question marks...

tonight, those of the ikon crew that created the greenbelt service and were in town got treated to a great indian meal by the ikon common purse...
much chat was had, both hilarious and reflective, self critical and imaginative...

we never envisioned taking what we do to such a big stage and the implications of doing so are significant...
was it worship? did we have responsibility for those that were there? what difference does it make when you know the people involved and when we are strangers? what is the experience like for someone who does not know who we are and something of what we do?

some of the conversation was deeply challenging... we live so comfortably with our doubts... we are so unafraid of questioning...we enjoy being provoked and of provoking...we live comfortably with a multiplicty of beliefs and the discomfort that creates because we care about one another and respect one another...

colour me pondering... seriously pondering...

i walked away from the service feeling such hope. because i was reminded of my own (undeconstructable?) fundamental... i have it tattooed on my arm...

but to question one's complicity in the potential charge of irresponsibility demands maturity and discernment...

::

just got an email from my landlord. my landlady's gone and gotta more inkwork...

has got me all excited cause all going well, in a couple of months i shall be getting my next tattoo, from the same BC tattoo artist who'll be visiting us here in belfast... i hope it'll happen. her work is incredible.

right bicep: sailor jerry style swallow and japanese cherry blossom. full colour...

in the sailor tradition the land bird means home. home is where the heart is. i wear my heart on my sleeve. home is community - the stability upon which i live my life. but the bird has freedom. to fly. see douglas coupland's life after god. i found myself on my own. and i chose to fly from the cage of fear. to journey rather than stay frozen. japanese culture sees blossom as a living witness to the ephemeral nature of life. it is beautiful but fleeting. see the beauty in its fragility. savour it while you've got it.

some people say, how can you get a tattoo? it lasts forever.

there is no such thing as forever. if i reached 80 i hope the last thing i'd be worried about is that i got a tattoo when i was 30 and now my once firm flesh is wrinkled. i hope i'd be dancing. it's too short, this life we get. and i take the sage wisdom of my dear friend kristen: even if you change, a tattoo marks where you have been, it can even be a mark of that which you regret, and your mistakes are something to be reminded of...to teach you that you have grown...each tattoo represents the you that you were, perhaps still are, and possibly always will be...

so here's hoping i get to be a canvas for robin's amazing artwork. keli's latest is looking amazing, and it doesn't even have colour in it yet...and what do you know? unbeknownst to me, she too incorporated a swallow...

LB,x

:: what if there was no God? what if there was nothing but Love? ::