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Bridge Over Troubled Water
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Tuesday Tuneup 91
Q. What’s happening now?
A. Winding down.
Q. How?
A. Strawberry milk, tylenol, water, and benadryl.
Q. Why?
A. Long day.
Q. Sleep all right last night?
A. No.
Q. Why not?
A. Too much on my mind.
Q. Why?
A. Too much to do.
Q. And now?
A. Tired.
Q. And?
A. Brain-dead.
Q. And?
A. Hoping to sleep soon.
Q. What’s keeping you?
A. Not sure.
Q. Any ideas?
A. Too many. They make my head spin.
Q. What about images?
A. A few. Good and bad.
Q. Can you focus on a good one?
A. Why?
Q. Might it bring you peace?
A. It might.
Q. And once you are at peace, might you get to sleep?
A. I might.
Q. Can you try?
A. All right.
Pause.
A. I think I found one.
Q. What is it?
A. An image. A picture of smiling faces looking at me, and me being at the piano, and our just having finished rehearsal, and me realizing that — it’s actually happening. I didn’t die a meaningless death in a gutter. I didn’t die abandoned. I lived, and I was given a chance to realize my dream.
The Questioner is silent.
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For Those Who Make Peace
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.
Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
— James 3:13-18 NRSV
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Overcome Evil with Good
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Never flag* in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.
Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
— Romans 12:9-21 RSV
* The word “flag” has a meaning equivalent to the modern term “slack.” The Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV) was produced in 1952.
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A Light for the Nations
Here is My Servant, whom I uphold,
My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights.
I will put My Spirit on Him,
and He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice,
nor make His voice heard in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break
and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.He will not grow weak or discouraged
until He has established justice on the earth.
In His law the islands will put their hope.”
Thus says God the LORD—
He who created the heavens
and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and its offspring,
who gives breath to the people on it
and life to those who walk in it—
“I, the LORD, have called you
for a righteous purpose,
and I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and appoint you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light to the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring prisoners out of the dungeon,
and those sitting in darkness
out from the prison house.”–Isaiah 42:1-7
Please donate to Eden in Babylon.
A little bit goes a long, long way.
A Light to the Nations
Here is My Servant, whom I uphold,
My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights.
I will put My Spirit on Him,
and He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice,
nor make His voice heard in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break
and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.He will not grow weak or discouraged
until He has established justice on the earth.
In His law the islands will put their hope.”
Thus says God the LORD—
He who created the heavens
and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and its offspring,
who gives breath to the people on it
and life to those who walk in it—
“I, the LORD, have called you
for a righteous purpose,
and I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and appoint you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light to the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring prisoners out of the dungeon,
and those sitting in darkness
out from the prison house.”–Isaiah 42:1-7
Tuesday Tuneup 32
Q. Where would you like to be?
A. Right where I am right now.
Q. Where’s that?
A. In a cozy cafe on Main Street, not very far from campus.
Q. What do you like about where you are now?
A. It brings out the best in me.
Q. And what, by the way, is the best in you?
A. The best in me is a part of me that seems most authentic, less contrived, and less compelled to veer from my designated course.
Q. And what is your designated course?
A. I think you know.
Q. Do I?
A. Sure you do. It’s all over this blog, isn’t it?
Q. Is it?
A. Yes, it is.
Q. Is that why you’re being evasive?
A. What do you mean?
Q. Well, isn’t it evasive of you not to provide me with a direct answer?
A. No – not evasive. I’m just tired of it all. Tired of always having to define myself.
Q. Is that tiredness a form of ennui? Or perhaps burnout?
A. No, not really. I’m not tired of the designated course at all. I only tire of describing it.
Q. Well then — if you don’t wish to describe the course itself, can you tell us what to veer from it looks like?
A. Certainly. I veer from my course when I encounter a certain kind of compulsion.
Q. What are you compelled to do?
A. I dare not say.
Q. But if you will neither describe the path nor its detours, how can we possibly learn anything about this disparity?
A. That’s a very logical question. And I can’t say I didn’t anticipate it. So I have prepared an illustrative reply. May I proceed?
Q. Why not?
A. Here in this small, close-knit, Art-positive community, there are two establishments in close proximity to each other on Main Street. Like many of our residents, I have been known to frequent both. Down the way from this cafe, there is a very different kind of place. It is a much louder place – a looser place. A place where just about anything could happen at any time.
Q. A bar?
A. Not exactly. No alcohol is served. But the energy is a bit like a bar. Logical social boundaries are often broken, and with great disregard for consequence.
Q. Do you find this threatening?
A. Yes. Threatening – and at the same time, compelling.
Q. What are you compelled to do there that you would not do elsewhere?
A. Lots of things. Just about anything associated with a casual cultural standard. Cussing, for example. Or discussion of — you know, dirty things.
Q. Dirty?
A. You know what I mean. Personal pollutants. Those things that soil the soul.
Q. Why on earth would you want to pollute your person? Or soil your soul?
A. Because to do so presents me with a consuming problem with which I am already quite familiar, and therefore comfortable. Thus it provides an escape from a present-day problem that is unfamiliar, and thereby making me very, very uncomfortable. To the point that I can’t even sleep at night.
Q. Didn’t you allude to this yesterday?
A. I did. Point No. 5 on my gratitude list alludes to it.
Q. So you wish to replace an uncomfortable problem with a comfortable one?
A. Exactly. The comfort would ease the pain.
Q. Isn’t that dangerous?
A. Very much so. That’s why I left the building. I was not only compelled — to do something that I ought not to do — but sorely tempted. The temptation came in the form of — a woman. A beautiful woman. Need I say more?
Q. Has enough been said?
A. Perhaps not. Only the tip of the iceberg has been revealed.
Q. Where did you go when you left the building?
A. That you know. I went down the way, to the cafe where I am now so content to sit.
Q. And this cafe holds no compulsions to veer from your designated course?
A. Not in the least. It rather fortifies my commitment to the course that has already been laid out for me.
Q. How so?
A. Here I have met the finest Artists. The greatest musicians. The most inspired social visionaries. The most engaging speakers, and the most fascinating storytellers. I am never compelled to veer when I sit here. I am only compelled to expand upon that which I already have.
Q. Then why didn’t you just come to the cafe in the first place? What compelled you to go to the other place down the block?
A. I don’t know. I don’t want to be thought of as snooty or aloof.
Q. What does it matter what they think?
A. It doesn’t. I think I just learned that. Well — I knew it — all along. But I didn’t think I could practice it. Now I do. I was scared when I sensed where the woman was heading me. And I fled. After fleeing that iniquity, a sense of peace has come upon me. The peace has come upon me — because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Q. What does that got to do with anything?
A. I have an echo on this planet. An echo in whom my voice resounds. When my echo is dissonant — or suspended, or irresolute — often I am as well. This is because the echo feels that her sound is that of an angel — yet in reality, the Angel has fallen.
But now, you see, I am consonant. Released. Resolved. And the peace that transcends all human understanding now guards my heart and my mind — through the Spirit of the God of Love. And if that incomprehensible peace has come upon me, then it can come upon my resounding echo. And my Echo will be at Peace.
The Questioner is silent.
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