Cinema Paradiso

Yo Yo Ma, courtesy of the Boston Symphony

Keith Lockhart, courtesy of the Brevard Music Center

Chris Botti,courtesy of chrisbotti.com

Two of my favorite musical artists are Yo-Yo Ma and Keith Lockhart. They are not only incredible musicians (is there ever a doubt about their talents?) but they also serve to bring back delightful memories of family outings when our girls were little.

We first heard Yo-Yo Ma live at Carnegie Hall when Lauren was six. It was an afternoon children's concert that Mr. Ma is in the habit of giving to extend music education to the young. I remember watching Lauren, her big eyes taking it all in, glued to his performance and his easy banter with his young audience. On the way home on the train to Connecticut, music to her parents' ears, she told us that she would like to learn to play the cello like Yo-Yo Ma!

When we lived in Winchester, Massachusetts, we would regularly take the girls to performances by the Boston Pops, with its effervescent conductor Keith Lockhart. His energy (and youth at the time) so captivated our girls' imagination. Those were such memorable family excursions, not only of the performances themselves, but the exploration of the magnificent city as the four of us made our way across town from where we parked our car at the Public Gardens to Symphony Hall. How precious were those family times, and how gracious of God to allow us such happiness.

I now leave you with this soulful rendition of Cinema Paradiso (please click) by Yo-Yo Ma and Chris Botti together with the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart. Although Chris Botti is not part of our family collective memory, he has become one of my favorite artists, since first hearing him on a PBS special. He has unequivocally altered how I look at the trumpet and jazz! Enjoy!

There is Never Loneliness

Photography by A. Monaco

"Where a people prays, there is the church; and where the church is, there is never loneliness."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

I am living the beauty of Bonhoeffer's well-crafted statement with the onset of my double vision condition. For the past few months, I have not only experienced the closeness and intimacy of God’s presence, but the love and support of His people - from the women in my small group in Dallas (whom I’ve met with for weekly bible study and prayer the past eight years), to my new friends at the church we worship at when we are in Chicago, to old friends from high school and college Christian fellowships, church friends from our Connecticut and Boston years, as well as friends from seminary and my daughters’ school…they all pray for me (most of them quite ardently) and those nearby come around to provide my husband and me with delicious meals, give me rides, do my grocery, or just to check up and chat.

The common thread connecting me to all these dear friends is our union in Christ. I know that sounds awfully “theological” but I can’t think of a better way of phrasing it. It is indeed our connectedness to Jesus that first brought us together and it is He who binds us together. They love and support me because they first love and have been loved and supported by God.

I am never alone because God is with me and He surrounds me with His people who prays for me, and loves and cares for me.

1 John 4: 7=11
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix

Painting by Gerard van Honthorst (1615)

It's my husband's birthday today. He so enjoys going to the opera. Since we can't go to one at the moment, here's Olga Borodina singing the moving aria Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix from Camille Saint-Saëns' opera, Samson and Delilah, to commemorate his birthday. And Elina Garanca giving an equally moving performance of the aria.

Happy Birthday, dear! Enjoy!

Heaven and Contentment

Painting by John Constable, "Haywain"

I was listening to a sermon by English preacher Thomas Watson (1620—1686) recently and was struck by this statement: A contented Christian carries heaven with him, for is not heaven where we repose in God? (paraphrased) This got me thinking about contentment and heaven.

Being contented at the end of the day does not lie in our circumstances. We could be the smartest, or the prettiest, or the richest, or the healthiest person in the world and yet be discontented. Contentment lies however in knowing that no matter what assails us (and as I grow older, I realize that life sadly does offer up many blows and disappointments) we can turn to someone who can defend us, provide for us, and carry the load for us. Remember when we were little, how we had few worries because our mom and/or dad took care of everything? And when we had a scrape, they would fold us into their arms and bandage the wound with tenderness? My parents are no longer able to offer me that kind of comfort and security but God can and does so with greater power and tenderness. Power and tenderness may be polar opposites, but necessary qualities to offer peace in the midst of difficulties. God folds me tenderly into His arms, covers me securely in His bosom as He powerfully turns life’s blows into songs, allowing my cries to slowly turn to sniffles and eventually to quiet rest. The greater power lies not in fending off sorrow but in turning sorrow into joy. The greater evidence of tenderness is visible not in smooth sailing but turbulent hours of life.

So what is heaven? It is in short a place of rest in God. An atheist would not want to be in heaven for the very presence of God (if there is such a being) would irk him horribly. A self-directed person would also not care to be in heaven for he would rather rule in his own domain and control his own destiny than rest in arms of God.

If heaven is a place where we repose in God, then hell is but a place of restlessness without God.

A person can indeed carry heaven with her, just as she can easily carry hell. Which then are you carrying this day?

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33