The Encountering Silence team returns with an interview recorded last spring but unreleased until now! Cassidy, Kevin and Carl sat down for a contemplative conversation with Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk (she/they), a queer mystic who is the author of three books and the executive director of the Center for Prophetic Imagination in Minneapolis.  Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk

Ashe (formerly writing under the name “Mark”) is the author of A Wolf at the Gate, unKingdom: Repenting of Christianity in America, and That Holy Anarchist: Reflections on Christianity and Anarchism, along with contributing to edited works like Banned Questions About Jesus and Forming Christian Habits in Post-Christendom. Ashe's writing has been published in Sojourners, Geez Magazine, JesusRadicals.com, Leadership Magazine, the Mennonite, and Mennonite World Review. Her work has been featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribute, the Boston Globe, and on CNN.com.

As the former co-producer of the Iconocast, Ashe interviewed Cornel West, James Cone, Bill Ayers, Starhawk, Wazayatawin and many others. These days, Ashe is usually on the other side of the virtual microphone — like with us here on Encountering Silence.

Ashe has a B.S. in Ministry from the University of Northwestern, an M.Div. from Bethel Theological Seminary, and studied Spiritual Direction at the University of St. Catherine’s graduate school. Ashe is currently working on her doctoral dissertation at United Theological Seminary.

The Center for Prophetic Imagination works to subvert the existing social order through deep discernment culminating with creative action. In the tradition of the prophets, we long for a world where all walls of alienation are torn down and we all live justly with one another, with the land, and with the spirit of liberation. In addition to a robust online presence, the Center for Prophetic Imagination offers spiritual direction, formation for spiritual directors with an emphasis on social transformation (in partnership with the Minnesota Institute for Contemplation and Healing), and other programs.

Our conversation explored Ashe's commitment to the intersection of contemplation and justice, her unique perspective on both spirituality and activism as a trans woman, and more.

Visit Ashe online at www.makiashe.com. Visit the Center for Prophetic Imagination's website at www.propheticimagination.org. 

Friends, here is the latest episode of the Encountering Silence podcast. This episode features a conversation the Encountering Silence team had last year with Buddhist author Kaira Jewel Lingo, author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption.

Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher who has a lifelong interest in blending spirituality and meditation with social justice. Having grown up in an ecumenical Christian community where families practiced a new kind of monasticism and worked with the poor, at the age of twenty-five she entered a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition and spent fifteen years living as a nun under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

She received Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh and became a Zen teacher in 2007, and is also a teacher in the Vipassana Insight lineage through Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Today she sees her work as a continuation of the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh as well as the work of her parents, inspired by their stories and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King Jr. on desegregating the South.

In addition to writing We Were Made for These Times, she is also the editor of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children. Now based in New York, she teaches and leads retreats internationally, provides spiritual mentoring to groups, and interweaves art, play, nature, racial and earth justice, and embodied mindfulness practice in her teaching.

She especially feels called to share the Dharma with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, as well as activists, educators, youth, artists, and families. Visit kairajewel.com to learn more.

 

Dr. Joy A. Schroeder, a Lutheran pastor, joins the Encountering Silence team to explore the shadow side of silence — in this case, the silencing of many significants voices in the Christian tradition, of women Bible interpreters.

Dr. Schroeder is a specialist in the history of biblical interpretation. She is professor of church history at Trinity Lutheran Seminary and the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. She is the author of Deborah's Daughters: Gender Politics and Biblical Interpretation, Dinah's Lament: The Biblical Legacy of Sexual Violence in Christian Interpretation, and several other books on the history of interpretation of scripture. She is the co-author (with Marion Ann Taylor) of Voices Long Silenced: Women Biblical Interpreters Through the Centuries, which tells the story of the many women who studied and interpreted the Bible over the past two thousand years, but whose stories have remained largely untold.

In Voices Long Silenced, Schroeder and Taylor introduce readers to the notable contributions of female commentators through the centuries. They unearth fascinating accounts of Jewish and Christian women from diverse communities—rabbinic experts, nuns, mothers, mystics, preachers, teachers, suffragists, and household managers—who interpreted Scripture through their writings. The book recounts the struggles and achievements of women who gained access to education and biblical texts. It tells the story of how their interpretive writings were preserved or, all too often, lost. It also explores how, in many cases, women interpreted Scripture differently from the men of their times. Consequently, Voices Long Silenced makes an important, new contribution to biblical reception history.

