Immersions Archives - Page 17 of 31

Extravagant Gesture en Route

One windless night, just beyond my bedroom window, Fowler Lake froze, luminous as mercury glass.

Ever the social caboose of my class, pre-teen me hunkered in bed. Crushing thoughts made it hard to breathe. No grace for being me.

I woke to 99 acres of gleaming ice: no pocks or blisters. Nary a wrinkle. Picture the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Now picture 12 of them, frozen, side by side, shaved smooth by an epic Zamboni.

I pulled on my figure skates, freestyled across the ultimate playground. Greenish-black depths glinted with bubbles seemingly lit from below.

extravagant gesture in lighting — Okay, it’s a light fixture … but you get the idea

Translucence draws us. The pristine awes us. Who doesn’t want to coast and glide and skim, grab each hem of these shirttail verbs related to wheel and rise and soar?

Who can skate around the whole lake?

How far (and how fast) is enough? [Read more…]

How Hope Answers

by Laurie Klein 15 Chiming In

Hope you’re ready for these teeth,” I say.

My smiling hygienist lowers the dental lounger. “Tell me about your grandson,” she says.

“Just started kindergarten,” I say. “But after that shooting in Rockford?—his school went into lockdown. Can you imagine? He’s barely 6!”

Her face pales. “Oh, how awful for you.” She lets me talk—all but holds my hand, so intently does she listen.

Then: “I have a kindergartner too,” she says, “and a toddler. My oldest goes to Freeman Middle School.”

I stare. Freeman, Freeman … oh no, isn’t that—

“We chose that school district especially, to keep our kids safe.”

Oh Lord, what freaked me out from a distance is her ongoing reality. Her town.

“I didn’t know,” I whisper.

She gathers her tools, then turns back to me. “It’s been hard. Really hard.”

And I see stories flitting across her face.

[Read more…]

Homesick? 3 Timely Ways to Experience Healing Restoration

by Laurie Klein 24 Chiming In

Homesick: who hasn’t felt it?

Once, Autumn meant friction. Snits and pouts. Epic school-shopping wars: my taste vs Mom’s.

“Teal is your color, Laurie. It brings out your eyes.”

Teal: as in, our front door, sofa pillows, and afghan. Napkins. Glassware. Every single kitchen appliance.

Back then, Autumn also meant trips to The City: milkshakes poured from stainless steel cups; orange fruit jelly slices, mid-afternoon; a new hairstyle for school.

Autumn meant sleek binders and cellophaned No. 2 pencils. Glossy, spiral-bound possibility.

And yes, a teal jumper or sweater plus knee socks came home with us in department store bags. Autumn meant surrender.

Autumn meant having Mom to myself.

[Read more…]

Shalom, Stinkbugs & Utmost Civility

by Laurie Klein 14 Chiming In

“Shalom” is the one word I cannot speak when faced with stinkbugs.

Sleep in a room infested with kamikaze wing-buzz and reek? Fat chance.

Shalom suggests lions laying down with lambs.

I will NOT lay down anywhere with stinkbugs.

Hence, The Bug Bomb.

And the death toll: 1 bedroom, 23 stinkos plus dozens of flies.

Then, post-carnage, the guilt.

Aren’t we meant to live at peace with creation as well as people?

Shalom

Peace is only one accurate translation for shalom.

The word also means harmony, both spiritual and physical.

Wholeness. Fullness. Prosperity.

Inner completeness, soundness, tranquility.

Welfare: “to be safe in mind, body, or estate.”

An inward sense of rest despite outward circumstances.

Doug Hershey describes shalom as reciprocity, “. . . a type of wholeness that encourages you to give back—to generously repay something in some way.”

Probably excluding bug bombs.

Rabbi David Zaslow writes, “In the Hebraic way of thinking, wholeness is the joining together of opposites.”

Seems like-mindedness is optional.

Shalom also means “hello” and “farewell.”

