I made it back to the Atlantic Ocean this week! šŸ™‚ I am on the road performing – started in Cordova, TN (outside of Memphis); had a day to drive 840 miles for a concert in Warminster, PA (outside of Philly); scooched over to Vineland, NJ, and a day later drove another 840 miles to Chicagoland where I am now. Luckily, David Langley is with me, and he is doing all of the driving, so itā€™s been a fun and insightful trip (and musically very, very enjoyable!).

Usually, I donā€™t take time off when Iā€™m on a tour. If we arenā€™t visiting with our hosts, there is always office work to be done. But we were so close to the Ocean that I couldnā€™t possibly avoid a short detour. Plus, David had never been to the legendary Atlantic City Boardwalk.

We had a wonderful lunch overlooking the oceanā€¦ and talked about God, faith, history, and the importance of finding a ā€˜spiritual homeā€™ā€¦ (David has been on a beautiful faith journey and was looking for a church where he would feel a sense of belonging.)

I answered Davidā€™s questions with a disclaimer that my thoughts and my experience of God and the Divine are my own – I believe that each of us is on a unique spiritual path and that God is present and available to all. I tried to be sensitive about not influencing him with my opinions.

I looked at the Ocean, which reminded me that while each of us needs some space to be alone and still with God – out there where there are no distractions – we also need each other to survive the storms.

Itā€™s important we have a community where we can experience ā€œGod in skin,ā€ where we feel accepted and comfortable to show up ā€˜as isā€™ – at times filled with joy and at times broken with sadness and grief. Humans need a ā€˜villageā€™ as a support system that will carry us through stressful times and make us casseroles (or salads) when we arenā€™t able to make them ourselves. šŸ˜‰ And in a community, we learn how to reach out to others and take care of those in need.

When I was growing up, my ā€˜villageā€™ was my family (we all lived very close to each other) and my neighborhood. When I moved to America, I realized it was different here. People move away from their families and everything is a lot farther apart than in Europe. So a lot of people find their ā€˜villageā€™ in their faith communities (or for us immigrants, in cultural clubs), which sometimes takes away an opportunity to be exposed to different cultures and faiths.

I grew up in a country where religion and faith were very private. We didnā€™t know who was Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish or atheist. My friends and I were guided by the very same principles of loving God and our neighbor as ourselves (which we learned at home). We didnā€™t look for what could have divided and separated us from each other. Our traditions helped us build a strong sense of community, and our history helped us to keep in mind how destructive divisions, greed for power and fear of each other can be. (Croatia is located in a part of the world where Christianity split in 1054, and where many battles with Ottoman Empire were fought in the 15th and 16th centuries.)

I guess thatā€™s probably why Iā€™ve always been drawn to Franciscan spiritualityā€¦ Iā€™ve always liked that they, like us on this tour, travelled around, stayed with people, shared of themselves and broke bread.

To be able to have a ā€˜villageā€™ and a community – and an open heart that sees Godā€™s presence in every part of Godā€™s creation – is to find our spiritual home.

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