Where I have been

A short break on the shore 
at Lake Wabamun last week

I've been all over the place for the last while. Not so much locationally, but head- and heart-wise. There's been a lot happening, and I'm finding that I don't have the kind of time I've been accustomed to for moodling online. There have been many things I've wanted to tell my moodlings readers about, but...

Life is good, just busier than it has been in years. I'm still working part-time at the Winspear Centre for Music, though not as much as before I started as associate pastor with the Community of Emmanuel downtown. It's quite a juxtaposition some days, handing out lunches to inner-city folks living on the streets in the mornings, and guiding wealthy symphony patrons to their seats in the evenings. The downtown community and orchestral music both feed my soul so I can live with the contradictions.

Taizé music is still feeding my soul, too. We had a beautiful prayer on Sunday night, and we are looking forward to our Pentecost Prayer, being held June 15th at St. Luke's Anglican Church, a week later than observed by the Canadian church because we have a special friend coming for a visit. Ceci is a flutist extraordinaire, and played with us regularly when she lived in Canada some years ago. She's coming to Edmonton from Schwabach, Germany, for her Pentecost vacation, and it's going to be a beautiful prayer with her flute descants singing above our voices! Plus we'll have her joyful presence staying with us for a few days, too.

Sundays seem to be my busiest day of the week, which makes sense for an associate pastor. I'm up at 6 a.m. because we start setting up our worship space and sound system by 7:45, getting the coffee going so we can welcome the community by 8:45 (earlier if it's cold or raining). Some Sundays we have two services, the second at a Senior's Supportive Housing facility, which has a wonderful little community that offers us lunch afterward (even looking after Quinn with gluten free food). Sundays are very special, and I'm really enjoying working with Evan, my fellow musician who can play almost any hymn in any key, and who is introducing me to a lot of new sacred music. Sometimes we get our folks up and dancing! If you ever want to join us, let me know!

I'm taking Mondays as my day of the week to try to catch up to myself, my "day off" from all those "shoulds" that I put upon myself. Mondays are for meeting my spiritual director online once a month, writing emails, catching up on my journal, and yes, moodling (this is being written on a Monday). I've also joined a 7 a.m. online morning meditation group that is wonderful (when I get to it). It runs every day but Sundays and Wednesdays. If you are interested in joining an online contemplative community, let me know.

Tuesdays are usually the day that I join Pastor Quinn at "Table Time" downtown. We offer the toiletries, snacks and clothing we receive as donations to the folks living on the streets in Boyle-McCauley. If you're interested in helping us out by donating snacks or packages of men's and ladies briefs, sizes small, medium and large, you can always send an email via the email address under my profile on the sidebar. You're also welcome to join us to meet the community on Tuesday mornings.

Wednesdays I like to go for a walk with my neighbours and Remi-pup, who is turning out to be a good little walking buddy. He had a bit of a time lately with the "cone of misery" after he was neutered, and is overjoyed to be free again. He loves to follow the neighbours' big dogs on our Wednesday walking route, and especially loves the wilder trails in the river valley. On Friday night we had to fence off our garden, as he is no respecter of planted raised beds and tore through my onion sprouts a few times just for the joy of it!

Thursdays are Inner City Pastoral Ministry's 11 a.m. Bible Study for anyone who is interested, though it's not your typical chapter and verse kind of thing. We've been watching Netflix's The Bible and A.D.: The Bible Continues. Its writers and producers made interesting choices in what to include and exclude from portraying the stories of the Good Book from Genesis to Revelation, and it's always interesting to see what comes from our discussions with our downtown friends. Some haven't been exposed to many Bible stories, but a few know the Bible better than I do!

And Fridays are a mixed bag. Sometimes we have a team ministry/music meeting. We're collecting music for a new hymnal, and there's always liturgy planning to do. Once a month,  our Women's Group meets to talk about feminine spirituality and this past Friday, we learned about Teresa of Avila and her book The Interior Castle. Usually, the ladies have a colouring page to enjoy as we discuss things, and we have lunch together before going our separate ways. We're all looking forward to the Women's Wellness Weekend that's coming up May 30th - June 1st at the Star of the North Retreat House in St. Albert, a special break from daily life in the inner-city. There will be workshops and time for crafts and quiet reflection, all of it a real treat for our little community A fair bit of my spare time is connected to planning for it right now.

With all these things going on, my gardening time is squished in here and there... but I did manage to start my own greenhouse tomatoes and peppers, a friend gave me some tobacco plants, and I bought my annuals this past weekend. My kids and Lee are putting together a birthday party for me with friends and family this coming weekend, so I don't think our garden will be fully planted until after the new moon. The farmer's almanac says that's the best time to plant anyway -- the roots will fill out underground first, and the plants above ground will start reaching for the full moon in two weeks' time.

