A Brush With Fire Expressive Arts and Interfaith Chaplaincy

12/13/2023

04/16/2023

01/28/2023

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗘𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what,
we must eat to live.

The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the
table so it has been since creation, and it will go on.

We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe
at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.

It is here that children are given instructions on what
it means to be human. We make men at it,
we make women.

At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts
of lovers.

Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms
around our children. They laugh with us at our poor
falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back
together once again at the table.

This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella
in the sun.

Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place
to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate
the terrible victory.

We have given birth on this table, and have prepared
our parents for burial here.

At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow.
We pray of suffering and remorse.
We give thanks.

Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table,
while we are laughing and crying,
eating of the last sweet bite.

~ Joy Harjo ~

(Reinventing the Enemy's Language)

𝘑𝘰𝘺 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘫𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 , 2019-2022.

01/28/2023

A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke.

~ Vincent Van Gogh

[Art: Gradimir Smudja]

01/28/2023

This talk with Mark Nepo about his family and how we choose between love and fear in our relationships means a great deal to me. Thankful to the client who passed this on.
Enjoy!

A fish cannot drown in water

by Mechthild of Magdeburg

English version by Jane Hirshfield
Original Language German

A fish cannot drown in water,
A bird does not fall in air.
In the fire of creation,
God doesn't vanish:
The fire brightens.
Each creature God made
must live in its own true nature;
How could I resist my nature,
That lives for oneness with God?

Check out this Redefined Podcast from FindCenter.com

09/01/2022

Touched By An Angel

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

- Maya Angelou -

07/22/2022

Love, Accountability, and the Path Forward

05/24/2022

"There are those, however, that are not frightened of grief: dropping deep into the sorrow, they find therein a necessary elixir to the numbness. When they encounter one another, when they press their foreheads against the bark of a centuries-old tree...their eyes well with tears that fall easily to the ground. The soil needs this water. Grief is but a gate, and our tears a kind of key opening a place of wonder thats been locked away. Suddenly we notice a sustaining resonance between the drumming heart within our chest and the pulse rising from the ground" - David Abram