Today so happens to be the birthday of the legendary Stevie Wonder. Not only legendary because of 25 Grammy Awards and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, among numerous other accolades; but a legendary smile that seems to always light up an entire stage and stadium and even beyond. Part of his amazing story is the very beginning: born several weeks premature, leading to medical treatment complications resulting in blindness for the rest of his life. And yet, seemingly in spite of all of that, still a smile that could reel in an audience of millions.
Perhaps it’s a necessary evil for all of us who turn to technology for banking and shopping and checking in on medical charting: that we must go along with the dreaded 2-step security verification, as if changing a password every other month with a lower and upper-case letters and numbers and special characters and other specifications isn’t enough to make our always-needing-to-be-informed lives interesting. Usually the next step could be a phone call or text message to make sure it’s really you attempting to log in to whatever respective account; but sometimes you will need to solve puzzles or select which pictures include a certain item or find images that parallel each other. Recently, I was a bit taken aback when I saw the conclusion of one such…interesting process: “Congratulations! You’ve proven you’re a human.”
Today so happens to be the 15th anniversary of Prince William and Princess Kate, whose wedding may not have received quite the social media fanfare and near-obsession as Harry and Meghan, but hundreds of millions still viewed the 2011 ceremony over the various technological means around the world. One of the most eye-grabbing parts of Westminster Abbey that day was not just the attire of the bride and groom, or the various internationally recognized guests, but the eight 20-foot trees that seemed to dramatically pop on the screen. It was nearly an absolute shock that the supposed most die-hard stick-to-the-script traditionalist monarchs of Britain would allow a near forest to overtake the most cherished sanctuary space for all of England, and yet, it was rather serene and beautiful and inspiring all at once.
Before beginning, on behalf of our Divinity community of faith, we extend our heartfelt sorrow to the family of the student who died at Valley Forge High School, and to all students, faculty, and others affected by the tragedy. We will take time during our upcoming weekend worships and healing services to better minister to those affected by that tragedy. In the meantime, we lift up our own humble prayers clinging to the Lord of the compassionate cross and restoring Resurrection.
Although for most Americans, April 15 begins and ends with making sure financial matters are in order with federal and state and local governments, today is also the birthdate of perhaps one of the most influential figures in history in Leonardo da Vinci. But for many church-going individuals, his Last Supper artistic rendition may be one of the most frequently hung works of art in fellowship halls or Sunday school classrooms or some other random spot inside houses of worship.
