Monday, 19 March 2012

Seeking to be free



"Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free."

Leonard Cohen, Bird on the Wire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qvW63z1uzg&feature=related 


I was in Hamilton this weekend to celebrate my good friend Bill MacKinnon's 60th birthday.  We met in 1985 at Emmanuel College.  We've gone through various metamorphosis in the past 27 years.  

Family and friends joined us to celebrate Bill's birthday.  John Asling, another good friend of Bill and me, flew in from London, England to be part of the celebration. 

I once read that "Good friends are like stars.  You don't always see them, but you know they are always there."  I know Bill and John have been two of those stars in my life.

I was thinking about friendship - a relationship that is integral in being human - and other words that describe experiences of being one with Sacred Beauty as I was taking photos on that day.  I have experienced that good friends support you to be free to become who you are meant to be.

Here are the images I want to share as I celebrate my friendship with Bill and John.



























Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Visual Resources



"End of story, start of parable.  End of reading, starting of thinking."

John Dominic Crossan,
The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus


Here is a list of video resources I found helpful in my sabbatical journey.  I will be updating the list along the way.

When I was challenged by the images and contents of the video I asked myself the following questions: 

  • Is it because the material made me uncomfortable and uneasy with my socio-economic status quo?
  • Does the material challenge and invite me to re-examine my assumptions and norms about the world I have known and experienced?
  • What am I going to do with the challenges I have experienced?


May the the content of the materials be as challenging, nurturing, and inviting as I have experienced them.

2. Naif Al-Mutawa: Superheroes inspired by Islam
http://www.ted.com/talks/naif_al_mutawa_superheroes_inspired_by_islam.html 


3. "Miss Representation": Official Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkIiV6konY&feature=share


4. The Cyrus Cylinder: The Policy of Cultural Diversity of the Persian Empire imprinted in 539 - 530 BCE
http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_macgregor_2600_years_of_history_in_one_object.html?source=facebook#.T1aX03pGYb5.facebook


5. JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html


6. 25th Anniversary United Church Apology to First Nations Peoples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBJGjB07HrU&feature=share 

7. Note to Self by Maya Angelou
       http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/maya-angelou-note-to-self_n_1291452.html?ref=fb&ir=Black+Voices&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=2161133,b=facebook 


8. Anoushka Shankar plays Pancham Se Gara
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CnhcGpmH9Y&feature=share 


9. Cornel West at RIT for Martin King Jr. Event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0ruCLef3Gr8 


10. James Nachtwey's searing photos of war
http://www.ted.com/talks/james_nachtwey_s_searing_pictures_of_war.html 


11. The Prayer of Children
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTZFIcqnQMg 
Information on the background of the song - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_the_Children


12 Isabel Allende on Stories
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/isabel_allende_tells_tales_of_passion.html 


13. Amy Tan on Creativity
http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_tan_on_creativity.html 


14. Julia Alvarez, 2009 National Book Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZTxT34fI5Q 


15. Susan Cain: The power of Introverts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c0KYU2j0TM4 


16. Sacred Economics with Charles Eisenstein - A Short Film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EEZkQv25uEs#! 


17. Rick Smolan tells the story of a girl
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/rick_smolan_tells_the_story_of_a_girl.html 


18. Kristen Ashburn's photos of AIDS
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/kristen_ashburn_s_heart_rending_pictures_of_aids.html 


19. Robert Munsch Sings "Love you forever" song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFX6pdwJWpA&feature=share 


20. Report from Durban
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HIfDJx44iu0#! 


21. VisuraMagazine
http://www.visuramagazine.com/ 


22. How To Be Alone by Tanya Davis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs&feature=player_embedded


23. The Most Astounding Fact, video by Max Schlickenmyer - Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson's interview with TIME magazine 
http://vimeo.com/38101676 


24. Reconnecting with Compassion,  Krista Tippett
http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=2262 


25. Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

26. What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKUkz0nnp_8&feature=related 


28. 5 Tips for Welcoming Church Visitors, United Methodist Church, USA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=con0t6n4jgM&feature=related 


29. Videos - church hospitality etiquette
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCHY6Ppztd8&feature=related 


30. Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntTtxVNjpJ8 


31. Making Our Churches More Accessible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLnLA3wS6O0&feature=related


32. Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability
http://vimeo.com/36562303 


38. Old Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Era
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NKDXuCE7LeQ#!

