Through My Own Eyes

"I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me

to see the beauty in the world through my own eyes." 

Y.M. Barnwell 

http://www.ymbarnwell.com/

By Sweet Honey in the Rock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EpiZ1bpGVVA

By Keali'i Reichel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdapAqrcuvw 

I am remembering the words written by Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell, a vocalist with Sweet Honey in the Rock. The first time I heard her words was in Hawaii. It was through Keali'i Reichel's version of her words that helped me to understand what it is like to remember – remembering something you have never seen and yet finding it to be so familiar. Coming to Ghost Ranch is like coming back "home" you've never been or seen.

Being surrounded by the beauty of Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, a place I've never been, gives me that sense of being home.  There are so many things that are so familiar. The beauty of the earth.

I am sitting by a window looking at Cerro Pedemal, a volcanic mountain that erupted many years ago. Rio Chama (Chama River) meanders through the dry and rugged terrain between Cerro Pedemal and Ghost Ranch.

"How can any one person own such beauty by oneself? The earth, one of the most beautiful things in life, ought to be shared by all." That was my first thought when I was driving into Ghost Ranch. Yet, the idea privatization has divided earth into so many desperate pieces, often resulting in poverty of soul and body.

I am surrounded by and overwhelmed by the beauty of the earth here in Ghost Ranch.

This is what Michael Martone, a writer, says about seeing:

"The midwestern landscape is abstract, and our response to the geology of the region might be similar to our response to the contemporary walls of paint in museums. We are forced to live in our eye."

Although Ghost Ranch is in New Mexico, Southern part of the US, Martone's words resonate with my experience of the geography of Ghost Ranch and its surrounding areas.

I am thinking that faith is our attempt "to live in our eye" so we can recognize each and every thing we encounter as sacred beauty. Our faith is like "wanting memories to teach [us] to see the beauty in the world through [our] own eyes."

Here are some of the beauty I have been surrounded by since my arrival here in Ghost Ranch.

Imaging Hope

Philippine Human Rights Defenders Bring Concerns to Canada: Cross-Country Tour: March 27 - April 16, 2012

"Imaging Hope" is the phrase that comes to me as I reflect on the stories I heard from Dr. Merry Mia-Clamor and Ms. Angelina Bisuña Ipong, two former political prisoners who were subjected to torture, sexual harassment and physical abuse while incarcerated in the Philippines.  Dr. Mia-Clamor and Ms. Ipong, along with Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza, shared their experiences of desolation and hope with us at Emmanuel College Chapel in Toronto on March 29, 2012.  They will be sharing their stories across Canada from March 27 to April 16 this year.  

Here is a detailed information about the speakers from KAIROS Canada - http://www.kairoscanada.org/countries-of-concern/philippines/philippine-human-rights-delegation-to-canada/ .

A Red Rose for Andrea: Writings from Prison is a book Ms. Angelina Bisuña Ipong wrote with Mars Marata and other political prisoners to inform the outside world of the situations in the Philippines.  Angelina dedicates the book to "her daughter Andrea and to all the sons and daughters of political prisoners."  You can contact KAIROS Canada to order a copy of the book.  Purchasing the book would help support the political prisoners in the Philippines. 

Angelina Bisuña Ipong now works as Coordinator of the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Association of Ex-Detainees Against Detention and Arrest) and former political detainee.

Dr. Ligaya Lindio-McGovern, professor of Sociology in Indiana University in the USA, wrote the following in the forward:

     "The number of documented victims of extrajudicial killings is much higher than the number of political prisoners:

      350 political prisoners over more than a thousand extrajudicial killings [in the Philippines in the last 10 years]."

It will take a while for me to process and to reflect on the stories the three courageous people from the Philippines.  

"I will not deny Thee."  Words on the banner in the chapel pierced my heart as I was listening and capturing the images of the three courageous disciples of Jesus of Nazareth.  I was reminded of the image of the Crucified Woman as I looking at the faces of so many young women imprisoned, disappeared, and murdered in the  Philippines.  I share the images of sunflowers to reflect hope expressed through Angelina's poem in her book. 

What did I hear?

How did I hear?

What do I do with the stories?

How do I make them part of my life and ministry?

What are the challenges and opportunities for me as I engage with those stories?

How do I express my commitment to walk in solidarity with those who are suffering  as they struggle for justice in the Philippines and in other parts of the Global Village?

What did I miss?
How would I ever know what I missed hearing, seeing, and connecting?

I would like to invite you to walk with those questions as we walk toward Jerusalem with Jesus of Nazareth in this liturgical season.

Here are the images of the speakers whose words and gestures embody and enliven hope, compassion, justice, and the liberating breath of God.

More images found in the following link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchoephoto/collections/72157629698792285/

A time for every matter under heaven

Ecclesiastes 3 (NRSV)

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 

a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 

I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by. Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?

Professor Dr. Fred Kimball Graham

Deer Park Assistant Professor of Church Music
University Organist
Director of Chapel
Director of the Master of Sacred Music Program

At his retirement party on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at Emmanuel College, Victoria University in the University of Toronto.