We recognize that we (and everyone) have been reconciled to God, then we bring that message of reconciliation to others.

As I've said before, I'm beginning to see how pursuing peace and non-violence, in non-violent ways, may be what it all comes down to. "live simply so others may simply live" Living in a western consumerist society like I do here in Australia I'm bombarded on a daily basis to opt in, so the wheels keep turning.

I hope I'm wrong, but to this point there are over 50 comments regarding the roles women should or shouln't have within the church. Kris, you may have a point. But I am an ardent admirer of both Rustin and Bonhoeffer and it is worth tracing their development from simple ‘troublemakers,’ to activists that put their very lives on the line. We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.

The other day I came across this quote from civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (probably most famously known as the organizer of the

The only weapon we have is our bodies and we need to tuck them in places so wheels don’t turn.” He inspired the Freedom Riders to take their fateful/faith-full journey.We plan to inspire our community & communicate our message of acceptance, respect & compassion by following the examples of both these fine men. I rightly pass for a Roman Catholic so I have no truck with y’alls denominational skirmishes. As I see it, as soon as rage factors into any troublemaking, the angel has become a devil, the "cause" is suspect, and the danger of losing the inner (spiritual) battle has come into play. The last thing in the world that should concern a Christian or the Church is survival in a temporal and worldly sense: to be concerned with this is an implicit denial of the Victory of Christ and of the Resurrection. There are some very good comments here. Mahatma Gandhi had been assassinated earlier that year, but his teachings touched Rustin in profound ways.

I too struggle with what genuine discipleship may like look in my own circumstances. I think every day presents us with many little moments to quietly or not so quietly  tuck our bodies into places "so the wheels don't turn" "WE NEED IN EVERY COMMUNITY A GROUP OF ANGELIC TROUBLEMAKERS"Bayard Rustin was the primary architect of the March on Washington in ’63. Once again Susan I admire your honesty and insight, particularly in the statement- "In discerning who is an angel and who is being drafted into satanic service is simply *kindness. Verified “We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers. Is it possible that we in the church of the 21st century are more interested in maintaining our own denominational empires than being a counter cultural "spoke in the wheel" or "wholesomely disturbing presence" in the midst of the dominant world empires around us. He felt people were looking for something to genuinly give their lives to. Yet there are only 3 on the type of Chriti-Anarchy (as some have called it). Especially Bonhoeffer who inherited so much Lutheran anti-semitism, as one finds prevalent in his early work, to later becoming such a profound advocate and martyr for Jewish life. Our power is in our ability to make things unworkable.

I very much appreciate Susan’s and Richard’s and others here insights into the struggle. Our power is in our ability to make things unworkable. 5:18-20 Our power is in our ability to make things unworkable. Who are now dramatizing their individual and collective psychosis (for all the world to see) at the GOP convention in Tampa Florida. Still, as much as I have an affinity with Russian Orthodoxy (I am a painter of Icons after all) if I’m forced to choose then I have to stand with Pussy Riot and against Patriarch Gundyaev and Putin. I have found encouragement in a quote from Mother Teresa. Daniel, this was precisely my unrest with the term "angelic troublemaker" -- the existence of a Glen Beck. And we need to tuck them in places so wheels don't turn. Within the last couple of years, the only missionaries who have knocked on my door have been Mormon; the only "revival" conducted in town involved coming up with cash to pay muscular young men from Texas to present a series of programs in which boards and bricks were broken bare-handed on the theory that would attract young people. But I hate settling for those two options (“Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination.

He brought the principle of non-violence to the civil rights movement, directly from his study in India with Mahatma Gandhi. Indeed, how to navigate one’s entanglement with the empire is very problematic. Sometimes maybe Christi-Anarchy can be as simple as choosing to regularly opt out. Reminds of Bonhoeffer and Barth. -- 2 Cor. Bayard Rustin Quote: “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.” quotefancy Create Yours “ We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers. “We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers. Hi Susan and Frank, I appreciate both of your voices in the conversation. Bonhoeffer on the radio in 1930s Germany saying that the church needs to "throw a spoke in the wheel" of the machine, and Barth saying (post-WWII) that the call of the church in the service of the state is to be "a wholesomely disturbing presence."