Too many stories tack on moral messages. If these three stories need one, write your own.
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Five years ago, Brian Dolman was driving south on Highway 97, coming home from his millwright job in Kamloops, about two hours away. He didn’t like working away from home. But, as he explained, “I’m 64. There aren’t a lot of jobs around for someone my age.”
Just 20 minutes from home, Brian veered across the centre line. No one knows why. Perhaps he dozed off for an instant. Perhaps he was distracted by a fly inside the car. Whatever the cause, he crashed head-on into a north-bound pickup truck.
Brian died in the wreckage of his car.
Traffic on the highway came to a standstill. But even before police and paramedics reached the crash, they told Brian’s widow later, a woman, a total stranger, left her own car, walked to the crumpled ruin of Brian’s vehicle, and sat with him. In the blood and shattered glass. Just holding his hand….
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Sandy Wightman took a container of wheelchairs, donated by Rotary, to a mission in Mexico run by the sisters of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. One of their patients was a woman so slight, so frail, that the sisters had to carry her everywhere.
Sandy picked her up in his arms and carried her to the wheelchair he had brought for her. “She kept staring at my face,” he recalls now. “She was staring deeply into my eyes.”
As he settled her gently into the chair that would allow her to get around, the woman said something. Sandy doesn’t speak Spanish. “What did she say?” he asked the sister with him.
Sandy’s voice chokes momentarily. The sister translated the patient’s words: “Now I know what the eyes of God look like.”
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Itzhak Perlman, the legendary violinist, could walk only with crutches and braces on both legs because of polio contracted in his childhood. At a concert, his journey from the wings to center stage was long and slow.
In 1995, Perlman was playing a challenging violin concerto. In the middle of the performance one of the strings on his violin snapped. Its twang filled the auditorium. The orchestra immediately stopped playing. The audience held its collective breath. Everyone assumed Perlman would have to put on his braces, pick up his crutches, and leave the stage. Or someone would have to bring out another string. Or even a substitute violin.
Neither happened. After a brief pause, Perlman tucked his violin under his chin and signaled to the conductor to resume. As a member of the audience told Jack Riemer of the Houston Chronicle, “I know it’s impossible to play a violin concerto with only three strings. But that night, Itzhak Perlman refused to know it. You could see him modulating, changing, and recomposing in his head.
“When he finished, an awesome silence filled the room. Then the people rose as one and cheered.”
According to the Chronicle, Perlman smiled, wiped his brow, and raised the bow of his violin for quiet. Quietly, he said, ‘Sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.”
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Copyright © 2019 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
Last week my column built to its conclusion, where I wondered if our society in general suffers from “joy deprivation.”
Steve Enersen agreed: “Yes! Yes we are suffering from joy deprivation! Thank you for putting into words what I’ve been long feeling. Your piece is a good first step. Now what? I’ve been looking for and appreciating the little joys for a while, but now I’ll look even harder and, perhaps, celebrate each one a little more enthusiastically.”
Barbara Zimmerman: “I shared your column with my Bible Study group when we talked about hidden signs of hope...
“I was struck by your comment that the media looks for that which is ‘out of the ordinary,’ because it captures my reason for being peeved at the media lately. I understand that that is what journalists look for, but when did ‘out of the ordinary’ become equated with ‘negative’? There are many exciting, ‘extra-ordinary’ things happening in terms of medical advances, alternative energy research, and creative solutions to all kinds of challenges that we never get to hear about. That is the kind of out-of-the-ordinary news I strain to hear and see from our media -- often, unfortunately, in vain!”
James West noted the journalistic bias: “What you wrote is a journalist’s reporting on the current state of affairs. Tom Robbins wrote, ‘The international situation is desperate as usual.’ Sadly, we tend to get joy from the misfortune of others. One acronym for JOY is Jesus-Others-You. When ‘You’ is [placed] first, you is sad.”
Tom Watson wondered, “What might it be like to publish a newspaper named The Joy Heraldwhere all articles were good news?
“What would it be like to listen to a TV station where the commentators highlighted the good things that were going on in the world rather than endlessly poking through the entrails of controversy?
“What would it be like to have political leaders highlight the good accomplishments and ideas of their political opponents rather than trying to score points by automatically finding fault?
“What might it be like to write a weekly column that focused on nothing but the good things that happened during the last week...call it ‘Delightful Edges’ or something such?”
JT: I had planned today’s column before getting Tom’s letter.
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PSALM PARAPHRASE
This coming Sunday wears two faces. It’s Palm Sunday, remembering Jesus’ triumphal ride (or supposedly triumphal) into Jerusalem. And it’s Passion Sunday, looking ahead to his trial and crucifixion. The lectionary prescribes Psalm 118 for Palm Sunday; Psalm 31 for Passion Sunday. This paraphrase is of Psalm 118, but I think it also captures some of the mood of Passion Sunday. As my original notes commented, sometimes life is a bowl of cherries; sometimes it’s a trip to the emergency ward.
1 As we ride the ambulance of life, Lord,
we sense your presence beside us.
2 Your constant love and care comforts us;
Our fears fade away.
19 Where faceless figures repair our shattered souls,
you hold our hand.
21 In a time of terror, you hover over me;
you are the very breath of life for me.
22 Vulnerability leaves me isolated and alone;
yet I am buoyed up by compassion.
The moment I most feared has become the moment to remember!
23 This can only be the Lord's doing.
24 Awareness washes over me like returning consciousness.
I am alive! I am not alone!
25 Thank you, God. Thank you.
26 Thank you for those who serve in your name. My tears overflow with gratitude.
27 God lives in the hearts and hands of healers.
Wherever there are people of goodwill,
wherever kindness and compassion exist,
God finds a home.
28 You are my God; I will thank you with every thought.
You are my God; I will honor you with all I do.
29 I will never feel alone again;
even in the halls of death, your love will hold me up.
For paraphrases of mostof the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalmsfrom Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.
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And for those of you who like poetry, I’ve started a webpage http://quixotic.ca/My-Poetrywhere I post (occasionally, when I feel inspired) poems that I have written. If you’d like to receive notifications about new poems, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca, or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blankemail(no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca(If it doesn’t work, please let me know.)
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PROMOTION STUFF
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have been blocking my posts because they’re suspicious of too many links.
Ralph Milton’s latest project is a kind of Festival of Faith, a retelling of key biblical stories by skilled storytellers like Linnea Good and Donald Schmidt, designed to get people talking about their own faith experience. It’s a series of videos available on Youtube. I suggest you start with his introductory section: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u6qRclYAa8
Ralph’s “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal -- is still available. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. The website is now closed, but you can order the DVDs online from Wood Lake Publications, info@woodlake.com
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,”an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, with lots of photos to admire, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony”-- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’sreaders. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet
May I add a plea (assuming you’ve read this far)? Subscriptions to my columns have been dropping. Some people move and don’t notify me about changes in their email addresses. Others die. I’d like to build my subscription base again. If you know someone who might enjoy reading these viewpoints, who might find them stimulating, or ever challenging, please encourage those people to subscribe.