In November 2020 Ched gave this brief (9 min) reflection for the Graduate Theological Union's Alumni in Conversation series, explaining concisely why BCM uses the rubric “discipleship at the intersection of seminary, sanctuary, streets and soil,” and what it means for our personal and political spiritual formation and activism.

In 2020 Ched gave this devotional for the Nomad Podcast in the UK (www.nomadpodcast.co.uk). In this devotion, Ched takes us on a journey down the Ventura river, where he lives in California, and goes on to open up the radical political imagination of the many biblical visions of rivers, in a world where colonization and empire habitually steal water and turn fertile places into deserts. Thanks to NOMAD for the recording and production - original version at https://www.nomadpodcast.co.uk/ched-myers-roll-like-a-river-n245/

Elaine and Ched were interviewed in mid-January 2021 by Jamie Pitts, editor of the Anabaptist Witness journal, about Healing Haunted Histories. They discuss the background and motivations for this project, the evocative title, and major themes addressed in the volume.

This Bartcast is a 20 minute section of the memorial to Murphy Davis in early November. It features Ched and Elaine’s reflection on Murphy’s vocation as a “Charon” figure, who traversed back and forth across the Great River over 25 years, teaching us about life and death. The recording ends with a beautiful song by Robin and Linda Williams. We encourage you to read Murphy’s memoir, Surely Goodness and Mercy, and to pray for her husband Eduard and daughter Hannah and family.

In honor of the All Saints triduum, Bartcast #51 features Ched’s reflections on his father, who passed away almost 30 years ago. He reads from a piece originally published in the mid-90s titled “Pulpo en su Tinta”; you can find it in the Appendix to his book Our God is Undocumented (https://www.bcm-net.org/resources/books). (20 min). We encourage you to remember a loved one during this season.

Mauricio and Ched got together in August 2020 for a CLBSJ Scholar-Activist Encounter and discussed their work to create capacity for movement-building through arts, documentation and scholarship, and the way this work has shaped and been shaped by their faith. Mauricio is a BCM friend and Partner, former intern and is currently an Assistant Arts Professor of Theatre Studies in the Department of Drama at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Occasionally we feature guest voices on our Bartcast. We are pleased to introduce you to Mark Pestak from Cleveland. Mark is a longtime participant in Bible study at the Catholic Worker there, which along with the Los Angeles house, is exemplary in the Catholic Worker movement for its devotion to scripture study. This is a community Ched has visited many times, and co-founder Mike Fiala has been very supportive of our Bartimaeus Institute since its beginnings, often sponsoring his community members to attend. Mark Pestak, a physicist, delivered this fine homily on Jeremiah Ch. 19 and 21 on Father’s Day 2020. His Community of St Peter is a Roman Catholic church excommunicated for its refusal to disband during massive closings of Roman Catholic churches in Cleveland by the Bishop over ten years ago. Ched had the pleasure of staying with Mark and his family during a visit to Cleveland in October 2000 to work with the Interreligious Task Force on Central America. Thanks to Mark for his permission to share this reflection, which we hope you’ll enjoy.

On Summer Solstice 2020 Elaine & Ched led an online liturgy for our local Farm Church. As it was also Father’s Day and Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada, we had a conversation with our friends and colleagues Harry and Germaine Lafond from the Muskeg Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan. The Lafonds talked about the importance of the Sundance among Plains peoples, and their own indigenized Catholic faith. Photo: Germaine and Harry pictured at the 2020 BKI.

On the Thursday morning of the BKI2020, Ched looked 'haunting' as it relates secrecy, lies and 'myths of innocence' plaguing our settler histories, and compares this to Jesus' diagnosis of, and unmasking of 'unclean spirits', both political (Mark 5) and personal (Mark 9). He looks further at Luke 11 (v24-26) and the twin healing stories in Mark (8:22-25 and 10:46-52) which speak to the complex healing and 'strong medicine' required in the journey of decolonization .

On the Wednesday morning of the 2020 Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute: Unsettling Histories | Decolonizing Discipleship | hukišunuškuy, Elaine again set the scene for the day's work by looking at the place where her ancestors came to and their complicity in the impacts on people of the not-vacant land, but a land under siege by government programs to drive the indigenous inhabitants (Cree) off the land. Ched contrasts this with the story of the settlement of the area around the Ventura River Watershed. Image: Young Chippewayan First Nation hereditary chief George Kingfisher raises the Treaty 6 flag at Mennonite Central Committee board member Ray Funk’s farm (left) near Stoney Knoll, SK during the Spruce River Folk Fest