The end of a long year is upon us. The gifts have been plentiful, though at times overshadowed by turmoil. We offer you this last reader for this year, grateful for the gifts we have in working together for the common good with you. We look forward to continuing that work in 2021, beginning with an exciting and profound conversation we recently had with Walter Brueggemann. Be sure to check back on Jan 7 for that. Until then, peace and all good to you.
A Pearl of Wind
“Tell me a story…. Sing me a song,” Mark Nepo writes. No matter the story, whether comedy or tragedy, no matter the song, whether major key or minor. It is story and song that humans turn to in order to survive. Around your holiday table, what will you sing?
A Pearl of Wind
by Mark Nepo
Tell me a story, any story. Tell me
what happened or what didn’t happen
or what you hope will happen. I need
signs of life to lift my head. I need some
pearl of wind to open my wing. So sing
me a song. For yourself, but let me listen.
I don’t care if you’re trained or shy or
can’t hum a tune. Just sing anything.
It will stir my heart. We can do this
for each other, can’t we?
Joseph, Mary, and Becoming a Statistic
The managerial society quantifies; the neighborhood tells stories. This observation is ancient, stretching back at least to the time of King David and his taking of a census in the Hebrew Bible book of II Samuel. This week, Christians around the world celebrate Christmas, another story where census-taking for as part of imperial domination factors large. And yet, the census records are gone. The story remains as fresh as ever.
The carpenter from Nazareth, Joseph, we may assume, was a modest man who lived a modest life in his village. He did not rock the boat. He did not want to call attention to himself. But then, according to the gospel narrative, he faced two powerful disruptions in his settled life.
The Labor of Presence and Wonder
In his latest homily, Walter Brueggemann speaks to the struggle of leaving behind the busyness and consumption that lays artificially on top of the holiday season to press into the wonder and “newness” of the miracles central our celebrations. This week, Common Good Collective selected content that encourages us to back away from the shopping carts, the talking heads, and the pomp of the season and draw near to each other, neighbor-to-neighbor.
“Mosaic”
Linda Pastan beautifully reflects on intimate moments between parent and child in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and into a contemplative scene from the present.
Mosaic
By Linda Pastan
1. THE SACRIFICE
On this tile
the knife
like a sickle-moon hangs
in the painted air
as if it had learned a dance
of its own,
the way the boy has
among the vivid
breakable flowers,
the way Abraham has
among the boulders,
his two feet heavy
as stones.
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