Christ and Craic, Guinness and God...

After a month of revisiting my favorite places and people in Ireland some things are becoming clearer. Some of the most deeply moving experience and wondrous wisdom comes out of places and people that are rejected by the institutional church and labeled as secular by many. I cannot say it enough... there is no such thing as secular! Everything and everyone is infused with divine presence and beauty. Everyone! If we could only see one another as we really are. I wish I could describe some of the things I've seen and heard. Imagine a room full of men, women and children, elbow to elbow, singing and telling stories and listening to each other with loving eyes, affectionate smiles and encouraging voices. This is Marrinan's Pub in Milltown Mallbay during the Willey Clancey week. This is a sacred moment if ever there was one.



The Irish have a word " craic" which describes fun, wit, banter, stories, laughter... In some of those moments Christ is seen so clearly. The laughing, loving Jesus is too seldom appreciated today. This deeply human Jesus is the greatest source of vibrant faith and deep wisdom. Great "craic" is something that everyone deserves to experience. Great "craic" is something that every church needs to experience on a regular basis. " Craic" needs to be busting out of every pulpit and every pew in every church! If anyone is a master of craic it's Christ and those whose very life is brimming over with Christ.



What always fascinates me is how we can relax after a pint or two of Guinness. The conversation flows along with the good beer. Often we are able to say things that we need to say but are afraid to say for whatever reasons. Sometimes very important things, indeed. Words of truth, love, forgiveness. I picture Jesus at the wedding of Cana. He's dancing, singing, and drinking good wine. He's speaking freely with his friends and family. He's flowing along with the gathering along with the wine. Remember the story...he actually provided some of the best wine( and I dare say craic) himself!

I imagine his eyes as he looked on his friends and his mother. Radiant, warm, so in love with others. Half of what he says he says with a twinkle in those eyes. His smile...his joking around. Ahh...here comes that "craic" again. It 's all part of being a whole human being, isn't it? And my God, we need more whole human beings.


I guess what I'm trying to say is this: let's stop dividing our lives in categories. Let's stop splitting our psyche . It's truly a painfull thing. Let's stop trying to be something we think we should be and simply be what we are - beloved children of a most loving God. Rest and joy in that. Let's live divided no more. Let's begin again and again to live whole lives...wholly passionate, wholly in love with God and one another, whole and full lives...full of Christ and craic, Guinness and God.



In Lovely Ireland,

Stefan Andre

Return to Ireland...with Love - a poem and a story

I want to share a little about this place and people that have captured my heart and mind. To begin, here's a poem that I wrote while living in Ireland during 2006-7.

Farewell to Ireland with Love
Here's a wee poem that I wrote which expresses my own feeling about that magical place called Ireland. While I lived there especially in the place called Glendalough I would walk the hills and everywhere I went I could hear the sound of water flowing . This music filled me beyond any words and brought to the surface a depth of feeling that still sings. IRELAND Ireland... this land that sings in secret, dark, and luscious things. Ah, this lovely land that streams her scented song in flowing verse and phrases long. O'er blue green hills and golden gorse cross mossied rock and nettles coarse. Oh, breath! Oh, Song! I feel your rising roar til op'ning earth can bear no more - she cries, she cries and joyful pours from glist'ning eyes to list'ning ears...her ancient Celtic tears.
( Dedicated to Catherine , my friend and muse. )

A short story...
I walked into the International Hostel in Dublin the other day and after registering I sat down for some breakfast in the cafeteria. No ordinary place ,the windows are all stained glass and the hand carved wood along the walls tell the story of a place that was once a church. Now the raised platform at the front serves bread and coffee instead of bread and wine and travelers that gather here may never see each other again. Still, a feeling of calm and peace pervades this place and I savour it. Conversation flows and I make some new friends from Italy who are visiting for the week. As you walk out the door in plain sight is an old confessional made of worn wood. No longer a dark place where sins are confessed it has been transformed into a telephone booth where glad news as well as tragic and the mundane are sent and received around the country and the globe.
Walking into the lobby I'm met with the exquisite harmonies of a Mozart Mass being sung by a visiting choir from Spain. After all is said and done I feel like I've been to a very satisfying Church. Welcome to the Bread of Life!
Makes me wonder...How can we"do" church in a way that is life-giving? How can we transform the old paradigm which is dying away into the new? What do we need to let go of? What are we called to embrace?

Irish Blessings...
Stefan Andre

A New Community Like Taize in the U.S.?

Friends,

I'm including a recent letter I wrote to Taize friends on Facebook. I would like to share it with you and hear your thoughts.
Thanks very much!

