We
found some food at Pub nearby called the Friend
in Hand. As dog lovers, and Quakers we enjoyed the double meaning, as
well as their fish and chips, bangers and mash, and draughts of ale. After
dinner we headed over to the Church at St. Martin in the Fields to see if we
could get into a concert. We were able to get some tickets to a performance by
the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
While
we were standing on the steps of the Church of St. Martin in the Fields,
overlooking Trafalgar Square, a man came up to us with his dog looking pretty
rough and ragged and asked for money.
After we gave some we chatted a while. He
is an Irishman, and his dog is named Gerard. It made me think of my panhandling
clients in Durham: Tia, Brandy, John, Billy, Tim, Richard, Salvadore, Carl,
Scott, Cameron and Richard. My client, Will Elliot, recently passed away from a
heart attack, and my client Billy has had a serious injury to his leg which is
going to greatly limit his mobility. He needs a place to stay to recuperate
while the Duke Social Worker tries to find a more permanent place for him while
undergoing treatment and therapy.
In Trafalgar square we saw great statutes of lions at the feet of Lord Nelson. They looked bigger than the double decker busses driving by.
- Why has that lady flipped her hair so that it is hanging over the back of the pew?
- And how William Blake’s metaphor “like a sea without a shore” describes the kind of love we aspire to – an ever expanding boundless kind of love where “no one can escape our love.”
- I thought of one of my favorite spiritual writers/peace activist Thomas Merton, who showed how true contemplation leads necessarily to an experience of interconnectedness and interdependence, which leads naturally to non-violent direct action against power centers of war, destruction, inequality, and exclusion.
- I thought about the way our punitive criminal justice system actually inflicts a permanent disability upon offenders that they will never recover from. The level of debilitation will depend on the stigmatizing nature of the conviction and the length of time incarcerated. This social-psycho-surgery can leave a person unable to live in the world and take care of themselves.
- I thought of home and all the circles of children, friends, colleagues, clients, artists, dancers, writers, activists, organizers, lawyers, judges, students, and therapists, who bring such beauty and love into the world just by being who they are. I am humbled and blessed to be connected with so many amazing people with so many gifts of the Spirit.
One of the pieces they performed was a world premiere of Judith Bingham’s innovative new concerto for solo bassoon and strings featuring bassoonist and academy principal Graham Sheen and is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, and the first motif, a rising melody, is an encoding of the name ‘Leonardo.’ The Bassoon solos were heartfelt and soaring. Other parts became overly technical, mechanical, and even muddled at times.
After the show we bumped into the principal cellist for the Academy, Stephen Orton, on the Piccadilly Line and he chatted with us about the Leonardo piece. He was curious what we thought about it, saying “you never know how those modern pieces will go over when the premier.” He seemed genuinely interested in our trip. He has played in Charlotte and at Duke before and new Carolina. It was exciting to bump into a world class cellist on the subway after hearing him perform.
During the show, I remember pulling out a volume of poems, Thirst,
by Mary Oliver. I read her poem “Coming to God: First
Days” which included the lines:
Lord, I will learn also to kneel down
into the world of the invisible,the inscrutable and the everlasting.
Then I will move no more than the leaves of a tree
on a day of no wind,
Bathed in light,
like the wanderer who has come home at last
and kneels in peace, done with all unnecessary things;
every motion; even words.
I
am drawn to this prayer, even though I am not the wanderer coming home. I am
going way out into the world, much farther than I am comfortable. It reminds me that no matter how far I seem
away from all the people I love, I am a prayer away from being re-connected. And the stillness of prayer strips away all
these unnecessary things that drag my mind into the bog of anxiety.
On this part of our adventure, I hope that I am able
to prepare, contemplate, pray, read, study, experience new things, in a way
that greatly expands my social imagination. So that when I am doing the work of
advocacy at the United Nations Crime Commission, I can have the freedom to play
with ideas outside my box and learn from people all over the world who do
things differently.
I hope I will have something to offer them as we build a
world/civic culture together. And I hope that I will bring home fresh ways of
approaching what seem to be intractable problems in my own community. I dream of a local community, and a world community,
where we can all come home at last and kneel in peace.
What a joy to read this first magnificent blog. Thank you Scott for being our ambassador to the wider world! Kneeling in peace to your great adventure!
ReplyDeleteJoe G.