Where are you taking me?

The Artist, The Word: An Exploration of the Creative Spirit

On my former blog I posted a magazine article written about the tours I had put together at local Southern California Art Museums whereby I, in conjunction with an Art Scholar friend, pick a series of paintings from their permanent collection and compare scripture with the artist’s vision. This time we decided to open the tour up not only my former parish, St. Wilfrid of York, in Huntington Beach, we merged with the church were I am on staff, St. George’s, in La Canada, CA.

The picture to the left (a typical blury cell phone picture taken on the fly by yours truly) was taken while Joanna explained the art history, and intent of the artist James Ensor as he formed his own expressionist vision of Christ’s Entry into Brussels 1899. For this painting I used the passage from John 12:12-19 where Jesus enters Jerusalem, the people cheering and waving palms. In Ensor’s painting the city is awash in color, and excitement, but the people costumed as though it was a festival of pagan proportions. In it the local bishop is acting as a drum major, and all the people are distorted with festival masks and make up, but Jesus is marked in a more traditional light, hallow and all. In effect, the artist is being critical of the church, and the people in that they have made a mockery of the message, are move concerned with their own enjoyment . Read More �

Wednesday I spent the entire day and most of the evening at Disneyland. I went with my good friend Ian, or as he is known: The Gay Son I Never Had.

It had been quite some time since I had been to Disneyland, mainly because I used to be able to get a free pass any time I wanted, and with leaving the entertainment industry, I had come to the realization that the people I knew had either retired, or died! So, with a week off from work, I cleaned out some of my bank account, and ventured into the park as a regular paying customer. Below are some of my observations: Read More �

Delivered at St. George’s Episcopal Church, La Canada, CA

Pentecost 13a
Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm 145:8-9,15-22
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21

If I were the type of person who would name sermons, I guess I’d name this one, A Tale of Two Banquets. In today’s gospel we only hear of one banquet, but the author of Matthew ingeniously precedes the feeding of five thousand, with another type of banquet given by Herod, a gathering characterized by opulence –– Jesus’ meal by bread, the most basic of foods.  Herod’s party is characterized by hatred –– Jesus’ meal by compassion.  Herod’s party ends in the death of John the Baptist –– Jesus’ meal sustains life and offers a screen shot of the Kingdom of God.  The contrast could not be more deliberate or complete, but beyond the obvious, the messages we heard today in all our readings allow us a chance to glimpse, in a unique way, the essence of God.

We are told that Jesus “had compassion for them.” Our language does not truly offer what was written in Greek. The literal translation would be that Jesus felt compassion from the inside of his stomach, from all the way down to his intestines, so the key word “compassion” is more than a sigh, its more than empathy; it was the kind of compassion which touched his very essence, and shook the core of his being…it is this sense of compassion, my brothers and sisters, that offers us a inkling of the compassion God feels for each and every one of us. Compassion so deep it is immeasurable. Read More �

Oh, to be able to learn to give myself permission to relax! I have not had a vacation since Summer of 2006. With my move last year, and seminary, and seminars at our Cathedral Center, working out the liturgical year at St. George’s, its been one thing after another. I now am able to take 8 days off (after preaching this Sunday), and I can’t seem to allow myself to leave projects sitting until I return.  I can’t seem to praise myself for the things I’ve accomplished this Summer, including a new Mass I composed, and a separate Celtic Fraction Anthem to go along with my Celtic Kyrie I composed last year. Articles on the MDG’s and Green Living for next year’s parishwide magazine, and an art tour booklet I’m leading August 16 at the Getty Center.  What do I do? I center on the projects left on the table!

One lesson on the journey I have yet to master is giving myself permission to relax freely and with boldness.

I happened upon the singing group Celtic Thunder which played on PBS, and I was struck by the sentimentality of the song, “Come By The Hills” and more importantly, the fine interpretation by a young 15 year old singer, Damian McGinty. The melding of this young fresh voice with the teaching found within the lyric struck me as an interpretation taken from the Sermon on the Mount, asking us to stop the worry, taken the moment and relish it as a gift from God:

Come by the hills to the land
where fancy is free
And stand where the peaks meet the sky
and the rocks reach the sea
Where the rivers run clear and the bracken
is gold in the sun
And cares of tomorrow must wait
till this day is done.

Or

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:34)

Much like a rich deeply flavored stew, a good work of art as it simmers brings up to the surface flavors, and bits of ingredients which may have remained in the bottom of the stock pot. The documentary, Chris & Don, is a fine rich stew which works on many different levels. It is a story of two individuals, and how these two individuals met on a beach in Southern California during a summer in the 1950’s. It is a story of a complex writer (Isherwood) who by this stage in his life was comfortable with his own formed psyche, and a very young man of 18 (Don Bachardy) who was not yet fully formed, and like most people of this age today, seeking to find out who he was in his public life, as well as the emerging person from the inside.

Through the use of home movies, the documentary speaks on a particular sociological level, a microcosm of life in Hollywood, it speaks of two men out of the closet in a point in the entertainment industry when homophobia was clearly a byproduct of well paid public figures living dual lives. This duality was a way of life (Pre-Stonewall), yet here was Isherwood taking his 19 year old lover on location of Dr. John Ford, known as a director of films which spewed heterosexual testosterone. Don & Chris exposes their intimacy of a couple who’s 33 year relationship was not without its ups and downs yet were able to remain committed to one another by the use of their pet name persona; the younger man as a cat, and Isherwood being the old horse. What they would not share as humans, they were able to communicate as their favorite pet - their alter egos. Read More �

This is a first in an on-going series of what I will call

Yard[D]og Pictorum non sequiuntur *

* Non Sequiuntur is the Latin plural for more than one non sequitur. I say plural because I have been getting these out of the blue cell phone pictures from Yard[D]og for some time; the first being a picture of a half eaten pizza. I thought it was time to share them….why…..who the hell knows.

I recently attended a lecture by Ishwerwood and literary scholar, James Berg who shared insights into the formation of his current book, Christopher Ishwerwood on Writing. The book is a reconstruction of notes taken from lectures Isherwood had given at various institutions of higher learning in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and UCLA.

I enjoyed listening to someone discuss Isherwood as I went through my Isherwood period during my mid twenties slowly making my way through almost everything I could find in print. One my my pleasant memories was meeting Isherwood, in the early 80’s, at the now gone A Different Light bookstore in Silverlake in which I was able to have him sign his masterpiece, A Single Man, and his current book, “October”, a series of diary excerpts from the month of October interspersed with drawings by his long time life partner, Don Bachardy.

What sparked my interest, outside of basic information Dr. Berg offered; a sketch of the famed creator of the Berlin Stories (which eventually became the musical Cabaret) was that a new documentary had been created to share the love story of Chris & Don. Read More �

Don’t you think its time for a new stained glass window?

Sermon given June 29, 2008 at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church, Huntington Beach, CA

Based on the readings found in the Revised Common Lectionary

For the audio of the sermon, click here