It’s not about people who abuse children. It’s especially not about people who are called “religious” abusing children. It’s about a child who undergoes such abuse and turns into an adult with no bitterness. Like Sr. Mary Martha’s mom.
Maybe this shows why heaven belongs to children. E.g. Matthew 18:3, 19:14; Mark 10:14.
“Jesus broke all the social etiquette in terms of relating to people and bringing people into relationship with himself. He acknowledged no barriers or human divisions ... no category of sinners from whom he would isolate himself.... I am a follower of Jesus. That’s what I’ve called myself for decades. And that is a radical faith that refuses to define any human being or group of human beings as being outside God’s grace.”
— Rev. James Lawson (interview by Leonard Pitts).
Once again, my day at Jazz Fest did not go as planned.
It started off nominal. Sonny Bourg & the Bayou Blues Band were good. Wayne Toups and Zydecajun were great. But toward the end of Wayne’s set, a few scattered rain drops started falling. And I congratulated myself for tossing an umbrella in my carry-around beach bag.
At 2:30, I had to make my choice between Walter “Wolfman” Washington and Eddie Bo. The tie breaker was the venue: Eddie was playing at the Fais Do Do stage, a more intimate setting than Congo Square, where Walter was playing. So I went with Eddie.
During Eddie’s set, the scattered raindrops turned into a steady drizzle. Out came the umbrellas and rain ponchos. Eddie played a great set. But after the first song, they had to move stuff toward the back of the stage to get it out of the rain, including Eddie’s piano and the monitor speakers.
Meanwhile at the Acura stage, the entire schedule was being moved up. Dr. John, who was supposed to start at 3:35, started at 3:15. By this time, the rain was steady and the track was getting muddy. The good Doctor was okay. He brought out Shannon McNally for a couple of songs, and Iâm glad he did; I’d heard enough about her to be curious.
After Dr. John, the rain let up a bit, so I went to one of the food areas and snagged a Cuban sandwich. While there, I heard the sound of an unbelievable brass band from across the infield. It was the New Birth Brass Band. So I followed my ears toward that stage. And New Birth played the best set I heard today—quite possibly the best set I have ever heard at Jazz Fest. And the crowd was into it, everyone dancing, everyone into the call and response. The rain, meanwhile, was turning into a downpour.
The rain divided the world into two groups of people. There were those for whom the rain washed out their Jazz Fest; they were leaving in droves, some of them doubtlessly disappointed at the weather’s non-cooperation. And there were those for whom rain is part of Jazz Fest, as sorrow and death are part of life. They were trying to stay dry as best they could, with mostly ineffective umbrellas and maybe slightly more effective ponchos, or improvised rain gear such as the classic Hefty bag with head and arm holes. But mostly they accepted the fact that whatever they did, they were going to get soaked. So while they were getting soaked, they sang and danced.
New Birth finished their set around 5:30. By this time I was soaked from my ribcage on down—an umbrella isn’t much good when it’s raining sideways. And the rain was still pouring down and around. Leave? Or go to the Acura stage to catch Billy Joel? Remembering those droves of people leaving, I figured there would be some elbow room in front of the Acura stage. And since I was already wet anyway ....
So I caught most of Billy Joel’s set. (He had been scheduled to start at 5:30 but, like Dr. John, started early.) And Billy play his ass off. He played all his songs that everyone knows by heart, so knowing them by heart, everyone sang along. When he did “You May Be Right,” lightning was striking not too far away, and I thought as I sang along that indeed, “I may be crazy.” He saved “Piano Man” for his encore, and the thousands of hearty souls still there sang along lustily. All the while, the rain kept pouring down and around.
By the time Billy left the stage, the Fair Grounds infield was a mud pit. I didn’t feel cold until the music stopped; as I walked back to my car, my teeth were chattering.
So how wet did I get? You know how, when you go swimming, sometimes your fingertips get wrinkled? I swear on my mother’s grave that when I got home, got my soaking wet clothes off, got in the shower, and washed my backside—my ass was wrinkled.
I had a blast. Can’t wait until tomorrow.
__________
Goes without saying: hat tip to Randy Newman for the headline.
While we in the U.S. bellyache about the price of gasoline, millions worldwide are starting to go hungry, because food has become unaffordable. See these stories in the Washington Post and the Guardian. (Hat tip: God’s Politics.)
I was a ten-year-old child, full of the fear caused by then-lingering segregation, when Martin Luther King Jr. was slain 40 years ago today. The reaction then of the people around me: more fear (“They’ll riot!”). We’ve come a long way since then, and we have a ways to go.
To commemorate the day, here’s a video montage, with soundtrack provided by some spiritually minded Irish musicians. (Hat tip to Mirror of Justice.)
p.s. See also this post by Matri: same song, different video.
“It is hard for me to forgive someone who has really offended me, especially when it happens more than once. I begin to doubt the sincerity of the one who asks forgiveness for a second, third, or fourth time. But God does not keep count. God just waits for our return, without resentment or desire for revenge. ”
— Henri Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak. (Source: God’s Politics)
The UN’s World Food Program is facing a $500 million shortfall. The reason: rising food prices. This is bad news for the 73 million people fed by the WFP. So what does that have to do with us?
The United States is the largest single contributor to the WFP, accounting for about 40% of the agency’s food and money donations, followed by the European Union. U.S. officials have already warned that it is likely they will be cutting donations to global humanitarian organizations because of higher costs.
Source: the L.A. Times. See also the Guardian. (Hat tip: God’s Politics.)
See, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at him
so marred was his look beyond human semblance
and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man
so shall he startle many nations,
because of him kings shall stand speechless;
for those who have not been told shall see,
those who have not heard shall ponder it.
Who would believe what we have heard?
To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before him,
like a shoot from the parched earth;
there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him,
nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by people,
a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,
one of those from whom people hide their faces,
spurned, and we held him in no esteem.
Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
each following his own way;
but the LORD laid upon him
the guilt of us all.
Though he was harshly treated, he submitted
and opened not his mouth;
like a lamb led to the slaughter
or a sheep before the shearers,
he was silent and opened not his mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away,
and who would have thought any more of his destiny?
When he was cut off from the land of the living,
and smitten for the sin of his people,
a grave was assigned him among the wicked
and a burial place with evildoers,
though he had done no wrong
nor spoken any falsehood.
But the LORD was pleased
to crush him in infirmity.
If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
he shall see his descendants in a long life,
and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.
Because of his affliction
he shall see the light in fullness of days;
through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great,
and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
because he surrendered himself to death
and was counted among the wicked;
and he shall take away the sins of many,
and win pardon for their offenses.
Last year’s Good Friday meditation: De Profundis by Oscar Wilde.
Everyone who’s been by the intersection of Canal Street and Claiborne Avenue has seen them. Under the Claiborne overpass is a large encampment of homeless people. To see them—so many of them—is to know that we are failing.
But I didn’t know until a few minutes ago how prevalent homelessness is in New Orleans. The homeless in New Orleans number 12,000, which is 4% of the population. That’s 1 out of 25. The average in the United States is 1 out of 400.
So reports USA Today in two stories by Rick Jervis: New Orleans’ homeless rate swells to one in 25 residents and Many still feel wrath of storm: New Orleans wrestles with growing numbers living on city's streets. (Hat tip: God’s Politics.)
“Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.”
— Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870). (Hat tip to the Free Dictionary’s Quotation of the Day.)
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