brian shivers

We create a universe every time  we tell ourselves,  we tell one another,  we tell our children, we are told a story. Our examination of the stories heard, overheard, created, told, must be deep  and may even cause us discomfort. Let us ask our stories, our storytellers, our selves these questions and more.  Who are the protagonists? Who are the enemies? What are the worlds that are  built,  defended,  reformed,  destroyed? What is the quest? Who comes out the victor? Who dies  at the hands of the conquering hero, at the hands of the dominant culture? Who “needed” to be “saved”? Who is the “savior”? Where do we discover self within the narrative arc? What are the stories  behind the stories  that inform the stories we tell, that inform the stories we are told? What are the mythologies  that are called truths  embedded in our psyches and hidden in our stories? And then  we must not fail to follow each question wit...

There are people you will encounter today who have stories, narratives, and perspectives you will never understand. Listen to them. Lean in as you do. Honor their humanity. Believe what they say. This may make you uncomfortable. This may make you rethink things. This may bring you to some difficult questions and even more difficult answers. Let us not dismiss someone else just because it is hard to consider the truth of their story, narrative, and perspective. - bshivers

Do not dismiss  his story; you know, the one where he  was unjustly arrested  because of the color of his skin: her story; you know, the one where she  was molested  and threatened to stay silent: their story; the one where they were afraid to use the bathroom  that matches their gender identity. Do not dismiss these stories because they make you uncomfortable, uneasy; because you don’t understand. Do not dismiss their stories. - bshivers

what is it about their stories that frightens you most?    is it the sound of the voices of those usually silenced;    is it the inconvenience of their truth;    is it the loss of assumptions that once were  believed;    is it the fact that pretending it isn’t so is no longer an option;    is it the shattered idols once held so dear;    is it the temptation to continue to ignore what has been heard;    is it the weight of responsibility that now comes with knowing? what is it about their stories that frightens you most? — bshivers 

(a poem) Being courageous with your story means      you sometimes sit with it in silence;      you sometimes grieve over the pain;      you sometimes secretly hold it deep within;      you sometimes speak it quietly into the wind;      you sometimes share it in hushed tones with a friend;      you sometimes offer it to a sworn enemy;      you sometimes shout it for all to hear;      you sometimes simply hold space listening to another's story. Be courageous with your story. Stories have the capacity to transform. -- bss 2017

Last year on this day, I was on a bus heading for Selma, AL to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the first march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate for voter's rights for African-Americans. Over 50 years ago, when that first group of demonstrators got to the Edmund Pettus bridge (a bridge named after a Confederate brigadier general, a US Senator, and Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan) they were met by local law men and an angry posse who greeted their peaceful march with the violence of swinging billy clubs, tear gas, fists, and feet. The moment was captured on camera and was broadcast across the country. The day became known as Bloody Sunday. As our bus got closer to Selma, the traffic slowed to a crawl. Several of us decided that we would disembark and walk the remaining two miles into Selma. It was a surreal and emotional experience. As we walked I began to imagine what those original marchers must have felt when they set out on foot to the state capital w...

We look for saints in all the wrong places. We expect to see them venerated in paintings or memorialized in stone. We want them to stay placidly commemorated and confined to such spaces. They are much more sanitary that way. However, what we need are saints dressed in street clothes living next door. Saints who live beautifully messy ordinary lives buying groceries, paying bills, supporting neighbors, traveling to and from work, celebrating victories, grieving loss, believing, and doubting. These saints are the normal people who experience and reveal the presence of the divine in the everyday. Ruth Baldwin is one of those saints. I don't know how often Ruth celebrated mass, and I have no idea if she regularly prayed her rosary. What I do know is that she had more than enough love for all of her children as well as the dozens and dozens who spent hot summer afternoons on her screened in porch eating homemade fruit juice popsicles. Ruth understood what it meant to offer compa...

