Today at the Record Store

Every time I walk into a record, I start to feel uncomfortable, like I'm in the presence of someone with a terminal illness. Its simply depressing to watch these stores die. The shelves full of ~5x5 polygons, which once seemed worthy of my hard earned twenty dollar bills, now appear pathetic, almost like the sight of high priced handmade goods in street markets begging to be bargained down.

Now, I've had two distinct consumer soft-spots in my life - DVDs and CDs. I've forked out thousands of dollars accumulating hundreds of little, shiny discs and skimpy booklets. With the shift to digital, my goods have lost their value. Bummer. The internet is the new printing press, and the seemingly endless repercussions of this powerful invention terrify me.

The Everyman

The young father knelt

beside his wife

who was dying of cancer

and prayed, "Lord, please heal her."

The Theologian

While thinking on
A FUTURE,

ever elusive,

A REDEMPTION,

ever postponed,

A FULFILLMENT,

ever absent,

A LORD,
ever hidden,
A REDACTOR,
ever disguised,
A TRUTH,
ever plural,
the young man prayed,
HOLY GOD,
ever obscured,
HOLY AND STRONG,
ever secret,
HOLY AND MIGHTY,
ever invisible,
HAVE MERCY,
every helpless,
ON US,
ever confused.

Pale Fire Quote

"I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By the false azure in the windowpane;
I was the smudge of ashen fluff -- and I
Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky."

I first read these lines in high school, but they are still stuck in my brain. There's such an elegant simplicity here -- I've never been able to put my finger on it, but its power moves me. Unfortunately for anyone that reads these four lines here in this post, their effect will probably be lost. For some reason, the magic of the written word is reduced when found quoted online, especially in a blog, detached from the whole.

Genderless Poetry

A down-on-your-luck moment,
it´ll pass,
just like the wheat
in fields becomes
Mrs. Barid's 100 percent
whole grain bread.

Blue sky blushes as wind sweeps across his face;
the psalmist said, "that´s you, buddy," in Hebrew,
and I took my friends word for it:
"its hard to translate things like that."

Quote

"I bet a man invented the glass shower"
- my sis

Preface: Get Over Yourself; Reflection: The Miracle of Birth

(Preface: I have a problem posting. I write something, then self-consciousness kicks in, and I file it away as a draft. Worse, sometimes I put it in a word document. It lengthens, usually to about 2500 words, and is left, forgotten.

So, Zach, what's the lesson here?

Don't take yourself so seriously. )

Two weeks ago, a couple [S&M] with whom I'm friends had a child. I visited them in the hospital the day after and was struck by two events. The first occurred upon seeing the child for the first time -- I felt my spirit swell with delight as when seeing a friend for the first time in months. I can't explain why. My emotional state on my way to the hospital was flat; I looked forward to seeing S, M and A, but didn't expect to be spiritually moved. So, yes, that was the first memorable moment. Lesson learned: the sight of a child awakens within the soul a "yes" to life -- my soul saw what was made and spoke, "it [she] is good".

The second notable moment happened later in the afternoon. When I'm at home, I spend most sunday evenings with S&M participating in their small house liturgy -- a fresh break from the mega-church service I attend in the morning. Since this afternoon happened to fall on a Sunday, we held liturgy in the hospital room; only this time, it was a special service: a ritual blessing for A. We, the grandparents, parents, relatives and visitors, about 12 in all, each read part of the blessing. Now, if you've gone to church dedication services before, this blessing might not seem particularly moving or interesting, but there was a uniqueness to it this moment. There was no place for spectacle, the necessary distance for 'pure' observation could not be found - everyone simply knew each other. Furthermore, there was no pomp or pretense. There was no church. There wasn't even a minister. There was only a small group of people, believing fully that the Christ stood in their midst, dwelt in their hearts, watched over the child and blessed him -- either embarrassing foolery or profound reality, the experience was memorable.

Lesson learned: Ritual Blessings (naming, included) have value; they play important parts in spiritual expression and are a derivative of the broader category of prayer and worship. Therefore, we should take them seriously.