Tag Archives: Music

Staying at Home

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This has been such a massive shift in the way we live.  I personally am not having that much challenge staying at home.  I have been doing most of my work from home for some time.  What has changed  is the face to face meetings I have with my directees.  But thank God for technology.  I have been able to meet with everyone online.  Now, I am a hugger and that is a big piece of how I care for others.  Virtual hugs are okay but nothing like human touch.  I am so glad that I am sheltering in place with my family.  I pray daily for those who are alone. I contact those I know, just to check in.  I would highly recommend that if you know anyone who lives alone call them or send a note.  Something to let them know they are really not alone.  As this stay to home order goes on, it will become harder.  Even though temporary, loneliness can lead to depression and even despair.  The term “stir crazy” is going around a lot.  I have one acquaintance who was feeling the effects after 2 days  TWO days.  This morning I asked my husband , “Is it really Friday?”   Time seems to be flying by for me.

I have been very busy.  I am working and playing and praying.  The fear creeps in but I’m accepting it and finding ways to use that energy.  I am cooking more, trying to be somewhat creative there so as not to be going out to the store too often.  I started writing my blog again, so that’s good I suppose.  I’m painting, singing, dancing (seriously, I find myself dancing – maybe it is because I watched “Chicago”), and having conversations with family and friends.  It has really been a rich time.  I have the luxury of being able to continue to work and have income so I am donating a bit more to those agencies that care for the poor.  I am particularly concerned about those who are living on the edge.  Unable to live on what they have and so vulnerable in times like this, they need assistance and with social distancing it will be hard to deliver what they need. We will figure out something to help them but it is challenging.  Pray for all those trying to maintain assistance programs.  Where one door closes, God opens another or a window.

I am not in New York so the worst is yet to come. I just read that there is a poll saying that 9 in 10 persons in the US are heeding the social distancing recommendations.  If this is true then that is better than I thought.  We may actually be able to make a difference and lessen the severity of this pandemic.

May the God of Abraham hold you in this time of uncertainty and help you to see the positive – the ways in which we  humans are able to care for one another.  Help us to be the hands and voice of the divine to offer comfort and support to those around us and all over the world through the means available to us. As we stay at home to protect those who must be out, open our hearts to new ways to serve. AMEN

2015

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I just realized that I almost 2 months have passed since the new year began.  My latest posts have been surrounding the “black lives matter” work happening in the St Louis area.  It has been on my mind and in my heart.  I have been praying and supporting those who are in the trenches.  I will continue to do so.

I have also been fretting (meaning keenly aware of and maybe obsessing a little – definitely preoccupied) about my entry into the third part of my life. Well, unless I live to be over 90, which I suppose IS possible, I am in the last segment of my life.  Using the 4 seasons, I am in the autumn.  The body is definitely showing signs of wear and tear.  Vision is going, hearing isn’t too bad, but things are starting to sag. Hair is changing.  I am starting to forget things.  I actually am getting hot flashes.  My mountain climbing days are over!  haha  I laugh because I was never much good at climbing but now I can’t.

What surprises me is that I am not upset about it, I am not depressed or thinking that “It’s all downhill” from here as in doomsday,  Although that metaphor would be good since the hard work has been done and now I can coast.   I have been thrown into another time of disequilibrium where I am not really sure what my place/role  is in this new episode. In the past I would be very stressed, ill-at-ease, worried, and anxious but today I am relatively calm and patiently waiting for God to reveal what comes next.  The funniest thing is that this fretting about the decade change is about to be resolved because I will be one year older in just a few days.  Now I can get on with it and stop thinking I’m in a new decade.

What has come to me is that I must let go of some things to make room for others.  This has been hard to do.  After some 25 years of youth ministry, I have chosen to love those kids from afar <smiles>  that is not to be involved in the day to day work of that kind of ministry but rather help from the periphery.  I took a leave of absence from the praise band and am focusing on getting my voice back in shape as a soprano singing in my range.  I will be ever-grateful to the musicians I have worked with for giving me the opportunity to grow musically in ways I never thought possible.  Styles I’d never tired, songs I didn’t think I could do, and always a chance to feel my way into something different.  I’m also letting go of children.  Yes, I know you never REALLY let them go but you do give them the space they need. We are empty nesters now (again!) and it is all about letting go so you can be something else.  My spouse and I are discovering each other again.  This is fun.

So what is next?  I’m still in discernment but what is coming clear is that I will be doing spiritual direction and more retreat work.  I am very much drawn to the visual and musical arts.  While I have been involved in this way in the past, I seem to be moving into different areas.  I am utilizing my writing skills for liturgical work, curriculum writing, and blogging!  I look forward to what new directions I am being called.  In all things prayer is keeping me steady, patient and grateful.  I know more will be revealed.  I trust in God’s time and I am feeling gratitude for the life I have had, excitement about the life to come.

 

Music Music Music

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I was privileged to attend the Spring Convocation at Eden Theological Seminary this week.  The topic of the Brueggemann and Kulenkamp  Lectures was  Music: an essential element of the progressive Christian movement.  Three inspiring and gifted speakers, Paul Vasile, Minister of Music at Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City,  Rev. Cynthia Wilson, Dean of Students at Garrett Evangelical Seminary in Chicago,  and Dr. Christopher Grundy, Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship at Eden shared their experience and passion for music as a means of spreading the message of Love in the world.

I was moved by the singing of music, by the presentation of what this progressive movement is and what is can mean to the church as a whole.  Music is and always has been a passion of mine.  It struck me that music is sacred and is part of the whole creation.  I was thinking how wonderful that musicians share their experience of the sacred in notes and rhythms and was then struck with the idea that all creation does that very same thing.

Consider the rhythm of the ocean, the sound of the birds or insects, the pulsing of the blood through the body which calms a child at her mother’s breast. Even the ticking of a clock or sirens marking the care of one in need can produce emotion in us.  Music serves that purpose – an awakening of emotion in the human.  It stands to reason that music is essential for any movement that involves the seeking for and encountering the holy.

Then I thought about how silence plays an important role in any music.  The rest, the pause, the time to breathe is filled with Spirit!  What a lovely couple of days and the joy of sharing that with people who care about sacred music.  It is my prayer that the awakening in the soul connects each so intimately with God that the only outcome is love outpouring to serve, to care, to reach higher awareness of others’ needs so that all may be in harmony.