<\/p>\n
My family lives in a typical 1960s house in the Washington About two weeks ago, I posted pictures of my cottage on As I read my these notes, I began to realize that they The really odd thing about this is that many–if not most–of There’s a bumper sticker that says:\u00a0 <\/span>“If you want peace, work for justice.”\u00a0 <\/span>I think that is true.\u00a0 <\/span>New progressives, however, may want to When I was a teenager, I read a book by Elizabeth O’Connor With all the difficult challenges we face with international Many thanks, Facebook friends.\u00a0 <\/span>You reminded me that progress often involves retreat–the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My family lives in a typical 1960s house in the Washington DC suburbs, and I work at home.\u00a0 “Typical 1960s house” equals small and no closets.\u00a0 As a result, my books were taking over and there wasn’t much space to write.\u00a0 We decided to move my job to the backyard.\u00a0 Thus was born “Mom’s writing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,36,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christians","category-defining-progressive","category-religion-in-the-public-square"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDC suburbs, and I work at home.\u00a0
\n<\/span>“Typical 1960s house” equals small and no closets.\u00a0 <\/span>As a result, my books were taking over
\nand there wasn’t much space to write.\u00a0
\n<\/span>We decided to move my job to the backyard.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus was born “Mom’s writing cottage,” a 150 square-foot
\nwhite clapboard house with green trim and a window box.\u00a0 <\/span>In recent weeks, my daughter and I
\nplanted flowers all around making the tiny house literally bloom with
\ncreativity–not to mention a plethora of purple pansies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nFacebook.\u00a0 <\/span>What happened next truly
\nsurprised me–my wall and my inbox were literally flooded with comments.\u00a0 <\/span>“Oh, it is so cute!” wrote a good
\nnumber of my friends, “I want one, too.”\u00a0
\n<\/span>Strangers requested copies of the building plans.\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, the envy factor ran so high
\nthat I apologized for causing so many people to break the 10th<\/sup>
\nCommandment–Thou Shalt Not Covet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nrepresented a powerful spiritual impulse in our culture–to have a place, a cozy
\nplace of retreat, to think, read, reflect, and pray.\u00a0 <\/span>A little place to do good work; a room to call one’s own
\n(many people quoted Virginia Woolf’s famous line back to me).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nmy friends self-identify on Facebook as “liberal,” “left,” or “progressive”
\nwhen asked about their politics.\u00a0 <\/span>They
\nare activists, justice-oriented, politically engaged, non-profit do-gooders, and
\nmost of them live in cities.\u00a0 <\/span>They
\nare busy people working to make the world a better place.\u00a0 <\/span>They feed hungry people; they lead
\nmarches at city hall. Frankly, their response to the cottage reminded me a
\nlittle of the kind of thing that Thoreau might hanker for–a tiny corner of the
\nworld where one might better encounter the spirit in order to feel the ethical
\nheartbeat of the universe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nturn it around: “If you want justice, seek out peace.”\u00a0 <\/span>Historically understood, progressive
\nfaith has always insisted that activism springs from prayer; that ethics must
\nbe grounded in devotion.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, the
\nway to social transformation is a way that knows when to retreat–not escape–but
\nretreat<\/i> to connect with the God who
\nis justice, and whose beautiful dream of justice shapes the political
\nimagination.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\ncalled Journey Inward\/Journey Outward <\/i>(no
\nlonger in print).\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>In it, she argued that the greatest mistake of 20th<\/sup>
\ncentury religion had been to sever the relationship between spirituality and
\nsocial justice.\u00a0 <\/span>She pled for the
\ninner of devotion and outer life of activism to be reunited.<\/p>\n
\nrelations, the economy, and the environment, it is a good thing to remember
\nthat fixing the outward circumstances isn’t the entire goal.\u00a0 <\/span>A more complete progressive goal is to
\nhelp bring about a world in which all people might experience the profoundly
\nhuman journey of loving God and loving neighbor. \u00a0<\/span>We have to pay attention to the inner life as well as the
\nouter one. \u00a0<\/span>Journey inward.\u00a0 <\/span>Journey outward.<\/p>\n
\nright kind of quiet pause to grow deeper as we reach further.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>And if you are ever in DC, come by the little house for a cup
\nof tea.\u00a0 <\/span>We’ll talk about changing
\nthe world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n