Mardi Tindal
Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: Courageous
Posted on: 01/06/2010 13:43
I hope that you enjoyed a change of pace over Christmas, allowing for rest and recreation. For me, this often comes in the form of movies and theatre.
Thanks to a movie like Avatar and a play like Courageous, we see concerns about right relations with Indigenous peoples, with creation, and within families being played out in the public arena.
The title of Canadian playwright and actor Michael Healey’s Courageous is one of its most provocative statements. Six people in three couples struggle to live with integrity while being pulled in painful directions. It is courageous work.
Yesterday I compared notes about the holidays with a friend. We’re each blessed with family whom we love, and yet when he used the word “tricky” to describe the dynamics of close proximity with those we love, I identified. The more we love, the harder it is—and in that itself is the greatest blessing.
Before the lights go out and the action starts, those watching Healey’s play are treated to the words of our beloved Northrop Frye: “Although much of our life is rooted in the anxiety of time, in other words the fear of death, the continuity of knowledge and wisdom that has brought us here together is rooted in love, a love that is not only as strong as death but able to cast out fear.” (Warning: The language in the rest of the play is considerably earthier.)
May we be rooted in love this year. A love that makes us courageous. I will be blogging about what requires my courage, and look forward to hearing about what calls upon yours.
Mardi Tindal is Moderator of The United Church of Canada.
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