Picture
Caption: NEIGHBORHOOD NOTES
from Southwest China
{a blog series at This Sacramental Life}
Caption: I GUEST POST 2 I
Sarah Day in
Southwest China
Caption: Prompt: To suffer with
"To be an American is to move on, as if we could outrun change. To attach oneself to place is to surrender to it, and to suffer with it."
Kathleen Norris
The Cloister Walk
Picture
Caption: Checking the AQI (Air Quality Index) is part of daily life here in China. The air quality determines if I walk or ride the bus to school or if my students get to go out and play at recess. Fresh air is not something I will ever take for granted.
Picture
Caption: When we do get blessed with a clear day and get a glimpse of the sun, it never fails to lift my spirits. The physical heaviness and darkness that we experience so often here is a constant reminder of the spiritual darkness that goes so much deeper. When I find myself falling into negativity, I am reminded to look up to the One who brings light into the darkness.
Caption: Prompt: Salt and light
"The way of being salt and light is a role (a part and position) that Christians are called to in the world. It is a role that requires us to take up a place in our world, at work, at school, and in the neighborhood. Christians are called to imagine another world, and to do so by living amid the divisiveness, alienation, suffering, and violence, as well as the good things, the loves and hopes of where we live now.... However, we are called to make a home that is not established on our own authority and perfection, but instead is set on the foundation of repentance, forgiveness, mutual care and correction, and reconciliation."
David Matzko McCarthy
The Good Life
Picture
Caption: My primary purpose for being here is to pour into the lives of my students who come from several different countries around the world. Many of them are from families who have significant influence in their spheres of life. I have the freedom to speak truth into their lives on a daily basis, and many of them are hearing these things for the very first time.
Caption: Prompt: Dim light and shadow
"How much more mysterious and inviting is the street of an old town with its alternating realms of darkness and light than are the brightly and evenly lit streets of today! The imagination and daydreaming are stimulated by dim light and shadow. In order to think clearly, the sharpness of vision has to be suppressed, for thoughts travel with an absent-minded and unfocused gaze. Homogenous bright light paralyses the imagination in the same way that homogenisation of space weakens the experience of being, and wipes away the sense of place. The human eye is most perfectly tuned for twilight rather than bright daylight. Mist and twilight awaken the imagination by making visual images unclear and ambiguous."
Juhani Pallasmaa
The Eyes of the Skin
Picture
Caption: These lanterns are set off during the New Year celebration and other festivals throughout the year. They are a symbol of prayers being lifted to heaven. May more and more of those prayers be directed to the maker of all things.
Picture
Caption: The lights never go out in this city
Caption: Prompt: Subversive Christianity
"Build houses in a culture of homelessness. Plant gardens in polluted and contested soil. Get married in a culture of sexual consumerism. Make commitments in a world where we want to always keep our options open. Multiply in a world of debt. Have children at the end of history. Seek shalom in a violent world of geo-political conflict and economic disparity. This is Jeremiah's word to the exiles. This is Jeremiah's subversive word to us. And in this vision we just might see, with Jeremiah, "a future with hope" (Jer. 29:11). This is what it means to work and wait for a miracle. This remains at the heart of a subversive Christianity."
Brian Walsh
Subversive Christianity
Picture
Caption: One of my favorite things about living and working here is the friendships I have made with my Chinese friends. They have encouraged and challenged me in so many ways. It is a privilege to be a part of their lives
Picture
Caption: _______ Afternoon meal at the market
Caption: Prompt: Place
"Place is space that has historical meanings, where some things have happened that are now remembered and that provide continuity and identity across generations. Place is space in which important words have been spoken that have established identity, defined vocation, and envisioned destiny. Place is space in which vows have been exchanged, promises have been made, and demands have been issued. Place is indeed a protest against the unpromising pursuit of space. It is a declaration that our humanness cannot be found in escape, detachment, absence of commitment, and undefined freedom."
Walter Brueggemann
The Land
Picture
Caption: "In the midst of rapid development there are snippets of people’s pursuit of beauty."
Picture
Caption: Urban gardens that are often planted in piles of rubble left from the construction or on the rooftops of the high rise buildings, creating new life and beauty.
Picture
Caption: Sarah lives in Southwest China and works as an elementary teacher in an international school. When she's not traveling during breakds, she enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with friends.
Caption: What about your neighborhood?
What are some common things you and your neighbors suffer because of where you live?
In what ways have you been or do you hope to be salt and light in your neighborhood?
What does the light look like at different times of the day in your neighborhood?
What sort of declarations are made in your neighborhood as a "protest against the unpromising pursuit of space"?
Where do your neighbors hang out when they are not inside their homes? Front porches? Backyards? Town parks?
Caption: Tamara Hill Murphy
This Sacramental Life _______ livingpalm.blogspot.com
Picture
Caption: Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
--Mary Oliver --