Tag Archives: Burma

Tainted: Not the Grand Transition We Would Hope

Posted on November 7, 2015 by KGJ

This Sunday is a landmark election in Myanmar: described as the first democratic transition in that nation in over half a century. If it happens as the world hopes. It’s easy to be cynical.  There have been elections in Myanmar, … Continue reading →

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Choosing Open Eyes (sermon)

Posted on February 24, 2015 by KGJ

This sermon was delivered on February 22, 2015 at First Parish Church of Groton, MA. audio version here Somewhere in Asia – Japan or Malaysia or some other country – there is a picture on a Buddhist monk’s smart phone. … Continue reading →

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What is the Hokey Pokey All About?

Posted on January 30, 2015 by KGJ

When I was a social worker/home visitor and got paid for playing with toddlers, I worked in a community that was predominantly Spanish-speaking.  This means that I learned a couple of songs in Spanish that are typically sung in Puerto … Continue reading →

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Abundance Scooped from Abundance: Reflections on Myanmar

Posted on January 25, 2015 by KGJ

homily delivered today at First Parish Church of Groton There is a line from an Anne Sexton poem. I have used it here and nearly everywhere I have been given the chance: Abundance scooped from abundance, yet abundance remains. Surely, … Continue reading →

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A Nation Being Rebuilt: My Fortnight in Myanmar (poem)

Posted on January 20, 2015 by KGJ

To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among brothers, To make music in the heart. (The Work of Christmas, Howard Thurman) The tongue so … Continue reading →

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Burma Reds (poem)

Posted on January 19, 2015 by KGJ

Bricks from the 9th century onward, the shape of pagodas and temples throughout the whole of ancient Bagan. Modern bricks, careful rectangular stacks surpassing my own height, on display before every third or eighth roadside establishment. Or in piles, waiting … Continue reading →

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Climbing Bagan

Posted on January 16, 2015 by KGJ

For three days, we are in the Bagan region, which is like walking amid a ten square mile swath of thousand year old ruins. I should be more accurate. It’s not like that. It is that. We spent the day … Continue reading →

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Post-Colonial Dinner Theater: An Attempt to Restore Erased Dignity

Posted on January 9, 2015 by KGJ

It was supposed to be a pinnacle evening. I must say, a pinnacle among pinnacles, because this trip has been full of amazing encounters and experiences. Flush with them. It’s been invigorating and exhausting and thrilling and inspiring. Tonight was … Continue reading →

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Visiting Pann Pyo Let: An Abundance of Abundance

Posted on January 6, 2015 by KGJ

I am beyond exhausted and yet feel the desire and the duty to blog. Our days are overfilled here. There is the theoretical option to opt out of an activity but few of us find that easy. None of us … Continue reading →

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New Year, New Hope, and the Hokey Pokey

Posted on January 4, 2015 by KGJ

The last Sunday of the old year I spent at my internship congregation. I led what they endearingly call ‘Sandwich Worship.’ Traditionally, the Sunday after Christmas, worship takes place in the vestry of the building. Formal worship is truncated (and … Continue reading →

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