I’m so excited to share with you all! I’ve been a collector, composer, and recorder of chants and short songs for almost forty years, and this invitation is an excuse to wander through notebooks, files, and albums, to see what pops up. Grateful.

 This Sunday I was in Woodland, CA , the organist began church with the In Paradisum; a beautiful backdrop for people connecting as they gathered for worship, but still a reminder that nobody gets out alive. Some in the Woodland community are looking for bodies in Paradise, CA, some are fighting the fire, others collecting gift cards to distribute to the displaced, and still more are inviting strangers to move in for the duration. We threw out the church plan and did a healing service instead. Almost everyone came up for healing prayers. Each of the three weeks I’ve been here I’ve seen more evidence that PTSD is everywhere in CA. There were many tears, and much singing. John Bell’s Don’t Be Afraid was a big hit. Sometimes I feel like a big reminder.

After church I met with the youth group. The air is purple but the children (ages 5-11) were quite clear. The sermon had been about being interconnected, and the preacher had said something about putting our taproots into the heart of God. As soon as we sat down, one of the kids began a story about how aspen trees grow (all shoots coming from one root) so we all stood barefoot on a tablecloth to find our ground and feel our way into various tree poses. Then the oldest began wrapping his feet together with the edges of the cloth and we all wordlessly followed suit. We didn’t finish until we were all tied together. Then we collapsed into laughter and sang. I taught the kids “Wake up, wake up in the community! Tell me, tell me what do you see?”They see courage, love, art, song, candy, friends, laughter, and sadness. They were sweet to one another even though they’ve been cooped up for a week, unable to play outside. May we continue to find ways to increase our capacity to balance the horror and the beauty.