Build a House
For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.
Psalm 36:9 (NLT)
Dear friend,
One morning this week I read what one of my favorite authors Truman Capote calls a
Conversational Portrait. It’s one of seven of these in a book called Music for Chameleons
from 1980. This portrait is called Hidden Gardens and takes place in New Orleans.
Within its 14 pages are some characters I might be surprised to see walking into
our sanctuary for worship on Sunday morning, and yet they’re folks
I’d also love to spend some time in conversation with.
Truman Capote was a master at creating relationships with people in high class society
and people living on the margins. In one of his most famous books, and one of my
favorites, In Cold Blood, he befriends a murderer on death row. His language is approachable,
highly descriptive, graphic, gritty and elegant all at the same time. No other
author brings me into his own experience more clearly than him.
In my opinion, authors who write in the style of Truman Capote, perhaps
directly influenced by him, are important at all times, and certainly now.
They help us see what we otherwise wouldn’t see, bringing light to dark corners
where we otherwise might be too scared to look. And yet, with someone like Truman
as our guide, we do more than give a quick hurried glance. We seemingly enter into
these relationships ourselves, and find some beauty in each one, with those living in
fancy apartments (for example, from Hidden Gardens) whose generational wealth
provides this, or the woman who works at that brothel… and the ways
race continues to play itself out in places like New Orleans.
Do yourself a favor. Bring some new light into your life by watching the video
above Rhiannon Giddens - Build a House, which includes both her
amazing song and children’s book and the one by the prayer
Rhiannon Giddens - Yet to Be (feat. Jason Isbell).
Both these songs and the children’s book shed light on the black experience in
America in ways which expand my heart to what still might be possible.
At Adult Study last Tuesday night one participant wanted us all to remember
all the good which has come from our country to all the world. And the truth is,
I don’t disagree. Yet, then I watch the videos above and below and I get a deeper,
more nuanced picture and I want, more than ever, to name the truth of all of it, the
best of us and the worst of us. And in naming the worst of us, not to have us feel
undue guilt for situations we ourselves didn’t cause, yet to understand, so we
might bring justice and heal past trauma and build a house upon a truly solid foundation.
And when that house is built, and everyone is warm and has some food to eat, some
education and health care, then let’s do what we can to turn that house into a home.
Blessings, friend, and love,
Pastor John
the light by which we see.
Psalm 36:9 (NLT)
Dear friend,
One morning this week I read what one of my favorite authors Truman Capote calls a
Conversational Portrait. It’s one of seven of these in a book called Music for Chameleons
from 1980. This portrait is called Hidden Gardens and takes place in New Orleans.
Within its 14 pages are some characters I might be surprised to see walking into
our sanctuary for worship on Sunday morning, and yet they’re folks
I’d also love to spend some time in conversation with.
Truman Capote was a master at creating relationships with people in high class society
and people living on the margins. In one of his most famous books, and one of my
favorites, In Cold Blood, he befriends a murderer on death row. His language is approachable,
highly descriptive, graphic, gritty and elegant all at the same time. No other
author brings me into his own experience more clearly than him.
In my opinion, authors who write in the style of Truman Capote, perhaps
directly influenced by him, are important at all times, and certainly now.
They help us see what we otherwise wouldn’t see, bringing light to dark corners
where we otherwise might be too scared to look. And yet, with someone like Truman
as our guide, we do more than give a quick hurried glance. We seemingly enter into
these relationships ourselves, and find some beauty in each one, with those living in
fancy apartments (for example, from Hidden Gardens) whose generational wealth
provides this, or the woman who works at that brothel… and the ways
race continues to play itself out in places like New Orleans.
Do yourself a favor. Bring some new light into your life by watching the video
above Rhiannon Giddens - Build a House, which includes both her
amazing song and children’s book and the one by the prayer
Rhiannon Giddens - Yet to Be (feat. Jason Isbell).
Both these songs and the children’s book shed light on the black experience in
America in ways which expand my heart to what still might be possible.
At Adult Study last Tuesday night one participant wanted us all to remember
all the good which has come from our country to all the world. And the truth is,
I don’t disagree. Yet, then I watch the videos above and below and I get a deeper,
more nuanced picture and I want, more than ever, to name the truth of all of it, the
best of us and the worst of us. And in naming the worst of us, not to have us feel
undue guilt for situations we ourselves didn’t cause, yet to understand, so we
might bring justice and heal past trauma and build a house upon a truly solid foundation.
And when that house is built, and everyone is warm and has some food to eat, some
education and health care, then let’s do what we can to turn that house into a home.
Blessings, friend, and love,
Pastor John
God, Jesus, Holy Spirit,
some of us struggle
during these days
filled with more injustice than justice
filled with more lies than truth
filled with more disinformation than actual information
filled with more distraction than focus.
Yet, help us know,
as we work in opposition
to the injustice, lies, disinformation and distraction,
we work to uphold
the justice, the informed truth and a focus on your light.
Forgive us
whenever we get discouraged
and neglect to turn our house into a home
where the light of Jesus’ radical love shines forth,
to all with eyes to see,
and ears to hear,
and minds and hearts to compassionately listen
and be transformed.
Together, we pray, to build a house
where all may live,
and to make that house, a home.
Amen.
____________________________________________
some of us struggle
during these days
filled with more injustice than justice
filled with more lies than truth
filled with more disinformation than actual information
filled with more distraction than focus.
Yet, help us know,
as we work in opposition
to the injustice, lies, disinformation and distraction,
we work to uphold
the justice, the informed truth and a focus on your light.
Forgive us
whenever we get discouraged
and neglect to turn our house into a home
where the light of Jesus’ radical love shines forth,
to all with eyes to see,
and ears to hear,
and minds and hearts to compassionately listen
and be transformed.
Together, we pray, to build a house
where all may live,
and to make that house, a home.
Amen.
____________________________________________
Become the Love you Seek!
JOURNEY on The Way
SEE the Face of Jesus
in All People
BECOME a Light of Peace,
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