It was a fantastic evening, with an art show of photographs of Nashville taken by homeless and formerly homeless photographers, Cajun food from Bro's, an awards show for top vendors of 2010, and a concert featuring some incredibly talented musicians and songwriters.
In a day overshadowed by the shootings in Tucson, AZ i am grateful to have gotten to be a part of it and to have witnessed it (that's me in the red beanie with a roll of tape glamorously grasped in my teeth stringing up lights). In a packed fellowship hall filled with cheering vendors and supporters, Joel whispered in stunned delight during the awards giving, "In all my years in this church, I've never seen the hall like this..." it was such a witness to both The Contributor and DPC's vision of even ground, where there is no us (the homeful) and them (the homeless). The transformation that has occurred in the lives of some of the vendors is remarkable.
Julie Lee (performing in the red cardigan) brought together an amazing group of musicians. it was a stellar line up. when Anita Smith (bottom row, far left) rehearsed at sound check everyone stopped in their tracks - the kind of gospel voice that puts chills up & down your spine. and the harmonies Julie, Sarah (Masen) Dark and Elizabeth Foster provided on Odessa Jorgensen's (second row, far left) exquisite song writing were exceptional.
As for Arizona, after a DPC member raised a prayer during this morning's "joys and concerns" at DPC for those in Tucson and beyond who are grieved and affected by yesterday's violence, i jotted in my notebook,
place the words of peace on our lipsi'm not sure what to say that hasn't already been said... but i was struck by a line shared by a commenter over at Bruce Reyes-Chow's page... it's from Madeleine L'Engle,
place the action of peace in our hands
place the spirit of peace in our hearts
"Like it or not, we either add to the darkness of indifference and out-and-out evil which surrounds us or we light a candle to see by."Peace be with you,
LB
