This is a koshare – a native-american pueblo clown with a simultaneous reputation both for exposing truth in a playful and mischievous way, as well as one of exhibiting a near constant level of joy and delight. The spirit represented by this doll has a great gift to give to the people living in the pueblo because it can and will often say things that nobody wants to hear or that nobody would dare say out loud. In the end, the spirit is what we Christians would call a prophet. The difference between our two religious and social cultures of course is that we Christians kill our prophets and the native-american pueblo dwellers listen to them. They love to raise and give money and have fun doing it. Last night I went to a fundraiser to raise funds for the alleviation of Poverty at http://www.nmappleseed.org/ and had a blast! They raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and some of it to support Heading Home’s work to keep parents and children threatened by homelessness together and into permanent supportive housing.
Having left my work as a prophetic voice on stewardship and major gifts in my last job, I am relived to live alone in an alfalfa field with a dog and a horse among such wonderfully kind and courageous people. Here in New Mexico, where I now raise money for the alleviation of the suffering caused by homelessness ( …feel free to make a gift to Heading Home now at http://www.abqheadinghome.org/!) I am raising money among people who know how to do it, who like doing it, and who are good at it. They love the strategy of raising money to stop human suffering and they love the work of creativity which inspires good people to make contributions which delight their soul at having alleviated suffering. It is such a wonderful way to raise money! Heading Home staff like the strategic work of creating the case, making the request and celebrating with the donor’s gift. My colleagues actually go on successful major gift calls with me and when we ask for the gift, we marvelously feel confident in the “why” of that for which the money is raised. Then we celebrate with our donors, the great and unfolding success of healing the planet together! It is so wonderful!
Tomorrow we will gather with three bands to party the afternoon away with good food great drinks, new friends and the Mayor of Albuquerque who will celebrate the success of ten agencies rising money for the alleviation of suffering from homelessness – and he will jam one his guitar with one of the bands! (To see his stunning TED talk about Heading Home go to https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_j_berry_a_practical_way_to_help_the_homeless_find_work_and_safety/up-next ) So fun! No pomp but tons of circumstance! To buy a ticket (if you can come or not!) go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/making-change-through-music-tickets-35390123813
I have this image above inside my desk drawer and soon will have it hanging on the wall of my office which looks out over the Episcopal Cathedral. It makes me laugh to think of this wonderful pueblo spirit playfully truth-telling, the reject prophet of the pueblo, and yet the one who tells the truth. My last office had a dozen icons in it. This office will have two primary images on its walls: this one, and a photo of a homeless man. That will be more than enough spiritual inspiration for awn eight-hour day.