This book focuses on women's written words and briefly comments on women’s interpretation in media, such as music, visual arts, and textile arts. It includes short, representative excerpts from diverse women’s own writings that demonstrate noteworthy engagement with Scripture. Voices Long Silenced calls on scholars and religious communities to recognize the contributions of women, past and present, who interpreted Scripture, preached, taught, and exercised a wide variety of ministries in churches and synagogues.

Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Ph.D., is renowned for her luminous translation of The Cloud of Unknowing with the Book of Privy Counsel. Her latest book — a new translation of Brother Lawrence's Practice of the Presence — will be published on Tuesday, August 25, 2022. The Encountering Silence team sat down with her recently and spoke about translation, mystical theology, God and pronouns, and of course — silence.

 Recently Carmen wrote a guest post for Carl McColman's Patheos blog. We're reposting it here for our Encountering Silence Community.

“If the little ship of our soul is still rattled and tossed by winds or by storm, let's wake up the God who's resting there.” Brother Lawrence’s epistolary advice to a nun 340 years ago, from Practice of the Presence, recently “set up shop” in the heart of a dear thirtysomething friend, she said.

I too am thankful for his timeless, calm wisdom in our ongoing global ‘perfect storm.’ For centuries this spiritual classic has fulfilled and transcended its Carmelite tradition. Beloved by people of all faiths, wisdom traditions, and none whatsoever, its heart beats with a returning—in micro-moments of meditation—to God, Kindness, Love, True Self, or however you conceive of Mystery.

Its author is easy on the heart too. As I translated his work from French into English, a sense of his brokenness, genuine kindness, ordinary life, and suffering humanity emerged. Because the friar developed his prayer practiceinstinctively for his own healing while experiencing profound anxiety, his book rings with equally profound authenticity.

Born Nicolas Herman in 1614 into the Third Estate of peasants, wage laborers, and bourgeoisie, he had no formal education and no advantages. Around 20 he was severely injured in the leg during the Thirty Years’ War. Leaving the military a disabled veteran, he limped in pain the rest of his long life, spending his last two years unable to walk.

Brother Lawrence shared with his good friend the priest Joseph of Beaufort that he’d also suffered terrible psychological pain. During a dark night of the soul from twenty-six to thirty-six: “He often relived in his mind the dangers of his days in military service, the emptiness and corruption of the times,” and meditated on “the disorders of his youth,” causing him “horror.”

His prayer practice first appealed to me because it made visible my earliest contemplative experiences in nature. There something in me yet inchoate kept me company kindly, out among the red-tailed hawks and tall evergreen pines of red-earthed north Georgia, wandering hours alone in search of peace, trying to process childhood trauma.

Every 4am of the first pandemic summer I got up to translate the friar’s work. Seeing the sun in with my new friend, I was drawn to this down-to-earth mystic’s exceptionally calming presence. Grieving with the ever-rising deaths non-stop narrated in global and local news and in conversations with friends who lost family, I was also teaching full-time on Zoom as I translated, trying to help my students who had catastrophic grief, deaths of loved ones, housing insecurities, food precarities, job losses, or were juggling multiple jobs and school, and other stresses.

Our cataclysmic times echo with Brother Lawrence’s century of plague, authoritarianism, inequities, wars, climate crisis, and famine. After leaving the military, the friar knew failure as a hermit, then as a Paris footman, where he says he felt like “a clumsy oaf who broke everything.”

 Brother Lawrence in the kitchen; anonymous engraving from ca. 1900 (public domain)

He decided to enter the monastery in Paris in the summer of 1640 as a lay brother. Taking the name Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, he was assigned to the kitchen. He had “the strongest natural aversion” to scullery duties, but they lasted forty years. Gradually he learned to do even these “with the greatest love possible.” When standing became too much, he was reassigned to the monastery sandal shop, repairing his 100 or so brothers’ sandals.

Over time Brother Lawrence learned to pray constantly. He called it “the practice of the presence.” An “easy” and “strengthening” form of micro-prayer done on the fly, this “brief lifting up of the heart” is a simple Love-homecoming, done at any time, as often as a person can, he says.

