Posted on 08/09/2008 9:33:39 PM PDT by Natty Bumppo@frontier.net
I lost a friend recently. She was hiking in the high mountains of California, fasting and praying, on a spiritual vision-quest of sorts. A microscopic blood clot ended her life. At one moment she saw the sun rising over the mountain peaks and felt the crisp bite of the mountain air. In the next, she was gone, leaving all of her friends to wonder why God would take her from us.
We were never particularly close, but she is someone that I have admired and respected for years. She has a disconcerting habit of returning the least affection many-fold, often startling the unwary and unguarded. She is someone who clearly lives in a persistent state of joy and hope, undeterred by the opposition of a world far more cynical surrounding her.
She seems more at ease in blue jeans and boots than ecclesiastic robes, and yet she seems perfectly suited to her sacred roles. The earnestness with which she greets every day speaks of a confident relationship with her Creator, and her enthusiasm speaks of her desire to share that relationship with any who will listen.
But she is no Pollyanna, this woman. As a professional counselor, she is daily confronted with the darkest fears and deepest insecurities facing anyone who walks into her office, yet she comes away from these explorations into despair somehow renewed and resolved.
She plays guitar, banjo, and a number of instruments. We have had a long-standing promise between us to sit down and jam on the guitars, and I suspect that she is far the better musician than I. The fact that I don’t mind says something about this woman.
We are probably diametrically opposed politically, but we have never really bothered to explore those differences. It is almost as if they didn’t matter. I am sure that she would be dismayed by my discomfort with Barrack Obama, and my conservative philosophy. Like Obama, she often spoke of the power of hope, of the audacity of never giving up, of the need to live authentically.
I think what I admire most about here is that she really does live authentically. She is not about talk, she is about doing. She clearly understands, for example, that prayer is not the mere making of sounds and supplications, but a genuinely subversive force. I think she understands that if you believe in something strongly enough to pray for it, you believe in it strongly enough to do something about it. She understands that prayer is a force for change and transformation, and not just a ritual of words. She calls it authenticity, this living out what you believe. I call it honesty.
I don’t always agree with her ideas, or her often counter-culture approach, but I have always enjoyed the joyful way she lives, the unstinting generosity of her affection, and her unswerving optimism and confidence.
At her memorial service, the choir sang the Song for Athene by John Taverner, an ethereal dirge once heard at the funeral for Princess Diana, and then Beethoven’s Elegisher Gesang (Op.118), a haunting and deliberate elegiac anthem. They were followed by Weaver’s sassy organ composition, the ballpark-tinged, high-stepping arrangement of For All the Saints and When The Saints Go Marching In. I recall that Karen chuckled with mischief when many of the “frozen chosen” at our church squirmed at the jazzy strains of this piece the first time they heard it, years ago. Now, I can hardly think of a better way to say goodbye.
I’ve lost a friend, but I cannot bring myself to speak of her in the past tense. She may be gone in every human sense that I know, yet I know she is not. Like Karen, I believe in the life that waits for us beyond this temporal waystation, and I believe that it is where we are meant to continue. This is not only my prayer, but it is my purpose.
Reverend Karen Blomberg – pastor, teacher, musician, writer, counselor, sage, humorist, and friend – I am told that she set out on this spiritual journey to the mountains, armed with prayers for all of her friends. As one of those friends pointed out, we can only assume that she has delivered them in person. I have no doubt that they were delivered with the same authentic force with which she greeted every day, every person, and every experience.
Karen ended each conversation with “’Bye for now.” I will pray and work to deserve that confidence when it’s my turn.
We all get our turn at bat. It sounds like she lived well and ended well.
One of these days we’ll meet up on the other side.
This obit doesn’t really belong here...
http://www.mainstreetchi.com/associate_karen.html
A clergywoman for over 25 years,... Karen incorporates the best of coaching strategies and designs programs for many groups including Women, Gay / Lesbian individuals and couples, Clergy, Men, and Married couples.
***********
Rev. Blomberg was in the Inyo Mountains on a vision quest camping trip sponsored by Wilderness Rites, an Oregon group that promotes earth-based healing practices. “The vision quest is an ancient rite of passage that provides an opportunity to step away from your busy life and slow down enough to hear the voice of the natural world,” the group’s Web site stated.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902192_5.html
I’m sorry for anyone who dies untimely but I agree with Petronius that this obit is not appropriate for a Conservative website.
I like the idea of working for what you pray for....so many sycophants.....preach, preach, preach, but never simply "do"....
this woman sounded like a "doer"...
In the meaningful words of the Bard of Avon, “parting is such sweet sorrow”.
RIP.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.