Couronnée d’étoiles

Posted by J on Nov 2, 2012 in Audio Postcard, J Posts | 1 comment

We said goodbye this week to Croatia on a hulking ferry bound for Italy. Our last glimpse of the country was the one pictured above – of Split, Croatia’s harbor, as seen from the ferry’s rear deck railing.

A group of Catholic pilgrims were near us at the rear of the boat, looking out over the distant harbor as well. They’d just returned from a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. (It is a city where the virgin Mary is said to have appeared more than a few times since 1981.)

The pilgrims started singing as our boat began its journey across the Adriatic. Here’s one titled “Couronnée d’étoiles,” or “Crowned With Stars”:

One of the pilgrims held his youngest daughter in his arms. He told me these hymns were their goodbye to Croatia.

It was a powerful concert. Unexpected. Mystical. Mysterious. Beautiful. Worshipful. Joyful. Peaceful. Under a full moon, it was an experience truly crowned with stars. And it was a reminder of how VALUABLE the unexpected can be.

Not twenty-four hours before, our travel plans had been completely uprooted by bad weather and news that our ferry crossing from Dubrovnik, Croatia had been cancelled. That meant we wouldn’t be arriving in Italy as expected – and the next ferry to Italy, we were told, would leave from an entirely different city.

We handled the news SO WELL. We slept on the cancelled ferry. We woke up and drove up the coast. We spent an unplanned day together outside, strolling through Split’s old city and coast. We reflected on what we were learning about CHANGE.

And – just before bed – we listened to the simple harmonies of a handful of pilgrims … still basking in a glorious bit of fellowship and worship. I stood there among them, basking in their goodbye hymns, basking in the sudden crown of stars … a man gladly – and powerfully – changed by change.