Monday Music Appreciation #58: A song for Pope Francis

When I joined my 7 a.m. online morning meditation group today, I learned that Pope Francis had gone to eternal life, and I was kinda choked up for a few moments.

My affinity for this man began on March 13, 2013, when the results of the last conclave were announced and a humble, nervous looking, bespectacled man appeared on the balcony of the papal apartment and asked the world to pray for him. I wrote in my moodlings,

A dear friend of mine has often commented that what the Church and the world need is a new St. Francis of Assisi, someone who is simple and holy and sees the essential.

Having been a lifelong fan of that particular Francis, I was quite excited when the new pope's name was announced, thinking that anyone who would take the name of Francis of Assisi would be the reformer the Church and the world need in this era. Yess!!! 

          ...

We don't know much about Pope Francis yet, but it seems that he's a man who favours simplicity, and he has some pastoral sense if he's been telling his priests to baptize infants even if their parents haven't been married. I mean, it's not the child's fault that his parents didn't see the necessity.

So I'm going to reserve judgment, and just say, God bless Pope Francis.

And, come, Holy Spirit!

In the years since, I've spent a lot of time thinking with and moodling about Pope Francis thanks to Laudato Si, setting myself the goal of writing one moodling a week about sections of the encyclica l about Care for Our Common Home after it came out. It was a challenge that took me from July of 2015 to August 2016, and it turned out to be a good exercise for someone who wants to live simply, sustainably, and in solidarity with the poor of the world. It had an impact on me and our family's life, no question.

Some people feel Pope Francis was too lax, others, too strict. I wish he could have spoken more against the false sense of entitlement and injustices imbedded in western culture, could have pushed the Church further toward women's ordination and equality, could have welcomed our 2SLGBTQ+ children more openly, and could have advanced ecumenical and interfaith efforts further... but I'm willing to give him grace for the work he did in a Church that spans the entire globe and has so many variations and different understandings of Catholicism. He held the Church together for the past twelve years, a difficult task, to be sure.

So today's music appreciation is a Taizé chant that I've always loved, a prayer for Pope Francis from the lips of Simeon in Luke's Gospel. 

Go in peace, faithful Francis. Thank you for giving of yourself, and serving God's people to the best of your ability.

(Moodlings subscribers, click here for the video.)

Monday Music Appreciation #57: A Hosanna I'd never heard

I meant to tack this video (click here, email subscribers) onto yesterday's post, as it was the beautiful melody with which we ended our Palm/Passion Sunday service. (I learned it in a hurry.) 

Enjoy!

Sunday Reflection: a Holy Week meditation

Today was my Sunday to offer a reflection for the Community of Emmanuel in our inner-city. Because our next service is on Easter Sunday, it didn't seem enough to just focus on Palm Sunday -- but we also didn't really have time to read the entire passion of Christ (we like to include time for a smudge and leave room for the prayers of the community, which were many today). We also didn't have any palm branches, so I braved water in my boots in a ditch near Leduc last week to pick pussy willows for the occasion.

As is my habit, after the Palm Sunday reading of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt and a joyous Hosanna to the Son of David, I invited the community into a guided meditation meant to briefly summarize the rest of Holy Week from the Gospel of Luke's perspective. What follows here is the reflection I offered. May it be a help to your own observance of the week ahead.

* * * * * * *

I invite you to sit and settle in as comfortably as you can. Rest your feet flat on the floor, and relax your shoulders, your arms, loosen your hands. Straighten your spine if you can. Take a deep breath in and gently release it… If you want to, close your eyes, or lower them and relax their focus. Settle into your body and listen... 

In our imaginations, let’s walk through the week ahead with Jesus… 

Look. There is your friend, Jesus, riding a donkey’s colt, being celebrated by great crowds of people filling the streets and welcoming him to Jerusalem, singing Hosannas… 

There is your friend, Jesus, throwing over the tables of unjust merchants who are cheating the poor in the temple courtyard. The clatter of the coins on the pavement and the noise of the crowd rings in your ears. Jesus is shouting against those who turn religion into a money-making scheme rather than a way to help people know about God’s great love for them… 

There is your friend, Jesus, sitting across from you at a cooking fire where you are staying with all his followers and him. He is saying that God cares for you like a hen cares for her chicks, tucking them under her wing. He talks about how bad things may happen in life, but Creator is near to all who suffer. He speaks of God as a forgiving father who runs to meet you, who wants to love you. His words fill your heart, and he smiles at you… 

 There is your friend, Jesus, praying alone in the garden every night, getting up early to go to the Temple every day, telling so many stories about God’s love. Healing people. Listening to them. People are hanging on his every word, and you feel so proud to know him, so happy that he is your friend… 

 There is your friend, Jesus, kneeling at your feet with a towel and a basin of water. He smiles up at you, and your heart is full of gratitude for his friendship. He is pouring water over your dusty, dirty feet, washing them carefully and lovingly, and wiping them dry with a soft towel. His gentleness fills your heart with deep joy. “Serve one another, love one another,” he says… 

There is your friend, Jesus, sitting across from you at a meal, looking at you with a love like no other, passing you a chunk of bread, holding a cup of wine for you to take a sip of its deep sweetness. “This is a sign of my love for you and all people,” he says. “When you share food and drink together, remember me, and God’s deep, wide love for you…” 

