Monday, November 29, 2010

Paying attention #2

A few weeks back I wrote about paying attention. I described a new phase I am in, a new way of seeing that I am trying to instill in myself. This quote from Frederick Buechner sums up beautifully what I have experiencing and living these last few months...
pay attention to the world and all that dwells therein and thereby learn at last to pay attention to yourself and all that dwells within.... Literature, painting, music - the most basic lesson that all art teaches us is to stop, look and listen to life on this planet, including our own lives, as a vastly richer, deeper, more mysterious business than most of the time it ever occurs to us to suspect as we bumble along from day to day on automatic pilot. In a world that for the most part steers clear of the whole idea of holiness, art is one of the few places left where we can speak to each other of holy things..... If we are to love God, we must first stop, look, and listen for him in what is happening around us and inside of us. If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is the frame we see them in. From 'Art' in Whistling in the Dark by Frederick Buechner (pg 15-17)
Each day I seek to pay attention to the world around me in creative ways; to see things in new frames. I see beauty and mystery and chaos and pain. I see brokenness and transformation. And yet when the injustices, the politics, the immensity of non-grace might overwhelm me, when I begin to find within myself the same chaos and brokenness, I look to find the glimpses of mystery and grace. I look to find the holy in the commonplace.
I revel in the rich complexity of words in an Emily Dickinson poem. I marvel in the power of a single photograph to capture an entire story. I take the time to sit with a friend and speak of truthfulness and love and hope. I find therapy in the preparation of a wholesome meal.

This new way of seeing has been particularly helpful as I have begun work in communications with a church-based NGO who is seeking to alleviate injustice, transform communities and engage the Church in this mandate.
I am trying everyday to see people with my imagination, to see their stories as well as their faces. I am conscious that how I communicate - whether it be through words or photos or design - should speak of truth and grace. I want to allow people to see the world in new frames, to 'see' people from places unknown with imagination.

I long to be creative and to witness creativity as a way of entering in to the mystery of being, the holiness of our world and the God who created all these things.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Songbird

I heard this song (and this artist) for the first time today, and it blew me away! It is so beautiful! It's one of those songs that I wish I'd written because it seems to sum up so perfectly so much of what's in my head and heart... but couldn't quite articulate.

Songbird

I want to be a songbird
And I want to sit on the tallest branch of the tallest tree
And I want to sing lullabies to Earth as she cries
But I really want to try and make her laugh.
I want to be a songbird

And I want to watch sunrise
With my love by my side
And I want to grow and I want to learn
I want a fire and I want to burn
I want to rise and I want to fall
I want to run and I want to crawl.
I want to be a songbird

And I just want to try to know how far and deep and wide
This love is that you give cuz that’s what it is to really live
To just try and look around
See when our breaths and hear you in our sounds
I want to be a songbird

Go thru things that I need
Make me hurt and make me bleed
Cuz I will arise and see the light
I’ll pray my way through the night
And I want to be a songbird

And I want to sing lullabies to Earth as she cries
But I really want to try and make her laugh
How you made me laugh
You made me laugh.

Take the strings and the things I use to tie me to the ground
Let them all be gone
I want to be a songbird.
- Jillian Edwards

Check out her album/ep 'Galaxies and Such' on itunes, Myspace, or CDBaby; or watch a live performance.