LIFE

On Saturday I had the great honor of singing a benefit concert for the Beratungstelle Aus-Weg?! http://www.ausweg-pforzheim.de/start.html What an amazing work this handful of people do. So much time, energy, love and money poured into women and men affected by unwanted pregnancies or the emotional pain of coming to grips with past abortions. They are supported solely by private donations because the State will only financially support organizations that provide neutral options to women. This Beratungstelle is anything but neutral. They invest in LIFE. They provide contacts, counseling, money, refuge, and medical referrals in the hopes that some women considering abortion can find the strength to give their baby a fighting chance at LIFE.
I put together a program especially aimed at affirming the LIFE we've been given. Some songs that I've sung countless times took on a whole new meaning in the light of this particular theme. Songs like "Bridge over Troubled Water", "God Bless the Child" "Ich Steh zu Dir", "Seele, Was Ermüdst du Dich", "Weiter auf dem Weg", "Wir Fallen Hin" and "Seine Gnade" can be balsam for the troubled soul.
I'm so thankful for each of these songs- and so many others as well. And thankful that the Holy Spirit carries them in careful hands to so many hearts and minds.
The last song of the program was "Mutterseelenallein". I haven't sung it for years and I must admit, there was an emotional hurdle for me to jump to sing it to this audience.
It is a very personal song, recorded while I was pregnant with my youngest son, Luke. He was diagnosed in utero with a debilitating handicap and it was suggested that I seriously consider an abortion. It turned out that the tests were very badly mistaken and Luke is a brilliant young man who is about to graduate from Gymnasium with a major in economics and philosophy.
And he is so full of LIFE.

Happy Birthday to Me !

You know, you can say what you will about Facebook, (and I definitely feel mixed pickles about FB) but one thing is really cool: I've had almost 100 wonderful birthday wishes come my way over FB today. So many people, some I know and some I don't, thinking, at least for a few moments on me, and caring enough to write a few words to me on my birthday. Some even sending me pictorial wishes like this one from Feli Wolf. Happy Cae!

I got a card today from my darling neighbors and I'm considering writing a song lyric using these thoughts from Mutter Theresa:

DAS LEBEN IST EINE CHANCE

Das Leben ist eine Chance, nutze sie.
Das Leben ist Schönheit, bewundere sie.
Das Leben ist ein Traum, verwirkliche ihn.
Das Leben ist eine Pflicht, erfülle sie.
Das Leben ist ein Spiel, spiele es.
Das Leben ist kostbar, gehe sorgfältig damit um.
Das Leben ist Liebe, erfreue dich an ihr.
Das Leben ist ein Rätsel, durchdringe es.
Das Leben ist Versprechen, erfülle es.
Das Leben ist eine Hymne, singe sie.
Das Leben ist Herausforderung, stelle dich ihr.
Das Leben ist ein Abenteuer, wage es.
Das Leben ist Glück, verdiene es.
Das Leben ist das Leben, verteidige es.

Sorry, those of you who can't read German, but I'm not going to spend my birthday translating this. Maybe later.....

Thomas Mark, the audio engineer at Kangaroo Studios called me to wish me happy birthday and told me this joke-
So a Catholic priest, a Muslim and a Rabi were having a discussion about "When Does Life Begin". The Catholic priest said that Life begins the moment of conception. The Muslim countered and said that Life begins the moment the baby takes its' first breath after birth, and the Rabi said, "No, no, Life begins when the kids finally leave the house and the dog dies!"
And on that note........

Strawberry Time!

The strawberries are here!!! Time to get out the very best home-made shortcake recipes. Yesterday I discovered a new recipe, tried it, and now it's definitely one of our favourites. So easy and so deliciously warm and comforting on a cool spring afternoon.
First of all, you gotta have a nice big basket of ripe, aromatic, juicy strawberries. Pare them, cut them into quarters, then sprinkle with sugar and let them sit so that they make lots of juicy sweet syrup in the bottom of the bowl.
And here is the shortcake recipe:
It says it serves 8. Ha ha ha. It served 3 at my house!
2 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder (backpulver)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425° F (220°C).
In a food processor, combine the flour, butter, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Process until it looks like course meal. Add the milk and just barely pulse until moistened. Don't overprocess.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. (I turned it out directly onto baking parchment) With floured hands, pat it into a 4 x 8 inch (10 x 20 cm. ) rectangle. Cut the dough into 8 (or in our case 3! ) squares with a floured knife. Sprinkle with a little bit of sugar, slide the parchment sheet onto a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.
Cool just a bit. Split the biscuits in half with a serrated knife and layer with the berries and a lot of whipped cream.
Be sure to enjoy this while the shortcakes are still warm. That is the divine-ness of it.

Let me know what you think.

Reconciliation

In 1043 Earl Leofric and his wife, Lady Godiva (The one who rode naked through the streets of Coventry to protest the heavy taxes her husband had imposed on the people. Her protest turned out to be very effective!) endowed the building of a small Benedictine monastary in Coventry, England. By the 14th century, it had grown into one of the largest parish churches of the country and was officially raised to the status of St. Michael's Cathedral.
On November 14, 1940, in an air attack by the German Luftwaffe, the cathedral was demolished except for, amazingly, the tower and the underground crypts. It was decided to not tear down the ruins of the church, but to leave them as a memorial and build a new Cathedral right next them.
Last week, Eddie and I were able to visit St. Michael's Cathedral. I don't know when I have been in a setting that was so peaceful and at the same time so majestic. And each piece of artwork has been carefully chosen to induce thoughtful meditation.
The ongoing theme in the church is that of reconciliation. "to reconcile: To re-establish friendship, to settle or resolve a dispute, to bring oneself to accept." Now that is a very large order for a people to experience reconciliation with the people who destroyed their lives and their beloved cathedral.
From the smoldering embers of the bombed church were taken 3 charred iron nails from the roof to be formed into the shape of a cross. This has become a symbol of peace and reconciliation for the people of Britain and copies of this cross have been sent around the world.
The first recipient of the "Cross of Nails" was the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. How appropriate! The Gedächtniskirche in Berlin was also nearly destroyed in air attacks by the British. Many lives were lost and a beautiful and ancient church was bombed almost to the ground. The ruins of the original church have also been kept as they were as a memorial to the tragedy of war. And in that church there sits a "Cross of Nails". An exact copy of the one in Coventry.
2 Corinthians 5:
¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

¹⁸Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

¹⁹namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.