africa – Beguine Again

Aug62015 by jrcowles2 Comments

Fetuses, Felines, and Fraud

"Life" Issues, Abortion, Cecil the Lion, conflict, Creation, critical judgment, DDS, humor, Satire / parody, Spirituality

You just knew it had to happen, right? The other shoe just had to drop. I mean, anyone with an IQ even a couple decimal places greater than their hat size -- sorry, Gov. Walker! -- could have seen this coming from the other side of the Milky Way Galaxy. I am referring, of course, to the inevitable conjunction of two sensational stories: (1) the clandestine recording of Planned Parenthood officials nibbling at salads and sipping wine while pining for Lamborghinis, etc., as they discourse with professional clinical detachment on the break-even costs associated with the acquisition, preservation, and transportation of fetal tissue; and (2) the virtually universal outrage sweeping social media about the killing of Cecil the Lion by Minnesota dentist Dr. Walter J. Palmer, who, perhaps subject ...

after the injera, the wat, the niter kibby

Joy, Poetry, spirit, Spirituality

his hands flutter over and onto the kebero a world constructed in the moments of sound a world razed in the moments of silence a rhythm of birth and rebirth of heartbeat and life-blood he’d gone to Africa, this young man to chase down his roots to buy exotic drums to make rhythms with his brothers to sing with his sisters to learn, to grow, to come home and teach he was full of grace, brimming with jazz just rocking his universe, rolling with spirit alight with green and gold and the breath of wild savannas and wilder cheetahs, monkey pranks and elephantine tuskedness what, i had to ask, was the take-away after the safaris and the drumming and the injera, the wat, the niter kibby and berbere spices, the many fine meals downed with ambo wuhteh ah, he said, i met a sister i was driving a fo...

Prayerful Tuesday: In the Stranger

prayer, spiritual practice, Spirituality

I am attending Turner Lectures in Yakima this week and the focus of study is the Road Emmaus. I have always been struck by the verse that says "they knew him in the breaking of the bread." A simple act, an every day act. It is in the sharing of a meal that Jesus becomes real to the disciples and us. Not a special meal-an every day meal where you sit down with family and friends, inviting the stranger into your close community. What a marvelous way to remember the one always invites us to sit down and join him in cup of tea, mug of beer, or maybe a nice glass of wine. Today when you go break for lunch or a coffee break look around you who would you never think to invite into your circle? Consider asking that person to join you for in the encounter with stranger you may just receive Jesu...