Today was my play day! Whatever came my way, my goal was to relax and play - have some fun! So after I got myself ready for the day, my first activity was a trip to the Whole Foods in San Rafael.
I confess to having ulterior motives for going to Whole Foods. It isn't just for the beautiful produce (like the delicious fresh California seedless clementines), nor is it the assortment of vegan foods (including to-die-for vegan chocolate pudding). No, I go to Whole Foods for their parking lot music - the most glorious, chaotic, enchanting, improvisational bird-jazz you've ever heard! They have these really cool trees planted on islands around the parking lot, and they are FILLED with these blackish plump birds with a little bit of red on their wings (but not quite like our red-wing blackbirds) who have attitude to spare. They sing, scold, shout, chatter, squawk, and riff like nothing I've ever heard - and they just keep going at maximum decibel! I sit in my car with my head out the window listening to Birds Coltrane - you just can't beat it (not even with the afore mentioned vegan chocolate pudding). So I started my day with really hot parking lot jazz, had a trip to a fitness shop to get a strap and some weights (no therapy pool, so I'm improvising), vaguely remember a nap while enjoying the view of a stately redwood through my apartment window, and ended my day at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church for Vespers.
I could write paragraphs about the beautify of the sanctuary - the Icons are incredible, as is the way the Orthodox Liturgy captures the essence of Holy Mystery. The chant - angelic. The incense - ethereal (and a bit thick - members of the choir kept sticking their heads out the window to breathe so they could continue singing). The time - clearly kairos, because if I focused on chronos, I'd would have felt every moment in the hour and forty five minute service (I wore dress shoes - enough said). I was warmly greeted by the Priest, and offered a chair (most worshippers and the choir stand for the full service). He suggested I use the chair that had the cushion, because the woman who sat on that cushion lived to be 102. I declined that chair (not sure why), but enjoyed using the one next to it.
Even with all that beauty of space and liturgy, I found the greatest beauty in the people. Like the grandmother who brought her three-year-old granddaughter to the Liturgy, and gently took her around to the Icons and helped her to make the sign of the cross, touch the floor and reverence the Icons with a kiss. She curled up with grandma and soaked in the faith of her ancestors - and love. And the young family with the four children, who made it through the whole service, loving those children every step of the way. I got to keep watch over the two sleeping boys (ages 2 and 4) as they slept soundly on the bare benches next to my chair, while mom and dad helped the two slightly older elementary age children learn to participate in the liturgy (while being held, rocked, disciplined, included, timed-out, held again, included, etc). A kindly English gentlemen gently grabbed my arm and whisked me away from my chair just in time so I wasn't run over by the Deacon making his rounds with the incense. The mom of said sleeping children leaned over to me and whispered her name, and welcomed me, and I joined the angels in the Holy Work of guarding her sleeping children (lest they roll of the benches onto the hard floor). This small congregation of young and old are truly a tight-knit community who deeply love God, one another, and their families. For a window of time tonight they let me gaze with them at Windows to Heaven, and participate in the Holy Work of watching sleeping children as we Watch for God. I was blessed to find God in the love I witnessed and shared tonight - a Window to Heaven more beautiful than any Icon.
I confess that it made me think of how we include and prepare our own children to embody the story of our faith - their faith - and the role of worship in that experience. What do we do to provide the children at Boise First with a compass, anchor, harbor and launching point?
More adventures await tomorrow as I enjoy a second day of rest. For those of you who are reading this in Boise, make sure you attend worship at 10 am tomorrow - MEN (Male Ensemble Northwest) will be leading worship under the guidance of our own Seth McMullen and the inspirational presence of our own Rev. Dr. Doug Lobb. And they will be doing something very special with the children, so you won't want to miss worship, or their concert at Boise First at 1 pm.
I will try to get the proper name for Birds Coltrane for a future post, or at least a picture. Until then,
Sweet dreams, dear friends,
With love,
Kim
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