39. Silver & Light by Ian Ruhter
http://ianruhter.tumblr.com/











Monday, 12 March 2012

Issues and Ideas to consider




"Forget definition, forget assumption, watch."

Marilynne Robinson


Here is a list of ideas and issues I would like to consider during or after my sabbatical.  These are something KRU and other congregations could consider in ministry.  The order is based on the date I came across the article (oldest to new).


1.  Worship and Education for All by Stephen Chapin Garner with Jerry Thornell (Excerpted and adapted from Scattering Seeds: Cultivating Church Vitality by Stephen Chapin Garner with Jerry Thornell , copyright © 2012 by the Alban Institute.  All rights reserved.
http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9894


2.  On Adult Education and Learning Styles.
http://online.rit.edu/faculty/teaching_strategies/adult_learners.cfm


3. Photographing Dog's Last Moments

Friday, 9 March 2012

On Sabbath Journey 2




"There are so many ways to find meaning, if we stop to look."

Catherine Faith MacLean


Here is another wonderful account of Sabbath journey from the Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant for Pastoral Leaders alumna Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean.


"Constellations of Meaning: Looking Beyond the Milky Way" -

http://www.resourcingchristianity.org/clergy-sabbatical/constellations-of-meaning-looking-beyond-the-milky-way



Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Books for the Sabbatical Journey




"When the darkness appears
And the night draws near,
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand,
Guide my feet, hold my hand.
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home."

Thomas A. Dorsey, Take My Hand, Precious Lord



Here is a reading list that will be expanding over the next four months.  The books represent the area of my interest in relation to photography as a metaphor – and possibly an instrument of a parable – of the world.



March - June, 2012


Ali, Tariq. Conversations with Edward Said. London: Seagull Books, 2006.
Baldwin, James. The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings, edited and with an introduction by Randall Kenan. 1st ed. New York: Vintage International Edition, 2011.
Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2012.
Baum, Gregory. Compassion and Solidarity: The Church for Others. Toronto: House of Anansi Press Inc., 1992.
Borg, Marcus J. Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power –  And How They Can Be Restored. 1st ed. New York: HarperOne, 2011.
Buber, Martin. I and Thou, translated by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970.
Campbell, Joseph. Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor, edited and with a forward by Eugene Kennedy. Novato: New York Library, 2001.
Cardinal, Tantoo. et al. Our Story: Aboriginal Voices on Canada's Past. Toronto: Anchor Canada, 2005.
Choy, Wayson. Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2009.
Copper, Afua. Copper woman and other poems. Toronto: Natural Heritage Books, 2007.
Crossan, John Dominic. The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus. 1st ed. New York: HarperOne, 2012.
Dixon, Glenn. Pilgrim in the Palace of Words: A Journey Through the 6,000 Languages of Earth. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2009.
duChemin, David. Photographically Speaking: A deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images. Berkeley: New Riders, 2012. 
Edugyan, Esi. Half-Blood Blues. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2011.
Ferry, David, trans. Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992.
Gendler, J. Ruth, ed. Changing Light: The Eternal Cycle of Night and Day. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Harmon, William. ed., The Top 500 Poems. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.
Hertzler, Janelle Shantz. Seasons of Solace: A Story of Healing through Photos and Poems. Austin: Synergy Books, 2010.
Heschel, Abraham Joshua David. The Sabbath. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
Edugyan, Esi. Half-Blood Blues. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2011.

Hesse, Herman. The Journey to the East. New York: Picador, 1957.
Housden, Roger, ed. Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation. New York: Harmony Books, 2003.
__________. ten poems to change your life. 1st ed. New York: Harmony Books, 2001. 
Intrator, Sam M. & Scribner, Megan, eds. Leading from Within: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Teach. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007. 
_________, eds. Teaching with Fire: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Teach. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003. 
Ipong, Angelina Bisuña- with Mars Marata and Other Political Prisoners. A Red Rose for Andrea: Writings from Prison. Quezon City: Southern Voices Printing Press, 2012.

