Lenten Reflections Part 2
Posted: 19 February 2010 Filed under: community, lent, sacrifice Leave a comment »So, after my first blog yesterday, my friend K sent me a homily from a chaplain that she knows…and it was pretty amazing.
Return to me —so you can stop feeling so frantic, so torn, so baffled, so alone, so dazed, so numb, so scared.
I read this and I feel like it’s for me. I know that there is so much that is open and wanting in my soul because of the lack of a spiritual community in my life. My life is so good…I have wonderful people in my life, who I love, and a job, that if not perfect, fulfills parts of my needs. But spiritual community was such a part of me for so long…and not having it leaves a hole.
I found Journey online after reading this. Journey is the retreat that I did in high school that shook me to my foundations. I found their website and facebook, and it was really good to see it still going…and even with some familiar names floating around. There are a lot of things that who I am today, and even who I was then, I can’t accept about what was being taught. But the main thing that was being taught was love…and that’s what I take away. The 6 days I spent on my two Journeys were full of love and acceptance and sharing and community and songs. And that was powerful enough to move me even now, almost 15 years later.
I read something this week that said (to paraphrase loosely) – the only God I ever found in church, the people brought in with them – or something to that effect. And Journey was the first place I experienced the power and awe that comes from a place full of people who all show up with the express purpose of finding God and loving each other. Any spiritual gathering that has moved me since (one was pagan, one Jewish, a few others Christian) has had that commonality. None of them have been traditional religious services except the masses on Journey.
I am not interested in your sacrifices, some of the crazy things you may give up for me- if they don’t bring you closer to me.
This makes me think of the “bargain” that Faith Meredith makes with God in Rainbow Valley, and the “deals” that kids make with God all the time. When we become adults, I feel like it’s time to put aside the “giving up” part of Lent…and become a part of the season with our whole selves.
Beauty and the Beast
Posted: 26 April 2009 Filed under: casting, children's theatre, community Leave a comment »So, I work at a children’s theatre. This inevitably means that the majority of people in my day to day life are under 14 years old. And I love that.
Today was the day that the cast found out their roles in Beauty and the Beast. Kids who had parts that some people might consider small, were elated. Kids who were cast in roles that they might not even know what they’re really doing yet, were cheered on and praised for a great job by the others. Z, who was cast in a principal role, during a later discussion about fears and expectations for the rehearsal process, contributed “I expect to make new friends and meet new people.” No diva here.
I love my kids, and going in to a world where the staff creates and the children embody this spirit of joy in just doing and being together, and creating a wonderful process and product, where everyone is welcomed and embraced for who they are. And I will come back to read this post on the hard days, to remind myself why it’s all worth it.
