Together Yet Separate

During the Christmas holiday period in 2019, I traveled to Singapore to visit my daughter and family. It was clear they were so pleased to see my wife and me, and within a few days, it was like we had not been separated for so many months. The wonder of a family reunion is hard to explain, but more easily understood by rekindling the feeling of connection and belonging to each other.

Singapore is a small island with the third-highest density of population on the planet. Around 18,500 souls per square miles for those of you interested in statistics. As I look out from the 16^th floor of my daughter’s apartment, I see thousands of homes lit up each evening. It is easy to imagine interactions within, just as we are sharing Christmas together with my own family.

The comings and goings of those leaving and returning create a continuous procession of souls in and out of the building. Taxis cause the security gate to open and close, waving families in and out of the building to continue meeting busy schedules that dominate life in this city.

In using the MRT, the Singapore Metro system, I was shocked by the continuous “checking out” of those using it. On a trip here, I noted only two of the one-hundred-plus fellow commuters were NOT using their phone. I was one of them. It was as if those traveling were somewhere with their cell phones, and not aware of their location, or what they were doing, (traveling somewhere). This transposition of presence created a feeling of unbelonging which is hard to describe.. Almost as if I was not traveling with all the others, yet I was performing this precise action. Strange indeed.

Don’t you find it disturbing how you can be the middle of hundreds or even thousands of people as still feel like you are alone? For me, on the subway that day, I had the feeling of wanting to connect with all those people, or at least exchange a smile or greeting, but was prevented by the “closed door” facing me. In this case individuals using their cell phones to connect to “another time and place” from their current location and action. Perhaps an unknowing or unintended intention.

Do you ever get that feeling of unbelonging, even when you may be in the presence of many people? How does that make you feel?

God has placed This desire to be connected to others is present in us all; a need to communicate, to relate, to love each other in some tangible way.

^“I give you a new commandment:[a] love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” Jn 13:34

Sometimes, just a simple smile or greeting can change our relationship with another. Not that we all have to go around smiling like a crazy person at everyone we meet, or glad-handing complete strangers. However, when we are open, others open up too.

This week, perhaps we can open up to someone who we have been ignoring, (maybe with good cause) and it may change a relationship. Try it and see. Don’t hide behind our own busyness and keep others at bay. Remember we are all one body in Christ.

Bound Together

Separation is both a feeling and a reality. At times one begets the other

Apartment buildings, Singapore 2019

Christmastime is a wonderful time of the year, and in particular, Advent, the run-up towards Christmas. A St. Eulalia’s tradition, Peter Pongratz’s “Welcome the Child” has a particularly warm place in my heart, even though I have not been present at the last couple of showings due to my move to California.

So much of the preparation time for the arrival of the baby Jesus makes us feel “all warm inside.” Even some of the holiday parties, gift-giving, food preparation, arrangement all say You Are Welcome to others in our lives. It is for this reason, we often say to others when they are less than hospitable during this time, “Why Don’t You Get Into The Christmas Spirit?”. This put-down is not just a reaction to someone operating like the Grinch or Scrooge in their attitude but is a general call to “holiness” for the season.

We all have the potential to be accepting or rejecting at this time, so it seems it takes a special effort to be “mean” during Christmastime. Even the classic movies of the time, newer and past, all point us towards the goodwill which is embedded in us all. It’s a time not just for preparation for those visitors and pleasantness to those we like in our lives, but a time to consider those we reject or feel less friendly towards.

It is impossible to give someone a tongue lashing when you are feeling warmth and love in your heart. Christmas, particularly Advent, draws us clearly into the loving embrace which God holds us in during this period. We cannot, and should not, engage in behavior which is contrary to that “goodwill” and Christmas Cheer so talked about in the world. We are reminded of our Christianity in a huge way, and the birth of Jesus is the ultimate reminder of God’s love for us.

Let us “let go” of those feelings, resentments, hostilities to those who need our forgiveness this season. For forgiveness may do little to change the past, but it certainly changes our future.

Have a very blessed Advent, and load up with the “Christmas Spirit” which only comes from Christ himself.

THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE

The Christmas House,
Readily awaiting the removal of problems accumulated,
Now appears to be under repair,

I cannot tell if they are rebuilding,
Or restoring,
Me to a new glory.

One where I may be closer to Him after winter is done.

“Daydreaming again, Cunningham?” A frequent chant during my childhood, when I would become immersed in a book or activity which really brought me to another place. When I was a child, I had a tremendous love for fishing. We lived near the river Avon, which winds its way from the hills of the Cotswolds through market towns and cities and eventually to the sea in the city of Bristol.

Many days would be spent at the riverbank of the Avon, trying my best to catch the fish of the day. For many, the idea of sitting on the riverbank for hours on end could not sound like a more boring experience. However, being there with nature, reading the character of the river, considering what the fish might be eating at a given time of the year, looking for those special places where the “big one” hangs out, were all a part of an action-oriented contemplative experience. On the very best of days, I was at one with the fish.

The same thing often happens when we are reading. We become affected by the co-creative process which brings us to another time, place, even personality. It is hardly surprising that we are often disappointed when we finally get to see “our book” in movie form. The visualization, the smells, the characters all take on another form, one informed by the director.

These same processes and effects are at play when we involve God in our interior conversations. Sometimes it can be as simple as remaining silent, while at other times it may be scripture speaking to us differently.

This week let us notice our “noticing” of these times in our week, however short they may be. For it is often in these moments where God is moving inside us, sometimes without any perception from ourselves.

It may be a book, a movie, some prayer time, but let us give a huge thank you for this extra “sanctuary” time in our lives.

Delicious

Sitting, hidden here in the gardens,

I remain immersed in the novel’s dialog,

Soaking up the rain in 17th-century Scottish highlands,

On a summer day.

 

Meanwhile, my body relaxes in the mid-afternoon, SOCAL shade.

 

Proving once again, the deliciousness of time travel.