Greetings Taize friends! I want to ask you a question. But first some background...For the past ten years I have been going to Taize and often accompanying young people there. It has been SO good! But a thought and a prayer has been forming ever since the first visit in 1999. Could something like Taize be born here in the U.S.? A community devoted to simplicity, sharing and celibacy , offering a deep welcome especially to young people. Since then I have traveled the country and Europe and the thought/prayer has only intensified. Do you think that a community of reconciliation, like a Taize community, would be a good thing for the United States? Would you like to see this happening? Why? or Why not? An invitation: if your answer to the above question is yes, then I invite you to consider coming to Rolling Ridge Retreat Center this August for perhaps the beginning of this realization. During August 2009 we will hold a Pilgrimage of Peace. Every day, as in Taize we will sing/pray, share meals, work/ play and share in conversation/teaching about the essentials of peace.For more info contact me at stefan@songsofpeace.net or Bob Sabath at http://www.rollingridge.net/ My website: http://www.songsofpeace.net/
My e-mail: stefan@songsofpeace.net
Bob's email: bsabath@sojo.net

For a full description of the upcoming Pilgrimage of Peace and the story behind it go to:
www.seekaretreat.com/leaders/virtual.html

To listen to some of the music we'll be singing in August go to www.cdbaby.com/cd/sawaligur and www.cdbaby.com/cd/sawaligur2

A closing quote:
'The renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism which only has in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time men and women banded together to do this'
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in a letter to his brother

Peace,
Stefan

Black Birds, Blackberries, and the Work of Resurrection

Today is Easter Sunday , April 12 , 2009 - a good time for a little reflection. I want to begin in perhaps an unusual way by commending to you the poetry of Seamus Heaney, Irish poet born in 1939 who, among many things , was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. Google and youtube his name and unexpected delights are there for your enjoyment. In an attempt to draw out some fresh meaning from the topic of the Resurrection of Jesus, I would direct your attention to two poems by Heaney: first, there is the poem entitled " St. Kevin and the Blackbird; and then - " Black-Berry Picking". If you've ever been to Ireland you know that both Blackbirds and Blackberries are to be found in abundance though the former can be seen at all times of the year , while the latter make their all too brief appearance around August .

So, what do Blackbirds and Blackberries have to do with Jesus' Resurrection? First, like the traditional Christian belief in a physical, bodily resurrection Heaney's two poems, like much of his work, is all about physicality - the deep appreciation of the body with all it's senses. The Blackbird is felt in the palm of St. Kevin's hand ...its " warm eggs, small breast, tucked head and claws..." Kevin's entire body responds to this encounter later in the poem as he holds the little creature " for weeks" until the eggs are hatched. Turning to the poem about blackberries we see something similar. Both pleasure and pain are expressed in these memorable lines: "... You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet, like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it, leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for picking..." And later... " where briars scratched..and thorns pricked..." This momentarty burst of blackberry life lasts all too short and is cause for the poet to weep.
On to Jesus' resurrection. Remember who saw the first glimpse of the newly alive Jesus? It was Mary as she sat weeping. It was only through tears that she saw the resurrected Jesus. I think sometimes we expect a sanitized Easter - a quick fix, fast and easy resurrection. We forget that Easter and resurrection are a messy business that require being with paradox, longing and the awful waiting. There is work, labor, and even tears that bring about new life and that every time. Whether it's blackbirds and St. Kevin or blackberries in August...For us to experience any of it there is patient, and painstaking work to be done. And, lest we forget - joy in the doing.
The poetry reminds us that resurrection comes through our deepening experience and embrace of everything this world is . The poets and saints have always known this.
So have the black-berry pickers.

Some closing lines from St. Kevin and the Blackbird...

"... Alone and mirrored clear in love's deep river...

to labor and not seek reward...

finding himself linked into the network of eternal life...".

The Blessing of Blackbirds and Blackberries to You
This Resurrection Day,

Stefan Andre

Interior Silence in a Very Noisy World...

