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Michelle L. Torigian

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Michelle L. Torigian

Tag Archives: cold war

A Prayer for Hawaii and Shaking False Alarms

13 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by mictori in Current Events, Life, Pop

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Tags

aniety, Balistic missle, cold war, Hawaii, january 2018, nuclear war, panic, Russia

IMG_6315

God of the eerily quiet mornings-

We pray for our siblings in Hawaii as they wrestle with the moments that opened their day. From the emergency message that burst from their phones to receiving the corrected message, we know that some may be dealing with trauma from 38 dreadful minutes.

These False alarms still shake spirits and scar one’s faith in humanity, God. It feels cruel that they these exist and that our friends were required to face such mistakes.

So, if post traumatic stress is pulsating through their souls, we ask that you comfort your people. May the Spirit’s peace serenity bubble within them. May their calls to loved ones today be conversations filled with laugh ter and sentiments of care.

God, many of us remember times when nuclear war seemed imminent, and we ask that you guide our world to a place in which we can all live in peace. May we never abide in a Cold War World again, and may the frigidness of our leaders thaw and allow new life to bloom.

Amen.

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Prince, Tabitha, and That Which Ceases to Die

22 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by mictori in Current Events, Music, Pop, Pop Culture

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1999, Acts 9, Batdance, Batman, cold war, Darling Nikki, death, Jesus, Let's Go Crazy, Nothing Compares 2U, Prince, progressive Christianity, religion, Resurrection, Tabitha

imageDearly Beloved… We are called today to get through this thing called life…

In the midst of our difficult days and questions floating through our heads, we cringed yesterday afternoon when hearing that one who brought the tunes to our childhood and early adult years ceased to be.

No more concerts.  No more physical presence among us.  No longer here.

I remember the soundtrack of my life.  I remember when the ever-so-edgy “Darling Nikki” was sung at the top of my classmates voices during a 1984 slumber party.  I probably didn’t know very much about its meaning – I was only 12 – but it was solidly embedded in my culture.

I remember when the words of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2U” comforted me the night of my first real breakup, hearing the soothing melody ring out from Sinead’s voice.

I remember our pom pon routine to the latter part of “Batdance” – the routine we performed on the night I started dating my college boyfriend.  And I remember that Arms of Orion was really my favorite tune of his Batman soundtrack.

I remember riding over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge as the song “Little Red Corvette” blasted from the tapedeck during the great spring break of 1993.  And when I hear that song, I think of my friend who is no longer alive.

I remember the moment in the past year or so when I realized more years had passed since year 1999 than existed between 1984 (the year the song was written) and the actual 1999.  And I remember really, really listening to the lyrics of 1999, knowing how frightened I was in the mid-1980’s of the world exploding one day because of nuclear weapons.

It is with great sadness that Prince is no longer alive.

It is with great joy that Prince is still alive.

Here’s what the resurrection stories of all sorts – especially the story of Tabitha in Acts 9 – reminds us: that even after our physical death, our gifts don’t die. While the narrative includes a physical resuscitation of Tabitha, the real miracle was that she was alive before her resurrection through her talents.   Like the women surrounding the body of Tabitha at her wake celebrating her gifts and showing off her arts, we have spent the past 24 hours sharing tune after tune of Prince’s most meaningful tunes.  We have shared stories passed on to us of what his music meant in our greatest and worst moments of our lives.  We have mentioned the narratives we heard about the great things he had done under the radar.

Through the great resurrection narrative of Jesus the Christ, resurrection happens.  Songs and stories and shared talents keep people alive.

And that is why Prince remains with us forever.

 

 

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Advent Prayer Day 7 – The Cry of Generation X

07 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by mictori in Church Life, Current Events, Life, Movies, Music, Pop, Pop Culture, Religion

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Tags

Advent, advent prayer, Advent prayers, cold war, Gen X Prayer, Gen-X, Generation X, It's the End of the World, Kurt Cobain, nuclear war, occupy advent, progressive Christianity, REM, the 1980's, the 1990's, Wynona Ryder

imageGod, they called us slackers
And those without direction
And angsty
As if Wynona or Kurt spoke for all of us.
Maybe they did… a little.

We wondered when the world would blow up
Who would send the missiles first-
Us versus them.
There’s still a piece of our souls
That cringe when we hear “war” or “bombs” or “nuclear.”

It’s the end of the world as we know it…
But we couldn’t tell if we felt fine,
Or if we didn’t.  Meh.

Maybe it was melancholy that we became accustomed to.
Maybe we stopped hoping.

And yet, we weren’t slacking
We’re just trying to listen for our call
To know where to go
And embracing meaning in everything we do.

We worked.
We kept moving forward.
Moving through the motions as we waited for life to start
Or end.

We couldn’t be as cool as the generation before
Or the generation after.
We’re the middle child, living in the shadow of our older brother Boomer
And eclipsed by our younger sister Millennial.

We are the generation in the wilderness
Wondering if we’ll make it into the promised land.
From crisis to crisis
Our story is a journey
Never a destination.

Sometimes, God, it was tough to find you
And we lost some sisters and brothers along the way.

And now, as adults,
We only know resilience in despair’s face.
We lament, God, as we may never understand our true purpose
Or accomplish what we had hoped for.

Now in the early evening of our lives,
We wonder if we’ll live the dream
Or continue to move through the motions.

 

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