Five Minute Friday :: Route

Downtown Los Angeles in May
• Five Minute Friday :: Route Linkup

In my footer pics you can see one of my takes on the sign at the very end of Route 66 at the Santa Monica Pier. My church sits along Route 66; second pic is the sign on the building accented with a couple of cables. It's always a joy when the sun comes up on the Santa Monica Boulevard along Route 66 and we're there to gather around Word and Sacrament. Again. And next week, too.

What can I say about a route, a path, a road? The road home, or the road to the cross? The route that intersects with another every time I venture east or west or almost anywhere?

I'm writing about a route and routes on Thursday 16 July. It's the middle day of July, it's this blog's twenty-fourth blogoversary, and I'm still working through an anniversary post that I'll pre-date when I finish.

My header provides a hint of what my intended route has been all along. Only a hint, because my passion for cities and The City includes downtown with its skyscrapers, mid-city, the CBD, the edges, the margins, the central city, and the not yet imagined.

How does a person discern their path or route? Gifts, passions, opportunities. Circumstances, too, as a subset of opportunities. My chosen route felt so logical. The way opportunities and circumstances came together, I knew God was choosing the city for me, and awaiting my response and participation. What happened?

Did an alternate route slowly or suddenly appear? No. Did I uncover an old interest and try to revive it? No. Did I change my mind about cities and The City and decide to sit things out? No.

Or did the city start happening and then continue with sometimes clear, sometimes imperceptible twists, turns, detours, and dead ends? Not that I've noticed. Did I take a different route home? No. I didn't and I haven't yet.

What personality and path has your route or routes taken?

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LACMA :: Village Square

Originally I'd planned to explore more of the new David Geffen Galleries for the second Tuesday in July, but memories of my first and only time there in April overwhelmed me. I hadn't been able to figure out or appreciate the layout and arrangement and this week I didn't have enough energy to try again.

There were exhibits in the Resnick Pavilion I hadn't really seen, so this time I focused on Village Square that opened February 22 and closes July 19. The description won't always be on the LACMA website; here's what it's about:

"Village Square brings together nearly 50 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection in a celebration of art and community. The exhibition showcases expressive landscapes and striking portraits by Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Modigliani, Sisley, Soutine, Toulouse-Lautrec, and others. Many of these bold, dynamic works grew out of close friendships among artists, and on occasion with Henry Pearlman himself. Village Square honors the Pearlmans' belief in art's power to create shared experiences and foster connections.

"This is the final opportunity to see the collection before it is gifted to museums across the country; six important works will remain at LACMA, strengthening its modern and impressionist holdings.

"This exhibition was co-organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum."

• Paul Cézanne, Cistern in the Park of Chateau Noir, c. 1900

• Chaim Soutine, Path to the Fountain, c.1920

• Chaim Soutine, Steeple of Saint-Pierre at Céret, c.1922

• Paul Cézanne, Mount Sainte-Victoire, c. 1904-06

• Paul Cézanne, Provençal Manor, c.1885

• PIerre-August Renoir, Nude in a Landscape, c.1887

• Camille Pissarro, Still Life: Apples and Pears in a Round Basket, 1872

• Paul Cézanne, Route to Le Tholonet, 1900-1904

• Paul Cézanne, House in Provence, c. 1890-94

• Maurice Utrillo, The White House c. 1937

• Oskar Kokoschka, Henry Pearlman, 1948

• Alfred Sisley, River View, 1889

Five Minute Friday :: Short

Owe no one anything, except to love one another,
for any one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8
• Five Minute Friday :: Short Linkup

Buy short; sell long. Today I'm short on cash. Again. The short end of the deal.

Everyday.

Why do so many aspects of life keep coming up short? Not enough legal tender. Not enough human tenderness. The larder and the pantry lack. No rain for forty days and forty nights. Then nothing but rain with no sun for forty days and…

Knowing all that to be the case, what can we say about living in grace?

