A Musical Interlude: Just the Two of Us (Grover Washington, Jr.)

Quite a musical ensemble here: Grover Washington Jr. on saxophone, Bill Withers on vocals, Marcus Miller on bass, Steve Gadd on drums, and Richard Tee on the Fender Rhodes keyboard. 

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Monday Music: One (by Birdtalker)

Here is a recent discovery for me. An indie folk group from Nashville, Birdtalk seems to bring an eclectic mix to their original songs. Concerning the name of the band, according to an interview,  "Birdtalker is a playful homage of St. Francis of Assisi. At the time we were reading about St. Francis, and just reading about that approach to life was inspiring to a lot of the stuff we wrote early on (and still does now).  He is the patron saint in the Catholic tradition of poverty and nature, and the specific story we are quietly referencing is when he was walking in Italy with some of his monks and walked over to a flock of birds and starting thanking them for what they did, and was preaching the gospel to them.  The story taught about respecting and learning from the things that are natural around you, and just taking the time to recognize their importance.  The story was so whimsical to us, and we wanted to pay homage without the name being explicit and overly religious."

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Sufi Tears

Sufi Mosque on the Sinai Peninsula (European Press photo) 

"Militants Kill 305 at Sufi Mosque in Egypt’s Deadliest Terrorist Attack"

(Headline from The New York Times)

Sufi  Tears

They opened doors to a world

Where sunlight lifts the heart

And words are like

The sweetest garden nectar.

The Sufi’s song to the Beloved

Created a space

Where all can find peace.

Their poets

Brought wholeness

To a fragmented world.

They told the world

Of a divine realm,

Just behind the breath

Of every searching soul,

Where the Beloved offers companionship

Throughout the measure of our days.

Now zealot bombs have shattered

That sacred space,

Spilling blood

And taking lives

In a mindless cacophony

Of shrapnel and smoke.

Mothers wail

As bodies lay scattered.

Bitter grief

Seizes the chests of husbands and fathers

While the Beloved weeps nearby.

What world is this

That cannot endure beauty,

Whose sons must shatter every light?

  

Sadness descends upon us

As we grieve

For our Sufi kin.

We would almost

Despair for our own future.

Yet in our sorrow,

We reach out

To those Sufi souls we seek to comfort.

It is they who will continue to nurture

The song of the Beloved,

And it is they who will dress

The wounds of the world

Until our violence ceases.

                                                ~ CK

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Saturday Haiku: Old Canton

out of old Canton

a woman wheels her wares

into a new world

__________________________

Image: Woman pulling a cart in Guangzhou, China

Photo by Charles Kinnaird

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Our Political State ~ Not Business as Usual

LIA sticker from Left in Alabama

When I began this blog, Not Dark Yet, I first described it as “an odd mix of poetry, political commentary, and spirituality.” I later emended that to “poetry, social commentary, and spirituality,” because I realized that it is social commentary rather than political agenda that drives my concern in this blog space. I then decided that I would create a separate satirical blog, The Vidalia Onion “Fake News Rooted in the South” which I would reserve for the occasional political commentary for a satirical take on what is going on in the world of politics. (I should note that I used that term “Fake News” in 2013, before Mr. Trump began using it for the mainstream media). I had some fun with that site when I needed to express my exasperation over what those politicians were doing.

This year, however, that satirical blog has been silent since January. Real life politics has seemed so much like satire that it seemed almost a sacrilege to try to make it funny. Instead, I began a project on this blogsite that I refer to as Journalistic Poetry. I stated at the time that “The best thing that poets can do is to bear witness to the times – articulate what is happening in the moment; speak to the real life experiences of your people ... My thinking was that if I could write one poem a week there would be some chronicle of our sacred/tested/doubtful union.”

 High Stakes and Low Ebbs

Today I am stepping more into the realm of political commentary because of the increasingly high stakes at the local and national level. On the national stage we are seeing a dangerous dismantling of of our grand experiment in democracy as corporations strengthen their oligarchy while using the nation's “culture wars” to further ensconce themselves into the political fabric. 

