Playlist for Sacred Whispers
Thanks to so many of you who attended the Sacred Whispers evening of spirituality in popular music last Wednesday. Thanks to Dawn Mayer and a team of volunteers who provided hospitality in the courtyard following. Thanks so much to Gene Garcia and Kristen Berryhill, who produced the images, music and lyrics that presented the creativity and inspiration of the artists that formed the foundation of my presentation. Several of you have requested a playlist of the songs we heard. I have included them with a very brief description of the connection I make between them and our faith.
Pretty Maids All in a Row (Eagles) and Listen to the Music (Doobie Brothers) – played as we gathered
Start Me Up (Rolling Stones), China Grove (Doobie Brothers), Twist and Shout (The Beatles) – all have famous opening guitar riffs highlighting what comes first in a good song, and what was VERY first in life and faith – God’s love
Key West Intermezzo (John Cougar Mellencamp) – further highlighting that God saw us first and moves around in our hearts, a message conveyed in 1 John 4
Color My World (Chicago) – My first experience of a song that expressed my love for God and God’s love for me simultaneously
Your Song (Elton John) – God has placed a song in each of our hearts as a gift
Dance with Me (Orleans) – God invites us to dance with Him. I included a quote of mine from the cover of the worship aid for my first Mass:
Ours is a lyrical, musical God
who continually gives us a chance
Ours is a moving, faith-filled response,
a Yes when God asks us to dance
Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton) – sometimes we just don’t realize how much God loves us
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) – as Psalm 62 and St. Augustine say…our hearts are restless until they rest in God
Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) – every one of us has a heart that is hungry for God
Gift of Finest Wheat (Robert Kreutz) – Christ’s presence in the Eucharist satisfies our hungry hearts
Any Major Dude (Steely Dan) – God is the major force of reconciliation…putting back together what has fallen apart in each of our worlds
Desperado (Eagles) – let God love you
Whenever God Shines His Light (Van Morrison) – God’s light heals us and enables us to heal each other
Listen to the Music, Reprise (Doobie Brothers) – Listening to the music of life is a metaphor for greater awareness, and music is a metaphor for the grace of God that encourages us to sing and dance in faith
Higher Love (Steve Winwood) – God is the higher love of life and faith
Construction Update
The demolition of the existing stone and accessibility ramp has begun to make a new, safer and more reverent area of access to the tabernacle and a statue of Mary. This will create dust, thus the screen on the west side of the altar above the main construction site will be covered and not functional for the near future. The work will also be noisy. Thanks for your flexibility.
More Parables from Matthew
I often say that the wisest words in all of scripture follow Jesus’ statement, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” He gives us short, concise images that we easily remember for the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is a statement of divine incoming (more popularly called revelation) and human reality. This weekend’s passage from Matthew has Jesus sharing three images for the divine incoming and human reality. We all know about seeds, flowers, weeds, and yeast in bread. They are human realities. They are physical elements, and some of us know more about them than others.
Weeds are inevitable in the gardening exercise, and Jesus uses this reality to help us understand that evil is like that. Evil seems inevitable in our world and it must be addressed. He urges us to destroy or burn evil, thereby making the wheat of goodness a stronger reality. It is the eternal hope that good is always more powerful than evil.
Most of us probably don’t know how small a mustard seed is, but we do know that many small seeds become large plants, bushes and trees. Growth is the keyword here. And the growth of even small seeds represents the possibilities of our faith, especially as we embrace scripture as the seed that God plants in us.
The third parable this weekend tells of yeast or leaven that raises an entire batch of bread. This is a hopeful and positive message encouraging us to again see the importance of little pieces of wisdom that can grow in us and others. They all connect God’s Kingdom with ours.
Spirituality of Aging
I am planning a session following morning Mass on Monday, August 31 on the Spirituality of Aging. I am inspired by the fact that in the midst of declining health lies the possibilities of spiritual and faith insights that we seniors can cultivate in the soil of experience in our lives. More details about this presentation will follow, but it comes from my desire to develop a better, more operative spirituality in the midst of the aging process because our health and medical issues seem to be ALL we talk about.