Living Wittily

Dorothy Day and the price of coffee

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"Nothing but the best, and the best is none too good for God's poor. What a delightful thing it is to be boldly profligate, to ignore the price of coffee and to go on serving good coffee and the finest bread to the long line of destitute who come to us."

This is Dorothy Day at her subversive best, living the values of the Kingdom. I find it interesting that her spiritual life was nurtured by the Greek New Testament, which she wore out with use and for which she wrote her own translation. I suppose that careful weighing and measuring of text eventually weaves words and ideas into the very texture of a person's thought; in the process of translating Greek into English, language itself translates into spirituality which in turn translates into actions with New Testament precedent. No wonder the Sermon on the Mount was for her a manifesto of life lived in radical contra-distinction to any culture conservatively protective of its economic status quo. In such a culture, like our own, Jesus is not so much a personal saviour to be claimed, as a friend of sinners to be talked about and enfleshed in acts of redemptive hospitable love.

Comments

18 responses to “Dorothy Day and the price of coffee”

  1. Graeme Clark avatar
    Graeme Clark

    love this!

    Reply
  2. Graeme Clark avatar
    Graeme Clark

    love this!

    Reply
  3. Hermina Janz avatar
    Hermina Janz

    Inspiring. What a good example of following Christ by going against the flow of society.
    What can you tell us about the difference between contentment and laziness? This topic came up in our Bible study group recently. In a society where busy-ness is applauded, how can I tell when I am okay in my contentment and when I should be searching for some hands-on service to be active in?

    Reply
  4. Hermina Janz avatar
    Hermina Janz

    Inspiring. What a good example of following Christ by going against the flow of society.
    What can you tell us about the difference between contentment and laziness? This topic came up in our Bible study group recently. In a society where busy-ness is applauded, how can I tell when I am okay in my contentment and when I should be searching for some hands-on service to be active in?

    Reply
  5. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Hi Hermina – some people are contented being lazy, and some are discontented unless they are actively doing. Not sure I see laziness and contentment as either opposites or alternatives. But I do think busy-ness, efficiency, productiveness, ceaseless activity and stimulus, leaches human life of the time and energy to be, to be with others, and to allow ourselves to think, to change and to grow. Busy-ness isn’t wrong, it just isn’t meant to be chronic, or criterion of worth.
    On the other hand, laziness is an ambiguous word. Every life needs rhythm, balance of activity and rest – I think there is a kind of laziness in the person who is so busy they never examine the worth of what they are pouring their lives into. I also think there is a laziness that is indolence, evasion of those tasks and responsibilities that are rightly part of our life in community. And there is the well earned laziness – rest, holiday, re-creation. As for contentment, that I think is more related to an inner acceptance of who we are as God made us to be; it is our yes to the reality that is our lives; it is an attitude that doesn’t demand the universe dance to our tune. And yet – to be contented can be to be stuck and that ain’t good either! Now this could go on, this on the one hand and yet on the other kind of discussion. So one last thought – hands on service to others I take as a given, no matter how contented I am. And that very availability to others can at times make us busy, and will guard against that contentment that I’m OK, which is a rather subtle kind of laziness. Hope all that helps – by the way, our old cat died this week. Now he was a lesson in the balance of explosive energy and languid laziness – much of the former when he was young, and more of the latter as he grew old 🙂

    Reply
  6. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Hi Hermina – some people are contented being lazy, and some are discontented unless they are actively doing. Not sure I see laziness and contentment as either opposites or alternatives. But I do think busy-ness, efficiency, productiveness, ceaseless activity and stimulus, leaches human life of the time and energy to be, to be with others, and to allow ourselves to think, to change and to grow. Busy-ness isn’t wrong, it just isn’t meant to be chronic, or criterion of worth.
    On the other hand, laziness is an ambiguous word. Every life needs rhythm, balance of activity and rest – I think there is a kind of laziness in the person who is so busy they never examine the worth of what they are pouring their lives into. I also think there is a laziness that is indolence, evasion of those tasks and responsibilities that are rightly part of our life in community. And there is the well earned laziness – rest, holiday, re-creation. As for contentment, that I think is more related to an inner acceptance of who we are as God made us to be; it is our yes to the reality that is our lives; it is an attitude that doesn’t demand the universe dance to our tune. And yet – to be contented can be to be stuck and that ain’t good either! Now this could go on, this on the one hand and yet on the other kind of discussion. So one last thought – hands on service to others I take as a given, no matter how contented I am. And that very availability to others can at times make us busy, and will guard against that contentment that I’m OK, which is a rather subtle kind of laziness. Hope all that helps – by the way, our old cat died this week. Now he was a lesson in the balance of explosive energy and languid laziness – much of the former when he was young, and more of the latter as he grew old 🙂

    Reply
  7. Blythe avatar
    Blythe

    Interesting to note in the light of the above about the influence of the text, that Civil Rights Activist and founder of the ‘koinonia’ community Clarence Jordan, has his radicalism attributed to his reading of his well worn Greek New Testament, such Greek being the subject of his PhD research.