The friar did this meditative returning-to-Love even when busiest in the kitchen flipping omelettes. Gradually, his presence prayer grew the spiritual muscles of his calmness to experience deep healing. He lived in and from an inner peace sustaining him through his last forty years, up to his death on February 12, 1691.

Contemplative seekers today find the friar’s practice of the presence helpful because it’s portable, easy-to-do, healing, and cultivates our self-compassion and community. It’s evergreen.

A moment of practicing the presence might begin with anything, an injury, a joy, a task, a cup of tea or coffee, morning sun through a window, a nagging worry, or any uncontrollable aspect of our human life. There we turn to Love, check in, then come back to the quotidian—open email, wash a dish, drive to work. Repeating this gentle returning develops our self-kindness, and empowers anyone to make a compassionate difference in our world.

Since being-good-at-it is not the point of the friar’s practice, its unconditional-love foundation makes it especially healthy in our capitalistically transactional world. He says Love always called him back when he forgot, adding: “[W]e must not get discouraged when we forget it, for any good habit is only formed with difficulty, but when it is formed, we will find contentment in all we do.” This meditative habit directly connects a person with divinity, as he reminds: “If the will can in any way understand God, it can only be through love.”

His centering on God as love is why I call him the friar d’amour.

As Joseph shares, the friar’s practice of the presence made him “gentle” during a harsh time very like our own: “Brother Lawrence was a warm, welcoming person. He gave others confidence. . . . [Y]ou felt you could tell him anything. You knew you’d found a friend.”

Friendship and peace are what this book offers. My translation of Practice of the Presence gives a wide range of readers access for the first time to the complete Brother Lawrence, who models developing calmness like a muscle.

The kindest teacher, Brother Lawrence reassures all: “In the middle of your tasks you can comfort yourself with Love as often as you can. . . . Everyone is capable of these familiar conversations with God.”

“Let’s begin.”

Carmen Acevedo Butcher[/caption]Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Ph.D., is an author, teacher, poet, and an award-winning translator of spiritual texts. Her dynamic work has garnered interest from various media, including the BBC and NPR’s Morning Edition. A Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year and Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Acevedo Butcher’s work in translation has made accessible works by such writers as The Cloud's Anonymous, Hildegard of Bingen, and Julian of Norwich. Her revolutionary translation of Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence releases August 2022 from Broadleaf Books. She currently teaches full-time at the University of California, Berkeley, in the College Writing Programs.

The Encountering Silence co-hosts (Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson and Carl McColman) recently spoke with Servite Sister Joyce Rupp, on the occasion of the publication of her most recent book, Return to the Root: Reflections on the Inner Life.Joyce Rupp is well known for her work as a writer, international retreat leader, and conference speaker. She is the author of numerous bestselling books, including Praying Our Goodbyes, Open the Door, and Fragments of Your Ancient Name. Some of her books, like Fly While You Still Have Wings have won awards from the Catholic Press Association. In the words of Jesuit author James Martin, “Joyce Rupp is one of the best Christian spiritual guides writing today.”

You can learn more about Joyce Rupp by visiting her website, www.joycerupp.com — or check out some of her many books:

• Return to the Root: Reflections on the Inner Life
• Boundless Compassion: Creating a Way of Life
• Praying Our Goodbyes
• May I Walk You Home?
• Open the Door
• The Cup of Our Life
• Fragments of Your Ancient Name
• The Circle of Life: The Heart’s Journey Through the Seasons
• Fly While You Still Have Wings
• Essential Writings of Joyce Rupp (Modern Spiritual Masters Series)

This is episode number 140 of Encountering Silence. Subscribe to this podcast from your favorite podcast subscription service, and check out previous episodes where we have interviewed friends like Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, Lerita Coleman Brown, Parker Palmer, Barbara Holmes, Barbara Brown Taylor, Martin Laird, and many others. Click here to visit the podcast’s website.

Enjoy this podcast? Become a patron, and get early and exclusive access to unedited audio, and more!
Click here to become a patron.

The Reverend Doctor Sarah Griffith Lund returns to Encountering Silence to talk about her latest book, Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence about Mental Health with Children and Teens. She is also the author of Blessed Are the Crazy: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness, Family and Church, Blessed Union: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness and Marriage, and the Blessed Youth Survival Guide. 

Sarah Lund is an ordained minister and has served as pastor to churches in Brooklyn, NY, Minneapolis, MN, and New Smyrna Beach, FL. She holds degrees from Trinity University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Rutgers University, and McCormick Theological Seminary.

