A little bit more on Sunday night...

My friend Kari has a blog. You can find it here. I'll be adding it to the links on my sidebar in the next couple of days, but I wanted to draw your attention to her most recent entry. She was writing about the service Sunday night. Kari was one of the singers for the performance art piece that so grabbed me.

In the entry, towards the end, she wrote the following which felt so very profound to me - so much an expression of some of the thoughts and feelings I have encountered over the last while: "So, much of my experience in the church community this year has been an act of ” holding back the lament, of minimizing the wail in my own heart” linked to the loss of my mom, some friendships, church life. I’m just thankful for the expression of art that speaks of the combination. It gives permission to let the cries of the undone come out. It speaks the unspoken truth, it releases, it gets messy and it’s not afraid."

Thanks, Kari, for being part of this journey with me. Thanks for smiles and hugs and encouragement, and a heart that understands the beauty that can be found in the ashes.

You should read this...

I was sent this story in 850 words of Relevant today... Wow!

I relate to this - to some of the things that this guy talks about, as I have walked through similar things with friends in the last months. Cutting, drugs, hospitalization/rehab - all of these are things that are becoming more familiar, more present realities in my daily life. And God keeps calling me forward, so I guess I'll just keep going...

I keep thinking about the line from the beattitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." I am hanging out with the "poor in spirit" a lot lately, and am watching with awe as I begin to see the "kingdom of heaven" in their lives.