This week I want to introduce you to two more videos. The first is called, "Where The Hell Is Matt?" and is the work of a man named Matt Harding. Harding has now made several of these videos, each one pretty much the same in format -- he travels the world, filming himself dancing the same "goofy" dance, most often dancing with people from where ever he is. In this video he filmed in 42 countries, dancing with thousands of people along the way.
He describes this venture like this: "I dance with people all over the world. I make videos of it and I put them on YouTube to show that the world is a whole lot safer and friendlier than it looks on TV."
The signature on my emails is a phrase that came to me several years ago as a way to sum up the theology of the Unitarian Universalist tradition which I serve. I think it also expresses the message in these dancing videos:
"We are one human family, on one fragile planet, in one miraculous universe, bound by love."
As with the previous videos, I encourage you to watch this one and, while watching Matt dance, watch what you're feeling:
- How did you feel while you watched?
- How did you feel after having watched it? (Did you feel at all different?)
- Did particular scenes stand out for you? (Which ones, and why do you think they did?)
- What "message" did you get through the video?
- What else might you wonder about how this video speaks to your spiritual life?
* * * * *
In some of the more progressive stands of Christianity, it is said that God did not create "the heavens and the earth," but that the universe is in the on-going process of creation, and that we humans are its co-creators. That is, we are partners in the sacred and holy work of creation. This idea is not entirely new -- the Catholic theologian Meister Eckhardt said as much during his lifetime (which spanned the 13th and 14th centuries). You can also find the concept expressed in the writings of countless mystics through the millennia.
Today this idea is often termed, "Creation Spirituality." The website Creation Spirituality Communities defines creation spirituality as a, "way of living within the community of earth that deepens our reverence for life, participates in the creativity of the cosmos, and develops our passion for justice and human transformation."
Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people receive daily a brief meditation that come from the writings of the Franciscan priest Fr. Richard Rohr. If you look through the archives of these reflections, you will see that this approach to spirituality runs through his writing and, he would say, throughout Franciscan spirituality generally. (At the website where these archives are you can also sign up to receive the meditations in your inbox daily!)
I would also make the case that the videos I've been posting recently also share in this spiritual understanding. (Although I don't believe all of their creators would put it that way!) Today's offering focuses more directly offers an experience of what "co-creation" can look like, and while it may not seem obvious that the people in this video are co-creating the universe, I encourage you to let that thought dance with the experience of watching and listening to this video.
This rendition, performed by a band of musicians that literally spans the globe, was the first effort by what has become the Playing For Change Foundation. Here is the description from their website about how it all started:
Playing for Change is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music. The idea for this project came from a common belief that music has the power to break down the boundaries and overcome the distances between people.
Playing for Change was born in 2002 as a shared vision between co-founders, Mark Johnson and Whitney Kroenke, to hit the streets of America with a mobile recording studio and cameras in search of inspiration and the heartbeat of the people. This musical journey resulted in the award-winning documentary, "A Cinematic Discovery of Street Musicians."
In 2005, Mark Johnson was walking in Santa Monica, California, when he heard the voice of Roger Ridley singing "Stand by me." Roger had so much soul and convicion in his voice, and Mark approached him about performing "Stand By Me" as a Song Around the World. Roger agreed, and when mark returned with recording equipemtn and cameras he asked Roger, "With a voice like yours, why are you singing on the streets?" Roger replied, "Man, I'm in the Joy business, I come out to be with the people. "Ever since that day the playing for Change crew has traveled the world recording and filming musicians, creating Songs Around the World, and building a global family.19 people or groups participated in this performance of "Stand By Me." The YouTube video has had over 100 million views. Besides being a technological marvel -- how did they get all of those musicians, in all of those different places, to sync up so perfectly with one another? -- it is also a marvelous demonstration of our human ability to co-create.
I encourage you to reflect on some of the same questions with this video as you have with the others. I encourage you, too, to simply enjoy!
Pax tecum,
RevWik