Commentator David Brooks has been an astute observer of our national divisions. He recently pointed out that “The acceptability of Trump must also have something to do with millions of religious voters being willing to abandon the practical wisdom of their faiths — that what exists inside a person is more important than what is external, that no bad tree yields good fruit, that you should never trade spiritual humility for worldly ferocity because in humility there is strength and in pride there is self-destruction.” (1)

That abandonment of basic tenets of faith while publicly proclaiming religious beliefs has been on national display in my home state of Alabama. In a special election to fill the senate seat vacated when Jeff Sessions became Attorney General in the Trump administration, we have a choice like we have seldom seen. We have Doug Jones, a true statesman running as a Democrat. The Republican nominee is Roy Moore, a twice-removed state supreme court judge whose claim to fame is promoting his own brand of religion while presiding in court. 

Roy Moore (NBC News photo)

For years our state has had to deal with the embarrassment of Roy Moore. He was removed from office TWICE for defying lawful court orders. I don't see how that did not disqualify him from running in the Republican primary. The big problem is that so many in our state hear someone shouting the name of Jesus and wearing God on their sleeve and say “Let's get God back into the government. He's our man!” They turn a blind eye to the unethical behavior and lawless acts because, “he is one of us, he believes in God.” By our actions, we have abandoned the faith we attempt to preserve.

Religion professor Randall Balmer correctly states:

Moore claims to represent “family values” and, more broadly, evangelical Christian values. Aside from the disquieting specter of a 30-something Moore trolling shopping malls for teenage dates, Moore does not represent the evangelical movement he claims to herald. Historically, evangelicalism once stood for people on the margins, those Jesus called “the least of these.” Evangelicals in the 19th century advocated public education, so that children from less-affluent families could toe the first rungs of the ladder toward socioeconomic stability. They worked for prison reform and the abolition of slavery. They advocated equal rights, including voting rights, for women and the rights of workers to organize. The agenda of 19th- and early-20th-century evangelicals is a far cry from that of Moore and the religious right.(2)

Doug Jones (Birmingham News photo by Joe Songer)

Doug Jones, on the other hand is a statesman who would serve honorably in the senate and would represent our state well. He is the attorney who successfully prosecuted the bomber Sixteenth Street Baptist Church more than 40 years after the tragic bombing. He represents an opportunity for our state to rise above mindless rhetoric and to rationally address the real problems facing our state. Not since Gov. Albert Brewer has our state had a man of such stature and integrity to run for public office. (Albert Brewer completed Lurleen Wallace's term as governor when she died in office, and much to our state's detriment was defeated in his bid for a full term in office by George Wallace's racial scare tactics and demagoguery).

Time to Repent and Vote 

We Alabamians have tarnished the word “Christian” and have corrupted the concept of democratic government. I am sad that our corruption and ignorance have not only gained the national spotlight, but that same corruption is tarnishing the country at large. It is time for us evangelicals to repent and make restitution for our sins.

December 12 is election day in Alabama. Our choice has never been clearer. How we will choose is unfortunately still up for grabs. We could take the high road of justice and compassion, or we could choose hate, bigotry, and racism at the hands or a morally corrupt judge masquerading as a “religion and family values” man.

The sad part is, I cannot tell you today how my state will choose.

_____________________

1. "The Essential John McCain," by David Brooks, October 19, 2017, The New York Times, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/opinion/the-essential-john-mccain.html

2. "Religion Professor Says Roy Moore Is a Fraud," by Randall Balmer, The New American Journal, retrieved at https://www.newamericanjournal.net/2017/11/religion-professor-says-roy-moore-is-a-fraud/. (Originally published in The Washington Post, November 17, 2017, under the title, "I know Roy Moore. He’s always been a con artist."



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Monday Music: My Back Pages (Bob Dylan)

Here is one of Bob Dylan's more poignant renditions of "My Back Pages," with some great harmonica accompaniment.

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Saturday Haiku: Distant Songs

sometimes a ruin

calls to that place of turning

to hear distant songs

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Photo: Ruins of Whitby Abby
Source: Earth Spotter

The 12th century abbey was built on the site of the 7th century monastery where Hilda was abbess when she encouraged Caedmon, the first English poet. The feast day for St. Hilda of Whitby is November 18.



