Gracias a la Vida

This Saturday in Disney Hall there will be a tribute to the woman who composed "Gracias a la Vida," Violeta Parra.  

Her niece will sing, along with guitarists and others.

"Gracias" is one of the last songs she composed before taking her life, perhaps a parting message.

https://medium.com/@RandyO/such-a-lovely-suicide-note-2be7ba019411

http://www.laphil.com/tickets/gracias-la-vida-rebel-spirit-of-chiles-legendary-voice/2015-04-25

http://interbrigadas.org/en/brigades_previous_violeta_biography.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Parra

It's so easy to be mute when facing death or disaster.  Violeta put her pain to music.

Sometimes the arc of life is interrupted at its height--when a person is successful, famous, creating beauty in some form of art or work in the world.

What can we do when the plane crashes, the stage 4 cancer comes, the gun releases its fatal bullet?

Sometimes we are gone before we can even cry out.  Other times a person holds the tragic turn of events close to the heart, mute, unable to speak, even to family, friends, business associates.  

Sometimes the success is exterior while on the inside the person grieves and even takes his or her own life.

There may be anger or shame.

There may be a shallow memorial service or a splendid celebration of life or no gathering at all.  A family may sprinkle ashes alone and private. 

What a gift when the story of one's life rises in an arc and in later years falls quietly toward resolution.  

What a gift to be able to say each day, "One thing have I asked: that I may dwell in Your house, behold your beauty, and seek answers in Your presence" (Psalm 27:4).

We ask so many things.  We ask for 70 years or more, for bread and love and joy.

May we learn to ask only to dwell in this house, to see its beauty--and to sing "Gracias a la Vida."

Recipe for Christmas Zest

If your Christmas spirit lacks zest, add a dash of Judaism.

1.  Listen to the prayer Jesus taught sung in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke.  It's on the CD Scriptures by Covita Moroney from Renewal Records, cut three.  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/covita2/from/greatindiemusic

2.  Learn to count to ten in Hebrew, thinking especially about the number one, ahat or ehad.  Reflect on Jesus' words to Martha: "Only one thing is needed" (Luke 10:42).

3.  Memorize the Shemah, the most important prayer in Judaism, which begins, Shemah Israel: YHWH ehad (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Listen to it sung on the album above, cut two.

4.  Watch the sunrise looking east toward Jerusalem.

5.  Visit Bethlehem--online if not in person.  Reflect on the Hebrew meaning of the town's name Beit Lechem (House of Bread because it is in a grain-growing area).

6.  Visit Nazareth--online if not in person.  Remember that Jesus was originally called a natzrati, which is still the Hebrew word today for a Christian.  Practice saying, "Ani Natzrati"--"I'm a Christian."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth

7.  Learn to gamble for chocolate coins using a dreidel.  Learn why the letters gimmel, nun, heh, and shin are on the dreidel. (Gadol nes haiyah sham - "A great miracle occurred there.")  http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Dreidel

8.  Visit the Holocaust Museum nearest you.  There are currently 41 in the US and more in 24 other countries.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Holocaust_memorials_and_museums

9.  Ask a Jewish friend to help you find someone who observes the Shabbat meal on Friday evening and would let you attend.  Participate in lighting the candles and welcoming in the Shabbat (day of rest and remembering the presence of God).

10.  Memorize Psalm 27:4 and listen to it sung in Hebrew: "One thing have I asked of YHWH, that will I seek after: that I may live in the house of YHWH all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of YHWH and to seek in God's temple."   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PW_6-dSq6khttp://www.hebrewsongs.com/?song=achatshaalti   http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Ketuvim/Psalms/Psalm_27/psalm_27.html

Day 7, Archivisting

It's the Sabbath.  

As I lie in bed repeating my morning prayer "One thing have I asked of YHWH, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of YHWH..." (Psalm 27:4), I realize that I am already in God's house.  

I'm surrounded by seven bookcases of Bibles, Bible commentary, church history, Christian biography, and social commentary--and the apartment above Letha's is an Orthodox Jewish household, as are many in her complex of two-story colonial style buildings.  I feel blessed and holy just to be here.

Last night Letha and I were struck by the contrast in communication resources between 1975 and 2013.  We looked at the first Evangelical Women's Caucus newsletter (summer 1977), eight pages typed with one drawing and the EWC logo, copied onto 11 x 17 paper, folded and collated, mailed out to a few hundred people.  

In 2013 articles, news, and blogs are posted with color photos, art, and rolling banners on EEWC's website www.eewc.com--immediately available to thousands.  Letha's article ten days ago "There's More than One Christian View on Homosexuality" has now been viewed by over 987 people who spent an average of 8 minutes reading it.

Meanwhile, Letha keeps me posted on national and world news almost faster than my husband John does.  Texas abortion battles--Ohio--SF plane crash, where a passenger (@eunner) immediately tweeted to the world, "I just crash landed at SFO.  Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine.  I'm ok. Surreal."

Last night while we were sorting papers, Letha played from YouTube the Bill Moyers Frontline interviews in February with  Sandyhook parents.and also the concert with Francine Wheeler, Dar Williams, and Peter Yarrow singing.  Very tough to watch.  At 2 am we ate more German chocolate ice cream and went to bed.

Today we persevere and have much material in boxes, neatly filed and labeled--almost ready to go.  But Letha will have more to do after I leave, so family and friends will no doubt help her with the boxing and mailing