Posts

Showing posts from June, 2014

All I really need to know I learned riding the subway ...

Image
The subway in Philadelphia has been my School of Life. I've learned more by riding the subway than from the thousands of books I have read, the multiple degrees I have earned, and all the religious communities where I've been a member. Ten times a week, I ride the subway from the end of my commuter train out to the University where I work. Some, like me, are going to their jobs on campus. Some are coming off third-shift jobs and heading for home. Lots of moms are taking their kids to day-care, before going to work themselves. Older people may be heading out to shop, or to a doctor's appointment. Catholic schoolgirls, in short uniform skirts and knee-socks, are riding reluctantly to school. In the winter, by the time February arrives, everyone looks gray and tired, huddled lumps of misery and winter-weariness in heavy coats and boots. In the summer, the tone is upbeat: lighter, colorful summer clothes and smiles. And this I have learned: there are all kinds of people

The enfolding dark

Image
Canticle 12 in the Book of Common Prayer is called "A Song of Creation." On p. 89, we find the following text: Glorify the Lord, O nights and days, O shining light and enfolding dark... This canticle is my favorite, since it includes the cosmic order, the earth, and earth's peoples.All of these are to glorify the Lord, who made them. It also includes the night, my favorite time. I admit readily to being a "night person." I awaken reluctantly in the morning, and hit my stride after 9 PM. I'm especially happy out on the porch at night.  When I was a child, we had no air conditioning (yes, it was that long ago!), so our nights were cooled by a huge exhaust fan in the upstairs hallway, which pulled in the cooler outside air through every open window. Many of us have lost that gift of an open window, in our hermetically-sealed, air-cooled homes. My bed was against the wall, with the foot under my bedroom window. If I lay wrongside-round (with my head