And There is Joy!

 


My dear friends.  L - R  Libby Jones Gillen, GiGi (Grace Gillen), Theo Gillen, Sam Gillen.

Photo' taken at Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 2019; but published for Libby's birthday on 2nd January 2021.  

I've known Libby since 1984.  I've had the privilege of officiating at her wedding to Sam; and of baptising Gigi and Theo.

I called Libby on her birthday.

Come Sunday 3rd January  I took my early morning walk with Zion, head down a bit in these trying days.  Then I remembered my previous day's 'phone call with Libby. I was filled with joy.  I grinned from ear to ear.  I was filled with gratitude for our long friendship.


There was more joy to come. On Sunday afternoon as I walked at Arlington Park I encountered two elegant black women; Sixty or Seventy ish; tall, slender, clad in gorgeous walking gear, and with short salt and pepper hair, Such beauty!


(Sample picture, not one of the women I met.












The women stopped to admire Zion as well they should. Then I took a minor risk.  I guessed their heritage and began to sing the refrain of a Hymn:

"We're walking to (with) Zion;

Beautiful, beautiful  Zion.

We're walking upwards to Zion,

The Beautiful City of God".


We sang with zest and Joy!  Joy x 2  in one day!



My thoughts moved to a great woman, and a dear friend to me, and to  many others: Bishop Barbara Harris.

She loved the hymn. She belted it out with the best!  Bishop Harris died in 2020.  I'll never again hear her singing "Beautiful, beautiful Zion"  She is there.

but her "sisters" and I sang it at Arlington Park!

---------------------------------------------

Not the best rendition, but It'll do



https://youtu.be/TJ_C_tHbHh8






)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shoe insults

Last year I consulted with a local podiatrist: Dr. Robert F Herbold Jr. D.P.M. 4717 Swift Rd., Sarasota , FL – 34231  because I was being bothered with a couple of bunions  (yes I am at that age). I was very impressed with this Doctor.  He agreed that I had bunions, but he ventured that it was much too soon for surgery. (Now there’s a first). Instead he recommended some “arch supports” to relieve the tension for my feet, a tension which was exacerbating the bunions. What’s more -  he told me that he sells these arch supports at the miserly sum of $2.50 each (about 1/5 of the price in the local pharmacies). He is an honest man, and I recommend him to anyone with foot problems. So, a couple of weeks ago, having purchased some new walking shoes, I knew that I needed to buy a couple of new arch supports I took myself to his office. Once there, my mind went blank. I wanted to ask his front desk Clerk if I could buy some “shoe inserts” , as I could not rem...
Read more

It began in Bristol U.K. "A man dies" and "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Image
I well remember the swirling controversy in Bristol, U.K. when a (Presbyterian) Minister the Revd, Earnest Marviin created a ":Rock Opera", called "A Man Dies"  in and for his congregation in the Lockleaze area of Bristol, U.K. Earnest Mrvin I was a sixteen years old member of the Plymouth Brethren Church back in those days, so I most likely disapproved of "A Man Dies" .  We, (the Plymouth Brethren),  disapproved of everything! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had forgotten all about "A Man Dies" until earlier today when saw these pictures on the "Bristol, Then and Now"  Facebook page.   St. James Presbyterian Church, Lockleaze, Bristol  The Bristol Then and Now page includes the following commentary: Lockleaze, Bristol  -  'Jesus Christ Superstar' began at St.James (Presbyterian) Chur...
Read more

The background, the couple, my friends, the wedding ceremony, the Shaykh, the Priest,

Image
The background   I have known the Keller/Bonsey family since 2000 when I became the Rector at St. James's, Cambridge, MA. They (Elisabeth Keller and the Revd. Steven Bonsey with their four children Noah, Sam, Josiah and Annie) had come back to Cambridge from Hawaii where Steve had been the Rector of an Episcopal parish. Steve had just been appointed as a Chaplain at Tufts University (no Sunday morning duties) so the entire family was able to enrich our common life at St. James's - which they did with great love and joy. I count them as friends and have stayed in touch with them since my retirement.  Noah, the oldest son is eloquent in Arabic (he spent a year in Damascus when Syria was a safe place).  He has developed a super career as an analyst of social media in the near East.    Noah worked in Tampa for a while a few years ago, so he and I were a...
Read more