The Magic of the Artist

This summer there was a group of women artists staying in the village for two weeks. One of the local boys started hanging out with them, just watching them paint from different vantage points around the village. Not just for an hour here or there, but for a few entire days. He was mesmerized by the creation being wrought before his eyes, it was a world of color and beauty that reflected his beloved home in a new way, it was entrancing. Samuele was caught in the magic of art.

During the Festa della Castagna, Chestnut Festival, last week was a treat for Samuele again, this time he was watching the magic of glass artists at work, and he brought his friend Alberto to enjoy as well. Not only were they transfixed, but so were many other children in the community. I would come and go over the day and many of the kids were there for hours on end, a couple all day long, transfixed by the molding and melting of glass into animals, vases and other art forms. The artists themselves were gifted for this type of presentation, mixing up the resulting pieces so that each would be a surprise to the entranced audience. It was a marvelous example of the wonder of AWE. In our world we so over-use the word awesome, it has become casual slang to mean anything even remotely interesting. But to see the awe and the children’s face as they appreciated the grace of creation of art is to know the depth of meaning for the word awe. They are transfixed and comprehend the depth of knowledge and skill needed to produce this art. They would watch the whole team of blowers, from the lead to those assisting, with a deeper knowing that all had skill talent. While standing and watching one gentleman asked if I knew who the “master” blower was, I responded from the observance of these children, they are all masters in knowing how to blow, shape, or assist in the formation of this art. All were occupied in the creation of beauty.

The other piece of magic was just the total awareness of these children of what was unfolding about them, whether it was the art, or even me taking pictures of them watching the artists. At one point my sweet neighbor girl asked me directly why I was taking pictures, and when I said for inspiration for writing, she then asked what I was writing. Not only was she very satisfied with the answer, but she has since been more open to me in neighborhood greetings and play. She took the opportunity to open herself more when she knew she was part of my creative process. Once upon a time when I was a pastor I had a great mentor who was with me leading a worship one Sunday and I noted that he, like me, was shaking and nervous, after over 50 years as a pastor. His response was priceless, “this is an awesome task, if I am not nervous, I am not noticing the awesome wonder of God.” Just as children, we should all approach the creator, our God with a sense of awe and wonder. It is at times easy, when seeing art created before our eyes, or in seeing the beauty of the autumn colors flashing brilliantly around us this time of year. But to be awe-struck and to see awe in others is simply magical, it reminds us of the greatness of creator and created, it should also invite us to see our own gift to create.

We are all given this gift as God’s created to be creators as well. Whether we create a meal, a piece of art, or grace to make one other person more content in a day. To weave a tiny piece of magic to invite one into the awe of our Creator, of the grace of creation is a blessing we can all partake in. It does not have to be grand, it does not have to attract a crowd, but to touch a life with grace is possible for all. To be touched by grace of creation is also a blessing. To be held in awe in both the process of creating and witnessing creation is to have joy in life, it is to experience the sacred. What arts have touched you, taken you closer to God as THE creator? How do you express yourself as creator, created in image of God? Where do you experience witnessing the grace of creation that warms your heart?

Play Ball

Sports are a universal metaphor, everywhere people play games, everywhere people have team sports. Here in Italy Soccer, calcione is the favorite sport. In the past I have played with my young friend Alberto, and know for certain that children of 8 play much better than me, they have been training with intent longer. The intention of the game is so important to team sports, you must connect well not only with the ball and goal, as in the case with soccer, but with the other team members as well. One person does not make a team, no matter how fabulous they are.

Which is why, as a sports fanatic, I self identify as such because if you put a group of people out there with numbers on their back to play any sport, for me, it is time to stop and watch. But it has been said that I am a lousy sports fan because I don’t have favorite teams per se, I enjoy watching a good game, especially good and graceful teamwork, generally rooting against any team that is fouling often, displaying less finesse and sportsmanship. My favorite games are when both teams are playing clean, smart and as unified bodies…it is bliss, and how many times has any of us heard the excitement in another’s voice when they say “that was a GOOD game!” especially when the scoring goes back and forth because the incredible skill of both teams?

Just as humans will create sports teams, so also do we create groupings in any of our social networks. Living in a small town this seems to be intensified if only because the team divisions are more clear. It is apparent who is hanging out with whom. Whether for specific reasons: the church ladies, the dance school, the soccer players….etc, humans gravitate towards forming these teams. It is how and where we connect with people we have common interests with on a regular basis. In any city, village, town or countryside these patterns are the norm, forming our groups is inherent to our species as it is with many species of God’s creation. It is a very good thing, call it teams, packs, herds, cliques, or homies, we are meant to experience life insieme, life together.

