It’s really late and my blog didn’t get written. Worst of both worlds. Sigh.
Sogni d’oro
Long day. Long rehearsal. Now it’s late. Buona notte! 🌛✨🌜
Translated from Italian: Sweet dreams (literally, dreams of gold) and Good night! 🌝
Make Us Channels
This afternoon was the annual Christmas party for Ananda Sangha Worldwide, headquarters of all the various outreach ministries of Ananda. It’s a time for eating and laughter and visiting with divine friends in the beautiful and uplifting environment of Crystal Hermitage.
But this year something happened which I hope to be able to convey in writing, though words feel rather inadequate…
One of the most well-known and beloved songs in the Ananda Music repertory is Make Us Channels of Thy Peace, Swami Kriyananda’s a cappella setting of the Prayer of St Francis. Arranged in simple two-part harmony, it so beautifully expresses the spirit of selfless service that is the foundation of our path that it is frequently sung at Ananda gatherings and even during Sangha meetings.
So it wasn’t surprising that Make Us Channels was the song chosen to bring the party to a close. But as we sang it — after an hour and a half of eating and chatting and enjoying each others’ company — the room instantly went still and the energy went deep. And despite the fact that many members of the Sangha outreach ministries do not sing (not at all!) the sound, the pitch, the phrasing, everything was perfection.
Why? I believe it’s because we don’t just sing the words, “Lord most high our heav’nly father, All our lives we dedicate to Thee”, we live those words. And as we sing together with deep attunement and self-offering, it’s like our individual voices are transformed into something, well…angelic!
Of course, this is what we aspire to achieve with our actual choir. Yes, we develop our voices and improve our listening and learn the notes and the rhythms…but only in hopes of becoming such pure channels that — with deep attunement and self-offering — we will find ourselves transformed!
Make Us Channels of Thy Peace
Lord most high our heav’nly father,
All our lives we dedicate to Thee:
All our labors, all our joys and woes,
All our pleasure, all our melody.
Make us each a channel of Thy peace:
When in darkness, guide us from above;
Where there’s sorrow may we sow Thy joy;
Where there’s hatred may we share Thy love.
Tired but inspired
This was one of those wonderful days that was filled to the brim with inspired activities!
The choir sounded particularly angelic (and progress is also being made on our “look”); Badri gave a lovely Sunday talk; and we had the most uplifted and bliss-filled World Brotherhood Day I’ve ever experienced, followed by the usual extravagantly abundant banquet. Oh, and the Temple decorations were beyond beautiful!
I feel so very, very, VERY blessed to be a part of this community and this world movement!
Thanks, Fred!
Hitting the holiday crunch now and trying not to let some physical tiredness and feelings of overwhelm get me down…
But the fact is, I was feeling kind of low. Then I happened across an article titled: What happened when I showed vintage Mister Rogers to my 21st-century kids. I was moved to tears while reading it and realized that I needed some time with Fred!
So I watched portions of interviews and some excerpts from his shows, and — oh my, what a great soul he was!
This is my current favorite:
Living gratefully
I don’t “get” to really write because it’s so late, so I’ll share this incredibly lovely video instead. It’s narrated by Brother David Steindl-Rast, who I feel is a real discovery; also happy to have discovered his Network for Grateful Living.
Proof of our time in LA!
Wow! Look what I happened upon the other day…
It’s the video “Christmas greeting” (and year-in-review) from the Joy Singers, showing what we’d been up to that year. Amazing that this was only 2012; it feels like a lifetime ago!
We sang everywhere from churches to cafes, and from Skid Row to the farmers market (plus many other points in-between), in our quest to “get the music out”. What an experience.
And, yes, the music is the recording of The Christmas Mystery that we did that year.
Thanksgiving before Christmas
Back in October — irritated by my first sighting of Christmas merchandise, weeks before Halloween even(!) — I was reminded of a Sunday talk I heard at my Unity church in San Francisco, way back in the early 1990’s.
The minister talked about how much she appreciated the fact that Nordstrom made a point of waiting until after Thanksgiving to put up their store Christmas tree and other decorations. As she pointed out, Thanksgiving (gratitude) comes before Christmas (receiving).
The importance of her insight has stayed with me over the decades: forgetting or belittling the gratitude part and becoming overly focused on the receiving (or getting) part is a recipe for disaster — for us as individuals and also as a society.
We see it happening a little bit more every year, as the Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier in order to encourage people to buy more, buy sooner, buy faster! Get, get, get! But what about first slowing down and remembering to give thanks for what you’ve already got?
I’m not big on shopping; in fact, I’m pretty sure the last time I was in a Nordstrom was to play a gig back in my days as a freelance flutist. But if I were to need to shop in a department store, I would want to give Nordstrom my business, because I so very much appreciate that they’re still sticking to their guns all these years later!
I googled it because I was curious and discovered that in its more than 100-year history, Nordstrom has never decorated before Thanksgiving. And the store has received widespread support on social media about this, with consumers praising Nordstrom for fighting the “Christmas creep.”
Now that’s something I can heartily endorse!
The holiday crunch
Yes, it’s well underway now…making the work day fuller, rehearsals go longer, and nights get later. Yikes, it’s 10:50! Good night. 😴
Ananda Kailash
Yes, I know I’ve missed my deadline but tonight I have a pretty darn good excuse: Jyotish and Devi gave a satsang about their time in Italy and India, and especially about the amazing project that is developing in Delhi.
I won’t go into details (since I’m on “borrowed time” here), but what I told Devi at the end of the satsang perfectly conveys how I felt (and still feel!): “Mind officially blown!”
This is huge, wonderful stuff; my spiritual family is doing it; and I can hardly believe I’m a part of it all!