“When I come from somewhere,” Rabbi Zaslow explains, “I am going somewhere else…“ [which produces a peace with wholeness as its source]. “[A]ll my opposing energies are somehow linked and part of a single whole.”

Which may include one’s personal nemesis.

Or take divergent political views wherein dissenters attempt to wall off the opposition. Who will restrain the roar between left- and right-wingers?

“It takes two wings for an eagle to fly,” Rabbi Zaslow observes. “It takes the integration of two opposing positions for there to be real shalom.”

How do we approach integration?

We might consider the word dialogue, meaning “across reason” or “speech that goes back and forth.”

What if those who disagree with us—even stridently—uniquely offer each of us the potential gift of deeper personal wholeness?

A touch of shalom.

Speech that goes back and forth might mean:

redefining vocabulary when semantics derails discussion
refusing to formulate our comeback while the other person is still speaking
planting an idea, then making peace with our role in whatever sprouts

Can we listen deeply first, then challenge one another with civility?

What we speak embodies the power of life or death (Prov. 18:21).

Shalom To-Dos

My friend Mark, an artist, writer, and self-described “grumpy Jewish Christian,” tells me some rabbis teach that the Messiah will come when a certain unknown (yet fixed) number of good deeds are completed, each deed containing an element of shalom.

Could we add our small efforts to that growing number? Not to earn merit, or points, but rather enhance someone else’s tranquility, wholeness, safety, and rest.

Empowered by grace, good deeds are honest. Practical. Sustainable.

Years ago Bill and I recorded a song in unison. Blending our voices required deep listening to one another, surrendering our assumptions, and making ongoing, minute adjustments.

Can you discern each voice? Click here to hear “Shalom,” beautifully arranged and produced by our brilliant friend Chris Lobdell.

How might you live a life of shalom this week? I’d love more ideas . . .

p.s. I created a Playlist from song titles you suggested. Click “Reader’s Playlist” in menu bar.

Thank you again for sharing!

Kyrie Eleison: Seeking Mercy

by Laurie Klein 14 Chiming In

Kyrie eleison:

It may or may not have been the same year
Daddy survived electric shock therapy,
that year he lived in a quiet building by water
with scratchy linens and locked windows
and a special room where people did crafts,

the year I was 7 or 8 years old,
when I first spoke Greek.

It happened by way of a song. Old enough
to stand beside Mom in church,
entrusted with one side of the red hymnbook,
ancient words in a magical language
rose around us: Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison—

Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy.

It’s all I can think of today.

I’ve turned off ongoing footage of catastrophe, heartbreak and accusations, nuclear stand-offs, and always, always, the endless spin.

Not that I want escape. Well, maybe, a little.

I need to re-position myself squarely, silently, in God’s presence.

Out of stillness comes a memory of classes taken.

For the student of Mime, the first key position is Neutral. Neither rigid, sloppy, nor static, it’s a posture of yielded, relaxed, absolute readiness. The whole being is poised. Alert. Balanced.

Neutral is the springboard for any initial gesture. A launch pad for the slightest expression. Action. Story.

I must keep returning to temporary neutral. I need a larger perspective, a longer view. A sense of how God wants me to respond as I go along. There’s a road that I am traveling.

You have one too.

As Mr. Mister famously sang, back in the ’80s: “Kyrie eleison on this road that I must travel.” (link below)

Not resignation, but rather, responsiveness.

Not apathy, but radical, trusting attention.

And then—shock therapy—as I’m writing this post my screen alerts me to a high school shooting today: 3 injured, one dead, the killer in custody. In a town of barely 500 people—not far from mine.

Lord, have mercy!

Words fail us. Fate laughs. Logic shrugs and turns its back.

In times like these, music can help us keep our hearts open, empathic. It helps us pray.

Below are my favorite Kyrie versions, in multiple genres, some with visuals. Please experience several (use the back arrow at the top of your screen to return to the post for more links).

And … can we start a Playlist? Leave a title and/or link in the comments below and tell us your go-to music when life falls apart. I’ll create a Playlist and post it.

Meanwhile, here’s a springboard prayer: