I recently gave sermon, “Virtue, Vice, and Economic Advice.” In the service I played two music videos to highlight how we humans have broken our covenant with all of life, and how we might mend this covenant. In terms of Compassionate Communication, we live under an economic system where the needs of many aren’t even on the table, leaving many to starve while others stuff themselves at a feast made abundant only through the suffering of other beings. I believe it is possible to live another way, to equally consider all the needs of all life, and then to get creative about finding solutions out of this fix we are in. To know the needs of others, we must know of their lives, and mourn the sorrowful abundance of misery and unmet basic needs in this world. For this aim, I made a music video to the song, “Hallelujah” (sung by Alison Crowe and lyrics by Leonard Cohen). Once we can find a way to hold in our hearts the unmet needs of our earth and her beings, creative possibilities emerge, such as shown in the second video, “Playing for Change” set to the song “Stand By Me.” Though there is heartache in the world, we can find joy and playfully engage with others to mend our hearts and the living covenant that we were born under – the beauty of life that cannot be denied, be it in rainbow, human on the road, or bird in our hand.
