Singing Along the Journey

listening

Le Noël des Oiseaux: Recording by Susan Sevier & Cheryl Branham

Usually, right at this moment, I am at one of many locations in my neighborhood, outside.  Walking.  Rain or shine, cold or heat, I have been walking.  Looking at the sunrise, watching the clouds, observing the few other socially-distancing dog walkers or runners or the occasional package pirate on a scooter streaming away with their prize. There is supposed to be snow falling outside my window right now, but I live in the great DC Snow Hole, so what we have instead is freezing wind with the promise of freezing rain as the invisible sun moves on its invisible journey around the planet. But, in the expectation of snow, I…
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This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
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Listen carefully…

I am a person inspired by tradition.  My original academic training was all about tradition - first I studied medieval history and then ancient history and then archaeology.  I worked as a librarian, preserving the written works and the documents that make up our cultural tradition.  I studied classical music and worked as a recitalist and an opera singer:  again, an art dependent on and preserving of tradition (with apologies to my friends who are living composers).  And now what do I do?  I attend seminary, studying and learning about what many consider to be the most tradition-bound subject of all -- church, and yes, even GOD. Tradition, continuity with…
Read More

Le Noël des Oiseaux: Recording by Susan Sevier & Cheryl Branham

Usually, right at this moment, I am at one of many locations in my neighborhood, outside.  Walking.  Rain or shine, cold or heat, I have been walking.  Looking at the sunrise, watching the clouds, observing the few other socially-distancing dog walkers or runners or the occasional package pirate on a scooter streaming away with their prize. There is supposed to be snow falling outside my window right now, but I live in the great DC Snow Hole, so what we have instead is freezing wind with the promise of freezing rain as the invisible sun moves on its invisible journey around the planet. But, in the expectation of snow, I…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Listen carefully…

I am a person inspired by tradition.  My original academic training was all about tradition - first I studied medieval history and then ancient history and then archaeology.  I worked as a librarian, preserving the written works and the documents that make up our cultural tradition.  I studied classical music and worked as a recitalist and an opera singer:  again, an art dependent on and preserving of tradition (with apologies to my friends who are living composers).  And now what do I do?  I attend seminary, studying and learning about what many consider to be the most tradition-bound subject of all -- church, and yes, even GOD. Tradition, continuity with…
Read More

Le Noël des Oiseaux: Recording by Susan Sevier & Cheryl Branham

Usually, right at this moment, I am at one of many locations in my neighborhood, outside.  Walking.  Rain or shine, cold or heat, I have been walking.  Looking at the sunrise, watching the clouds, observing the few other socially-distancing dog walkers or runners or the occasional package pirate on a scooter streaming away with their prize. There is supposed to be snow falling outside my window right now, but I live in the great DC Snow Hole, so what we have instead is freezing wind with the promise of freezing rain as the invisible sun moves on its invisible journey around the planet. But, in the expectation of snow, I…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Listen carefully…

I am a person inspired by tradition.  My original academic training was all about tradition - first I studied medieval history and then ancient history and then archaeology.  I worked as a librarian, preserving the written works and the documents that make up our cultural tradition.  I studied classical music and worked as a recitalist and an opera singer:  again, an art dependent on and preserving of tradition (with apologies to my friends who are living composers).  And now what do I do?  I attend seminary, studying and learning about what many consider to be the most tradition-bound subject of all -- church, and yes, even GOD. Tradition, continuity with…
Read More