Inebriating Grace

Sunday morning. I’ve been here one week and near the end of my time. Last night was rough, lots of bangs, whooshes, wizzes, and pops from neighborhood fireworks until about midnight. It was beautiful though, with the full moon rising in the midst of it all. Sleep came late and therefore I ended up sleeping in later. Still it was cool and quiet morning. My church today was coffee and reading “Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire,” by Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker. I love this book, although it is a slow read for me as she reframes Christianity through the ideas and images of the early church. Then the focus appears to be on love, earth as the paradise of God because God created it, loves it, and inhabits it through Jesus and now us...Images of death and the body of Jesus on the cross did not show up in Christian imagery until the 10th century. Until then the focus was not on death but on grace and love and life, and on how even in death we remain connected. It reminded me of the Krista Tippet interview with the poet Ocean Vuong and his reflection on the death of his uncle by suicide. Upon learning about the death of his mother’s youngest brother (and his uncle, who was only a few years older than Vuong), he and his mother went to the Buddhist altar of their home with food - offering the uncle the invitation to join them in the meal. This is what early Christians also did, and it is the foundation of the Eucharist - that the meal is where the living and the dead intersect in and through the grace of God. The dead go on living and the living join with the dead in the sacred meal of hope and grace. 

So, that is how I started this morning, the seventh day. I spent a little time wth the icon, and then when Tokki had wandered back into his crate I closed his door and took a walk. It was a little after 10 a.m. 

My walk went north along the lakeshore. I tried to FaceTime Dan, but I could not get a connection. Instead I called him and then made a little video of the beach:

After the walk I worked on the icon a bit more. Now it is almost finished, minus a coat of varnish, which I will have to add later. Here is how it looks after today. I tried to increase the highlights on the face to give it more dimension and to look more like the icon I brought with. Next time I’ll try to make it more translucent so it glows more. Not sure I have the technique to do that, but we’ll see. Anyway, it turned out well enough for a first attempt. 

The icon I painted and the one I was using as a color guide

I spent the rest of the day drawing hands following YouTube tutorials on drawing technique.  Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain. I have packing and clearing to do. Tuesday I leave and head to Door County to spend a few days with some friends. On Friday I head home. 

I will miss my little sabbatical companion bunny Tokki. Here he is exploring this afternoon:

Saving Paradise talked about the idea of inebriating Grace. I like that concept of a grace that fills and over fills and leaves one feeling a bit euphoric. This mini sabbatical has not been that exactly, but it has been lovely and grace-filled nonetheless.