Edward Hays ~ Author, Artist & Storyteller
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Haystack Blog
  • Artwork
  • Novels
    • Pilate's Prisoner
  • Prayers
  • Stories
  • Spirituality
  • Advent & Christmas
  • Almanacs
  • Lent

The Art of Tangibilitating

11/12/2014

3 Comments

 

The Art of Tangibilitating


Dear old and new friends,

     Perhaps the most famous of all black preachers was Father Divine who preached the art of tangibilitating in the 1930’s in Harlem. During those difficult years of the Great Depression, Father Divine would thunder at the crowds attending his services, “You got to learn to tangibilitate!” (What a wonderfully melodic word; let it ripple playfully off your tongue, “tan-gi-bi-li-late”). He challenged his faithful to transform their gratitude into substantial expressionism, and that they indeed did as they came forward singing to place their gifts at Father Divine’s feet. This call to give concrete thanks wasn’t limited to just a single offertory collection, as in the ritual in white churches, but a gathering of gifts came numerous times in black worship as it was the central drama in their act of worship.

     Let Father Divine inspire us to tangibilitate our gratitude to God daily as our central prayer and worship. Along with or instead of verbal prayers, let us be creative in finding physical gifts or actions to say thanks to the Great Gift Giver. When we give thanks to others (and to God invisible in them) let us strive to “show” our gratitude by tangibilitating it instead of simply speaking it. Some gifts have such deep implications they can call for repeated thanksgivings. In some black churches it was customary after the people had given the ushers their donations that their gifts were immediately counted. If the total collected wasn’t sufficient to meet the present needs of the church, this fact was announced and the ushers took up other collections until the amount needed was achieved. If your parish is having troubles making ends meet, as most are today, consider suggesting to your pastor he introduce in your church the ritual of Black churches with “on-going” collections. Which reminds me of a story.

     In a poor Jewish village in Russia lived a tailor’s son named Adam eager to marry the beautiful young Rebecca, but he lacked the money to pay for a wedding. Three village men decided to take of a collection from their fellow villagers so this unfortunate Adam could marry. They went house to house where each family gave what they could, but the amount collected fell short of paying for a wedding. The leader of the three, Samuel, said, “Let us go up to Jacob’s house and ask him to donate to our cause.” The second of the three, Abram, negatively shook his head, “You’re crazy! Jacob is a heartless miser!” Levi, the third villager, said, “What do we have to loose, let us go up to Jacob’s house.”

     Now Jacob lived on top of a hill at the edge of the village in a large house. After the three had climbed up the hill, Samuel knocked on Jacob’s door. Finally it very slowly opened a crack as Jacob asked, “Why are you bothering me? What do you want?” Samuel expressed the sad plight of poor Adam the tailor’s son who wanted to marry the beautiful Rebecca but lacked the money for the marriage. When he finish Jacob said, “Everyone has problems but I’ll go and see if I can find anything to contribute.” After a long while the door opened just wide enough for Jacob’s hand to reach out with a single penny, “This is all I could find! That tailor’s son must work harder if he wants to get married.” Samuel replied, “O thank you, Jacob, for your most generous contribution, may the God of Israel bless you.”

     “What a waste of time that was,” said Abram as they trudged sadly down the hill. Then they heard Jacob calling loudly, “Please come back. I just found more money for that poor Adam.” So they returned, but once again were given only a single penny. Samuel thanked Jacob profusely and asked God’s blessings on him for his generosity.

     Again the three men began descending the hill, and Levi said, “You’re right Abram, he is just an old tightwad penny pincher!” Samuel replied, “Levi, let us not judge Jacob; judgment is reserved only for God!”  Not long after that they heard Jacob loudly calling them to come back. “I don’t know about you two men,” said Abram, “but I’m not wasting my time just for another penny.” Samuel however begged them to go back up to Jacob’s house.

     As they approach his house Jacob came running to meet them, “Rejoice with me, I remembered where I had hidden a bag of money. I’m giving it all to that young couple, Adam and Rebecca, so they can be wed in the magnificent style of the Tsars!”
3 Comments
cynthia
11/13/2014 04:12:25 am

One cannot fully know and is often surprised by what is revealed.