The tricky part is always to keep the game clean, to keep it fair, and to keep any rivalries friendly. One goal for the end of the day, at the end of life, is to hear and know the words, Good Game! Often this becomes tricky when playing the game of life, because there is that desire always to win, to come out on top. As a player it often takes times to figure out when arriving to a new town, new workplace, new church or other institution which “team” we want to play with. To be part of a team where our skills, but most importantly our hearts, fit in. It is not the best fit to be a great volleyball setter playing midfielder on a lacrosse team, especially if you don’t know the game. We need first to find a good team match, to be in collaboration with the others on the team, finally to play well not only within our team, but in contact with the other teams. What psychologists call good group dynamics, is simply playing life’s game well.

To take it one step further, to love our neighbors becomes a new venture when playing on different teams, and engaged in different sports. But always to love our neighbors is simply to play well with others in the game of life. To choose our sport, our teams is to find those we relate well with, those who are perhaps a bit easier for us to love. It is a place where we fit in enough to give us strength to PLAY ON, to play well with those on the opposing team at our very best. And at the end of the game of life, we will all shake hands and know that the game of life was good.

How would you describe yourself as a team player? How would you describe your team or teams in the game of life? How does your team support you through life's challenges and encourage you to play well with others?

Weaving Stories

My friend Colleen truly loves her work here in Italy as a hostess of her casa di vacanza, her vacation apartments. What she enjoys most is telling the stories of Piegaro, Monte Vibiano Vecchio and Umbria, the places she loves to her guests and friends. Since I live here there are many stories I have heard over and over again, but in her telling and sharing they are always fresh and new for the listener, and the excitement and joy for her home here in Italy shines in her eyes.

It is a common experience of most of us, we have our favorite stories we like to share with others, the stories our children and close friends can often tell as well as us because they have heard them so many times. These are OUR stories they are the words that define who we are and what is important to us. When people hear us speak, we reflect who we really are, where our hearts live and breathe.

For Colleen Monte Vibiano Vecchio is place she names as a spiritual home. She loves the rich history of the family with their regal, centuries old heritage, their ties to this land, and their use of their privileges for their town, region and world. These are all qualities she admires and in the telling of the stories of her ties to them, you hear the honor for the family more so than their business.

The day we enjoyed watching the workers harvest the grapes of the special vineyard which was established before the days of Christ, she sat and shared her stories with beautiful friends, one of whom she had known since the woman was just a child growing up with Colleen’s daughter. It was a sharing of stories with cherished friends. Colleen glowed with the joy of the friendship, the joy of the place, and the joy of a new home in a land of rich history. Her stories flowed one to another in the gentle setting overlooking the vineyard under the shade of olive trees that were 3-500 years old.

As I watched and walked around the story teller, and this place of centuries old stories of ancient walls built to keep out Hanibal’s warriors, and the prayers of a mother to keep her sons alive amidst those wars, I reflected on the importance on our stories and how they interweave over the centuries. Mothers today pray for sons and daughters at war, people still build walls to keep out enemies, and we still need the fruits of the land to survive. Still, today, everyday, we need to tell and hear one another’s stories to know what is important.

I know I pray for my son, my daughter daily, that I build walls to keep out those I am in fear of (not literal, but still very real), and that there are basic needs which I grow for sustenance. What is interesting is how I often question and say I am not certain of my future, but friends and family will tell me what they hear in my stories, they know where my heart is. In telling the stories of life, those who listen know what is important. To listen to others is to know them intimately. Life is built on our stories, the ones we tell and the ones we hear. To understand how our stories interweave, reminds us how we are connected, it is the basis of our relationships with one another.

The bible as a book is made up of many stories, and it has always inspired me that Jesus’ would so often respond to a question or a challenge with a story or a parable. So often the listeners wouldn’t quite understand at the time the depth and breadth of the story, but it was central to understanding the heart of the message to listen and engage the story….and the storyteller.

What are the defining stories of your life? Of your last year? What are the stories you have heard from your friends that touched you? How do your stories interweave with your friends and loved ones? What are your favorite stories? And Why, Why, Why do you feel they move you?

Waning Days....of Summer

It is October, and yet here in Umbria we can still swim in the pool, this is not normal for this region, but has been appreciated by many. Because of the early arrival of summer and its late departure the grapes are said to be their best this year for wine, it is superior, however, the cost is that there are fewer grapes because so many dried on the vines. In order to get this intense quality, there is a cost.

Nothing which is so good in life comes without a cost. In the past couple of months I have been studying St. Francis and the Franciscan order. When most people think of St. Francis they think of nature and peace, but few think of penance. It is an penitent order, where acknowledging shortcomings in our eternal relationship with God and with others is a prominent practice. As I returned to the Catholic faith it was important for me to partake in the sacrament of confession. Confession is truly good for the soul and something I that had been important to me previously, but it came with new challenges in my life here in Italy.

