Christianity/Spirituality

God’s Will

Posted on by stephen t berg / 2 Comments

I’m in a dressing room standing in a circle of old friends reciting the Our Father and toasting with sambuca just before we all go onstage. And I feel as though I’m in God’s will. (Just maybe I am able to use that phrase again.)

I remember being taught that God’s will was a kind of "fate," a pattern, that needed to be submitted to. I can’t believe that anymore. Perhaps underneath I never did believe it.

What I believe now is harder to believe and can really only be believed when acted upon. That is, that God’s will is a creative act in us, retrieved in us through our cooperation, that brings into the world an entirely new thing that a pattern could not have foreseen.

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Beauty/Uncategorized

Sable Ridge

Posted on by stephen t berg / 10 Comments

Allow me a bit of a divergent, and, well, self-referential post…you’re kind.

sableridge

December 3rd Headline: Little known early-eighties band makes return engagement and achieves super-stardom!

Alternate headline: Proof people age but some never grow-up!

Actually there are people in this band who are truly talented musicians…and have kept their edge. (Bob McLaughlin, Ken Kowalyshyn, Rose Marie Bain, Julia Walker, Mike Simpson)

Me? (That’d be the guy on the far right with the nervously-surprised-but-delighted-I’m-here-holding-a-guitar grin.) Well…it’s so hard to blow the rust off of 15-20 years of very little playing.

But it was so much fun getting together and playing and practicing over the past few short months. So even if I completely suck tomorrow, I’ll consider this a delightful gift.

(And bless you Bob M. for the crazy and necessary idea. Carry on my friend. You are always in our prayers. And thank you all!)

One more possible headline: Groupies enthralled by jazzy ties, overcome by Beatles Medley.

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Beauty/Spirituality

Human Stuff

Posted on by stephen t berg / 1 Comment

The sun burns cold and you can see the breath of all the buildings.

They make days like this so you remember and appreciate the warmth of human intimacy in all its forms. Which is the stuff that connects you to the invisible world. A world governed by the truth of beauty, music, art, poetry and mercy.

A pleasant East Indian gentleman stoped me on the street yesterday and asked me if, this was cold. He was wondering if he should be prepared for worse. I told him this was cold and to expect things to get better. His eyes smiled and he laughed through his scarf and was totally relieved. And I wondered why I didn’t qualify etc. etc. But was happy I didn’t.

My mother’s wringer-washer
wringer-washer

How many memories can a body contain?

My 1964 Austin Cambridge (So sweet and so unreliable.)
austin

And why do some things evoke such inexplicable longing?

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Peace/Violence

Exploding the Scapegoat Mechanism

Posted on by stephen t berg / 3 Comments
Exploding the Scapegoat Mechanism
Scapegoat-EdJournal

(pdf version)

This past week our city has seen the violent deaths of two teenagers. One murder was the result of a swarming. Consequently the paper has been full of letters and op-ed pieces. I had sent this in a while ago. They decided to publish it this weekend.

(If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll recognize the article. I had posted parts of it previously.)

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