In this week's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ reflects on the mystery and gift of the 25,000 purple martins ("bird-nados," as his son Nelson would say) that descend on Shockoe Bottom each summer.
"Even as you're standing right there watching, it's hard to believe. And it's beautiful. And a little hypnotic."
In this RTD video from the martin-watching celebration, you can hear an awed onlooker describe the birds' appearance as "a blessing."
This week, Bekah Holbrook and Shola Walker added their voices to the Views from the Bottom Blog, launched in tandem with St. Paul's Views from the Bottom Covenant Group being led by Andrew Terry. They challenge the group (and their readers) to think about the meaning of place and story as they head out to experience Shockoe and Church Hill, two neighborhoods that make up and shape the downtown community.
People often talk about what they like (or don’t like) about where they live. They cite real estate value, public transportation, quality of schools, public safety, proximity to work and recreation. Interestingly, what people miss when they move away is more often relational: friends, family, potluck groups, faith communities, neighbors, friendly landlords. Perhaps it’s because we seek to feel connected. We want to identify with others, be recognized and known. We want to have a sense that we belong to a place and that place belongs to us.
I had started to develop that sense living in the Fan, which is a neighborhood with a strong identity, one that I felt connected to. I was comfortable and secure there. I wonder if I can develop a sense of connectedness to Shockoe Bottom. What is the identity of my new neighborhood? Who are my neighbors? How and when will I know if I belong to this place?
And, of course, this Christmas, tonight, and tomorrow, new memories are being made; a Carol sung, pure and exquisite; an old friend; warm, endearing words exchanged; a first Christmas for a new grandbaby; a candle lit, a face aglow, eyes agleam.
More than fifty times, in his published writings, Barth refers to the Grunewald image; and, indeed, usually, it is precisely in reference to John, and John’s relation to the figure of Christ; as he points.
Barth (and Grunewald before him) understood John’s sole purpose to be to serve as a pointer to Christ, a reference to Christ, a witness to Christ.
Subscribe via RSS
