Tears Of Christepona

Early one morning in November 2019, Carter Heyward awoke to a voice she figured was hers, but then again, maybe it wasn’t exactly her own. Grief-stricken, because her horse Feather had just been diagnosed with a rare equine cancer; in pain with a freshly broken arm of her own; and horrified by the morally bankrupt state of the nation under Donald Trump, Carter begins a conversation with “someone.” Herself? Her higher power? Friends who have passed on? The persistent voice names herself (or themselves) “Christepona.” Thus begins Carter Heyward’s mystical presentation of her ever-deepening passion for justice-love at every level of our life together, from the very personal to the larger social and political contexts. Moving into her grief, Carter wrestles with the problem of evil. She dives into her own anger and hatred, and that of others, and surfaces in enthusiastic bursts of gratitude, joy, and hope.

Hear the call to overcome today’s culture of hate and bring healing and hope into our life together. While right-wing conservatives dare to call themselves Christians as they tear down equality and justice, commit horrific acts of violence, and fan the flames of fascism in America, Carter Heyward issues a call to action for Christians to truly hear God’s message of peace and love. Heyward shows how American Christians have played a major role in building and securing structures of injustice in American life. Rising tides of white supremacy, threats to women’s reproductive freedoms and to basic human rights for gender and sexual minorities, the widening divide between rich and poor, and increasing natural disasters and the extinction of Earth’s species--all point to a world crying out for God’s wisdom. Followers of Jesus must first call out these ingrained and sinful attitudes for what they are, acknowledging what the culture of white Christian nationalism is doing to our country and our world, and commit ourselves ever more fully to generating justice-love, whoever and wherever we are.

Early one morning in November 2019, Carter Heyward awoke to a voice she figured was hers, but then again, maybe it wasn't exactly her own. Grief-stricken, because her horse Feather had just been diagnosed with a rare equine cancer; in pain with a freshly broken arm of her own; and horrified by the morally bankrupt state of the nation under Donald Trump, Carter begins a conversation with "someone." Herself? Her higher power? Friends who have passed on? The persistent voice names herself (or themselves) "Christepona." Thus begins Carter Heyward's mystical presentation of her ever-deepening passion for justice-love at every level of our life together, from the very personal to the larger social and political contexts. Moving into her grief, Carter wrestles with the problem of evil. She dives into her own anger and hatred, and that of others, and surfaces in enthusiastic bursts of gratitude, joy, and hope.

Carter Heyward is one of the most influential and controversial theologians of our time. Under headings "Speaking Truth to Power," Remembering Who We Are," and "Celebrating Our Friends," she reflects on how movements for gender and sexual justice reverberate globally. In this volume of occasional pieces, the lesbian feminist theologian bears witness to the sacred struggles to topple oppressive power. These pieces illustrate feminist theology's bold and transformative engagement of its cultural, political, social, and theological contexts. "Now forty years later, while not as naïve and utopian in my politics, I am still enthusiastically committed, as a Christian, to struggles dedicated to building a world in which every person is entitled, by law, to basic human rights. I have come to realize, as I move along into my mid-sixties, that what justice-loving people most need in these times, and in all times, is courage to speak and act on behalf of this world. My desire in this book is to spark such courage and stir imagination." -from the Foreword.

Carter Heyward is Howard Chandler Robbins Professor of Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Other creatures of the Earth are asking to be our spiritual teachers, says Heyward, and learning from them is a source of hope for the world. Reflecting on the seven spiritual lessons taught to her by horses, Heyward explores: 1) passion as real presence; 2) otherness as remembering what we aren't; 3) fear as shrinking spirituality; 4) balance as sitting deep and well; 5) beauty as reflecting who we are; 6) patience as taking time; and 7) whimsy as being light as a feather. Dedicated to the staff, students, volunteers, and horses at Heyward's farm--Free Rein Center for Therapeutic Riding and Education in Brevard, North Carolina--Flying Changes includes 15 black and white photographs of horses and a selected bibliography.

A collection of Heyward's essays, sermons, lectures, and liturgical poetry that reveals the prophetic depth of her commitment to social justice. Powerfully addresses the issues of racism, sexism, exploitation, and oppression from a feminist standpoint, insisting that the appropriate position for Christians is always on the side of justice.

The uncompromising writings of one of present-day Christianity's most original thinkers, inviting us to respond faithfully and radically by taking the risks necessary to secure genuine justice in society.