She is on the leadership team for Bethany Ecumenical Fellows, a mentoring program for young clergy, and serves as the Vice Chair for the United Church of Christ Mental Health Network. Dr. Lund received the Dell Award for Mental Health Education at the 30th General Synod of the UCC. She currently serves as a Vice President for Advancement at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, IN. You can get to know her better by reading her blog at www.sarahgriffithlund.com.

Through vivid and powerful storytelling, Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence about Mental Health with Children and Teens helps to remove the barriers of stigma and shame associated with mental illness in children and teens. Readers will discover they are not alone and be reminded of God's grace and loving presence in the midst of the heartache and struggle of mental illness. In addition to stories of children and youth experiencing mental health challenges, this book includes practical resources such as prayers and a guide for having age-appropriate talks with children about warning signs and how to get help for themselves and friends. Ultimately, this important resource offers hope and help for everyone who loves a child or youth with mental health challenges. The Blessed Youth Survival Guide is a pocket-size companion guide for youth.

Our society and our church is ableist. We have a preference for people who are able-bodied. And so when we view candidates for ministry who have a physical disability, we are biased, and we automatically think that they are not able. — Sarah Griffith Lund.

To listen to Sarah Griffith Lund's previous episodes on Encountering Silence, click here & here and here & here. As a pastor I have started a monthly day of prayer where I go to a local retreat center and have a day of silence. I find that that’s really crucial for my own sense of grounding and creating space to discern and to listen to the spirit. — Sarah Griffith Lund

Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

• Sarah Griffith Lund, Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence about Mental Health with Children and Teens
• Sarah Griffith Lund, Blessed Youth Survival Guide
• Sarah Griffith Lund, Blessed Union: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness and Marriage
• Sarah Griffith Lund, Blessed Are the Crazy: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness, Family and Church
• Michel Foucault, Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
• Nancy L. Eiesland, The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability
• Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love
• Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe
• Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Silence, in order for it to feel safe for a lot of us, needs to have a host — a person who holds that silence, and who is hosting our visit. — Sarah Griffith Lund

Episode 139: Silence, Mental Health, and Youth: A Conversation with Sarah Griffith Lund
Hosted by: Cassidy Hall
With: Carl McColman and Kevin Johnson
Guest: Sarah Griffith Lund
Date Recorded: March 14, 2022

 

 

The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis—Author, Activist, and Public Theologian—is the first female and first Black Senior Minister to serve in the historic Collegiate Church of New York, which dates to 1628. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Dr. Lewis and her activist work have been featured by the TODAY Show, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among many others.
In the silence I’ve learned there’s something about God… The silence is speaking. — Jacqui Lewis
Let’s be comfortable in the silence until we know. — Jacqui Lewis

Her books include The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leading Multi-Racial and Multi-Cultural Congregations and Ten Essential Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation (co-authored with John Janka).

She also contributed to Becoming Like Creoles: Living and Leading at the Intersections of Injustice, Culture, and Religion. Her latest book, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World, has just been released (November 2021) by Harmony Books.

Parents who want to raise revolutionary lovers cannot be silent. — Jacqui Lewis

She is the creator of the MSNBC online show Just Faith and the PBS show Faith and Justice, in which she led important conversations about culture and current events. Her new podcast, Love.Period., is produced by the Center for Action and Contemplation. Raised mostly in Chicago, she now lives with her husband in Manhattan. 

Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

• Jacqui Lewis, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World
• Jacqui Lewis, The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leading Multi-Racial and Multi-Cultural Congregations
• Jacqui Lewis and John Janka, Ten Essential Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation
• Jacqui Lewis (contributor), Becoming Like Creoles: Living and Leading at the Intersections of Injustice, Culture, and Religion

If white people are feeling like they’ve been so wounded because their power is eroding and that keeps them silent in the face of injustice — that is not the kind of silence we want. — the Reverend Doctor Jacqui Lewis

Episode 138: Encountering Silence in Fierce Love: A Conversation with the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis
Hosted by: Cassidy Hall
With: Kevin Johnson, Carl McColman
Guest: Jacqui Lewis
Date Recorded: November 1, 2021

New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the 2020 ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young adult literature, the 2017 Children's Literature Legacy Award, the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her distinguished works include the much-honored books Garvey's Choice, ALA Notable book Southwest Sunrise, Coretta Scott King Award winner Bronx Masquerade (and five Coretta Scott King Author Honor books), Printz and Siebert Honor winner Ordinary Hazards, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance, its companion Legacy:Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance, and NYT Bestseller Kamala Harris:Rooted in Justice. Other titles by Ms. Grimes include Come Sunday, At Jerusalem's Gate: Poems of Easter, and Voices of Christmas. She is the creator of the popular Meet Danitra Brown, Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel, Bedtime for Sweet Creatures, and Off to See the Sea.

