Dizzy Cigarettes and Tightlipped Kisses

While I was studying in Northern Ireland we studied an Irish poet called Michael Longley. His poetry was quite moving and devastating at the same time. He wrote about the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the Holocaust. He was able to capture beauty and inspiration in the death and hopelessness of desperate times.

I liked several of his poems. I thought one poem in the front of his collected poetry was beautiful in his choice of words and the imagery he painted so simply.

No Continuing City

First dizzy cigarettes,

Tightlipped Kisses,

Friendships, Flying visits,

Birthday, best wishes-

My children and my dead

Coming of age

In the turn of your head

As you turn a page.

-Michael Longley

My Irish Literature class was lucky enough to have met Mr. Longley. He was very inspiring in his lecture. He did say one thing that made me think. He stated,

"There won't be any art in heaven- if there is such a place-because art comes from some disturbance..."

Well, I think most of the class thought differently. Trying to figure out a way to candy coat what he had said. But as I sat there, I began to think maybe he was right. What we know now in the world of art...there does seem to be a disturbance or longing for a beauty that we do not have. Many times art is a mixture of fallenness and redemption. Or the old and new. The overexposed and underexposed. The vintage and classic. The bittersweet taste of things ending much differently than you thought they would. So... if there is a heaven, and every thing's perfect where is art? I completely understand Longley's point. But then again, there seems to be perfection in a butterfly or flower... they seem perfect, but creation is fallen...and love means the most when it isn't deserved... The cross blossoms in the midst of undeserving selfish people.

But then again...

Maybe art is an expression and cry of who we are, who we've been, who we want to be. Art is us being here, trapped in our own humanity reaching out beyond ourselves. Maybe the art we know now, won't be in heaven. But there will be an art that we nothing about. An art that can not be anymore explained then what it will really mean to live where "mercy and truth have kissed each other."

Back in America, just in time for the Christmas Craze...

Well, I've been back in the states for a week. I haven't taken any cash out yet. Maybe its out of protest, since I haven't held a dollar in over three months... I am slowly taking steps back into reality. I took the extra pounds and pence out of my purse... slowly chewing the rest of the gum purchased at Vivo in Dundrum...





It sort of seems like the last three and half months have been a dream... I mean, that was my life. I lived in Europe. Got use to my life there. And then. I come home. Things are pretty much just the way I left them, the only change being the huge ice storm that makes me think I might have flown into Iceland or something. Most people ask a couple questions, "How was it?" or "Did you have fun?" and even an occasional, "You look a little Irish..." But, I can only say so much, and then I feel its getting old when I begin to say things about my travels...but it was in a way different from a trip or holiday. I lived there.





But...I did get back into America just in time. Just in time to remember how crazy Americans can get about a holiday that really no longer has much meaning. I mean, not to sound very critical...but the irony of the church and the holiday season may have a hit me a little hard this season. I came into my church that I grew up in, and was greeted by a probably 50 foot, fully lit Christmas tree. And...If I can explain it, our Choir stands in the fake tree. And they sing. About Christmas. Now don't get me wrong, the music is beautiful. It really is pretty and fills you with holiday cheer. There were Elves running, children laughing, presents, the 12 days of Christmas song by the church body, and a skit about the true meaning of Christmas.



After a semester abroad, attending more conservative and traditional churches, the radical Baptist Christmas celebration (or maybe whovillefest?) was a tad bit of a shock. The tree was purchased a few years back, but I've been at school in the past and this was my first time seeing it.



I just felt that maybe spending thousands of dollars on a tree and then having a skit about the true meaning of Christmas in front of the tree was a bit ironic. Hypocritical? Maybe.



This Sunday I went back to Church, to hear our new pastor preach. And he was reading out of Isaiah 53. Talking about who Christ was and why he had to come. He talked about the sacrifice and humility Christ had. How he traded power for infancy, majesty for poverty, beauty for homeliness, and worship for rejection. Christ came down to us, to lift us out of our sin and brokenness. C.S. Lewis talks in his book Miracles about the incarnation of Christ and how it is wrapped around us in our humanity. (more on that later)



But anyways...not to rag on my church. I love my church and the people there. But I have just been getting tired of hearing the same of old things from the Evangelical circle. I don't understand everything or even very much about the incarnation of Christ. But I do think it was more of an explosion of love than a huge singing Christmas tree. I feel like all the energy that was released when such a huge and perfect Christ became such a small and humble man can be found in the unmeasurable amounts of love seen in his life and the cross.



Last week Bek and I picked a girl up that was walking on the side of the road. With no coat. In the middle of an ice storm.



I've never done this before.



We gave her a coat, and took her about 5-10 miles down town. I think she had already walked that amount before we picked her up. Her family didn't have any electricity due to the ice storm, so she was walking to her boyfriend's house. Her name was Debbie. Part of me wonders how comfortable Debbie would be watching our Christmas program. Maybe its more about us going out than trying to sell the Gospel and lure people in.

Not that I can say I practice this... I don't walk a lot of my talk. But I'm just thinking.