    Reply
  8. Blythe avatar
    Blythe

    Interesting to note in the light of the above about the influence of the text, that Civil Rights Activist and founder of the ‘koinonia’ community Clarence Jordan, has his radicalism attributed to his reading of his well worn Greek New Testament, such Greek being the subject of his PhD research.

    Reply
  9. K. E. Smith avatar
    K. E. Smith

    And perhaps you did not realise that Dorothy Day actually went to the Koinonia Farm in Americus Georgia and was shot at by racists when she took her turn keeping watch at the gate. Clarence Jordan, a Baptist, was born in Talbotton Georgia. He was studying agriculture at the University Of Georgia in Athens, Georgia when he sensed a call to ministry. He later developed his ideas of racial equality, pacifism and communal living at a farm in Americus, Georgia.

    Reply
  10. K. E. Smith avatar
    K. E. Smith

    And perhaps you did not realise that Dorothy Day actually went to the Koinonia Farm in Americus Georgia and was shot at by racists when she took her turn keeping watch at the gate. Clarence Jordan, a Baptist, was born in Talbotton Georgia. He was studying agriculture at the University Of Georgia in Athens, Georgia when he sensed a call to ministry. He later developed his ideas of racial equality, pacifism and communal living at a farm in Americus, Georgia.

    Reply
  11. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Oh yes Karen – Decemebr 8 I posted on exactly that incident, which I think is emblematic of Dorothy Days’spirituality of love and justice. Those of us who work within earshot of Stuart are well informed about Clarence Jordan and the priority of the criterion of faithfulness over success. And Stuart, I have a sneaking feeling that a well worn Greek New Testament is itself a sign of radical and serious discipleship – Dorothy Day, Clarence Jordan, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And that might be an interesting argument for ensuring biblical language is part of a balanced curriculum in ministry formation towards faithful discipleship.

    Reply
  12. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Oh yes Karen – Decemebr 8 I posted on exactly that incident, which I think is emblematic of Dorothy Days’spirituality of love and justice. Those of us who work within earshot of Stuart are well informed about Clarence Jordan and the priority of the criterion of faithfulness over success. And Stuart, I have a sneaking feeling that a well worn Greek New Testament is itself a sign of radical and serious discipleship – Dorothy Day, Clarence Jordan, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And that might be an interesting argument for ensuring biblical language is part of a balanced curriculum in ministry formation towards faithful discipleship.

    Reply
  13. K. E. Smith avatar
    K. E. Smith

    Sorry I didn’t see the earlier post and can’t seem to find it now. I was actually just taking the opportunity to point out what good things come out of Georgia…not only Clarence Jordan from Americus but also Jessye Norman from Augusta! I guess I have Georgia on my mind in all this cold weather.

    Reply
  14. K. E. Smith avatar
    K. E. Smith

    Sorry I didn’t see the earlier post and can’t seem to find it now. I was actually just taking the opportunity to point out what good things come out of Georgia…not only Clarence Jordan from Americus but also Jessye Norman from Augusta! I guess I have Georgia on my mind in all this cold weather.

    Reply
  15. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Hi Karen. Oh, Jessye Norman – you’re right, one of the very best things to come out of Georgia. The link to the earlier post is below and if you paste it in the browser it should come up. http://livingwittily.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/dorothy-day-the-troublesome-peacemaker-peacefully-making-trouble.html#comments
    You’re right about the weather here – someone said if hell is punishment for them ice would be worse than fire. Whatever – it’s seriously cold here. Hope life’s good and getting gooder down in SWBC.

    Reply
  16. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Hi Karen. Oh, Jessye Norman – you’re right, one of the very best things to come out of Georgia. The link to the earlier post is below and if you paste it in the browser it should come up. http://livingwittily.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/dorothy-day-the-troublesome-peacemaker-peacefully-making-trouble.html#comments
    You’re right about the weather here – someone said if hell is punishment for them ice would be worse than fire. Whatever – it’s seriously cold here. Hope life’s good and getting gooder down in SWBC.

    Reply
  17. K.E. Smith avatar
    K.E. Smith

    Thanks. I found it. I have long been challenged by the life of Dorothy Day. In fact she and Martin Luther King Jr. are highlighted in the final chapter of the little Introduction to Christian Spirituality which I wrote. MLK was of course also from Georgia (!) as was Alice Walker, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Jackie Robinson, Jimmy Carter and a host of other saints…the names of which are too many to write here! Thanks for your reflections. I am not a ‘blog’ person, but I do read yours on a regular basis and have found it thought provoking and stimulating. Grace and Peace.

    Reply
  18. K.E. Smith avatar
    K.E. Smith

    Thanks. I found it. I have long been challenged by the life of Dorothy Day. In fact she and Martin Luther King Jr. are highlighted in the final chapter of the little Introduction to Christian Spirituality which I wrote. MLK was of course also from Georgia (!) as was Alice Walker, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Jackie Robinson, Jimmy Carter and a host of other saints…the names of which are too many to write here! Thanks for your reflections. I am not a ‘blog’ person, but I do read yours on a regular basis and have found it thought provoking and stimulating. Grace and Peace.

    Reply

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