I love Halloween. Yeah, I said it. I love Halloween. I came to this love naturally. My father was one of the biggest fans of this day. He was a master story teller who could hold even the biggest skeptic spellbound by his haunted tales. He could put together an incredibly frightening haunted trail and spine tingling spook house. He could also put the scare into trick-or-treating with realistic ghoulish makeup on his children's faces. As much as he loved all of the tricks and treats, he really saw this day as an opportunity to have fun, enjoy family, celebrate friendship, and welcome neighbors. That is really why he loved Halloween. Now, I may not share my dad's flare for a good ghost story, and I am really not all that fond of things that go bump in the night. However, I do share dad's love for what Halloween can mean for community. This is one day when I have the opportunity to greet my neighbors and new comers alike at my door, if even for a few moments. Halloween pro...

I have a flat spot on the bridge of my nose. It makes it difficult to find glasses that fit. And my deviated septum makes it hard to breathe out of my left nostril and might make me snore (you would have to ask Jennifer). This is all the result of multiple nasal fractures. Each one has a story. Each one is a part of me. Wounds are funny that way.  When I was thirteen, I was at my friend's house playing basketball with him, his brother, and some of the neighborhood guys. Simmie and I were on the same team, and his brother, Mark, was on the other. The game ended rather abruptly when I gave Mark a terrible shot fake. As a result my face, or I should say, my nose took the brunt of his attempt to block the shot that never left my hand. So, I live with this constant reminder of that sunny summer afternoon. It is a part of me. Wounds are funny that way. Simmie was one of my best childhood friends. He was the first person that made me feel welcome on the playground of my new school on ...

In February of 2005 a gift of God came to live in our house. Her name was Godiva (meaning "gift of God"). She was a magnificent chocolate lab with fantastic brown hair the shade of which was the beautiful progeny of the delightful marriage of dark and milk chocolate. Impossibly, her disposition was even more wonderful. I have had the joy of being around dogs my entire life, and I can say without equivocation that Godiva was the best of all that it means to be a dog and more. She truly was a gift of God.  To say that  Jennifer, Allison and I were diligent about selecting a dog to become a part of our family would be a gross understatement. We had been through a lot together in seven years as a family of three. We knew that we couldn't just invite any dog to join in this family. No, if we were going to add one to our number, it would have to be just the right one. In an effort to find just the right dog, Allison and I developed a ritual of going to our local pet store every...

Listen to the sermon here . 2 Corinthians 8:1-7 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints— and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you. Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap spar...

This has been a long and an amazing summer full of trips with students, family getaways, important meetings, big decisions, reading, and lots of thinking. All the while the world has continued to spin on its axis, and its people have been struggling in both small and mighty ways to get along with one another. There is so much to reflect upon and write about. The next several posts will be about many of these experiences and happenings. Please be patient as I fumble my way through. For those of us in the PCUSA, the beginning of the summer was marked by decisions made at our general assembly (GA) held in Detroit, Michigan. The GA is held once every other year and brings Presbyterians from around the world together to pray, worship, meet in committees, and vote on issues that are viewed to be important to our community and our unique expression of faith. In Detroit, the assembly entertained hundreds of issues and overatures. Several of the decisions made proved to be difficult and...

Romans 8:26-39 Second at Six You can watch the service by clicking here if you wish. The sermon begins at 21:45. 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he no...

The crickets were chirping. Soon, the cicadas added their voices to the chorus. And, if you listened closely, you could hear an occasional bull frog fill out nature’s rhapsody with an enthusiastic deep throated croak. The sky was beginning to surrender its color, and the brightest of the stars began to appear.   However, the most spectacular display had yet to begin.  THERE!   There it was! Out in the darkest portion of the backyard. If you wait for a moment you would see it again...there...and there!   "Come on, dad," I shouted. "The lightning bugs are out!” With that, I bounced off of my temporary perch on the garage steps into a full sprint to the middle of the yard.   That is how it always started. It began with one small flicker of light . A couple of minutes later it happened again. Then, BOOM! The world would flash on and off in nature’s finest light show.   That's what happened when the lightning bugs were out!  ...