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The Windows of St. David's Church

(Logo for St.David's Episcopal Church
Denton, Texas)

Many years ago, I happened upon a photocopy of an article from The Living Church. “A Literary Succession,” by Edward Rutland told about a unique set of four windows at the St. David of Wales Episcopal Church in Denton, Texas. The windows “honor four saintly persons who contributed in different ways to English literature.” The saintly persons celebrated are Hilda of Whitby, The Venerable Bede, John Donne, and C.S. Lewis.

Having majored in English Literature in college, and since I was involved in social services at an Episcopal Church at the time, the article caught my interest. One thing that amazed me was in learning about Hilda of Whitby and her encouragement of Caedmon, the first English poet. In my English Lit studies, I had felt a connection with Caedmon since high school days. The fact that he was a shy person who loved music and became inspired to write songs of beauty gave me hope. I read in Rutland's article how Hilda had been the encourager of Caedmon. The astounding part, after being drawn in to learn about Hilda of Whitby, was to discover that her feast day is on my birthday! I had just found a new patron saint.

Searching for the Windows

Last year, I began searching for photos of the windows at St. David’s Church. I was only able to find one of them online, but I wanted to view them all and I didn’t have any plans to travel to Texas. I sent an email to the church when I found their website and asked if any photos of the church windows were available. The rector, Canon H.W. Herrmann, graciously emailed me four beautiful photos of the windows.

I am sharing those photos here, along with text from the article* by Edward Rutland in which he gives a brief sketch of each life depicted in the windows.  As the article states, “Four companion windows in St. David's Church, Denton, Texas, indicate the history and variety of literature and learning in Anglicanism.”

St. Hilda of Whitby

St. Hilda of Whitby (614-680) is included because she was both a woman in the decision-making processes of the early church (important in the city which includes the main campus of Texas Woman's University) and because she is a person of literary significance not to be forgotten. She is shown with the pastoral staff of her abbotship and holding a small church, representing her simple monastic settlement and its successful school.

She is noted for her Celtic sympathies but cooperative spirit at the Synod of Whitby (664). And she is appreciated for the literary and spiritual sensitivity with which she sponsored a rustic farmhand named Caedmon. Her encouragement helped him produce for his own Anglo-Saxon people vernacular poetry on Christian themes. Though his poems, done in bardic manner, were mostly lost in antiquity, they place him at the head of the long line of English poets. Honored as a saint according to early Celtic custom, her day in the Christian calendar is Nov. 18.

The Venerable Bede

The Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) said “study, teaching, and writing have always been my delight.” Indeed, his writings are wide ranging in subject matter, and vast in number, including 25 words of scriptural commentary, translations, treatises on grammar, poetics and calendar reform, plus biographies and more. He is said to have been the first known writer of English prose, though his vernacular prose texts have been lost.

A hint of his piety may be found in two of his poems set to music in the Episcopal Church's Hymnal 1982. But it is as “the first English historian” that he is generally known. His Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written in Latin, often translated, is still valued by scholars for being authoritative historiography according to 20th century criteria.

His attire identifies him as a “monk of Jarrow,” as he is often called, for it was there that he did his life's work. But in the 11th century his remains were moved to Durham, and in 1370 were relocated to their present location, now a lovely shrine, in that cathedral. The day of his commemoration has been changed several times; since 1969 it has been May 25.

John Donne

John Donne (c. 1572-1631) “No man is an island” - with such nautical analogies Donne spoke to the sea-faring people of England when he was dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. His writings are daunting if he is not identified at the outset as a multifaceted personality of genuine Renaissance proportions. (In the window he is shown in the garb of period, except that the dean's cassock is of a later date.)

Much is known of him through Izaak Walton's Life, through Ben Johnson's observations, through the erudite and often poetic correspondence which he exchanged with others, through their memorializations of him, but most notably through the autobiographical character of his writings.

