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...All good things - trout as well as eternal salvation- come by grace
and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.
Norman MacLean - A River Runs Through It
Posts tagged: Spiritual
Tiles and Duct Tape - January 12, 2013 - Chinatown, Chicago, IL
It is winter for me. Creatively speaking, I go into hibernation. I carry my camera to work just in case it is needed but I do not feel inclined to use it. I feel empty. No chlorophyl pumping through my veins to change light into energy. I am in the city. Like a deciduous tree in an evergreen forest, I am naked. I am not worried about it. I have been here before and well come back to it again in it’s time. It seems odd but really it is the natural flow of my life’s seasons and rather than kick against the goads it is a good time to reflect.
”The river was was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words…” Silence, a laying down of the “should do’s”. A deliberate disregard for productivity. What Jesus told Martha was “the better part” - listening to Him. I am listening. The time to do will be here soon enough.
Waiting to Cross - 2011 - Uptown, Chicago, IL
My favorite line from Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol is always mis-quoted in the movies. When the spirit of Christmas Past asks Scrooge to “walk with me” he complains that he will fall. Then Dickin’s writes “Bear but a touch of my hand there, said the Spirit, laying it upon his heart, and you shall be upheld in more than this!”
May the Spirit touch our hearts this Advent.
Merry Christmas
Galatians 5:14
Occupy Chicago, General Assembly Meeting, October 28, 2011 Chicago,IL
At the risk if being redundant I have chosen this image from the Occupy Chicago general assembly meeting but not for photojournalists motives. It is because I can not get this image out of my head. Not only is there a lot going on in the image but there is something not going on that is the real attraction for me. I think is because I identify with the woman in red. Amidst the flurry of activity around me I can be oblivious to what is really important at the moment and be off in my own thoughts. It is a not a talent, I think, but a defect. A way to participate without getting to close, exposing myself to tribulation or having to commit to messy human interaction and responsibility.
In the photo the figure is separated by the contrast of its lack of movement as well as by color. Yet she is content in her moment of contemplation, in her “revery” as Jane Austen would say. That for me is the challenge of this image. It is good to be content with who I am and the level of attention I can give knowing that, while I can always strive to do better, there is no condemnation for not achieving it.
Pauls Letter to the Romans 8:1
Man playing fetch with his dog on the shore of Lake Michigan, Foster Dog Beach, Chicago
The feeling of communion when throwing a ball, a frisbee or even a stick is not unique to the dog owner but it is particular to a relationship that is free of questions of motive. You don’t question what the dogs motive is in wagging it’s tail as it drops a throw toy at your feet.The dog is not thinking that you need the exercise. The pleasure of throwing the toy is connected to joy the dog experiences in fetching it.
Open Doors
The anxiety of starting something new is perhaps only overcome by the hope of something better. Recently my church home started remodeling a building that was originally bought to start a roofing supply company , Lakefront Roofing Supply, that supports our community, Jesus People USA, and our outreaches. LRS outgrew the building in quick order and we filled the building. In our history it has been used for the offices and darkroom for Cornerstone Magazine and Friars printing. It has housed a thrift store and a boutique/bookstore. We manufactured a line of ghetto fashions,printed t-shirts, housed an import mission business that established fair trade in indigenous communities of Mexico and Guatemala before “Fair Trade” was a catchword. It has been the home of Grrr Records and Cornerstone Festival. As well as a community commons for bicycle storage and repair shop. A theater for plays and movies as well as the location for several music videos and album projects. A library, in-house auto repair, boy scout equipment storage, a neighborhood boys and girls club all have been housed there.
To go forward we all had to give up our claims to this wonderful space. We had to find new homes for what is important and let go of unfinished projects. Everything that was there had to go. Much of it can not come back. The accepted wisdom is that all change is seen as loss. Change means uncertainty and the excitement and anxiety that comes with it. So as I enter into this exciting new era of our history it comes to me at the cost of trepidation. No promises, no guarantees, only hope.
