ocean

Sarah James 3-20-2023
A black-and-white lithograph of rippling ocean waves, meticulously drawn by Vija Celmins so as to appear like a black-and-white photo.

“Ocean” (1975) by ©️ Vija Celmins / courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery

THERE'S A REFORM JEWISH Sabbath prayer that reads, “Days pass and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles. Lord, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing; let there be moments when Your Presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which we walk. Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed. And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness, and exclaim in wonder: ‘How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know it!’”

If we want to experience awe or wonder, we need to reach for inputs of wisdom that enliven our ways of seeing. As a person who struggles with overthinking and anxiety, I find visual art, like the work of Latvian American artist Vija Celmins, to be instructive. “The thing I like about painting, of course,” Celmins said in an interview with the Tate museum, “is that it takes just a second for the information to go ‘bam,’ all the way in, and then you can explore it later.” Engaging with Celmins’ work teaches me how to pay close attention to the life in front of me, noticing the beauty that pervades everything.

QR Blog Editor 4-30-2013

The sea-surface temperatures were the highest measured in 150 years in 2012. USA Today reports:

"The average temperature in that area hit a record high of 57.2 degrees last year. The previous record was set in 1951, according to NOAA."

The rise in temperature could influence fish and shellfish on the Northeast shell.

Read more here.

Sarah Vanderveen 2-06-2012
Sarah Vanderveen heads in from surfing in her hometown.

Sarah Vanderveen heads in from surfing in her hometown.

A new poem by Sarah Vanderveen...

I pulled on my wetsuit
quick, quick
pausing to take note
of a new hole under the left arm, darnit
and paddled out.

Christine Sine 7-19-2010
The other day, I got together with a pastor friend who is feeling discouraged and overwhelmed by the extent of the Gulf oil spill and his inability
Jim Wallis 7-07-2010

The captain was the first to smell it. He told us that the ocean didn't used to smell this way. Then, we all smelled it.

Dave Allen 6-21-2010
In early June, a week-long gathering at the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School brought together a diverse group of Ch
Jim Wallis 6-17-2010
This week, in President Barack Obama's Oval Office speech on the oil spill, he used the term "mission." That's the right word.
Debra Dean Murphy 6-07-2010

The current crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is being packaged and sold as a story of blame and gross incompetence, and there's plenty of both to go around.

Jim Wallis 6-03-2010
I am watching unbelievable pictures tonight of endless swaths of brown oil mixed with the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, of dying wetlands and marshes, of miles of contaminated coastlines, of d
Tracey Bianchi 6-02-2010

In the daily grind of life there are few obstacles as irritating as traffic. The opening scene of "Office Space" deftly captures the sentiment. You know it, the neurotic jockeying and ill-fated attempts we make to slip ourselves into the lane that appears to be moving.

Jim Wallis 5-27-2010
The insurgent Tea Party and its Libertarian philosophy is a political phenomenon, not a religious one.
Ken Sehested 5-27-2010
In the beginning, darkness covered the face of the deep.

Then the Breath of Heaven swept across the waters, blessing the sea with all manner of creatures.