Summer greetings friends,
We’re having a benefit concert! And we’d love to see you there. Save the date for September 19th at the big hall of Art 634 in Jackson, MI. The first musician starts at 5:30 pm. As of this morning, you can purchase tickets at our event website.
Local artists from the Ann Arbor and Jackson areas are coming together (with food trucks) to help raise funds and awareness for natural burial in southern Michigan. The night will feature music from Rachel Neal, Little Spoon River, Elisabeth Pixley-Fink, and Billy King. Any funds raised will go towards our two main goals for 2025: 1) educating the community about natural burial and 2) building out operational capacity. If you’d like to help volunteer at the event, or know someone who would, you can fill out or share this Google form.
Walter Brueggemann
I’ve spent the last month and some change flipping through a commentary on the book of Jeremiah by Walter Brueggemann. I picked it up after hearing of his passing on June 5th. There is much to be said about why this land project/non-profit we’ve started is called Jeremiah Commons—I’ve written briefly about this on our website. For now, it’s enough to say that Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar, lover of poets, and challenger of consumerism and empire, was a large reason why Jeremiah found its way into our name.
I was fortunate to have a meal with him a few years ago when we returned to Michigan from North Carolina. During a family vacation, we were up near Traverse City, the place he’d moved to in retirement, and he was kind enough to meet for lunch on the west bay. It was the summer after I graduated from seminary and I was freshly taken by the connections he’d drawn between the Land, Israel, God, and the prophets. He’s most well-known for his book, The Prophetic Imagination and it was apparent in our meeting that his imagination was still supple, still looking for places the prophetic voice needed hearing. In an interview with Krista Tippett on On Being, originally recorded in 2011, he said of the book of Jeremiah, “This stuff sounds like it was written yesterday.”
He’s helped me recognize the liberative power of the poets and prophets of today. His spirit will be sorely missed. For a lovely reflection on Brueggemann’s dynamic spirit, read this piece by the person who first exposed me to Brueggemann’s work.
I hope you are able to enjoy the gifts of summer,
With gratitude,
Tony
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