tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90746082024-03-07T17:54:44.455-05:00Faithful Agitation“The goal of the Christian life is not to save your soul but to transcend yourself, to vindicate the human struggle of which all of us are a part, to keep hope advancing," said the late William Sloane Coffin.
In these pages we're all just trying to keep hope advancing at the intersections of faith, culture and politics during the age of American Empire.David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.comBlogger702125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-79817086754979375462021-12-25T09:34:00.033-05:002021-12-25T20:19:05.349-05:00Merry Christmas, 2021Dear friends,What year is it now? Oh, yeah, it’s sometime late in year two of covidtide. Sure, the sun comes up and the world still spins, but time is out of joint. But the whirling of the planets brings us ‘round to the longest nights, and, now again to Christmas. And so happy Christmas from northern Virginia where, because it’s not just time that is out of joint, it’ll be about 70 degrees on David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-56181602029649780472021-12-11T09:00:00.006-05:002021-12-11T09:00:52.888-05:00Another Trip Around the SunEldest posted a picture in the family text chat thread today:He added this pithy inquiry: “Happy birthday pater familias. Do you have any wisdom for us?”It is, in fact, my birthday today, so, of course, I am pondering time. I have no claim to wisdom, but I have been around for a while. Long enough, in fact, to have forgotten much and to remember a few things.Last night Louisville beat DePaul in aDavid Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-6293603381136145782021-09-08T10:35:00.003-05:002021-09-08T10:35:59.918-05:00Of maps and rocks and kisses and the mystery of timeI wrote this last month intending to post it ... and then I didn't ... until today. So, this unfolded a month or so ago. In other words, the time of a rock ... or a kiss ... or God knows what.I drove down to Camp Hanover the other afternoon from Northern Virginia. I’ve made that trip hundreds of times so I know the way by heart, but I still turn on the Google Maps because: traffic. Maps are David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-49168061830953010892021-02-09T16:30:00.018-05:002021-02-09T16:33:22.168-05:00Covid BoatsSince Covid hit a year ago lots of folks have observed that while we’re all in the same sea, we’re not in the same boat. The church I’m serving these days had a Zoom gathering over the weekend focused on the self care challenges presented by the pandemic.It was fascinating to hear the vast array of responses to the basic “how are you doing” question. As one introverted person noted, “I’ve David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-88638605798858480382021-01-06T21:09:00.010-05:002021-01-06T21:09:53.753-05:00Life During a Coup AttemptLike most everyone across the country, I am saddened and deeply troubled by the events unfolding today across the river in DC. We live five miles, as the crow flies or the tear gas drifts, from the U.S. Capitol, and my beloved normally works on the Hill in an office that has been closed due to Covid since March. Several members of the congregation I serve work on the Hill, and at least one has David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-82580967223704381972021-01-02T11:45:00.002-05:002021-01-02T11:48:12.327-05:00Dear Jeff BezosI wrote this as a Facebook post a couple of days ago. In the writing of it, I remembered that writing more words than a typical Facebook post is something I used to do often. I used to post them here, and, a few times, try to get them published elsewhere with decidedly mixed results. But, hey, I have never written to get published. I've always written because it's the way I clarify my own David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-46348768986201901332020-12-25T18:20:00.001-05:002020-12-25T18:20:41.155-05:00Merry Christmas, 2020It would be simple enough to say, “well, we made it through,” and leave it at that for a holiday greeting here as the end of the longest year draws nigh. It seems likely that it will be true, though given 2020 it’s best not to count on anything – even one more week.So we’ll take it one day at a time, which is the only way to take it in any case. I’ve tried to live two days at once and it just David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-45896570105619307362020-07-29T16:03:00.002-05:002020-07-29T16:03:50.955-05:00stealing and sharing
By
Philip Kennicott
Art and architecture critic
July 29, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. EDT
Add to list
With four of the six main statues on Richmond’s Monument Avenue now removed, the boulevard is no longer a procession of great lies, about the valor and honor of Confederate generals and the “sacred virtue” and “solemn duty” of the Confederacy’s leaders and defenders. David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-87304645217122477052020-05-30T12:22:00.001-05:002020-05-30T12:22:38.042-05:00Listening to the Language of the Unheard
Here’s the thing. Every person of color knows that it could happen to him, to her son, to his father, to their friend. Without exception, because they know the litany of names. George Floyd is just one more name added to the list the runs from Ahmaud Arbery back through Amadou Diallo to Rodney King, from Walter Scott to Dread Scott and on and on and on all the way back to 1619.