A few thoughts on something that is seldom talked about - interior silence. Many of us appreciate the times when all is quiet and we can enjoy a few moments of relative silence giving us opportunity to go within, to think, to feel, to be more aware. When this happens and for some it happens on a regular , daily basis, it is very good. But what about those moments, which can be many, when we cannot avoid the noisiness of the world around us? What then? Is it possible to find that tranquil island within ?
As I sat in my morning quiet time today it was anything but quiet. Outside I could hear workmen drilling, sawing, hammering, and chit-chatting away. Feeling a bit annoyed and momentarily murderous, I was about to give up and postpone my "quiet time" until later in the day when Wally the Workman was done and quiet was restored. At that moment a story came to mind. Do you know this story? It's about St. Bruno and the frogs. It goes something like this:

Once St. Bruno, who was a very devote man, was beginning to pray when he heard the croaking of frogs in a nearby pond. The croaking was disturbing to Bruno who was finding it difficult to concentrate on his prayer so he did something to silence the frogs. Being a very holy man he was able to speak to animals and they understood. So, he raised his voice in one loud command and ordered the frogs to be quiet. They obeyed. When Bruno returned to his praying he was now disturbed by the thought that maybe God enjoyed the croaking of frogs. " Ridiculous", he said. But the disturbing thought remained and grew stronger. Finally Bruno could bear it no longer . He lifted up his voice and apologized to the frogs for his insensitivity and invited them to begin to croak again. This they did with even greater enthusiasm and vocal display. When Bruno returned to his prayer this time , he welcomed the frogs croaking as part of it all and smiled. He realized something. " Everything belongs ", he thought.

This little story reminds me that in our often noisy world we can find interior silence by welcoming everything, even the croaking frogs in our life. With Bruno, we can remember that " Everything belongs."

Peace,
Stefan Andre

Richardson...Anderson... Corrie...Keeping Perspective

Most recently two people in our world were critically injured. One has died and the other remains in critical condition. Sincere sympathies to the family of Natasha Richardson. She was a movie actress who fell in a skiing accident, and well known in the international media. The fate of the other person - Tristan Anderson, an American who was shot by the Israeli army for his non-violent protest of the Israeli separation wall, remains uncertain. The reason I mention these sad incidents is this: while the international media covered Natasha Richardson day after day from the moment she was injured, the coverage of young Tristan's suffering and political stand goes on with virtually no coverage what so ever from the American media. WHY?

The " news" that we receive here in the United States from newspapers, television, and even the internet remains critically flawed. Its' selective coverage is embarrassing at best and detrimental to a society's mental and spiritual health. It reminds one of a futuristic novel in which the government/media control the information that people get to such an extent that creative, original thought has all but disappeared.

Our response to such biased reporting must be one of thoughtful questioning, and rigorous research into the reasons and effects. Further we must continually call for a change ( remember -the Yes , We Can slogan) in our media structure and funding sources. Who funds our major media outlets and what biases are being promoted through these corporations?

Life in Israel/Palestine is of utmost importance to us all. The suffering of the people there is something we should know a great deal about. Our media gets a failing grade on their reporting on real life there and especially on the life of Palestinians who have lived for so many years under the controlling occupation of the Israeli government/military.

We recently passed the 6th anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, a young American who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent it from demolishing a house in Gaza.
How much did we hear about this? Again, nothing. Why the silence. If she was a movie star or a prominent politician perhaps then we might begin to value her life, and her death. Enough.

However we can, let's do speak out and call for honesty and courage in the way we think about this world. It's risky and there will be plenty of opposition. So what!

Remembering Natasha, Tristian, and Rachel...

Stefan Andre

In the Midst of it All...Love at 32,000 Feet

Just a brief reflection on this Inauguration Day. Recently, I was on a flight to San Jose, CA seated in 16A , a window seat. Next to me was a woman and next to her was her mother of 91 years of age. I want to somehow communicate to you the significance of the conversation that I overheard between these two people. There was a genuine delight in the tone and in the words themselves. A playfulness, and affection that was so obvious. Each seemed very at home with the other and each was able to truly listen and respond to the other in loving speech. Their gentleness extended beyond words to tender expressions of caring in touch and at one moment in the mom's laying her head upon the shoulder of the daughter. Their whole way of relating was full of thoughtful attention and keen interest in the other. I later learned that the mom had recently lost significant portions of her eyesight and so the flowing conversation was also a compassionate passing of the time since the mom was unable to read.

As I reflected on this later it struck me that of all the events going on this past week and those upcoming including the historic inauguration of the new President, this moment of loving between two people was the most significant. For at the heart of it was something that is essential for human transformation be it personal or political. In the creation of something new whether in our personal lives or in society in general this one ingredient must, above all else, be present. Compassionate loving is , more than, brilliant ideas or political strategy, the key to it all.

" In order to create something of lasting value, there must be a dynamic force.
And what more powerful force is there than love?"

Igor Stravinsky
Composer

A Blessed and Peace-filled New Year to All and especially to the mom and her mom in 16B and 16C.

Stefan Andre