Come Quickly Down to the Water
"There is a river that streams from the temple, begins as a trickle and ends
in the sea, where it flows everything will live."
These lyrics from Bob Stomberg's "Where Justice Rolls" have been my inner voice
throughout this whirlwind of a summer. While I sat among Lutheran youth in San
Jose, I felt the excitement, the hope, the energy, the enthusiasm of teenagers
who though they might still be ingenuous, intended with all their being to be
peaceful, just, and loving human beings. It seemed as if they were swimming in
that life giving stream and it gave them a gentle determination which refreshed
my soul. I saw this same zest for life among the youth of the Church of the Brethren
and the youth of the Christian Reformed Church. It radiated from Presbyterian
kids at two different weeklong youth camps. I felt the healing stream around my
ankles as we went from town to town in war torn Bosnia. I heard it in the voices
of the children who sang and danced, laughed and told stories and yearned for
peace and parents. I felt it in the voices and the embraces of our translators,
both Christian and Muslim, who in spite of fear and perhaps cynicism came together
to do a good thing for children.
I felt that healing stream again as I prepared and performed a new musical with
two of my most favorite actors whose theater company goes by the name of Ted and
Lee. Our new show currently called FIGHT FOR THE BLESSING tells the story of Jacob
and Esau, from their alienation to eventual reconciliation. Being with Ted and
Lee is a very special kind of delight. Their personalities and their work are
funny, serious, passionate, irreligious and devout all at once. It seems as if
the summer has raced along and I have been catapulted from one intensity to another.
Now as the summer closes I await with bated breath for the events of September
1. My Aaron, my firstborn, my beautiful tall loving son will marry with Sonya
Holcombe in San Francisco. Do you suppose I will be able to sing with dry eyes?
I wonder. I have watched the two of them during the last three years and I can
tell you this, some lives seem dry and brittle, some minds seem like desert land.
These two have in their own quite way, splashed about in the healing river. I
am glad these days. I am excited. I happier than ever to be doing the Heaven's
work, surrounded both at home and at work by humanities best. "These [truly]
are the days for learning and loving and waking and working. . . These [truly]
are the days to dance."
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