Rev. Danny Fisher

Once at my old blog, I posted about what I perceived as the influence of desert spirituality and the pastoral theology of Henri J.M. Nouwen on the work of television personality and Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers. Due to some linkage from bigger, better blogs, the post got a ton of traffic and remains almost certainly the most-read thing I’ve ever produced. One of the results of that experience was that I began a friendly correspondence with Amy Hollingsworth, a former writer/researcher for the 700 Club who was at the time working on the book that became The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World’s Most Beloved Neighbor. Amy had initially sent me an email to say that Nouwen and Rogers were in fact quite good friends and that Nouwen’s work certainly did influence Rogers’.

Amy wrote to me and others recently to share the news that her newest book, Gifts of Passage: What the Dying Tell Us with the Gifts They Leave Behind, will be released later this month. I look forward to checking it out and hearing more thoughts from Amy–a unique and earnest evangelical voice in the literary world. Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly had to say about the book:

Few events in life leave us more vulnerable and potentially open to God’s gifts than the death of a loved one. The death of Hollingsworth’s father while she was writing her first book, The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers, gave her the opportunity and desire to discover what legacies the dying leave behind. While searching for the meaning of her father’s final moments, Hollingsworth talked to or read about others who had experienced gifts in the midst of loss, and movingly recounts their stories. While some of the anecdotes are familiar, such as C.S. Lewis’s loss of his wife, Joy, many of the most touching are of ordinary people whose gifts are occasionally physical-e.g., a locket that had not yet been given-but more often are ones of relationship. Hollingsworth concludes with the powerful story of her father’s death and her discovery that his last moments offered her much needed healing of their difficult relationship. Those who question whether God orchestrates all that happens in our lives will struggle with that implied theology here, but those who find comfort in that perspective will experience Hollingsworth as a warm and gracious companion for the grieving process.

Our pal in the religion blogosphere, the great Rachel Barenblat of Velveteen Rabbi, points us to An Unlit Candle–an independent project devoted to raising consciousness about the situation in Tibet this Passover. (Thanks, bubula!)

Their website states:

We call on all Jews to include an unlit candle on their Seder Tables this year. The candle symbolizes both the Olympic torch, whose light has been dimmed, and the unmet hopes of a people still living without freedom.

In the Jewish tradition, light symbolizes freedom, hope, and renewal. On Shabbat, Chanukah, and on holidays including Passover, we light candles to shed light into our hearts, thank God for the blessings we enjoy, and commit ourselves to our religion’s ideals of justice and freedom for all.

But for three million Tibetans living under military rule, the light has been extinguished. Tibetans may not freely practice their religion, display their flag, or honor their leader, the Dalai Lama. Doing so puts them at risk of jail, torture, or worse.

The point is not just to have another symbol on your table. Rather, as with the rest of the Seder, the point is to stimulate discussion and action. When your loved ones ask about the unlit candle on the Seder table, talk with them about the Tibetans’ struggle for freedom. Demand that the Chinese government meet with the Dalai Lama, who has condemned all acts of violence, who asks only for autonomy for his people, and who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent efforts. Demand that the Chinese regime immediately lift restrictions on Tibetan religious and political expression. And ask our leaders not to attend the Olympics’ opening ceremony, and our athletes to display symbols of solidarity with Tibet.

In Exodus 3:7, we read that God hears the cries of the oppressed, and acts on their behalf. The Passover story is the result. Now, we must do the same.

The project is currently seeking co-sponsors. Co-sponsors are “simply organizations which agree with what we are doing, and have agreed to publicize the Unlit Candle initiative to their members and mailing lists.” If you or your organization might be interested in co-sponsorship, you can contact the project here.

Here’s a couple-years-old P.S.A. from the International Campaign for Tibet that features some familiar faces: