Recently the Rev. Dr. Margaret Somerville shared with me her excitement over a new tattoo on her arm—it’s a flowing line of classical poetry scansion. Formerly a teacher of translation, Dr. Somerville knows her classical poetry, too! She’d invited me to speak with her warm and brilliant Alignment Interfaith community, so when they arrived online, we stopped talking about tattoos and metrical patterns, or the time recently that Margaret somehow calmly talked with an Alignment Author Visit presenter as a storm brought five large trees crashing down outside her home.
After a wonderful welcome from everyone, we dived into The Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous in the late 1300’s CE and Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence in the late 1600’s CE. I began by singing, then shared some of my journey, before talking about the subversive power of translation and of contemplation, reading from both books, and sharing dialogue at the end, dancing with everyone’s lyrical, insightful questions that were, as Rilke said, ones to live now. Then most people left, and I stayed a bit longer, because we were all just having such a good conversation. The whole evening included—in addition to Anonymous and Nic Herman / Br. Lawrence—also Jhumpa Lahiri and Bayo Akomolafe.
I don’t know why, but sometimes the best bits happen before and after, even when the main event of being together for a formal gathering is also very meaningful and appreciated. That’s when Margaret shared a wonderful Dr. Barbara Holmes (Dr. B.) story with me and those few there. I felt she’d handed me a golden ingot, as I hadn’t heard or read Dr. B. tell this before. Perhaps someone else has heard it, but I haven’t, and Margaret said I could share it on.
I learned Dr. B. was the first Authors Visit presenter two years ago. That made me smile to know. Margaret also mentioned that during informal conversation with Dr. B. that time, they began talking about the practice of preparing to preach as a contemplative act. Dr. B. shared with Margaret then that “she did not learn how to preach ‘for real’ until she abandoned the way she had been taught to preach by men and learned that a sermon was really a poem.” Dr. B. added that “[w]hen she created sermons as a poem, she felt that she was truly preaching.”
I added to Margaret’s memory Dr. B.’s last words of “Forgive everyone for everything.”
“What a treasure!” Dr. B. was, Margaret said, and as our wise ancestor, she is still with us.
Thank you, Margaret, and Alignment Interfaith community, for your welcoming presence!
View my Alignment Authors Visit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsFnSfeOj9Y