Friday, April 4, 2008

Revelation Friday Five


Sally over at Revgals writes:

With this Sunday's gospel reading in mind, that wonderful revelation of Christ to the companions on the Emmaus road. I wonder where you might have been surprised by God's revelation recently.So with no further waffle I offer you this weeks Friday 5:How has God revealed him/herself to you in a:

1. Book
The book (outside the Bible, that is) where I am most seeing God lately is Mary Oliver's new collection of poetry, Red Bird. We also got to hear her read her poetry last Sunday, and I was struck by this poem (not from her new collection).

2.Film
I have not been to a movie for a long time. We haven't even rented a movie for a long time. We just watch movies on TCM. And since right now I am not recalling any of those movies (even though we love to watch old movies, especially from the 30s and 40s), I'm going to name a movie that always makes me cry: Babette's Feast. Perhaps it's time to watch it again.

3. Song
When visiting one of our favorite local music establishments here, Homestead Pickin' Parlor, a certain CD was recommended to me by local artists Neal and Leandra. The song that has haunted me since them is Beautiful Goodbye. I posted the youtube here

4. Another person
All of the people in my noon Bible study this past Wednesday. We had such a good discussion of this story. They really wrestled with the idea that "their eyes were kept from recognizing him", and what that meant. Also, they noticed the detail near the end of the story where it appears that Jesus is going to go on ahead of the disciples until they invite him to stay with them. Since they do not know yet that it's Jesus, we realized that the point of this detail is not "inviting Jesus into our hearts/lives", but inviting the stranger into our hearts and lives. What a wonderful moment in Bible study, and we all discovered it together.

5. Creation
My dog always reminds me of God, for many reasons. She has been delighting in the spring weather lately, excited by the warmer weather. But, when we had our great wet snowstorm on Monday afternoon and evening, she delighted in that as well, taking one last roll around in the snow before it melted yesterday. She reminds me to pay attention to the small things, that there are wonderful smells that I don't even know exist, and that a new friend could be around any corner.

Bonus answer: your choice- share something encouraging/ amazing/ humbling that has happened to you recently!

Man in hospital: Do you know Norwegian?
Me: no, just a little Swedish.
Man: I was confirmed in Norwegian. When I'm serious, I pray in Norwegian.

17 comments:

Sally said...

love that bonus answer, and the poem, well played.

Cathy said...

The bonus question was wonderful. And the Beautiful Goodbye video - oh my....thank you

Unknown said...

Norwegians and Germans are all like that I think.

RevDrKate said...

Love that Bible study story and your Norwegian!

Rachel said...

Ahhhh... animals have so much to teach us don't they?

Barbara B. said...

Incredible poem by Mary Oliver!

Fran said...

As always - a beautiful post from start to finish.

LoieJ said...

# 4, WOW

Lori said...

Yeah, Babette's Feast is wonderful.

And love the Norwegian gentleman.

Katy V. said...

Babette's Feast....I forgot how much I love it!

Hot Cup Lutheran said...

could not finishing watching the video... *sigh* and well you should obviously brush up on your norwegian!

RevAnne said...

Thanks for your play. Love the bonus, and like you, I think my dog helps me stay grounded/ centered/ focused and especially playful!

Lindy said...

Yes on babette's feast. That's a gospel story to be sure.

I wish I were more like my dog. He truly looks only to me, loves me above all else, and would happily sacrifice even his own life for me. I pray for such devotion, such a steadfast gaze.

DogBlogger said...

What a lovely play... thanks.

Jan said...

Thank you so much. Loved the link to Mary Oliver's poem.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

What Cathy said. Thank you. And the dog description was wonderful! Made me smile.

Lesley said...

What wonderful play. I love it when Bible study is "discovering together". And the song and the video are so heartbreakingly beautiful.