So that's your Moodler's life in a nutshell... once the Women's Weekend is over, things will settle into a more relaxed summer rhythm, I'm hoping, and I might actually get to weed my garden! To make life even more interesting, Lee is going back to work part time starting this week, but with Remi keeping us walking together, we have plenty of dog-walking time to connect.

If you feel like connecting with me, dear readers, I'd love to hear how life is treating you these days. I read all comments and emails, and respond when I can! I hope all is well with you!

Where there's life...

There's hope.

In spite of the darkness and worry of what's happening across the world, we cling to hope, to prayer, to signs of new life, to colour, to small bits of joy and courage wherever we can find them.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of images and sayings and stories and songs to encourage us, but for me, the emergence of a trinity of tiny pepper plants from black soil speaks volumes about the tenacity of life... and hope.

Really, all we can do is stick together and support each other, and send our heartfelt concern and encouragement to those who need it most in whatever tangible ways we can. Click here to see Global Citizen's list of 22 ways to to help Ukraine on the ground where the trouble is, with everything from monetary donations, to calling on large corporations and politicians to do the right things, to following journalists on social media and learning more about what's actually happening.

From almost 8,000 km away, it's hard to know exactly what to do, but keeping the situation in our hearts is a good start... and if you're willing and able to join in Taize prayer from Edmonton on Sunday at 7 pm MST, that can't hurt, either.

https://www.facebook.com/events/736064777374788

We'll start with a gorgeous Ukrainian chant from the community of Taize, fill our hearts and souls with Christ's peace in the songs, silence and scripture of the hour, and send our peace where it's most needed... 

Please join us if you're able, and invite your friends if they're so inclined.

A small tribute to Dr. Walter Moser

Walter, centre, playing French horn

When I walked (with considerable trepidation) into the Ed North amphitheatre for the first class of my university education, I had no idea that I was about to meet an important new friend, though I wouldn't actually call him friend for some years.  

Two professors stood on the stage, only one whose name I can clearly remember. The younger man, dressed in corduroys and a loud sweater, left no lasting impression on me other than his clothing, but the elder, Dr. Walter Moser, wore suit and tie and had a thick Austrian accent that took a few minutes for me to understand. Once my ear had acclimatized, I found myself fascinated -- and amused -- by him and his dry sense of humour, as he taught us basic undergrad biology.

I looked forward to Dr. Moser's lectures much more than the other prof's. I can't really remember any lecture details so many years later, but I do remember Dr. Moser's little jokes, usually directed at himself. He would rattle through his notes and chuckle whenever something about the natural world amused him, when his chalk broke, or the slide projector malfunctioned, or a student question struck him as particularly interesting. Because the class was large, I don't think I ever interacted with him directly, just completed what he called "multiple guess" exams, and was sad when the class ended in December that year and there would be no more of Dr. Moser's gentle humour in my life.

Fast forward maybe eight years. At the end of a Taizé Prayer evening at St. Paul's United Church on campus, my very musical friend, Karen, was helping me lead the prayer with only guitar, voices, and her trumpet. As we often did, we asked if there were any musicians in the crowd who would be willing to help us lead our monthly musical meditation. 

We'd asked the same question many times without results, but this time, a couple approached and explained that they were delighted to find our prayer, that Walter played french horn and cello, Clara played piano and flute, and that they had come very early to the prayer, expecting the church to be so full that they might not get seats. They had heard about Taizé from a friend in Innsbruck who had been there, and they were very excited about joining our music group. And so, as Clara recently reminded me, they joined our very next rehearsal in my living room a few weeks later, using music I had photocopied for them until they could purchase their own books.

From then on, Clara and Walter became invaluable members of our musicians' group, and a beautiful and prayerful musical collaboration was born. Karen and I took to calling Walter "the Maestro" because he had a fine sensibility when it came to how the music should be sung and played -- I fondly remember him reminding us to go gently on the words "in laetitia" and suggesting not to sing "Dona la pace, Signore" so heavily -- "You're singing about peace, make it peaceful, but with longing!" The Mosers also brought many friends to make music, and where it had once only been Karen and me, we nearly had an orchestra!

After a few years of praying together at our monthly prayer evenings, the Mosers took a trip to Basel, Switzerland, and decided to experience Taizé themselves. It took them three trains and a bus to get to la Communité, and they thoroughly enjoyed their week there. Having an extra day before their train would take them back to Switzerland, they wanted to remain in Taizé, but their room was spoken for by new visitors. 

