Rounding out what appears now to have been my busiest season yet (I am) if only for a few weeks until it spins again rapidly clockwise in early August. And what better way to push on to a time of renewal than to spend a weekend in West Texas with the closest of these and the newest of these;
Some collision of the relationships which have Time to age and ferment and develop and the inverse which are almost equally as intriguing because of the lack of Time involved in the knowing. I could sit with us
on a bench with a clove and a Maredsous for the rest of the summer if I had to, which is not to make it sound like it would only be a thing I’d do if obligated. Quite the contrary.
This weekend is the one I will remember in one year, which I will cherish in two, which I will be desperately longing to relive in three, and which I will sing about for the next five to ten to fifty. And to think it already was some dream realized or some impossibility made possible.
Next week I’ll be working towards some deadlines until eventually I’ll have found a week off to engage the more regenerating activities like the writing and reading and continuing to welcome with friends in this city-center what time and space prove to do for persons as People.
And while a physical beach may not be involved after all (for a reason among others), the tide still breaks and the ripples collect and settle soft in the sand. And we keep our feet to prune.
Through December, I’d been following the Advent Collects [oratio] in the Book of Common Prayer, and, while not as disciplined to follow the Daily Office as I have been in other recency, I am working unto the sort of rhythm [must we must] it implies and requires of those who follow along the Way.
The Advent Collects have been particularly refreshing to me, as I have, for the first time in many years, begun to experience a gigantic measure of the Renewal for which I’ve actively Hoped – both as an individual, which is inseparable from my loss of self [for the sake of the community] and concurrent [caused] discovery of self [for the sake of the community] and as a constituent reconciled to its Constituency.
This is no small victory, and something especially remarkable to regain after that one little existential fit whose valley sliced deepest, perhaps, in the fall months of 2006. Ellsworth’s early Twilights recalled and restored.
A week ago tomorrow, some brethren and I and a special gal found our way to Church of the Incarnation, a people among & with whom I’ve been sharing space to some extent for upwards of two years [when, of course, suitable & without disagreement to my committment and responsibilities to the church who I served during that span].
Christmastide was in its second week, and as we looked towards Epiphany – the Holyday on the calendar left behind by the Western constituency, [very disappointingly so!], we shared these words as a group, believing them to be true and truer unto Kairos:
O God, who
wonderfully created, and yet
more wonderfully restored,
the dignity of Human nature:
Grant that we may share
the divine life
of him who humbled himself
to share our humanity, your Son
Jesus Christ; who lives
and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever
and
ever.
I’ve restored my bloglooks to their Snowscape roots, and I even gave the Redbird his wings back!
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A few months ago, I was browsing the interwebs while having a conversation with Derrick [Oliver, not my car, who shares the name] about his experience in Philly and the community with whom he worked there.
I browsed my way on to the weblog of this not-for-profit who is doing Good Work to stir the public towards acts of mercy, compassion, and justice. It seems that their motive was to bring in the Right and New, so I thought it at least worthy of attention.
On the blog’s most recent post at the time, I’d read that they were compiling footage for a DVD and needed music donations from independent artists to fill the soundtrack. I’m not sure what it was other than boredom that prompted me to do it, but, as immediately as it happened, I submitted all three songs from a demo of my previous band, Harps.
I’d never thought anything would come of the submissions, and in fact, I’d forgotten that I’d even gone through the effort to prepare them for publishing. In fact, I’d done it so fast and without thought that I hadn’t even considered asking the other members of the band if they’d be okay with it.
Only yesterday a friend from Arkansas [we had renown in Arkansas] messaged me on Facebook, subject line exclaiming, “Harps lives!” Knowing that statement to be eternally true but also wondering about the specific context of her digital shout-out, I carefully opened the electronic letter. Apparently she had just finished watching the very DVD that was as little as an idea only months ago, and was enchanted to find “Seaweed and Kerosene” in the soundtrack to the movie.
I guess I didn’t think any fruit would come of it, and plus, whims are easy to follow when bored. So I think the excitement that’s led to the composition of this too-long-post is tied up in the possibility that the song will go toward putting flesh around the ideas of Healing, of Feeding, and the Reality of the One True Empire. Is not the act of incarnating testifying to the Program that’s become more fully tangible in the Incarnation?
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Now, back to working on a maybe-coming-soon-photoblog now. That is, if the hosting that I’ve paid for will start doing what I’ve paid for it to do.
Keep in touch! Good Tidings!