Vita brevis, Longa ars

(Life is Short, Art long - Hippocrates)

"O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven:  Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for 'evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"

The organ console sat on the outer edge of the choir loft high above the congregation where I sat on a hot, sweltering Sunday in Dallas. We were halfway through the sermon when there was a gasp on the left side of the congregation. I looked below and saw one of the most beautiful sights I have ever beheld. One of our most elderly and sainted couples sat in their usual place and she was gently leaning her head on his shoulder and he had draped his arm around her shoulder. By all appearance she had drifted asleep right there during the sermon! 

The priest paused mid sentence and waited quietly in the pulpit. Within a few moments two paramedics quietly rushed down the aisle to their row and with the aid of those around them - the "sleeping" woman was laid on the gurney and whisked away. In our customary orderly fashion the priest picked right up where he paused and the folks in the pews resumed their dazed expressions.

I was completely overcome and burst into tears - I had just witnessed my first death in church. It was so quiet, so peaceful. That precious couple seated in church side by side with her head resting on his shoulder.
My first thought was of myself and what a perfect way to leave this earth...
All of the poignancy of life and death and faith all rolled together on a pew in church.

The dear woman merely had a seizure and did not die - but that event got my attention in a way that nothing has before or since. Theology may fade, the hymns may become meaningless and trite, the liturgy may be lifeless and mechanical but the image of that event is etched in my heart. It is a reminder that nothing is ever as it appears and that our perceptions of life and love and all that is real are so shallow and incomplete.

Lord, help me to never take one single moment of life for granted. Help me to shift my eyes away from the mundane and trivial toward my personal moments of beauty and hope and transcendence. Make my heart soar with love for others and grant me something completely spontaneous each and every day. amen

Rick