Glory in the Margins: Sunday Poems
Her latest book, Glory in the Margins: Sunday Poems, was recently published by Paraclete Press. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.

Photo credit: Aaron Lemen 

Silence is everything. — Nikki Grimes
Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

• Nikki Grimes, Glory in the Margins: Sunday Poems
• Nikki Grimes, Garvey's Choice
• Nikki Grimes, Southwest Sunrise
• Nikki Grimes, Bronx Masquerade
• Nikki Grimes, Ordinary Hazards
• Nikki Grimes, One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance
• Nikki Grimes, Legacy:Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
• Nikki Grimes, Kamala Harris:Rooted in Justice
• Nikki Grimes, Come Sunday
• Nikki Grimes, At Jerusalem's Gate: Poems of Easter
• Nikki Grimes, Voices of Christmas
• Nikki Grimes, Meet Danitra Brown
• Nikki Grimes, Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel
• Nikki Grimes, Bedtime for Sweet Creatures
• Nikki Grimes, Off to See the Sea

Episode 137: Encountering Glory and Silence in the Margins: A Conversation with Nikki Grimes
Hosted by: Carl McColman
With: Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson
Guest: Nikki Grimes
Date Recorded: August 23, 2021

Dr. Amy Frykholm is an American writer whose five books of non-fiction have covered the territory of American religion from apocalypticists to saints. She is an award-winning writer and senior editor for the magazine The Christian Century, appears frequently on television and radio programs as an expert in American religion, and has lectured widely on subjects like the Rapture, purity culture, and lost female figures in Christianity. She has a PhD in Literature from Duke University.

Her books include her newest release, Wild Woman: A Footnote, the Desert, and My Quest for an Elusive Saint (Broadleaf Books, 2021), as well as, Julian of Norwich: A Contemplative Biography, See Me Naked: Stories of Sexual Exile in American Christianity, Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America, and Christian Understandings of the Future: The Historical Trajectory. We recorded our conversation with Amy Frykholm on August 5, 2021.

There's a real sense that it accumulates... that silence is a substance. — Amy Frykholm

• Amy Frykholm, Wild Woman: A Footnote, the Desert, and My Quest for an Elusive Saint
• Amy Frykholm, Julian of Norwich: A Contemplative Biography
• Amy Frykholm, See Me Naked: Stories of Sexual Exile in American Christianity 
• Amy Frykholm, Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America
• Amy Frykholm, Christian Understandings of the Future: The Historical Trajectory
• Julian of Norwich, The Showings, translated by Mirabai Starr
• Emily Dickinson, The Poems of Emily Dickinson
• Maggie Ross, Silence: A User’s Guide, Volume 1
• St. Sophronius, The Life of Saint Mary of Egypt
• George Lucas & Steven Spielberg, The Indiana Jones Movies
• Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
• Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
• Athanasius, The Life of St. Antony of the Desert
• Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God Through Prayer, Wisdom and Silence
• Sara Maitland, A Book of Silence
• Father Philaret, Living According to God's Will
• Thomas Keating, Open Mind Open Heart
• W. S. Merwyn, "For the Anniversary of My Death" (found in The Second Four Books of Poems)
• John Tavener, Mary of Egypt

Episode 136: Encountering the Wilderness of Silence: A Conversation with Dr. Amy Frykholm
Hosted by: Kevin Johnson
With: Cassidy Hall, Carl McColman
Guest: Amy Frykholm
Date Recorded: August 5, 2021

Featured image: Sinai Desert © Vyacheslav Argenberg, www.vascoplanet.com

DR. KEVIN QUASHIE is a professor of English at Brown University. He is the author of The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture and Black Women, Identity, and Cultural Theory: (Un)Becoming the Subject.