Having heard me announce at the beginning of many prayer evenings that Taizé was a small village "not far" from the town of Cluny in France, they  decided they could walk from Taizé to Cluny. After all, the bus ride had been only a few minutes between the two villages. Of course, after a few kilometers of carrying their heavy suitcase between them, they found themselves standing on the winding, shoulder-less road from Cluny to Taizé laughing hard. "Not far!" Clara exclaimed as she told me the story upon their return, and they both laughed again, wiping at their eyes, "it was 15 km!"

Not long after Clara and Walter's trip to Taizé we had a mix-up with music that Walter inadvertently blamed on me. He could sometimes come across as a bit gruff, and I was quite surprised by his reaction to a bit of confusion at one evening prayer. What happened was that, at Taizé, he had bought new music books with different page numbers than the North American books, and neither of us knew it beforehand. Being a very organized man, he was upset about having to scramble to find the right music, flipping pages and missing the start of each song, and he let me know in no uncertain terms.

When I pointed out the difference between our books, he was mortified to realize that he had blamed me for an honest mistake. A few days later, a package arrived in the mail with a letter of apology, an index of songs listed by titles, page numbers, and the books in which they appeared, and a music book with the "right" page numbers, matching his. It is my favourite music book because of its inscription: "From Walter Moser to MARIA." I am still deeply touched by his determination to make things right.

I don't know how long it took for me to connect the Austrian cellist with the Austrian biology prof. Longer than it should have! I think, though, it might have happened when we had a music rehearsal at Clara and Walter's acreage east of Edmonton, and he made a joke that finally reminded me of the man who stood on the stage at the Ed North amphitheatre. Walter seemed to be quite serious a lot of the time, but his eyes twinkled with mischief when glee broke through... and I'm sure that's what helped me to finally make the connection between Dr. Moser in my university years and Maestro Walter.

Regardless, I'm sure it was shortly after I told him that I had been a student of his when he and Clara invited me to bring my kids for time in the great outdoors. I don't have any really good pictures of Walter, but this is my favourite -- him wandering along their acreage cross country ski/hiking trail with my two-year-old in hot pursuit! The kids had a lovely time learning about life at the edge of the pond, chasing butterflies, and roasting wieners for lunch. I'm not sure they remember that outing anymore, but I will never forget it -- warm hospitality, and child-appropriate biology lessons.

Walter and Clara's involvement in our Taizé musicians' group lasted several years, until they decided it was time to "retire." Their absence left a huge hole in the rich music we had enjoyed making together... it was back to guitar, voices and flute (if we were lucky) -- no more cello, horn, sax, or piano, as several of the other musicians that came with the Mosers also moved on. But I kept Clara and Walter on the email list to let them know of our prayer evenings, hoping they could join us now and then.

In February of 2020, just before Covid-19, I received an email from Clara to let me know that she and Walter were downsizing and had some extra Taizé music books -- could I use them? So I had a lovely cup of tea with Clara (Walter was napping) and brought home more Taizé music books than I know what to do with. I wish I had seen Walter then, because now he is gone -- Karen called last week to let me know he has recently passed away.

Dr. Walter Moser was a biology professor who, I'm sure, inspired many of his students. I can't begin to speak to all that he accomplished in his years in academia because I don't know very much about that side of him. I am quite sure that he was a devoted father and grandfather (probably great-grandfather by now) just by the way he treated my own children, and that he passed his love of music on to his very musical family.

If you are someone with a story of Walter, or if you knew him better as Dr. Moser and don't mind sharing something in the comments below, I think that would be a wonderful thing. Because his academic career was mostly before our internet age, and because he was a humble man, it's next to impossible to know about him because he flew under the world's radar when it comes to fame and fortune. But those of us who loved him know him as someone very special, and our stories about him are definitely worth sharing.

What I know for certain is that my time with Walter the musician proved that he was a friend who was gentle, funny, talented, kind, and passionate about music -- and prayer. I will never forget the twinkle in his eye and the kindness in his smile. Certain people leave indelible marks on the hearts of those they meet, and he has definitely left his mark on mine. 

Hugs and heartfelt condolences to Clara and the family. 

Dear Walter, I look forward to making more beautiful music with you in the great beyond! I'm so grateful that you were so much more than a single-term biology professor in my life. Thank you for all the joy you brought, and the beauty of your soulful cello and exultant French horn that still resonate somewhere in my heart and soul.

Rest in peace, my friend.

One year ago...

