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Was a powerful four part series
at Trinity Cathedral,
Easton Maryland
So, we're sharing insights, links and
recorded guided meditations. Find them below...
We live in a challenging time, don't we?
But dividing people into “us vs. them” isn't the only path.
We used the metaphor of a journey on train as a way to express the common experiences of life through which we will all pass. Then we shared our stories, and grew closer. Ask someone who came...
In life, we travel with people we love,
and ones who trouble us; with friends and with strangers.
As the song in the videos says: "We're all passengers here..."
Here's how we began the series
Promo for the series “The Wrapping is Not the Gift”
Preamble to Session 1
One participant shared, "It was great to hear each person's story and get to know each other in a deeper sense." Others commented on the peace they found in the guided meditations' silence and the sense of connection experienced during the closing exercise.
Station 1: NewBirth
00:00 / 01:04
Station 2: LostOne
00:00 / 01:04
This American Life's episode #597, "One More Thing Before I Go" (2016), had a First Act titled "Really Long Distance", whose caption may serve to introduce the concept for sharing purposes: "Producer Miki Meek tells the story of a phone booth in Japan that attracts thousands of people who lost loved ones in the 2011 tsunami and earthquake.
A Japanese TV crew from NHK Sendai filmed people inside the phone booth, whose phone is not connected to anything at all. (22 minutes) "This was my introduction to the "Phone of the Wind", and this presentation is haunting and heart melting -- exemplary of "driveway radio". Though it is derivative of the original NHK documentary, it is worth auditioning as a companion piece because of the skill with which Producer Miki Meek describes the encounters while providing background on language, religion, and ritual that are assumed by NHK of its original target audience.https://www.thisamericanlife.org/597/one-last-thing-before-i-go-2016/act-one-0
NHK World's original Documentary 360 episode, "The Phone of the Wind: Whispers to Lost Families" (2016).The description, from the website, reads:"Hello. If you're out there, please listen to me." On a hill overlooking the ocean in Otsuchi Town in northeastern Japan is a phone booth known as the "Telephone of the Wind." It is connected to nowhere, but people come to "call" family members lost during the tsunami of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Many visit the phone booth including a mother and 3 children who have lost their father. This documentary looks at the unique role that this phone is playing in helping the grieving process of many. Awards: Grand Prix, 36th International URTI Grand Prix for Author's Documentary (2017) Highly Commended, 21st Asian Television Awards (2016).https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/4001232/
NHK World's sequel Documentary 360 episode,"The Wind Phone: From Japan to the World" (2026).The description, from the website, reads: "Originating in Japan, the phenomenon of wind phones has now spread worldwide. These special phones, which aren't connected to a telephone line, have the power to connect people with lost loved ones."This documentary quotes both the original (2016) NHK documentary and the This American Life segment. But it adds the perspective of the intervening years with interviews of the installer of the first wind phone, follow-up visits by people from the first documentary, and people in other countries who have installed wind phones. According to the directory profiled in the 2nd half, there are two wind phones in Maryland and none in Delaware. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/4001493/
We spent more time in silence. This took us to a deeper place. In the groups people spoke of ways they felt a connection to people who had died. One participant shared three links for all pieces of media for the
"Phone of the Wind." The following descriptions and comments are their's.
Station 3: End of a Chapter
00:00 / 01:04
Everyone has a story of things that came to an end;
sometimes the end is by our choosing, and sometimes someone else's choice ends a chapter for us. After three sessions people have really opened up. Holding clear norms and offering a similar shape for our time together creates a feeling of safe space in which people felt free to go deeper.
One participant wrote: "Thank for another great workshop! The breakout groups, again, the best! So much to learn by listening to other people's spiritual intuition and experience."
At Station 3 I shared that I would post the story of a young man who wrote about his own end of a chapter which offered him slef-realization and the opportunity to forgive and be forgiven. Here's the link:
https://www.readtangle.com/otherposts/we-are-all-capable-of-bigotry-and-grace/?ref=the-sunday-edition-newsletter
Station 4: Mercy: Unexpected Grace
00:00 / 01:04
After this fourth mediation we received requests
for copies of the meditations.
I’d said be happy to share them, but guided meditations are meant to be heard. I tested the idea with a number of participants.
Here's one of several responses
"Thanks, Charlie. I truly enjoyed the entire series
and looking forward to the recording."
So, there’s one more Station of the Heart for me - the recording studio.
( 4/3/26 The audio buttons with the Stations of the Heart logo
are NOT active until I'm done. Check back next week).
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