The Passing of Another Peace Activist

 

I didn't personally know John Spragens, Jr. -  but we did know a lot of his contemporaries who were peace activists during the Vietnam war and long after. He is another one who was on a "life-long journey of faith and service"..

He worked in the Delta of Vietnam as a Conscientious Objector with International Voluntary Services in the late 60's, and again was in Vietnam in 1974 as a photo-journalist. He later worked with the Indochina Resource Center in DC and in Berkeley.

Last November he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died last Sunday morning. Our friend Earl Martin sent  this link with a poem and song that touched my heart. The song stemmed from an early morning dream of John's and says lots about his life.

http://www.seedboatgallery.com/spragens/oolong/

A Lenten Reflection from India…

My good friend and long-time colleague Greg Rake works with the poor in India. He and his wife, Ines, are good models of the "life-long journey" of faith and service.  I asked Greg to write a reflection for Lent from his perspective in India. Here are his words of wisdom which I commend to your reading.

Advent and Lent have always been my favorite times in the liturgical calendar.  Both have usually included some ritual such as the advent wreath and special Lenten services.  Over the years, Lent has also included an opportunity for “giving up something” to help us in discipline, denial and the hope of adding something to our lives.  It also provides additional time to consider what else we could do to follow Jesus.

My recent years have been spent living and working in India.  This wasn’t a career path that we chose; our commitment was to living and working out our faith where God calls us.  In this case, it was something we never would have planned for or dreamed of doing.  After working for almost 40 years in Latin America, I was wondering what surprises this new adventure would bring to our faith and commitment to living out the gospel.