There is your friend, Jesus, praying alone again in the dark of night, asking you to stay awake, but the excitement of the week and the Passover feast and wine make you sleepy… 

 There is your friend, Jesus, rising from his prayer of surrender to Creator, “Let your will, not mine, be done,” he says… 

There is your friend, Jesus, surrounded by soldiers and other people with torches, betrayed with a kiss on the cheek. He looks to you, his friend, both fear and courage in his eyes as the crowd hauls him away… 

Where is your friend, Jesus? Where are they taking him? You try to follow, but they rush him along, and you can’t see where he is in the middle of the mob. You run after him, but they take him into a large building, and soldiers prevent you from going in… 

Where is your friend, Jesus? It’s been hours of sitting in the cold courtyard, and the sun is rising. The crowd waits, and a man is brought out between two soldiers. He has been badly beaten, bloody, and he can barely stand, but he lifts his head and looks at you. Then another man stands on a balcony and says loudly, “What shall I do with this Jesus of Nazareth?” And many voices, some who sang Hosannas just days ago, shout, “CRUCIFY HIM!...” 

 There is your friend, Jesus, surrounded by soldiers, carrying a heavy cross along a winding street leading to the hill outside the city where he will die. He falls. You push through the crowds to be near him and lift him up. His eyes rest on your face and he recognizes you, but before you can say anything, the soldiers shove him forward again… 

 There is your friend, Jesus, being nailed to a cross. Hanging there in terrible pain. For hours. Hanging between two criminals, his blood running freely from his hands and feet and the crown of thorns on his head… 

There is your friend, Jesus, in deep agony. His pain is great, but even so, he looks with love at the women standing near him. He looks... with love... at you… 

Your friend, Jesus, speaks. He speaks from a heart of deep, deep, deep love, asking God to forgive those who brought him to the worst and most painful kind of death… 

He speaks to one of the men on the cross beside him, a man sorry for his crime, telling him, “Today you will be with me in paradise…” 

The wind blows, and clouds darken the sky… 

Your friend Jesus speaks one last time, in a loud voice, to be sure that God hears him, saying, “Creator, into your hands I give my spirit…” 

 There is your friend, Jesus, who was more than a friend. Who loved everyone, even those who hated him. Who laughed at your jokes. Who made the weak strong. Who helped the poor know God’s richness in their lives. Who gave sight to the blind. Who healed people, and raised them out of shame and misery and death. Your friend, Jesus, the most wonderful person you’ve ever met. The son of God… 

There is your friend, Jesus, being carefully removed from the cross. His mother reaches for him and holds him for a few moments, weeping and wailing for her son. The women with her gently take Jesus from her and wrap him in a long linen cloth, as tenderly as if he were a small child. Then everyone takes a corner of the cloth to carry him to a tomb. As you walk, the women sing a psalm of lament… 

There is your friend, Jesus, wrapped in a shroud, being laid in the tomb. Everyone moves outside, and works together to roll a great stone across the entrance… 

* * * * * * * 

And now, I invite you to gently return to this room. 

We are lucky. We know that there is a happy ending to this story. Jesus’ followers didn’t know that.

 In the week ahead, I think we need to stay with them, and with Jesus in his suffering, as he always stays with us in ours, and not rush to the happy ending just yet. 

 We can reflect on how Jesus knows what it is to be human, to struggle, to die, and we can offer our struggles to God like he did. We can forgive like he did. We can love like he did. 

 And if we spend the week ahead doing those things and remembering how Jesus gave his life for us, we can celebrate next Sunday with deep, deep gratitude and joy. That’s what I’m aiming for in the holy week ahead. 

 Let your palm or pussy willow branch be a reminder to remember Jesus’ love for you, a love that took him to the cross… and beyond.

Monday Music Appreciation #56: Tommy Emmanuel

I worked four nights out of five at the Francis Winspear Centre for Music last week, all excellent shows. But the one that really blew me away was the concert by Tommy Emmanuel, a 69-year-old Australian guitar miracle-man. I've never heard so much sound out of a single instrument! He joked that he's saving money on the band that doesn't have to travel with him, as in this video of Blue Moon (click here). 

It was almost too much to take in at times, and I had the feeling that he could play mash-ups of any guitar music you care to name. Below is a mixture of Beatles tunes and Classical Gas, a guitar piece that has always amazed me. There are many more of his videos online if you want to hear more. My thanks to the person who posted this video. Enjoy!

Email subscribers, click here for the video below.

Not April Fool's jokes

I only wish it was an April Fool's Day joke.

But no, as promised, the Bissell Centre Community Space is closed today. It has been a place where vulnerable people who are homeless could access washrooms, showers, laundry facilities, a cup of coffee and a warm space to be together. 

Now it stands empty, helping no one, a criminal waste of resources that helped so many up until yesterday!

Simply because we have a provincial government who would rather pretend that it's solving the homelessness crisis by offering "navigation centres" that make people feel like they're being processed to go to jail, and shelters that are more problematic than helpful (read: unsanitary, unsafe, unstable) for too many people who have no homes.

The other horrible not-an-April-Fool's-joke is this business of taking snacks from children in cancer care in order to be more "efficient." Like a few cookies and crackers are going to balance the books???

Please remember these inhumane acts when the next provincial election comes around and vote out the UCP. A government that doesn't care for the most vulnerable doesn't deserve to govern.