麻豆约拍

From Dave Tomlinson,聽writer and Vicar of St Luke鈥檚 Holloway in London:

聽Last week, I spent several days in Yorkshire leading a retreat which I entitled, 鈥業 Believe in Poetry, Art and Rock 鈥榥鈥� Roll 鈥� did God write any good tunes lately?鈥�

聽Retreats tend to have an image of being rather earnest and abstemious 鈥� good for the soul, maybe, but not exactly a barrel of laughs. Levity and irreverence were basic requirements at ours! We stared at beautiful paintings by the likes of Van Gogh, watched films, read poignant and amusing poems and looked at music videos by artists from Nick Cave to Moby, from Adele to Jay-Z 鈥� all in the magnificent setting of Upper Wharfedale.

Despite being a vicar, some of my best encounters with God have not been in churches or in religious activities but in art galleries, theatres, cinemas, concerts, and poetry books.

聽One of my greatest spiritual experiences was at a Moby concert in Camden. I go to a lot of gigs. But that night, Moby鈥檚 music and the crowd鈥檚 engagement and delight with it transported me. I felt a magical oneness with the music and with 2000 people in a 鈥榗athedral鈥� of sound and spirit. I鈥檓 quite sure we all left with smiling souls.

聽The word 鈥楪od鈥� is problematic. For some people, it鈥檚 cliche虂d and meaningless; for others, dangerous, toxic even. But 鈥楪od鈥� is just a way of pointing to a mystery we are all familiar with 鈥� the sense that there is something beyond the world of outward objects, of mundane reality. It doesn鈥檛 matter what we call this, but once we pause to notice it, to sense the wonder of things 鈥� the undeserved smile of a child, a glass of wine with friends, a good belly laugh, a warm hug, the sound of a blackbird singing at dusk 鈥� then we feel more fully alive.

聽We don鈥檛 need to be religious. 鈥楨arth鈥檚 crammed with heaven鈥�, the poet says. God is writing good tunes all the time, everywhere. Whether in city or countryside, in art, music or science, in love, pain, laughter and tears, our lives are framed with mystery. The important thing, I keep telling myself, is to live each moment, to give my life the attention it deserves, to look and listen, and relish every breath.... even on Mondays!