Community Kali

Thanks to a silly Facebook meme I’ve been humming ’90s Christian music in my head all week. I’m not gonna lie: I owned Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W Smith cds, but my favorites were Iona and Rich Mullins. I still like those last two.

I think the last two spoke to me – speak to me still – because they weren’t the standard popular music of day (Mullins played the hammer dulcimer!) and the lyrics were sometimes ambiguous, sometimes about the personal struggle to even feel the intimacy of god, and often used imagery from nature. Even in my most Bible thumping of Christian days I still mostly found god outside. That’s where the divine made most sense to me. There was something personal in the music of Iona and Rich Mullins; it was less out to convert and more about individual experience. I could respect that, and still do. Some of their music, especially that of Iona, still speaks to my current, definitely not Christian experience.

One praise and worship song (congregational singing) super popular in the mid-90s when I attended Protestant church was ‘Awesome God.’ Many people didn’t know it was written by Mullins. The chorus has simple lyrics and an easy to sing tune. A few nights ago while putting my kids to sleep I was inspired and mixed up the lyrics:

Kali is an awesome god/She reigns from heaven above/with wisdom, power and love/Kali is an awesome god

Shiva is an awesome god/He reigns from heaven above/with wisdom, power and love/Shiva is an awesome god

Ganesh is an awesome god/He reigns from heaven above/with wisdom, power and love/Ganesh is an awesome god

The kids loved it and had me sing it over and over and over!

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In other Kali news, the Kali mural on the Indian place on the main drag in Olympia has been finished!

I just love that there are large murals of gods decorating the side of a building! After taking this picture I decided to go into the Indian restaurant and tell them so! Positive feedback and all that. Also, I wondered if there were plans for any other deities to be depicted on their walls. Maybe a Saraswati? Maybe a Shiva?

The answer that the very nice man at the front counter gave me surprised me: “I don’t know! If some one wants to come do it!” Turns out they did not put up the murals, nor do they know who did them! Some one put up the Ganesh and the man figures some one else decided not to be outdone and put up the Kali. Olympia is full of awesome wall murals (both intentional and un-). I love that graf artists did this! My only concern is assuming that an Indian restaurant is owned by Hindus and/or people who like these particular gods. However, the man at the counter seemed pleased by the murals too and wouldn’t mind more.

Anyone in Olympia up for painting another one?