Earthbound Sobriety

While crossing Verrazano Narrows Bridge recurring mem’ries of New York recapture history and civilization of the two boroughs provide me with deep interest and emphasis. Brooklyn in its old Dutch for “broken land,” and Staten Island named “Staaten Eylandt” named in the early 1600s by Henry Hudson, trailed off on a tangent through centuries. A myth or perhaps a legend, the island thus far, was like a quagmire of townships and disputes; its meaning to immigrants’ culture and religion, favored silence, security, peace, and integration. The burden of too many choices based on clans, growing businesses and stories of interactions; new immigrants in droves through generations like an orchestra combined with a sense of drama. Reflections of their struggles to make ends meet, reminded me of articulation through interpretation; in sobriety of heeding of the composer’s intent, such a musical piece made me suffer and sweat. Oh, the pedal, rhythmic vitality and expression! all these elements comprise what piano playing is, the technique, in a special way, a benchmark item indeed, a struggle to interiorize those conventions. But as a human person with some limitations, with my own history and capability in playing, I see where I can be fit and freely express myself; through movements in diverse missionary works. As it says in French, “bon débarras, il est partí.” my life continues with a backlog of other issues, a different world focused on service to the Lord; with my own repertory – its beauty to humanity. It’s true that my prayer for the church at large, is also a bridge across the gulf of separation; coming to this borough of Staten Island a hodge-podge of concerns, covenanted within. Now that relationship with God and people brings me to nourish that faith and commitment; with that long stretch of Verrazano Narrows Bridge, a metaphor to my own journey as a missionary.