Joe Elder received on October 3rd, 2009, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice. Joe has traveled the world with quiet off-the-record messages and worked for peace from Vietnam to Sri Lanka. A University of Wisconsin professor of sociology and Asian studies, he has inspired thousands of students to broaden their horizons. Raised in Iran, son of Presbyterian missionaries, he was a CO in the Korean War and has been a Quaker since the 1950's.
Each week, Spirit In Action brings you stories of people living lives of fruitful service, of peace, community, compassion, creative action and progressive efforts. We will trace the spiritual roots that support and nourish them in their service. Above all, we will seek out Light, Love and Helping Hands, being shared between our many neighbors on this planet, hoping to inspire and encourage you to sink deep roots and produce sacred fruit in your own life.
Spirit In Action is an hour of interviews with those providing leadership in peace, justice and "good works", interspersed with relevant music. The theme music is "The Turning of the World" performed by Sara Thomsen (written by Ruth Pellham).
| Radio-Length Episodes  |
Full-Length Episodes |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Podurama | Pandora | PodcastAddict | Spotify |
WNPJ Awards - Esther Heffernan & Prison Reform
First Air Date
The Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice will be presenting its Lifetime Achievement award on October 3, 2009. One awardee, Esther Heffernan, is a Dominican nun and Sociology prof at Edgewood College, with a lifetime concern for prison reform. Steve Burns, program coordinator for WNPJ also joins us.
The Freedom Song of Sara Thomsen
First Air Date
Sara Thomsen is strongly called to heal the world through her music. One of her songs, "Is It For Freedom", has been heard repeatedly on Democracy Now, because of its poignant call for our nation's self-examination following 9-11. Her concerns are wide - women, LGBT issues, care for creation, peace and more - and she writes and sings with soul-deep sensitivity.
All the songs in this program are performed by Sara Thomsen
Hands At Work - Iris Graville
First Air Date
The book "Hands At Work: Portraits and Profiles of People Who Work with Their Hands" combines striking and intimate photography with inspiring prose to talk about work in a way is too often ignored in the USA. This book is a visual meditation to help restore the life to "making a living".
Books to Heal the World - Buddha's Wife and Quaking
First Air Date
Gabriel Constans is a free lance writer whose newest book is Buddha's Wife, a book that explores different approaches to compassion and the role of women in Buddhism (and much more). Kathryn Erskine is the author of Quaking, set in a post 9-11 community where people have to wrestle with the promise and demons of peace-making in a fearful, war-eager, world, seen through the eyes of a troubled teen.
Fit For Freedom, Not For Friendship - Donna McDaniel and Vanessa Julye
First Air Date
A visit with Donna McDaniel & Vanessa Julye, co-authors of Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship: Quakers, African Americans and the Myth of Racial Justice.
Healing Racism Around The World - David & Joy Zarembka
First Air Date
David Zarembka is a tireless force behind the African Great Lakes Initiative to deal with the aftermath of the Hutu-Tutsi genocide in Rwanda. His daughter, Joy, whose mother is Kenyan, has a newly released book, "The Pigment of Your Imagination: Mixed Race in a Global Society" which explores the experiences of those of "mixed race" - including her own.
Ellen Seagren Goes to Rwanda
First Air Date
Ellen Seagren called on her community, Twin Cities Friends Meeting, for clearness and to support her in her leading to travel to Rwanda in connections with Friends Peace House. Ellen spent a month in Rwanda and returned with glimpses of life there and a sense of changes she wanted to bring back with her, for herself and for our nation.
Estonian Artists for Peace and Unity
First Air Date
Too few Americans know about Estonia's amazing, non-violent, "Singing Revolution" for independence from the USSR, but it is but one of the characteristics that make the country fertile ground for Leon Miller's work with the International Association for Religious Freedom.
Marcus Borg, Author of Meeting Jesus Again For the First Time
First Air Date
Marcus Borg is a renowned author of numerous books on various aspects of Christianity and a view radically different from those who uncritically approach religion as a one-size-fits-all straight jacket. His thought and teaching require no suspension of our minds, but offer an invitation to an encounter the universal Spirit in a personal and transformative way.