Everyone I know is pushed to their limit right now. When we’re tired and heavy laden we tend to lose perspective. And joy. And hope. Sometimes just to hear another living soul sing you right through that pain and weariness can be the most life-giving thing of all. Allow yourself these three minutes of rest. Pax.
“Hope’s too Hard” by Kate Campbell
Funny how music comes into our lives. My husband Lon was on the beach playing volleyball with a group of guys I would describe, lovingly, as a little ragged around the edges. One of them was listening to this song and Lon said, “What is that? I really like that music.” So he got him a copy. The next week Lon and I were driving to dinner and I said, “What is that? What is this music. Turn it up.” And he did. And we listened in silence. Then he gave me the CD.
Love, music, grace, and the “eternal light.” Some things simply transcend.
“The Untouchables” by Cuban Artist, Erik Ravelo
This series features photographs of children crucified for the sins of their oppressors; each for a different reason and a clear message, seeks to reaffirm the right of children to be protected and report abuse suffered by them. Ravelo uses the image of the crucified Christ—-one that is recognized around the world as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins—-as a wake-up call to the world, and perhaps, more pointedly, to Christians who may turn a blind eye, or offer little or no help to remedy these atrocities.
The first image refers to pedophilia in the Vatican. Second child sexual abuse in tourism in Thailand, and the third refers to the war in Syria. The fourth image refers to the trafficking of organs on the black market, where most of the victims are children from poor countries; fifth refers to weapons free in the U.S.. And finally, the sixth image refers to obesity, blaming the big fast food companies.
The series was banned originally from Facebook. Makes you wonder about the sorts of things we are willing— and unwilling— to look at.
I know a lot more about Communion now, but the truths of this piece still hold.
All that night and through the morning prayers I wrestled with the notion of reconciling the seemingly irreconcilable. Aware now that there were two sides to the sanctuary, I found myself on the right, with the Protestants, and eyeing the priests on the left (I realized now they were not just Brothers but ordained priests) who were serving the Catholic faithful. The glib voice in my spirit wanted to cry out, “Seriously?” Do any of us really think that Christ would delight in these divisions? Shouldn’t we all be a little bit ashamed for allowing them to continue. And yet I knew, this was deadly serious stuff, not so much for me, who was not really raised in the church and did not cleave to these distinctions— most of which seemed to me to be based on proving that one camp or the other had a stronghold on the real…
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Still the best wisdom I know about how to find communication balance in a social media world.
I chose for my final 5:45 workshop the theme of Social Networking: Opportunity or Dependency and found myself once again surrounded by twenty-somethings. The Brother who led was delightful and engaging and made so many thoughtful points and with absolutely no judgement that I, and the young people, were utterly enthralled. He even had a hand-out! On it were several points that warrant reposting:
“93% of communication is non-verbal.”
“There is a human limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships— on the Dunbar scale, it’s 150.”
“If everything is important, nothing is important.”
At this point he invited everyone to turn on their phones and leave them on for the rest of the class. He then called up two volunteers and handed each of them badminton racquets and a birdy. He started by positioning them very far away, say, thirty feet, and invited…
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Heather Choate Davis