Iyer, Pico. The Man Within My Head. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Kai, Jeremy. Rivers Forgotten. 1st ed. Toronto: Koyama Press, 2011. 
Karr, Andy and Wood, Michael. The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2011.
Keillor, Garrison. selected and introduced. Good Poems. New York: Viking, 2002.
Keillor, Garrison, ed. Good Poems for Hard Times. New York: Viking, 2005.
Kim, Eunjoo Mary. Preaching in an Age of Globalization. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010.
Kingsolver, Barbara. High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never. New York: HarperPerennial, 1995. 
Ladinsky, Daniel, trans. Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. New York: Penguin Compass, 2002.
Lawliss, Charles. ... and God Cried: The Holocaust Remembered. North Dighton: JG Press, 1994.
Lederach, John Paul. The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace. New York: The Oxford University Press, 2005.
Leibovitz, Annie. Pilgrimage. New York: Random House, 2011.
Maddix, Tom. Running Scared: The Call of Pilgrimage. Ottawa: Novalis, 2005.
McClatchy, J. D. The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.
McLeod, Melvin and the editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds. The Best Buddhist Writing 2011. Boston: Shambhhala, 2011.
Merton, Thomas. Dialogues with Silence: Prayers & Drawings. ed by Jonathan Montaldo. 1st ed. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001.
Merton, Thomas, trans. The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century. New York: A New Directions book, 1960.
Miller, E. Ethelbert, ed. In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African-American Poetry. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1994. 
Milosz, Czeslaw, ed. A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry. Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1996. 
Mitchell, David. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob Zoet. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2010.
Moore, Honor, ed. Poems from the Women's Movement. New York: The Library of America, 2009.
Moyers, Bill. Healing and the Mind, eds. Betty Sue Flowers; executive editor, David Grubin. New York: Broadway Books, 1993. 
Murray, Joan. Poems to Live By In Troubling Times. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.
Nair, Parvati. A Different Light: The Photography of SabastiĂ£o Salgado. London: Duke University Press, 2011. 
Nepo, Mark. Surviving Has Made Me Crazy: Poems. 1st ed. Fort Lee: CavanKerry Press Ltd., 2007.
Nye, Naomi Shihab. This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from around the World. 1st ed. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1996.
_________. Transfer: Poems by  Naomi Shihab Nye. 1st ed. Rochester: BOA Editions, Ltd., 2011.
Oe, Kenzaburo. Hiroshima Notes, translated by David L. Swain. New York: Grove Press, 1996.

_________. The Silent Cry, translated by John Bester. London: Serpant's Trail, 2011.
Okri, Ben. An African Elegy. London: Vintage, 1997.
Oliver, Mary. New and Selected Poems Volume Two. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005.
_________. Red Bird. Boston: Beacon Press, 2008.
_________. Thirst. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.
_________. Why I Wake Early. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.
Patchett, Ann. State of Wonder. New York: HarperCollins, 2011.

Parini, Jay. Why Poetry Matters. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
Patterson, Freeman. Photography and the Art of Seeing: A visual Perception Workshop for Film and Digital Photography. 4th ed. Richmond Hill: Firefly, 2011.
_________. Photography of Natural Things. Scarborough: Van Nostrand Reinhold Publishers, 1982. 
Phan, Peter C. In Our Own Tongues: Perspectives from Asia on Mission and Inculturation. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2003.
Porchia, Antonio. Voices, translated by W. S. Merwin. Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 2003.
Reynolds, Garr. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. Berkeley: New Riders, 2008.
Reynolds, Thomas E. Vulnerable Communion: A Theology of Disability and Hospitality. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2008.
Robinson, Marilynne. When I Was a Child I Read Books. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.
Rowe, Wayne. Zen and the Magic of Photography: Learning to See and to Be through Photography. 1st ed. Santa Barbara: Rocky Nook, Inc., 2010.
Rukeyser, Muriel. eds. Kaufman, Janet E.  & Herzog, Anne F.The Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. 
_________. The Life of Poetry. Ashfield: Paris Press, 1996.
Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana. Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing, translations and commentary by Coleman Barks. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003. 
Ryan, Kathy, ed. The New York Times Magazine Photographs. 1st ed. New York: aperturefoundation, 2011.
Sartwell, Crispin. End of Story: Toward an Annihilation of Language and History. New York: State University of New York Press, 2000. 
Shinder, Jason, ed. The Poem I Turn To: Actors and Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them. Naperville: SourceBooks Media Fusion, 2008.
Jean Smith, ed. Everyday Mind: 366 Reflections on the Buddhist Path. 1st ed. New York: Riverhead Books, 1977.
Smith, Zadie. On Beauty. Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2005.
Soyinka, Wole. The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Tagore, Rabindranath. Gitanjali: A Collection of Prose Translations Made by the Author from the Original Bengali. New York: Scribner Poetry, 1997.
Tagore, Rabindranath and Underhill, Evelyn, trans. Songs of Kabir. New York: MacMillan Company, 1916.
Vargas Llosa, Mario. Making Waves, edited and translated by John King. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
Wagamese, Richard. Indian Horse. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2012.
Walker, Alice. Hard Times Require Furious Dancing. Novato: New World Library, 2010.
_________. The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult. New York: Washington Square Press,1997.
Wolfe, Gregory. Intruding Upon the Timeless: Meditations on Art, Faith, and Mystery. 1st ed. Baltimore: Square Halo Books, 2003.
Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York: Harper Perennial, 2005.
Zaleski, Philip, ed, The Best Spiritual Writing 2010. New York: Penguin Books, 2011.



