that easily.” —Dorothy Day

 § “The world is waiting for new saints, ecstatic men and women who are so deeply rooted in the love of God that they are free to imagine a new international order. . . . Most people despair that [it] is possible. They cling to old ways and prefer the security of their misery to the insecurity of their joy. But the few who dare to sing a new song of peace are the new St. Francises of our time, offering a glimpse of a new order that is being born out of the ruin of the old.” —Henri Nouwen

§ “[T]he difference between being at peace and being complacent is one of the most basic lessons saints can teach us.” — Charles Mathewes Read more ›

by Ken Sehested

Introduction

This collection of material is especially designed for use in planning a Labor Day observance—but also more: on work in general, both the productive and destructive varieties; on sabbath-keeping, which is so much more than blue laws; on discerning vocations and callings; on the terrorizing disconnect between commerce and the flourishing of every living thing; on the increasingly barbarous treatment of immigrants and refugees.

On this Labor Day, make a commitment that, in the coming year, you will strike up conversations (maybe even friendships) with people who work with their hands. The greatest failure of progressive movements—churched and unchurched alike—is our cultural alienation from working class folk. There can never be a sustained movement for fundamental change until this failure is admitted, renounced, and rectified. Read more ›

by Ken Sehested

• “Labor Day: A litany for worship: For work that fulfills”

• “Labor in the shadow of sabbath,” a Labor Day sermon

• “Meditations on Labor and Leisure: Several reflections on Sabbath keeping” Read more ›