First of all, I don’t feel comfortable speaking in Italian all the concerns of my heart, and still remain more silent then responsive in many conversations. My friend took me to my first confession, as well as my second, therefore, in Assisi, where there are priests who hear the confession in English. Later I would go again when with a group a tourists in Assisi, each time a different priest from a different country, but all were Franciscan. Having been to theology school, none of them said anything I hadn’t heard before, and yet their insight and wisdom was truly gracious, and a divine gift from God. A common word was patience, something almost every American needs to learn, and quite certainly me. The sweetest wisdom came from an American Franciscan priest who reminded me of the wisdom of St. Francis that we are blessed in our penance (confession) because our loving God always forgives, and therefore we can leave with peace and love into the world. God gives us a gift, and we can give our joy in return. The cost of sin and harming ourselves and others has been paid at a great cost, but the resulting grace is superior to all things, it is Love. In humbleness we come before God, through Jesus we go out in glory, with the Holy Spirit to guide us we can share that love of God with others.

As summer wanes in this its last week here in Piegaro, this weekend the weather is to change for us, it is a reminder of for me to enjoy the grace, the beauty of our creator. I see the joy in the children playing in the sunshine, in the men and women chatting in the Piazza, and in the rolling green hills of Umbria.

How do you experience penance and forgiveness? When you experience great gifts, do you always note the costs? or when you are struggling with difficulties, can you find reward? How do you become “new” after sin or harming self or others? Is it easy or difficult for you to be a joyous penitent?

Attention, Children at Play

One of my favorite things here in Italy is the presence of kids playing on the streets. Now when I was a kid we would play in the street, but it was way different, it was not a bustling street with cars and people intermixed, it was a quiet side street. Here, the kids really play in the street, on the main road through town, right in front of the Commune Building, ie.; town hall. Heck, the side of the stairs is the best slide in town.

Something that makes this possible is that the kids are not the only ones out there, there are also parents or grandparents and other adults looking out after the bunch, and the kids range in age from 1 to teenagers. The older ones will shout when a car is coming, scold the children who get mean, and comfort those who have fallen, all are in each other’s care.

Another great feature is how these kids find various creative things to do, from drawing to team sports, but always in groups, it simply would not be fun to engage in this stuff alone! The laughter rings out, the joy is present, and the world just seems right. Some of the basic ingredients for this are: group dynamics, firm safety rules, multi-generational presence but mostly love for one another. Now not all these folks are best friends, some patently don’t like specific others, but the group dynamics hold firmer than any personal discord, we are in the care of one another.

I can imagine St. Francis saying this is a perfect example of preaching the gospel, without using words. When in Assisi there was a teenager showing his friend with great joy the mountain where St. Francis spent time in prayer and he simply shone when he recounted those words of St. Francis, “You should always preach the gospel, and sometimes even use words.”

The words of care used as the children play are precious, they establish that this place of joy comes within the bounds of love for those present. There are so many ways to spread the Gospel, it is a gift to experience it in the sound of children’s laughter, and nonna’s guidance.

Where have you experienced the gospel proclaimed without words? How do you best like to share the gospel?

Goin' Green, Pt. 3 in the Vinyard....pre St. Francis Day

As I sit here on the terrace of Cantina Monte Vibiano, overlooking grapevines and rolling hills of olive groves I am impressed by their efforts to make this place not only beautifully functional, but also “green.” In the service of their guests they offer tours in solar powered vehicles, the guests are served on recycled plates, and the business is operated as not only carbon neutral, but generates more electricity than they use with their use of solar panels. They call it their 360° green revolution. They have worked to make everything within their farms, winery and olive oil production work with an eye toward the good of the earth.

These efforts are neither cheap nor easy. From construction costs to the purchase of environmentally friendly products for service, they pay more to lessen their impact on the environment. They have a special engineer hired for the specific purpose to maintain their green standards and make tweaks and changes here and there so the production is always top quality and respectful of mother earth. It has taken many years to get to this point, and more than one generation.

In a world where we are constantly reminded of dwindling resources and damage to our environment, our neighbors here have quietly worked to change their farm and business which has been in their family for hundreds of years. It is a good reminder that in whatever business we are in, even in our daily lives that we can be intentional about how we walk on God’s earth to leave it in as good or better condition than we were born into. Certainly modern times have produced goods that pollute, even this computer I am working on now. But with intention and care we can make our “things” last longer, we can plant vegetation instead of paving, we can live more simply so others can simply live. This is not always easy, but it is rewarding. The reward for me in this place is to smell the fresh air, to know my electricity today comes from the sun (there is a nuclear plant over the hill), and to know the fruits of the vines and trees have no chemical sprays, I know what I am eating. It is a feast for the senses and rest for a weary soul that has spent so much time in the smog of cities. It is a peace that knows that as we care for God’s creation, we care for ourselves. How do you care for creation as a reflection of your care for yourself and others? How does nature reflect God and creation and your place in it?