Bound Up In The Struggle

Written By Carl Gladstone

THE INVITATION:

Gather with friends and people you trust. Help each other make it through life. Be courageous in sharing, compassionate in responding, and creative in your resilience together for the good of all.

CHECK IN:

  1. How is it going?

  2. How can we help each other?

  3. Who else do we need to think about and pray for today?

CONSIDER THIS:

It is precisely this fusing together of Christianity with whiteness that constitutes the ground of many of our struggles today. The struggle against aggressive nationalism is the struggle against the fusion of Christianity and whiteness. The struggle against racism and white supremacy and some aspects of sexism and patriarchy is the struggle against this fusion. The struggle against the exploitation of the planet is bound up in the struggle against this joining. So many people today see these problems-of planetary exploitation, of racism, of sexism, of nationalism, and so forth-but they do not see the deeper problem of this fusion, which means they have not yet grasped the energy that drives many of our problems.

- Jennings, Willie James. The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race. Yale University Press, 2010.

Discuss:

  1. When have you felt “bound up in the struggle?”

  2. Has the feeling of being “bound up” helped or hindered your capacity to be an agent of change for that struggle?

  3. Box breathing is one practice to manage stress, rebel against its power, and transform our anxiety into the capacity to change our surroundings. Follow the instructions in this video to try it out.

  4. For some breathing infused with Judeo/Christian language (see Ezekiel 37!) try the following, repeating the line read, then breathing:
    ”Leader: Lord Jesus Christ,
    People: Lord Jesus Christ, [BREATHE IN]
    Light of the World,
    Light of the World, [BREATHE OUT]
    Fill our minds with your peace
    Fill our minds with your peace [BREATHE IN]
    And our hearts with your love.
    And our hearts with your love.” [BREATHE OUT]

  5. Automatic Drawing: Hold pen to paper. Let your hand lead the pen, without too much thought. Just make marks as they come to you. Now, listen to a series of words and phrases. Continue to let your hand respond to these phrases with corresponding changes in the lines you are making. If one word or phrase brings anxiety to you and your drawing, breathe out slowly and let your hand return to it’s own work of free creativity.

RESPOND:

Did any of these practices resonate with you? Which helped you feel less bound up and more ready to rebel against anxiety? Share one of the links below with a friend who might need to practice these methods too!


Carl Gladstone
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