...we were in the little village of Taizé, France, which has become synonymous with the Taizé Community, an ecumenical place of worship that draws young pilgrims by the thousands every year, but particularly in the summer. For me, walking into the Church of Reconciliation was a homecoming that filled my heart with so much joy because it is a place where all are welcome at Christ’s Eucharistic table, where music is the primary form of prayer, where  justice, reconciliation, love, and hope are the bottom line, and where people of all ages share their spiritual journey.

The beauty of nature surrounds the little village, and nature's proximity added so much to the experience. Hearing the birds singing their morning songs through the open windows of the church in our times of silence, or walking to St. Stephen's source kept us in touch with God's wonderful creation even in the midst of 1500 pilgrims. It was more beautiful than I dared to imagine.

I was deeply, deeply touched by the experience of being there, to the point that when I was trying to explain what it was like to visit Taizé at a Good Friday Taizé service, I couldn’t speak for the emotions that filled me. All I can say one year later is that the prayer services, three times a day, were a taste of heaven for me. The whole place was!

It has been quite a while since I’ve moodled about my heart’s home here, so I leave you with a walking tour of the place that touched my heart so deeply one year ago, set to one of my favourite chants. It's a bit jumpy, but so wonderful to walk that road again. Thanks to Mostar Taizé for posting this video on YouTube. Enjoy!

Your word is a lamp

I'm finding more and more that, as I get older, I need fewer words in my faith life. I suspect that's why Taizé speaks for my faith better than the regular liturgy in my usual place of worship. God’s word is a light to my path, and all those other words that attempt to embellish what is already so clear to me are a distraction from Christ’s simple message to love one another, love God, and most of all, love our enemies (that’s the hardest thing he taught, and I’m still not very good at it!)

Tonight is our first Taizé Prayer of this late summer/autumn/winter season, and it will be held at Assumption Catholic Church (9040 95 Avenue, Edmonton). If you’re in the neighbourhood, come and join us – and bring a friend if you like for some ecumenical, musical, meditative prayer... even for our enemies. 

The chant below is Finnish for “Your word is a lamp, a light on my path.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyHxHLcvbVA

More about Taize on a Sunday

A friend recently sent me a link to the video below, and seeing it made my heart happy. I've gone on about Taize Prayer and music in my moodlings, but here's the story straight from the source, so to speak. Enjoy!

The Lord is my light

Tonight’s Taizé Prayer will be hosted by the community of Hope Lutheran Church (5104 106 Avenue, Edmonton). The Lord is our light, and we won’t hide that light under any bushel baskets, but we’ll sing about it in a meditative way. Come join us!

Within our darkest night You kindle a fire that never dies away

It's already the second Sunday of Advent, and tonight we'll be having our Advent Taize Prayer at 7 p.m. in Holyrood Mennonite Church (9505 79 Street). All are welcome. Here's one of the chants we'll be singing this evening for those unable to attend. Thanks to Charles Pope for posting it with some lovely images of God's light...

2014 Taizé Prayer in Edmonton

Taizé Prayer is, quite simply, a wonderful thing. Christians from different denominations gather to sing beautiful, multi-layered music, hear scripture, meditate in silence, pray the prayers of their hearts, and enjoy a special, ecumenical sense of community in each other’s churches. I’ve been part of it, on and off, for the past 25 years, and have come to really appreciate its simplicity and beauty, as well as my many friendships with Christians from my neighbourhood and the greater Edmonton area with whom I would be unlikely to meet otherwise.

If you’ve never experienced Taizé Prayer, we invite you to come and pray with us any time. No matter what your past church experience may have been, Taizé Prayer is a welcoming place for peaceful reverence. Many thanks to all the participating churches. Please join us.

Taizé Prayer 2014

Ecumenical, musical, meditative prayer 

in the Taizé style from 7 - 8 p.m.

January 12   St. Thomas D’Aquin Catholic Church   8410 89 Street
February 9   Hope Lutheran Church   5104 106 Avenue
March 9   Lenten Prayer St. Luke’s Anglican Church   8424 95 Avenue

April 18   Good Friday Prayer Around the Cross

Providence Renewal Centre   3005 119 Street
May 4   Easter Prayer   St. David’s Anglican Church   7751 85 Street
September 14   Assumption Catholic Church   9040 95 Avenue
October 5   Holyrood Mennonite Church   9505 79 Street
November 9    Peace Prayer    Strathearn United Church   8510 95 Avenue
December 14   Advent Prayer    First Church of God   9224 82 Street

Everyone is welcome!

For more information and/or a printable poster, contact Maria K. 

(under view my complete profile on the side bar); 

see also www.taize.fr

Taizé Prayer is sponsored by these church communities, 

and the Edmonton Taizé musicians/organizing group.

Music copyright permissions are obtained 

through the kindness of the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton,

and candles are donated by Universal Church Supplies.