Maybe especially when we study the apostle Paul's theology, we contrast law and gospel.

Scripture reveals a world where we don't come up short, but one filled with abundance. The Hebrew scriptures particularly emphasize God's way as one of shalom, a peace that's far more than the absence of conflict. Shalom is wholeness, justice, goodness, bounty, and commonwealth. When we love one another we create shalom for the long run.

Shalom is integrity and honesty with each other. Shalom is the gospel lived out wherever we go. Shalom never runs short; it's the fullness of everything we need.

In the Acts of the Apostles we learn the newly birthed church born of Spirit, water, and Word, made sure everyone had enough, no one came up short on essentials. What can we say about living in grace?

"Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for any one who loves another has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8

"Happy are the Shalom-makers, for they will be called children of heaven." Matthew 5:9

They'll be called children of heaven because when they practice shalom, no one comes up short. Everyone has enough. That is good news. That's gospel!

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Five Minute Friday :: Outcome

• Five Minute Friday :: Outcome Linkup

Soccer and the World Cup isn't one of my preoccupations, but I love Major League Baseball (MLB); I've been known to get excited and despondent during the post-season. My first ever MLB game was at the old Tiger Stadium after I'd taken my first solo flight as a passenger. I was in grade 7 or 8. I've noticed parents and kids often make things complicated when a kid or a teen flies unaccompanied, but I went to Boston-Logan, got on the plane, flew to Detroit-Metro, got off the plane. No big deal, but that may have been because I'd been riding city buses and subways alone forever.

Fenway Park by Chris Devers, 2004
Although back then I had next to zero knowledge of the game, in retrospect the Tigers game with an opponent I don't remember was a watershed. A couple years later during high school the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park started to become part of the narrative of my life. Later on when I served an inner city Boston church, senior pastor was able to get Red Sox tickets almost on a whim, and I went to many games that way. A few times I drove youth group kids to Fenway in the church van; other times we traveled there on the subway. For sure I considered myself On The Clock whenever I took on that responsibility.

Today's word is outcome. "I often remind myself" the best way to predict the future is to create it; that's what I knew I was doing with a series of schools, skills, and experiences. As of now, the outcome is far from the minimum I'd anticipated. But God's promises and God's faithfulness are outside of time as we humans measure time. Can I trust God for the outcome of all those years of preparation and expectation?

There's spring training and there's the fall post-season, but I love that baseball is mostly an icon of summer. Although baseball is country, suburban, and everywhere, there's something particularly urban about it, and cities are my jam. Did I already mention Detroit and Boston?

I love baseball's leisurely pace as if clocks and watches don't exist. I love that baseball is an American invention. I love those memories of Fenway Park. I love watching stellar defense and crazy offense. Baseball majorly qualifies as one of my major Life Stuff topics. As I wonder about hopes, dreams, and disappointments, "I often remind myself" baseball is a perfect model for life.

The outcome? You win some; you lose some. Tomorrow is another day, another game, another outcome.
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Broad Museum + Gloria Molina Grand Park

• The Broad Museum

• Roy Lichtenstein, "Coup de Chapeau II," 1996

• Roy Lichtenstein, "Female Figure," 1979

• Roy Lichtenstein, "Perfection Painting" (detail), 1986

• Mark Bradford, "Deep Blue," 2018

• Edward Ruscha, "Gilded, Marbled, and Foibled" (detail), 2011-2012

• Andreas Gursky, "Kuwait Stock Exchange II," 2008

• Hank Willis Thomas, born 1976, "We shall not be moved," 2022

• David Hammona, born 1943, "African-American flag," 1990

• Jeff Koons, born 1955, "Party Hat," 1995-7


• On the way to Grand Park:

• Succulents

• LAPhil Store

• Skyscraper


• Gloria Molina Grand Park

• I neglected to get picture of the abundant bright pink seating, though I have some from previous years. Next time, I trust.