There’s a reasonDavid Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-84814498921647360622020-03-28T14:18:00.000-05:002020-03-28T14:18:03.238-05:00Daily Swipe #1
So here's a trade that I would be willing to make were it on offer. I would take an end to this pandemic with fewer that 10,000 deaths in the U.S. and let the president take credit for it if the alternative is following his ruinous plan to "return to normal" by Easter which is likely to result in more than 10 times that many deaths here. Sadly, I fear we will have passed that lower figure by theDavid Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-45532207884422129742020-03-20T14:17:00.004-05:002020-03-20T14:20:32.839-05:00Viral Life
What a profoundly strange time to be alive. In these days of global pandemic neither the powers that be nor the preschoolers can reach an accord on something as basic as how to wash one’s hands. The longer historical view will have to wait because right now it’s far from clear who the heroes and villains will be, nor even who will prevail on that question of hygiene.
The close-up view, on David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-88257442120497944712020-03-03T09:18:00.006-05:002020-03-03T09:19:31.398-05:00Pondering Politics on Super Tuesday
I’ve lived my entire adult life in an odd space that finds me smack in the center of all kinds of seemingly random American trends, on the one hand, and on the left-hand margin of American political trends. Beginning with the election of 1980, when America swept Ronald Reagan into the White House, I was finding a glimmer of hope in the 4,330 residents of Brattleboro, Vermont, whose votes made David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-80682897747239668162019-12-31T12:45:00.002-05:002019-12-31T12:49:08.967-05:00Resolved: to Continue the Journey<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-64617518988998248052019-12-24T11:49:00.002-05:002019-12-24T11:49:54.953-05:00Advent. Beloved
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-4855934182184272452019-12-23T11:11:00.001-05:002019-12-23T11:11:54.569-05:00Advent. Message
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-33508661638577894982019-12-22T20:38:00.002-05:002019-12-22T20:38:32.363-05:00Advent. Restore
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-66548909198291295722019-12-20T17:47:00.002-05:002019-12-20T17:47:10.427-05:00Advent. Go
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-29424308853806897872019-12-19T19:12:00.002-05:002019-12-19T19:12:17.963-05:00Advent. Bless
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-4797134344361091222019-12-19T15:16:00.002-05:002019-12-19T15:16:58.591-05:00Advent. Worship
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-41237035608766105392019-12-17T16:23:00.002-05:002019-12-17T16:23:48.451-05:00Advent. Pray
E.J. Henderson hand-crafted this beautiful guitarand then hand-delivered it to me
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-33652368962743324462019-12-16T10:10:00.002-05:002019-12-16T10:10:41.764-05:00Advent. Learn
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-37920654280006968852019-12-15T15:26:00.001-05:002019-12-15T15:26:12.777-05:00Advent. Turning
To everything thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under
heaven … turn, turn, turn.
What are you turning toward these days?
What are you turning from?
Six weeks or so ago I left a job I’d held for more than 16 years.
That was surely turning from one piece and part of life toward a different one.
We make such turns throughout our lives. Some of them are less
dramatic than theDavid Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-36762327952025168372019-12-14T09:44:00.000-05:002019-12-14T09:44:08.091-05:00Advent. Gather
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-33150467151192551652019-12-13T11:14:00.001-05:002019-12-13T11:14:31.102-05:00Advent. Water
Water is life. The water protectors at Standing Rock reminded us of
that fundamental truth. Advent invites us to watch for another truth: there is
living water that quenches parched places in our souls.
You don’t have to be a follower of Jesus to understand the parched
places in human souls. Moreover, contrary to the guardians of orthodoxy, Jesus
is not the only bearer of living water to David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9074608.post-44456225904773644852019-12-12T17:37:00.000-05:002019-12-12T17:37:23.072-05:00Advent. Harmony
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
David Ensignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05404166082971649728noreply@blogger.com0