To those who through his writings know him and perhaps love him, he is fascinating, exasperating and inspiring. He is a mixture of the sensuous, secular and worldly, and the intellectual, pensive and devotional.

Though in early adulthood a spendthrift who lived in respectable poverty, he was widely traveled and a man of immense learning. In both poetry and prose his language is in the style of the times: figurative, evocative and metaphorical - often in the extreme. His friend Ben Johnson reckoned that, as a result, his writings would perish. Happily T.S. Eliot regarded him as being in the direct current of English poetry. In his polemics he was careful to place himself in the theological mid-road of Anglicanism.

John Donne, priest, is one of the "worthies" added in recent years to the calendar of the prayer book in this country: March 31.

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis - Seven days short of the 65th birthday, and in failing health, C.S. Lewis died quietly at home Nov. 22, 1963. Since his home parish, Holy Trinity, Huntington Quarry, is on the outskirts of Oxford, he often went to confession and communion at the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, a high church parish in the heart of the university city that was the center of Lewis's life. Now, nearly a third of a century afterward, the world knows him better, and loves him more, than in 1963.

He was one of a remarkable group of 20th-century lay people - G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden, to name a few. In an age of unfaith, cynicism, moral disorder and strange spiritual searchings, Lewis is read and admired by all sorts and conditions of people - the young, the old, from sacramentalists to fundamentalists, and beyond!

Born an Anglican, Lewis lost his faith during his teen years. In his maturity he knew the other side, the side of unfaith, its viewpoints and arguments. That perspective adds richness to his writings, and charm saving him from pedantry.

Because he popularized serious concepts, Time called him an “amateur theologian.” Chad Walsh, in the New York Times Book Review, said Lewis had “the ability to make Christian orthodoxy exciting and fit for the brave rebel.” His creed was stated in Mere Christianity: “the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.”

That he was sharply aware of humankind's sinfulness is seen in such works as The Great Divorce. In The Screwtape Letters, he deployed humor to disclose the wiles of the Devil. He wrote straightforward apologetics in The Problem of Pain, a luminous book to be read alongside Letters to Malcolm. And he did a very readable "word study" of biblical terms in The Four Loves.

_________________________

Photos of the windows at St. David's Church were sent by the Reverend Canon H.W. Herrmann, SSC, rector of St. David of Wales Episcopal Church, Denton,TX

*"A Literary Succession" by Edward C. Rutland, The Living Church, May 14, 1995, vol. 210, no.20, p. 12-13. (archived at https://episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/the_living_church/TLCarticle.pl?volume=210&issue=20&article_id=2) 

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Monday Music: Ghost Riders in the Sky

Today's music selection features four takes on one song. My earliest recollection of 'Ghost Riders in the Sky" is the performance by the Sons of the Pioneers. As a kid, I enjoyed that close harmony that they achieved. If I was lucky, on a Saturday morning the TV station would air a movie western featuring Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers.

The song was first recorded, however, by Burl Ives. His rendition offers a most impressive ability to hit those high notes with such a beautiful clarity. Vaughn Monroe then made the song an even bigger hit with his smooth baritone voice. Many years later, Johnny Cash turned it into a hit once again on the radio. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson bring a raw edge to the song in a live performance which really compliments the music puts the song on another level.

So take your pick, or listen to each one.

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Saturday Haiku: Old Monk

old monk's feet

carry the pilgrim –

rest comes soon

______________________________________

Image: Monk crossing a foot bridge in Singapore
Photo by Charles Kinnaird



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Guns Out of Control; Sorrow at our Doorstep

 Scene near First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas
(Reuters photo)

Last Sunday we turned on our TV sets to hear of another tragic mass shooting. I have written a few blog posts in response to gun violence. The most recent was just last month with “America's Slow Dance with Death.” Rather than write yet another response, I would like to call you attention to two others who have responded in the wake of this latest tragedy.

Roger Lovette is a Baptist minister who has an excellent blog, Head and Heart. Last Wednesday, he posted an essay, "Guns (out of) Control." He has some pointed observations well worth reading. For example, he says, We need legislators that have enough courage to do something besides mouthing: “our thoughts and prayers are with you...” If these that serve us were really serious about the common good and genuinely cared for all those who have been killed and their loved ones—this sad picture could change.