Sunday, 4 March 2012

The Valley of Dry Bones & The River of Life





The Valley of Dry Bones and The River of Life are the themes of my sabbatical photography project.

I will be reflecting on the poems listed below and create photographic images reflecting the two themes - images of desolation and of renewal - through connecting the visual images from the poems with the visual images in the nature.

This is how Muriel Rukeyser describes poetry.

"Poetry depends on the moving relations within itself.  It is an art that lives in time, expressing and evoking the moving relation between the individual consciousness and the world.  The work that a poem does is a transfer of human energy, and I think human energy may be defined as consciousness, the capacity to make change in existing conditions.  It appears to me that to accept poetry in these meanings would make it possible for people to use it as an 'exercise,' an enjoyment of the possibility of dealing with the meanings in the world and in their lives."

Muriel Rukeyser, The Life of Poetry


Here is a list of poems for my reflection:

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
The Need to Win by Chuang Tzu
Di Apple of Har Y’eye by Afua Cooper
A Place to Sit by Kabir
Tonight Everyone in the World Is Dreaming the Same Dream by Susan Litwak
A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde
Last Night As I Was Sleeping by Antonio Machado
Learning to Listen by Darmody Mumford
On Waking by John O’Donohue
The Journey by Mary Oliver
The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist by Mary Oliver
Thirst by Mary Oliver
Accepting This by Mark Nepo
Surviving Has Made Me Crazy by Mark Nepo
Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye
The Art of Disappearing by Naomi Shihab Nye
Love After Love by Derek Walcott
The World Has Changed by Alice Walker









Thursday, 1 March 2012

Journey to Louisville Institute [February 27-29, 2012]




Gratitude,
Hope,
Laughter,
Feast,
Kindness,
Compassion,
Anguish, 
Restoration,
Healing,
Excitement …

These are some of the words coming to mind as I reflect on the three days at 2012 Consultation for Pastoral Leaders at Louisville Institute.

Generosity encourages.
Kind and caring words inspire.
And, comradely compels us to serve.



The Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant for Pastoral Leaders - 2011 Grantees

*   *   *


Some words and phrases I heard at the gathering:

“Culture of Despair”

On Sermon:
Pastor: “Even the best preachers have only three good sermons.”
Parishioner: “So you have two more?”

“Visuals must be accompanied by carefully constructed words.”

On Movement:
"Orientation to Disorientation to Reorientation."

On Hymns:
Parishioner: “Pastor, I didn’t like the second hymn today.”
Pastor: “It’s OK.  We weren’t singing to you.”

“I heard my mother say
I heard my mother say
I heard my mother say
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You may have the world
Give me Jesus”

On Calling:
“God didn't call me to my people.
God called me to God’s people.”

A daily practice of Benedictine Monk:
“Each morning he chooses between the old habit and the habit of a monk.  ...  You are not stuck in your role.  You are free to choose.  ...  Trust your Call, not your heart.”

“Pastors are sheep dogs, not the Shepherd.  Jesus is the Shepard.”

And, mostly, Gratitude for this tremendous gift of Sabbath. 


* * *