Silence often denotes something that is suppressed or repressed, and is an interiority that is about withholding, absence, and stillness. Quiet, on the other hand, is presence (one can, for example, describe prose or a sound as quiet) and can encompass fantastic motion. It is true that silence can be expressive, but its expression is often based on refusal or protest, not the abundance and wildness of the interior described above. Indeed, the expressiveness of silence is often aware of an audience, a watcher or listener whose presence is the reason for the withholding––it is an expressiveness which is intent and even defiant. This is a key difference between the two terms because in its inwardness, the aesthetic of quiet is watcherless. — Kevin Quashie

He is one of the co-editors of New Bones: Contemporary Black Writers in America. His essays have appeared in journals such as Meridians, African-American Review, the Massachusetts Review, Anthurium, and The Black Scholar. His most recent book is Black Aliveness, or a Poetics of Being. At Brown, Dr. Quashie teaches black cultural and literary studies, in addition to writing on teaching on black feminist/women’s studies, black queer studies and aesthetics.

An essential aspect to the idiom of prayer is waiting: the praying subject waits with agency, where waiting is not the result of having been acted upon (as in being made to wait), but is itself action. In waiting, there is no clear language or determined outcome; there is simply the practice of contemplation and discernment. This is a challenge to the way we commonly think of waiting, which is passive; it is also a disruption of the calculus of cause and effect which shapes so much of how we understand the social world.— Kevin Quashie

Our interview with Dr. Quashie proved to be that kind of rare, graced conversation where an insightful, learned discussion opened up beautifully into a resonant contemplative space.

This idea that prayer can articulate beyond its own self-indulgence is important to thinking about the bowed heads of Tommie Smith and John Carlos; that is, to read their protest as quiet expressiveness does not disavow their capacity to inspire. In fact, nothing speaks more to their humanity— and against the violence of racism—than the glimpse of their inner lives. The challenge, though, is to understand how their quiet works as a public gesture, without disregarding its interiority.— Kevin Quashie

Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

• Kevin Quashie, Black Aliveness, or a Poetics of Being
• Kevin Quashie, The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture
• Kevin Quashie, Black Women, Identity, and Cultural Theory: (Un)Becoming the Subject
• Kevin Quashie et al., eds., New Bones: Contemporary Black Writers in America

Episode 135: The Aesthetics and Poesis of Silence: A Conversation with Dr. Kevin Quashie
Hosted by: Kevin Johnson
With: Cassidy Hall, Carl McColman
Guest: Kevin Quashie
Date Recorded: March 3, 2021

MAISIE SPARKS is an author, speaker, spiritual director, and retreat facilitator.

Her books include Christmas Quiet, 151 Things God Can't Do, 101 Things the Devil Can’t Do, and Holy Shakespeare: 101 Scriptures That Appear in Shakespeare’s Plays, Poems and Sonnets.

She is an active member of the Spiritual Directors of Color Network, and her essays have appeared in anthologies like Kaleidoscope: Broadening the Palette in the Art of Spiritual Direction, Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color, and Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around — Stories of Contemplation and Justice.

She makes her home in Champaign, Illinois.

We discovered Maisie Sparks on the recommendation of our mutual friend Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown. We found our conversation with her to be filled with light. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed the conversation.

Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

• Maisie Sparks, Christmas Quiet
• Maisie Sparks, 151 Things God Can't Do
• Maisie Sparks, 101 Things the Devil Can’t Do
• Maisie Sparks, Holy Shakespeare: 101 Scriptures That Appear in Shakespeare’s Plays, Poems and Sonnets.
• Ineda Pearl Adesanya (editor), Kaleidoscope: Broadening the Palette in the Art of Spiritual Direction (includes an essay by Maisie Sparks)
• Therese Taylor-Stinson et al. (editors), Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color (includes an essay by Maisie Sparks)
• Therese Taylor-Stinson (ed.), Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around — Stories of Contemplation and Justice (includes essays by Jacqueline Smith-Crooks, Lerita Coleman Brown, Maisie Sparks, Jung Eun Sophia Park, Soyinka Rahim, and Ineda P. Adesanya, among others)

Episode 134: Enjoying God in the Silence: A Conversation with Maisie Sparks
Hosted by: Carl McColman
With: Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson
Guest: Maisie Sparks
Date Recorded: March 3, 2021