Transfiguration
It's Spring, and the world really is changing, and shining...
In the Lutheran tradition, we observe Transfiguration Sunday just before Lent begins (so it’s been a few weeks). In Scripture, Jesus and some of his disciples ascend a mountain, where suddenly Moses and Elijah appear, and Jesus’s face and body become blindingly bright. God the Father identifies Jesus as his beloved Son, and Jesus’s friends get a brief glimpse of his full glory.
SONG: Sufjan Stevens’ “Transfiguration”
I LOVE this quirky and really gifted composer/performer, and recommend all of his albums (Evan gets the credit for introducing me to Stevens’ music). Sufjan has written everything from Michigan and Illinois (part of an intended Fifty States project) to Enjoy Your Rabbit (a song cycle based on the signs of the Chinese zodiac). Here’s an animation of his song “Transfiguration.”
I personally always link this Biblical event with the change of season, the time of promise and glimpses of glory.
Just when I hit my limit of cold and gray and bleak days (and note: I have officially hit it), along comes Spring. Now mind you, and especially during these climate change-y times, we may still be in for quite a few more cold/gray/bleak days before the final switch over to balmy, but the calendar gives us hope!
OH HAPPY LIFE
Our wedding anniversary is TODAY (#47, but who’s counting?) I well remember March 19, 1977 in Atlanta. Surprise! It was a cold/gray/bleak day! But our hearts were transfigured (changed, illuminated) as they joined together, a joining that has weathered almost half a century. “Steve and Elise” have become so much more than just “Steve” and “Elise.” And I am so very grateful.
VIDEO: The Last Repair Shop
Ever watched something so uplifting and wonderful that you wanted to share it with everyone you knew? Well, that is what I’m about to share with you, my friends. It’s called The Last Repair Shop, and it’s this year’s Oscar-winning short documentary about the instrument repair team of the Los Angeles Unified School District—how they fix used pianos, flutes, violins, tubas, etc., so that ALL students have the opportunity to learn music. My dear friend Pattie Loughlin sent me the video…hope you watch and enjoy as much as I did. Music transfigures lives too!!
POEM: Wheel by Hayden Saunier
Hayden is an amazing poet, who lives and writes in Bucks County, PA. She is also an accomplished actor. We’ve seen her perform in Philly, and I recall she was part of a summer theatre group at Emory University in Atlanta waaaaay back in 1975 (Steve and I did a show there). While we have never spoken through the years, I feel as if I know her through the beauty of her words…here is a Springtime reflection… “the point is to become ourselves and then, in time, become an otherness in early spring.”
Wheel
There is a how to it but not a why,
we know enough to know that much, not more,
the way upturned tree roots are birds flown into sky
as if the point is to become what we are not—
we know enough to know that much, not more.
In early spring our footsteps green the path
as if the point is to become ourselves
and then, in time, become an otherness
in early spring. Our footsteps green the path
we’ve walked together through tall woods
which is an otherness we will become in time
while everything around us wheels and turns.
We’ve walked together through tall woods
in every season as one unrolls to the next
while trees and birds around us wheel and turn
to green the path we will become in time.
The point is to become what we are not.
Birds slowly sail through earth; tree roots learn sky.
We know enough to know that much, not more.
There is a how to it but not a why.
MUSIC: Transfigured Night by Arnold Schoenberg
A 20th century chamber music masterpiece, here performed exquisitely by musicians of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
BLOG PREVIEW: Gig Economics
Also known as the side hustle, “gigs” are the jobs being filled by part-time workers as income supplements. There’s Uber, there’s Instacart…but wait! I have a few suggestions for the gigs the world has REALLY been waiting for! Join me over at Working Title and (maybe!) discover your own fun new side hustle!!
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“Wherever you turn your eyes, the world can shine like transfiguration. You don’t have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only who could have the courage to see it?” Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
This week, let’s dare to see, really see, around us. Let’s open our hearts to the beautiful possibilities of transfiguration!
