Front Light

We pull Front Light editor and producer Ken Ogasawara from behind the curtain to reflect on an amazing first season of Front Light! Ken is a writer and podcaster with Mennonite Central Committee Ontario during the day and by night and weekends a co-director of Mennonite Action Canada. We whet our appetite with some tasty stats from the year before diving into the full course of highlights from our amazing guests over the past year.

Huge thank you to the incredible Jewish recording artist, Batya Levine for the use of their song “We Rise” as our theme song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tkmkwufRVw). The beautiful logo is by Jesse Bergen. Front Light is edited by Ken Ogasawara and produced by Jonny Rashid, Joanna Lawrence Shenk, Holly Harris, and Nick Martin. Thank you all for listening and sharing.

In this episode, we interview Jonathan Smucker and Janna Hunter-Bowman, two academics who have participated with and researched Mennonite Action. We talk about the Peace Theology in Movement: A Lunchtime Colloquium of AMBS and Mennonite Action, and Mennonite Action’s role in the greater Anabaptist and activist world. They offer unique and personal insights into our circumstance and our organization. 
Buy Mennonite Action’s organizing guide, Courage To Enter The Song, here: https://www.amazon.com/Institute-of-Mennonite-Studies-4-book-series/dp/B0C7J3VYTH

Reckoning in Mennonite Peace Theology: Reinhold Niebuhr’s Realism and Four Waves of Development by Janna Hunter-Bowman: https://jmt.scholasticahq.com/article/142713-reckoning-in-mennonite-peace-theology-reinhold-niebuhr-s-realism-and-four-waves-of-development 
Huge thank you to the incredible Jewish recording artist, Batya Levine for the use of their song “We Rise” as our theme song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tkmkwufRVw). The beautiful logo is by Jesse Bergen. Front Light is edited by Ken Ogasawara and produced by Jonny Rashid, Joanna Lawrence Shenk, Holly Harris, and Nick Martin. Thank you all for listening and sharing.

In this conversation with Anna-Lisa Gross and Daniel Hunter, we explore the intersection of peace traditions and organizing against authoritarianism, emphasizing the importance of community, nonviolence, and the teachings of Jesus.
Daniel is a prolific writer, here are his articles are Waging Nonviolence:
https://wagingnonviolence.org/author/danielhunter/
His most recent article is about the response in DC to Trump deploying the National Guard.
Anna Lisa is rooted in the Church of The Brethren and recently wrote two articles for Anabaptist World focused on Gaza:
https://anabaptistworld.org/i-wont-eat-again-until/ 
https://anabaptistworld.org/entrapment-stew-and-murderous-aid-recipe-mediterranean-stew/
Together they are organizers with Choose Democracy, and among other things, are thinking about tax resistance as a tool of mass noncooperation. 
Choose Democracy launched the One Million Rising trainings, which is an effort to get people organized to resist authoritarianism following all the No Kings marches. 20,000+ people were at the first training! They also led Freedom Trainers, which is the training that Nick did. Here’s the Noncooperation Library provided by the Freedom Trainers.
Drop Site News: https://www.dropsitenews.com/
From Christians for a Free Palestine, written by Rev. Margaret Ernst, this prayer on the news of a ceasefire:
God of Life
We lift voices that are hoarse from screaming for justice
Eyes that are wet with tears
Or that can cry no more.
2 years, God. 
Do you hear our cries?
Do you hear the cry of Gaza? 
 
There is news of a ceasefire.
There is dancing in the streets. 
There are children who have lost everything
Telling us the war is over, for good.
Preserve their hope, oh Lord.
Stop the bombs.
Release the prisoners.
Feed the people. 
You are a God that saves.
And yet, where has that salvation been, these past two years?

And so much longer before.
Over 67,000 dead, and likely so many more
Hundreds of thousands wounded
Under the rubble

What shall we say to the 
Woman who wakes to news of ceasefire
And then must ask,
“Where am I to go?
What do we do with our lives?
Where shall we live?"
What shall we say to  
The parent of a child
Bloodied just hours after news of the ceasefire broke
As the world slept and then cried “Free Palestine”
And yet we still yell it
We refuse to accept 'peace'
Defined by those who profit from war.
You are a God that liberates. 
Preserve the faith of Palestinians, God,
And show your saving power. 
Let every tear of joy shed
in these
Days of anticipation
Water the future.
May every laugh and song of children
Lifted to the sky 
Defend against planes and drones
From here on forward.
You are a God that heals. 
May there be quiet in Gaza, God. 
And while there is quiet there, Lord,
Strengthen our cries across this globe for true justice
A true peace
For the kingdom coming
That we glimpse 
And is not yet
Firm up our souls to keep marching
To keep singing
Keep going
Till liberation is won.
Amen.

In this episode, we hear from two Mennonite Action national leadership team members: Tim Seidel and Tim Nafziger. Seidel lives in Harrisonburg and helped to lead a disruptive action in DC. Nafziger is on the West Coast and has been engaged in organizing against. They give us an idea of what local chapters are up to in Mennonite Action, and how we are focused on addressing the twin evils of Christian Nationalism and Christian Zionism. You’ll also hear about the courage tour and an organizing conference.
Huge thank you to the incredible Jewish recording artist, Batya Levine for the use of their song “We Rise” as our theme song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tkmkwufRVw). The beautiful logo is by Jesse Bergen. Front Light is edited by Ken Ogasawara and produced by Jonny Rashid, Joanna Lawrence Shenk, Holly Harris, and Nick Martin. Thank you all for listening and sharing. 
Instagram posts of the DC action: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOoxBUej919/?img_index=1, https://www.instagram.com/p/DOoxBUej919/?img_index=1, https://www.instagram.com/p/DOY1nYwkY73/  
Sign up for the Courage Tour here: https://www.mennoniteaction.org/tour 
Sign up for EMU’s organizing conference here: https://emu.edu/seminary/shalom/events/2025-organizing-symposium/ 
Mosab Abu Toha poem: 
Every child in Gaza is me. 
Every mother and father is me. 
Every house is my heart. 
Every tree is my leg. 
Every plant is my arm. 
Every flower is my eye. 
Every hole in the earth is my wound.
Support and follow Mosab Abu Toha: https://linktr.ee/mosababutoha

In this episode, we hear from Isaac Villegas, author of “Migrant God” as we explore the intersection of faith, immigration, and justice. We hear personal stories, theological reflections, and the historical context of immigration policies. We talk about the sanctuary movement, the implications of Christian nationalism, and the connections between the struggles of immigrants and the plight of Palestinians. Throughout, Isaac highlights the need for a Christian vision of justice that actively engages with the realities of suffering and oppression.
Huge thank you to the incredible Jewish recording artist, Batya Levine for the use of their song “We Rise” as our theme song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tkmkwufRVw). The beautiful logo is by Jesse Bergen. Front Light is edited by Ken Ogasawara and produced by Jonny Rashid, Joanna Lawrence Shenk, Holly Harris, and Nick Martin. Thank you all for listening and sharing. 
Connecting the dots between the occupation of Palestine and ICE repression:
​​https://www.newsweek.com/blueprint-ices-future-being-drawn-west-bank-opinion-2103201
An account of the political organizing in Durham that resulted in the resolution against police training partnerships with Israel: https://scalawagmagazine.org/2021/05/israel-palestine-durham-police/
Perfect Victims by Mohammed El-Kurd: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2499-perfect-victims
Healing Resistance by Kazu Haga: https://www.parallax.org/product/healing-resistance/

Joanna Macy and The Work That Reconnects: https://www.joannamacy.net/main