Later in the essay Lovette tells us: 

Our crisis reminds me of something the Russian Poet Yevtushenko wrote years ago. Knowing the injustices and inaction of the leaders in his homeland he wrote: “Remember how in so strange a time common integrity could look so much like courage.” Common integrity—this is the great need of our time from all of us.

You can read the entire essay here. 

 *    *    *

Another voice comes from The Rt. Rev. Robert Wright, Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, in his letter to The Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Let's not pray. 

As someone who convenes and commends prayer for a living, what America needs now is less prayer and more action from her elected officials. When the doers of evil are foreign born, suggestions for policy and action flow forward. When the doers of evil are Americans with automatic and semi-automatic weapons we are invited to moments of silence and prayer. Silence is what we use to hear God speak, not a place to hide from our responsibility. Prayer is not a refuge for cowards. Prayer is where we steel ourselves to partner with God for good. Please do not invite me to pray in response to the horror of Sutherland Springs Texas, unless it is to pray courage over elected officials who intend to work for the ban of automatic and semi- automatic weapons.

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Finding Mister Roger's Neighborhood

[The following essay is a re-post from June 12, 2012. I share it again today because his was a life fully lived and fully realized that offers us hope in our own life endeavors. ~ CK]

One of the happy asides for me that came with being a father was having the opportunity to visit Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.  As soon as my daughter was old enough to pay attention to television, we started tuning in to Fred Rogers’ program on Public Television. In fact, for all of my daughter’s pre-school and early elementary years, TV viewing for her was limited to PBS children’s programming, and a few other children’s programs at places like The Discovery Channel, Nickelodeon and on video tape.

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, however, was the best thing ever developed in children’s programming. It was something my wife and I always enjoyed watching with our daughter.  Once my daughter started preschool, I began taping Mister Rogers. I found that I could get a week’s worth of programming on one VHS tape (this was before TiVo, DVDs, etc.). That way she (and I) were able to watch the show later if the broadcast was missed. We loved the pace of the shows, and parents could learn about interacting with children by watching how Mister Rogers talked to children and what things he chose to talk about with children.  

I learned some things myself about zoos and aviaries, about how graham crackers are made, how poets deal with words, and how musicians ply their talents, and many other fascinating things from Fred Rogers’ field trips.  Above all, it was reassuring to watch him and understand that I could make it as a parent in spite of my doubts and worries about whether I could get this parenting thing right.

Fred Rogers may have been one of our best examples of a healthy, well-rounded life – a self-actualized person.  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines self-actualization as “to realize fully one's potential.” It is a term coined by psychologist Kurt Goldstein and also used by psychologists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.  It carries the connotation that one is living fully within one’s potential and has made full use of that potential. Once I was taking a graduate course dealing with developmental psychology and the topic self-actualization was discussed. The instructor asked us to name some examples of people who were self actualized.  Since I had spent some of my daughter’s formative years watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood with her, I immediately put Fred Rogers' name to the class as one whose life was a prime example of self-actualization. The professor had a look of surprise, then of awareness. “I think he is a good example," the professor said. "Usually in class students will mention names like Jesus Christ, the Buddha, or Mahatma Gandhi, but Fred Rogers is certainly a good example of what we are talking about.”

Fred Rogers was definitely a gift to all who encountered him, whether in person or on television.  He showed us how to talk to children and he taught us how to be a good neighbor. You can read another writer’s reflections in an article, “15 Reasons Mr. Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever.” There is also a wonderful video on You Tube in which John D Boswell (melodysheep) has done an auto-tune digitalization for PBS of some wonderful moments with Mister Rogers. You can see that delightful and inspirational video below.

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Monday Music: Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing

From a young artist named Jacob Collier. I don't think he has anything to worry about as he does all the vocals instruments and percussion in this Stevie Wonder classic.

