Music

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” —Aldous Huxley.

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When my husband and I were in training at the University of Iowa, the Department of Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, and Throat) put on a program in which the entertainment was a slide show of scenes from Iowa called “Iowa: A Place to Grow.” The background music was the first movement of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, or the Pastoral Symphony. It is playing now on our Public Radio station. Of course, every time I hear it, I think of our four years in Iowa City.

It is amazing how, over the years, we remember only the good parts; and so, as Beethoven’s Sixth plays, they are exactly what flash through my mind: the friends we studied with, my first job as a pediatric radiologist and the amazing colleagues who taught me how to be a pediatrician and a radiologist; taking trips on Sunday afternoons with our two boys to small towns, looking for antiques. One of our favorites towns was West Branch, the birthplace of Herbert Hoover.

I remember the first house we were able to buy with the help of my husband’s parents; the fresh food from Iowa farms; Sunday dinners at the University of Iowa; concerts at Hancher Auditorium; the city park just around the corner from our house on Park Road; the large elm tree in our backyard and the apple tree between our garage and the house; riding our bicycle for two with our two boys on it unprotected; visiting the Amana Colonies; weekends in Davenport on the Mississippi River; and short trips to Chicago.

I hear the music and I am immediately back in Iowa with old friends. Music transports us to new places, but perhaps more poignantly, takes us to places we have been. These are soul trips that bring us comfort and peace, if we will take the time to allow them back into our minds.

Music can be one of our best travel agents to times and places where we were loved and cared for. This can lead us to a place of gratitude for opportunities, friends, and teachers, and many whom we forgot to thank at the time. But let’s both take time to do so this day.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

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Book Signing Wordsworth Books

Saturday, November 2, 2019 1 to 3 pm

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18. Money from sale of the books goes to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in

The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast


Spiritual Practices and Social Action

“Spiritual practices undergird social action. Accordingly, socially active congregations must make spiritual practices essential to their mission. There is no division between prayer and protest, between spirituality and social concern. Contemplation deepens our spirits and broadens our sensitivities. Action expands the scope of our spiritual sensitivity. And God can enlarge our hearts to see God’s presence in every human and all creation, and to respond with grace and compassion.” —Bruce G. Epperly, “What Does It Mean to Have a Savior?” in The Christian Century (9/16/2018).

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The Christian life is richer if we can maintain spiritual disciplines and social activism at the same time, so that we achieve a kind of balance. One practice leads to the other and nourishes and affirms the other. Through both of these ways, we learn about the Christ in ourselves and the Christ in each other.

Many who support social justice do not seem to connect to or affirm a supporting spirituality. Consequently, social issues sometimes consume them, and we can detect no visible presence of love in their actions. There also are those with deep spirituality but no sense of social justice. Often their spirituality turns so inward that it becomes stagnant and cannot grow. I have also had other experiences suggesting the relationship between the two is not so simple.

My story unfolds with the death of someone I loved. This drew me back to the spiritual life of which I had a taste in my youth. For years I simply learned and read and prayed and practiced spiritual disciplines daily. I was one of those “groupies” who went to every possible conference and retreat I could find. I never spoke out or participated in any social justice action. I blamed my inaction on being an introvert. Eventually, my heart could no longer contain the injustices to women, African Americans, immigrants, and gays. I had to speak out, sometimes boldly, often quietly—more often writing about this discrimination.

My “spiritual” excuse for the delay is biblical, of course. After Paul’s conversion, and before he started his ministry, this is his story: “I did not confer with any human being nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days” (Galatians 1:16-18). Paul then goes on to say he went to Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown to the churches of Judea; but after fourteen years he finally went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas.

My time in “Arabia” was much longer. It took me twenty years of spiritual reflection before I began to make a dent in any social action. And it was almost twenty more years before I let my feet do the talking and participated in two women’s marches. Now I make calls, write letters, and financially help social justice causes as well as the candidates who support them. My hope is that my spiritual practices keep me centered on the God who loves us all, and that being a voice of protest toward social injustices leads me to the people in whom the God of my understanding abides.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

adventfront copy.png

Book Signing Wordsworth Books

Saturday, November 2, 2019 1 to 3 pm

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18. Money from sale of the books goes to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in

The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast


Buechner: Parents

“‘Honor your Father and your mother,’ says the Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20:12). Honor them for having taken care of you before you were old enough to take care of yourself.” —Frederick Buechner.

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Buechner reminds us of the Fifth Commandment: to honor our parents. He explains that we are to honor them because they loved us and cared for us.

I sat with a group of friends last week and we all spontaneously started talking about scars we received from our parents, particularly our mothers. Some of us have been abused or neglected by our parents. Some did not receive the love they had hoped for from their parents. Some had parents who never grew up to be the adults and mentors that a child needed for protection. Buechner reminds us that our parents also had scars. Often they were doing the best they could with what they knew. He also reminds us that we should always be grateful to them for giving us the gift of life. Our experience also was that there were always adults in our lives who could be mentors for us when our parents were not able to do so. Some of the group were actually doing this now for other children or adults.

We then wondered what our children would say about us—thinking of the scars we may have given them, due to our own imperfections. Our prayers become that we can still make living amends for the harm we have done; and that we will be able to reverse some of the behavior we have inherited, while also honoring the richness of our heritage.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

adventfront copy.png

Book Signing Wordsworth Books

Saturday, November 2, 2019 1 to 3 pm

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18. Money from sale of the books goes to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in

The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast