Checked into my room in Long Beach, WA this evening. Certainly is quiet.
I unloaded the car, then found myself literally pacing, trying to decide what to do first. Finally, I realized the best thing when I sat in the middle of the floor and closed my eyes, for just about three minutes, not focusing, not planning, just to quiet my mind.
Even though there was a cold drizzle and slight wind, I took a long walk on the beach. Stood in the water for a long time. Actually saw some creature lift its head out of the water not too far from me. I'm fairly sure it was a sea lion, but it was there and gone too quick to be sure.
A quiet, slow start, as it should be. As I walked, I again thought about my gratitude for a congregation that has given me this time.
On the church art front: a number of us worshiped at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church last Friday during our synod assembly in Olympia, WA. There are a number of interesting and striking things in the art and architecture of the sanctuary. The theme of thick branches ("I am the vine and you are the branches) runs in the stained glass and altar. In fact, the altar depicts human heads budding out as they face the light of a "Chi-rho" symbol. The art in the narthex featured some paintings that really got peoples' attention. The artist, Stephen Rue, uses contemporary figures (including himself) to depict Biblical images. In "Doubting Thomas" he is reaching elbow-deep into the side of a contemporary Christ-figure, whose nail wounds are also visible. In "Abraham and Isaac" he is both of the characters: Isaac is a staring, T-shirt and boxer-clad man, curled on a bare rock altar in the fetal position. Abraham is the same man standing behind and over him.
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