unique and oh so very moving…

 

It always takes me a few days to decompress after spending time with my parents.  It weighs heavily on my mind and in my heart when I leave them…

So usually, at least for a few days, I cocoon…unplug…contemplate.  And this particular week, back in my city, brought opportunities for even more contemplation, meditation and spiritual connection.

Little things this week…

…like a change in my routine when my eyes close for the night and when they open in the mornings.

I’ve added a ritual to wake up and fall to sleep with thoughts of gratitude.  Nothing earth shattering, just giving thanks for the one or two things experienced in my daily activities.

…like finding a very special place in the Ramble in Central Park to sit and meditate.

A place with trickling water and birds and squirrels.  A place just for me.  A place to go and surrender to nature.

Totally special.

Bigger things…

…like getting tickets to experience the Oktophonie at the Park Avenue Armory on the night of the full moon.

We took off our shoes, dressed in white capes and gathered around a “lunar surface” for 69 minutes of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s composed electronic symphony.

Totally avant-garde.

And a really really big thing…

…like attending the most unique, spiritually moving service at the St. Mark’s Church-in-the Bowery at their 12th annual Good Friday service.

Complete with nationally renowned musicians and performers, the service used blues and gospel music to recreate the Passion story of Jesus.  Now let me explain.  I am not a religious person. I mean, I grew up in a Christian home.  I went to church with my parents until I left home to be on my own.  I think of myself as more of a spiritual person.  I do believe in higher powers.  But today I couldn’t tell you anything about Peter, or Paul or Mary other than I listened to their folk music back in the 70’s.  So attending a Good Friday service never entered my mind until I read about this service at St. Mark’s.  I mean really, blues music at the second oldest church (1920’s) in Manhattan on a chilly afternoon?  How could one go wrong.

There are many many experiences in New York City and a few have made it to my – all time life time favorites – and this one now joins this precious list.  So think about three hours filled with dance, poetry readings, meditation, prayer, and music.  Soulful, bluesy music.  Swayin’ gospel music like you’d hear in the churches of Harlem.   “You’ve Got Me Where You Want Me” will forever be a traditional blues song that will be buried deep in my soul.  And the ending, the oh so powerful rendition of “Amazing Grace” brought such an intense feeling, complete with streaming tears.  The service concluded with silence at which time the bells tolled.

Totally profound.