Lisa and I are different about our birthdays. She has adjusted to my need for silence and space on my birthday, and I’m trying to get better at making it a more special day for her. We typically go to our place, Jonathan’s at Gratz Park, for dinner. But with Lisa’s gall bladder issues we are waiting until after her surgery to enjoy a meal and fine wine. The past few years my best gift has been my time and attention. We don’t always live Ferris Bueller’s advise, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t slow down you could miss it.” I went home a little early this afternoon and turned my cell phone off.
I wish I could play an instrument, but alas my talent is pressing play. Do you remember what was once called a ‘mix tape’. Tonight we are listening to music:
To Young to Feel this Old – Garth Brooks
Waltz Across Texas – Ernest Tubbs
Crazy for You – Madonna
I’ve Been Waiting for a Girl Like You – Foreigner
Stuck on You – Lionel Richie
More Than a Woman – Bee Gees
Silver Wings – Merle Haggard
Hopelessly Devoted to You – Olivia Newton-John
Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton
Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman – Bryan Adams
Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You – Brooks and Dunn
Feels Like Home – Bonnie Raitt
Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About – Bonnie Raitt
Love Established – Amanda Wagoner
Italian Love Songs – Luciano Pavaroti
Crazy – Patsy Cline
A Groovy Kind of Love – Phil Collins
I Got You Babe – Sonny and Cher
Forever and Ever, Amen – Randy Travis
It is the best gift I have.
This is a good article on the Dalai Lama’s visit to Harvard. He was visiting to be a part of a conference on the changes that meditation and mindfulness techniques are bringing to psychology. There is one portion of this report from Time Online that I found informative for our denomination and the changes we are living through with the MACC report and those to the Order of Ministry.
Other researchers also seemed to puzzle the Dalai Lama. Conference organizer Christopher Germer, author of the forthcoming book The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself From Destructive Thoughts and Emotions, asked His Holiness whether he would “lead us in a brief meditation that the therapists in this room could practice at home to cultivate compassion for themselves as well as for their patients.” The Dalai Lama shot him a skeptical look that got everyone laughing. He was sweet about it, but meditation isn’t a “brief” trick.
As I think about all the borrowed ancient practices, music fads, new church, emergent, “tricks” that Discipledom has tried, endured, and improved a few during the last two decades I think the Dalai Lama’s words are informative for our denomination. Spirituality isn’t a quick fix. New Churches are not a fix to decreasing membership, decreasing funding, or a missional way to keep up with the Baptists. Like mindfulness and meditation, our way of practicing faith is something a person does, a discipline we practice, for a lifetime. It is a way of living and seeing the world. Our western culture looks for the quick fix, next spiritual high, but really, we know it doesn’t work that way for the long term.
Read the entire article to learn about how the Dalai Lama puzzled the Harvard crowd.