Sitting atop a Sausalito hillside watching a sunset in Winnie and Eike’s beautiful home, the world quiets down. The dog is resting from a walk to town that always involves an uphill in which I carry her part way and she walks part way. Simple pleasures balance the daily news, and help me to avoid despair.
On Wednesday nights while I am here in Mill Valley, I am driving to San Francisco Comedy College for classes. For a dozen years, I have wanted to take a stand-up comedy class. This one fit my schedule exactly, and when I introduced myself as a preacher who teaches people about sex, they gave me a tuition discount. On our first night, the teacher asked if any of us were going to make a career out of stand-up. I didn’t raise my hand. But I do think it will help me–and hopefully the audience– to just let loose and laugh.
Life is genuinely funny, even in this crazy-making time. I recently watched a PBS show on the American Experience program featuring Jewish composers and lyricists who shaped and defined Broadway. Their immigrant stories were written into narratives about star-crossed lovers (West Side Story), soldiers in foreign lands (South Pacific) and the universal challenge of keeping the tradition alive in a new land (Fiddler on the Roof). Their stories make us laugh and make us cry. Broadway musicals are unique to American culture. Thanks to Jewish immigrants who brought their talents to Broadway generations of Americans have celebrated the resiliency of the human spirit. “Forget your troubles c’mon get happy, you better chase all your cares away” (written for Judy Garland by Ted Koehler, lyricist, in 1950).
Next Sunday, I will be talking about the healing of trauma through loving relationships. And I’ll try to not get you all mixed up with my stand-up audience. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this quote as much as I do:
“If you can sit quietly after difficult news; if in financial downturns you remain perfectly calm; if you can see neighbors travel to fantastic places without a twinge of jealousy; if you can eat whatever is put on your plate; if you can fall asleep after a day of running around without a drink or a pill; if you can always find contentment just where you are: you are probably a dog.”
— from Jack Kornfield, A Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path through Difficult Times
No offense intended. See you in church.
Pastor Karen
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