During this Lenten season, many of us attended the two catered Lenten Suppers. If you missed them, both the food for the body and the soul were great! We watched video presentations given by Henri Nouwen. We learned a lot about him, and I will dig up one of his books (probably The Wounded Healer first) as soon as I can. Nouwen's message was very similar to that of one of my all-time favorite rap singers, Prince Ea. Yes, in addition to classical music and Gregorian chant, I listen to rap! A link to one of Prince Ea's better pieces is embedded here. Don't worry, there's no vulgar language or violence-infused lyrics in his music, so it's suitable for both young and "elder" ears. OMG! You may even like it! LOL!

Back to Nouwen. One of Nouwen's touch-points or themes was "busy, busy, busy." We're all so busy. We have no time for reflective solitude; in fact we fear solitude rather than embrace the gifts it can give. By the way, the medical profession has noted that many folks suffer from anxiety if they don't have their smart phones with them at all times and if they are not getting or sending messages, or are not being "liked" on Facebook, or are not being "tagged" in posted photos and thus have incomplete timelines. There is no "down time." We make ourselves busy even when we have nothing positively constructive to do! Nouwen went on, rather eloquently, to show constructive solitude actually morphs into creation of (meaningful) community, and eventually into a true caring self as part of a caring community. Our dinner last night covered the solitude part of the journey as mentioned. So if you missed that, do yourself and the spirit within you a favor and try to make the next session, where we'll pick up where we left off. Nouwen won't let you down, I promise!

Now, back to Prince Ea again. His message, couched in today's vernacular of hip-hop and rap, is remarkably similar to Nouwen's. It's rather fast, as is all rap music, so you may want to listen to it more than once. In essence he's saying that we have so many ways, technically, to communicate, but in the end, it's not a real human-to-human interaction: we communicate ever faster and ever more conveniently through the now highly synchronized media of text, icons, images, and impersonal voicemail and voice messaging...but not dialogue and certainly not spirit. In a way, it's ironic that Prince Ea has had to resort to using the very media that he castigates, to get his message across. But if he would have written this message, who would have read it? Certainly not his intended audience!

Christ too, of course, knew this dynamic. He did not preach from within the confines of the Temple, the then accepted place to impart the Word of God, anywhere near as much as he preached from the bondless confines of crowds. He took the Word to the people. How often can't we get a song or melody out of our heads? Just as I envisioned Christ on his surfboard in earlier comments, I can envision Christ singing with and to the multitudes, maybe even in rap music rhyme and meter, which of course is easy to remember. The message stays with you, as The Spirit intended.

Peace,