everything / kavod

it is the recognition of the divine - the spiritual - God - in all and through all good things that lately has me resting in the verse - "the earth is full of his glory."

// an afternoon with jeremiah and danny. seeing the face on a small refugee face light up at the opportunity to spend the day running around the city, being listened to, being loved, getting a break from the hardships of life. eating at cuban revolution (jeremiah offering to pay with his library card!) talking about art. playing music. figuring out a way to get him to and from the afterschool art program.

// this: christian's thoughts

// watching rosie thomas play in boston. seeing raw talent spill off the stage. laughing till my face hurt. catching up with andy and erin. finding healing and new beginnings in rosie's songs. panda masks. getting stranded in boston and seeing purpose in it.

// a weekend in the berkshires playing the most simple and free pieces of music that have ever been written (ha). driving up the keswick hill trying to keep andrew bradley's coffee from spilling and laughing about it the whole way up. being able to help a 9 year old turn a rough melody and lyrics into full fledged song. (sorry m. kehoe for butchering it)

// writing music with friends - good music too. (you are always there) the new band is on it's way.

// sanctuary: sharing communion with friends and strangers who are struggling with so much. watching the healing of the soul happen right in front of me. TEACHING, TEACHING, TEACHING - using creative muscles i was created to use.

// afterschool arts (i'll write about that separately.)

look for Love & Life in the details.

[the ancient jewish prophets had these same kinds of spiritual experiences that we do, and they had the same sense that something holds it all together. the prophet Isaiah had a vision of heaven, and in his vision angels were shouting, "holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."

the hebrew word for glory here is kavod, which means weight or significance. the whole earth is full of the weight and significance of who God is. the prophets were deeply influenced by this understanding that the earth is drenched with the presence of God. the writer David said, "the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." he later prayed, "where can i go from your Spirit? where can i flee from your presence?"

according to the ancient Jewish world view, God is not somewhere else. God is right here. it is God's world and God made it and God owns it and God is present everywhere in it. in the book of Genesis, a man named Jacob had a dream in which God spoke to him and reminded him of his destiny and purpose. when jacob woke up, he said, "surely the Lord is in this place, and i was not aware of it."

God has been there all along, and jacob is just beginning to realize it. he's waking up from physical sleep, but he is also waking up from spiritual sleep. i've heard people tell stories about something powerful that happened and then at the end of the story say, "And then God showed up!" As if God were somewhere else and then decided to intervene.

but God is always present. we're the ones who show up.
for the ancient Jew, the world is soaked in the presence of God.
the whole earth is full of the kavod of God.
for the writers of the Bible, this truth is everywhere. It's here. It's there.
it's all over.]