Dangerous Love

 

The newest (October 2014) issue of The Sun arrived late last week in my mailbox (October issue is not available online as of the time I write this. As of this morning I've read most all of it. Since resubscribing after many years of absence I have found it to be 'soul building' food. The writing, the topics, the diversity all filled with writers sharing their soul. Even the short pieces of the monthly "The Readers Write" section are uniformly moving, thoughtful. It says a lot about the editor, Sy Safransky, who has been publishing this little magazine, AD-FREE, for decades.

There is a lengthy interview in this issues with someone I had never heard of before, Reverend Lynice Pinkard under the title of "Dangerous Love". The interviewer, Mark Leviton introduces the interview -

 "I first encountered the work of Reverend Lynice Pinkard when I read her essay "Revolutionary Suicide" in the magazine Tikkun. Her writing combined fervor and thoroughness with a big heart. Although she is a Christian - she grew up in the African American Church - her analysis of the Hebrew prophets resonated with my Jewish background. When I contacted Pinkard about the possibility of interviewing her for The Sun, she suggested I first listen to some recordings of her sermons, archived on the website of First Congregational Church of Oakland  where she served for eight years as a pastor. I did and was impressed by the passion of her presentation and the rigor of her arguments as she exhorted her congregation to switch from a  typical American life of consumerism to one of giving without expectation of reward."

I have not read the essay Leviton mentions in Tikkun although the link to it above is there and I will read it soon. His interview with Pinkard is compelling and challenging especially for this agnostic, but I feel like I'm a better person for having read it. Below are just two short excerpts that fail to give a full flavor of the interview, but on their own are worthy of sharing with readers of this blog.

"I also believe that what we have loved in our short lives constitutes our legacy, and that we become who we are, with all our flaws and faults, because somebody somewhere loved us and cared for us and sacrificed for us. I have loved some people, and some people have loved me, and that has saved my life." (p.17)

"It is our job to collaborate with each other and activate that love." (p.16)