Singing Along the Journey
Thoughts about faith and wholeness set to the soundtrack of life

The real closet cleaning…

There is closet cleaning, and there is closet cleaning.  Yes, time spent getting rid of books and clothes and unused kitchen items, this is standard for me at this time of year.  But boy was I surprised when God called upon me most unexpectedly to do some real closet cleaning--getting the cobwebs out of my intentions. Let me explain. You see, I was having a nice day out.  I've been concerned that lately, well, I haven't really been much fun.  Any time [caption id="attachment_570" align="alignright" width="207" caption="Julia Margaret Cameron's "The Sunflowers""][/caption] someone suggests something to do for, well, just for fun, I say no.  No to going to a movie. …
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And on to the New Year…

My tradition for the week between Christmas and New Year's is a long-standing one...I use this time to clear out the dregs of the year that is passing away and to make space for the new and wonderful opportunities and experiences of the upcoming fresh, clean calendar year.  This ritual usually takes the form of closet cleaning, book-shelf weeding, paper-filing, project-finishing, etc. -- you get the general idea.  All activities designed to eliminate whatever is holding me back from my highest potential and to make room for my good to spring forth. So I will continue this ritual because it has always worked for me:  it focuses my mind, it…
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The beginning of Christmas…

Or, I should say more accurately, Christmastide.   Yes, that's correct:  while the secular world thinks that the Christmas season is the time leading up to the celebrations, the food and the presents, the truth of it is that the Christmastide or the Christmas season actually occurs between Christmas Day and Epiphany.  If you worship in one of the churches in our world that more strictly adheres to the liturgical calendar, this is not news to you.  But, to someone like myself, who has, yes, worked in a Catholic Church as a singer, but who most of her life has worshipped in the houses of a variety of Protestant denominations, this was…
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The end of Advent…

I realize, as I come to this day which is the end of the Advent season, that I really haven't pondered the nature of Advent as deeply as usual this year.  I am still busy pondering the duality of my human condition. And that awareness of duality continues today as I celebrate both the secular holiday known as Christmas and as I prepare once again to mark the end of the spiritual season of Advent and the beginning of that great festival of Christmas. Yes, I have spent today baking cookies, making dinner, and wrapping presents along with the rest of my fellow Americans and a goodly portion of my…
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It’s all in the introduction, Part the Second

So, back to the elevator speech, this time, my personal one, not Paul's (remember Romans 1:1-7?)  Or, we could call it "the party introduction".    I may have to avoid parties with strangers for a while, because, well, while I know what my introduction is NOT, I do not yet know what it IS.   This is a fairly uncomfortable place to sit in a world which often values us most by what we do, rather than who we are.  And some answers are more acceptable than others, for sure.  So, my friends who respond to the infamous question:  'So, what do you do?" with "Oh, I'm a lawyer" -- well, those…
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It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
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Coming together…

Yesterday, I had one of those musical days that a church musician can experience during the festival seasons of Advent and Easter, if that musician is very lucky:  I spent the whole day singing something wonderful.  In the morning, the Vivaldi Magnificat at Calvary Baptist Church, and in the evening, Handel's Messiah at Millian Methodist.  And this morning, despite the twitchy muscles in my calves and the desperate need to spend some time in the hot tub at the gym (thanks to a very long time standing in heels), my thoughts are all about the dualities of life and the building of community. Okay, let me pause a minute.  If…
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The season’s gift…

Sometimes, if we pay attention, we can learn more about ourselves by watching our likes and our dislikes than we can through all the torturous hours spent in personal inventory and contemplation. I'm talking about Christmas gifts.  Yes, Christmas gifts. I have rules about Christmas gifts.  I finish my shopping no later than the first week of December, always.  That doesn't mean that I don't shop after that date, but I want to know that the important, core gifts for people who really matter are acquired and wrapped by that date.  Anything else I see after that or purchase is, well, serendipity.  And, oh yes, I don't like malls.   I…
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Our truest nature…

I had a really good talk last night with a friend and a mentor about self-forgiveness and just how hard a thing it is to accomplish.   And how the lack of ability to forgive oneself for what we perceive as our failures and our errors in judgement makes it so difficult to take the next step that lies ahead of us. And then this morning, as I continued my reading of Sr. Joan Chittister's book, The Liturgical Year, this current of thinking that seems to be consuming me at this time continued, as I read about the dueling dual nature of our human state:  at one extreme, we are dust…
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The season of forgiveness…

I don't know if there is any true theological relationship between the season of Advent and thoughts about forgiveness, but it seems that, at this time of year, this is always where I find myself.  Thinking about forgiveness.  And here I am again. And so, while I'm turning my thoughts to my year end musings, I thought that I would share a favorite poem on the topic: If I cannot forgive myself For all the blunders That I have made Over the years, Then how can I proceed? How can I ever Dream perfection-dreams? Move, I must, forward. Fly, I must, upward. Dive, I must, inward, To be once more What…
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