Stevie Wonder's classic "Sir Duke" is not only a great song (that horn section!), it also includes the makings of a great playlist. This episode creates such a playlist.
Columbia Memorial Hospital faced the Catskills in the distance and stood just a half mile from the first living room I remember. The apartment possessed only two bedrooms, already too small for my father, mother, two older sisters, and newborn me. In a couple years, when my dad got a better job, we’d move. If child-bearing wasn’t what it was (and remains), I imagine my mom might have walked me home that week. But childbirth, rightly called labor, exhausts thoroughly. And with three kids all under five years of age and with a husband often working, parenthood never stopped exhausting my mother. April 10 th of 1971 brought unseasonably wintry weather, a pointed, probing wind across the river and our city of the same name. And the alley off of Worth Avenue in downtown Hudson, New York included a steep hill up. My mom didn’t walk me home. 1971, historically speaking, isn’t notorious or notable for things like military or terrorist attacks, political assassinations, or the end...
I have a friend, a dear friend in fact, someone I respect and admire. I’ll call him as I often do, G. When rarely the subject of religion comes up, G half-jokingly and half-proudly will declare himself a non-believer and anti-organized religion. He’d agree with Gandhi who’s been purported as saying, “I like Christ but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” At the same time, G profoundly loves music, Gospel music included. This love reaches the level of the sacred to him. Music provides him meaning, comfort, and joy, as essential to him as God is to others. G and I disagree when it comes to religion and God. But when it comes to music we are in sync. There is common ground there. Music is sacred to me, essential, a source of meaning, comfort, and joy. And G and I agree on the spiritual and musical genius of John Coltrane who composed and performed the musical masterpiece called A Love Supreme. The 4th and final movement of A Love Supreme ends with...
Something can be two things at the same time. A sunset can be beautiful yet at the same time indicate that a beautiful day is ending. Joy and sadness sometimes move together, like two dancers doing a waltz. Well, the kingdom of God is two things at the same time. It is a reality not to be fully realized until Jesus’s return and it is a present reality inside each of us, able to be realized right here and now, albeit imperfectly. But what does this mean for our daily lives? That is today’s question. What does the kingdom of God mean for my daily spiritual life? As Christians living this side of Christ’s return, one of our most important tasks is to prepare the way for that return and the Kingdom of God Christ will usher in. We are all John the Baptists, preparing the way for Christ’s return! That we are all John the Baptists preparing the way for the kingdom is key to our answer to how we live the kingdom of God ever day. The practice of baptism is key, but baptism i...
Comments
Post a Comment