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Saturday Haiku: Quebec Harbor

choppy waves

cool night air moves in

safe port waits

_________________________________

Image: "Quebec from the Harbor" at the High Museum of Art
Artist: Birge Harrison (American, 1854-1929)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1910



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How to Write a Historical Marker

Pine Grove Baptist Church

It was my privilege to participate in a writing project that was a first for me: writing the text for a historical marker. Many years ago when I was teaching English one of the exercises we had students doing was writing précis (pronounced preh-see). Précis is the art of condensing a document in order to convey the subject matter without changing or obscuring the meaning. I would need to call upon that skill in writing the historical marker.

It was when I went back home to Tallapoosa County to attend a funeral that I was told about a project to place a historical marker at the site of Pine Grove Baptist Church where my father had been pastor during my high school and college days. Mrs. Norma Hinkle, long time church member, related how Will Ponder of the Tallapoosa County Historical Society had worked with them to get the project approved.  Will Ponder, I would learn in subsequent conversations with him, has taken on a mission to preserve the memory of many sites throughout the county by way of historical markers.

“We have the project approved and have raised the money,” Mrs. Hinkle told me. “We just need someone to write the words for the plaque. Would you be interested?”

I was indeed interested. That little church out in the country held many good memories for me. The small congregation was full of good-hearted and supportive people. It was the last church that my father pastored before he retired, and he counted that time as his best years in the pastorate.

I told Mrs. Hinkle that I would be happy to work on the project and she put me in touch with Will Ponder. He gave me the specifics of the word and line limits required in order to fit the roadside marker (up to 20 lines with 62 spaces per line).  Mrs. Hinkle sent me a historical sketch that had been written for the Tallapoosa Baptist Association sometime back in the mid-1970s.

I immediately began the précis writing task that I had taught my students during my days as an instructor. Will Ponder told me it would be a long process. “Once we get everything submitted for the marker,” he said, “then we wait. It might take as long as 18 months.”

“Also,” he added, “be aware that whatever words you send will be changed in some way before it ends up on the marker.”

Will was right. He has had plenty of experience with the process, after all. After I submitted the proposed text for the historical marker, everyone associated with the church seemed very happy with it. They suggested a couple of minor changes. When the text was submitted, the committee wanted to add an appropriate scripture verse. Below you will see the writing that I sent to the committee followed by the words as they actually appear on the historical marker.

  

Pine Grove Baptist Church

Established 1909

The building that stands on this site serves as a witness to the hardworking farming community from which the church arose. On November 26, 1909, twenty-one charter members met to organize the Pine Grove Church. The Rev. A.S. Brannon was the first pastor to serve the new congregation. In the beginning, worship services were held every fourth Saturday and Sunday with a pastor’s salary of $125 per year. On March 28, 1920 the church was destroyed by a strong tornado passing through doing irreparable destruction to the entire area and taking the lives of several residents of the community. Worship services were held in a large tent for the next year until another church could be built. In 1948, the membership voted to start a building fund since the congregation was growing and needed additional room. They prayed, but also worked, sweated, and welcomed help from others. Men, women, and children worked together to plant, cultivate, and harvest two cotton crops sponsored by the Pine Grove Baptist Church to raise money for the building fund. Men from the congregation supplied much of the labor in hauling rocks to lay the foundation and sawing the timber that went into the building. The new church was completed in the early 1950s. The church members who had given so much of their own labor expressed humble gratitude for funds that came from friends throughout Tallapoosa County.

*   *   *

Pine Grove Baptist Church

1909

Twenty-one charter members met on November 26, 1909 and established Pine Grove church. The Rev. A. S. Brannon served as the first pastor: his salary was $125 per year. Services were held on the second and fourth Saturday and Sunday of each month. On March 28, 1940 the original building was destroyed by a deadly tornado. Services were held in a large tent for a year while a new building was constructed. By 1948, church growth prompted its members to establish a building fund which received donations from throughout the county.

The church also sponsored cotton crops to raise money. Congregants and community members tended the fields and the proceeds went onto the building fund. Men of the congregation assisted in the new construction. They brought in rocks for the foundation and sawed lumber for the building. Completed in the early 1950s, the church still stands as a witness to the hardworking farming community in Tallapoosa County.

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:1

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