Maybe that is why gratitude "all ways" works.

Thank you Edward Hays,

Reply
Melissa Parkhurst
11/14/2014 03:47:06 pm

I will try to tangibilitate my gratitude for your books and blog postings. They have been a lifeline through difficult times, especially while working on my dissertation and through the sleepless years of early parenthood.
Thank you, dear Fr. Hays!
You are as a member of my family.

Reply
Colin Edward Pate
11/19/2014 10:24:54 pm

Hello Father Ed! I just wanted to let you know that I've found your blog and am very excited to read your writings!! I hope you are doing well and look forward to meeting with you when I return back to the US from South Korea!! Cheers!!

Reply



Leave a Reply.


    Edward Hays


    Picture
    Haysian haphazard thoughts on the
    invisible and visible mysteries of life.

    Picture

    The Haystack


    Archives

    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012


    Categories

    All
    4th Of July
    Acedia
    Adam
    Advent
    Advertising
    Advice
    Affection
    Agape
    Agnostics
    Alleluia
    All Hallows Eve
    All Saints
    All Souls Day
    Alms
    Alone
    Alzheimer’s
    Amish
    Anger
    Anno Domino
    Apocalyptic
    Apostles' Creed
    April Fools
    Arrows
    Ashes
    Ash Wednesday
    Atheist
    Authenticity
    Awe
    Axe Handle
    Aztec Prayer
    Beauty
    Begging
    Belief
    Beliefs
    Believe
    Bethlehem
    Big Bang
    Blessing
    Blind Faith
    Bog
    Bondage
    Book Of Proverbs
    Born Again
    Boss
    Boundaries
    Brevity
    Broken Heart
    Bug
    Bull's-eye
    Bullying
    Carnival Of Grief
    Catalyst
    Caveman
    Celts
    Change
    Chaos
    Chardin
    Charity
    Cheating
    Child-Heart
    Chinese New Year
    Christmas
    Church
    Climate Change
    Clocks
    Coach Jesus
    Cold
    Commercialism
    Compassion
    Competition
    Conflict
    Congress
    Congress Of Fools
    Conscience
    Consumerism
    Cooking Food
    Cosmic Evolution
    Cosmic Prayers
    Cosmos
    Costumes
    Courage
    Cousins
    Cq
    Creation
    Creativity
    Cross
    Crucified Christ
    Crucifix
    Cupid
    Dalai Lama
    Dancing
    Daredevil
    Daring
    Dearly Beloved
    Death
    Debts
    Decisions
    Dementia
    Denial
    Depression
    Dieting Problems
    Disciples
    Discipline Of Listening
    Discovery Of Fire
    Disease
    Disobeying
    Disobeying Religious Laws
    Disruptive
    Divine Mystery
    Divine Presence
    Doctor
    Dogs
    Doomsday
    Doubt
    Dying
    Earth
    Easter
    Easter People
    Ecology
    Economy
    Ed's Funeral Homily
    Ed's Memorial Card
    Elderly
    Emancipation
    Emmanuel
    Emmaus
    Empathy
    Enjoyment Of Life
    Enslaved
    Entombed
    Environment
    Envy
    Eq
    Equality
    Eros
    Erotic Attraction
    Eroticism
    Escape
    Eternity
    Euthanasia
    Evil
    Evil Eye
    Excellence
    Expectations
    Explorer
    Eyesight
    Faith
    Family
    Fear
    Fear Not
    Fear Of Loss
    Fences
    Flu
    Flying Off The Handle
    Fools
    Forever
    Forgetfulness
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Free Will
    Friendship
    Frustration
    Funeral Homily
    Galaxy
    Galilean Teacher
    Gandhi
    Genealogy
    Generosity
    Gift Of Ears
    Gift Of Tongues
    Gimmick
    Giving
    Godlike
    God Of Love
    God Within
    Good Better Best
    Good Friday
    Grain Of Salt
    Gratitude
    Growing Down
    Grudges
    Gullible
    Gut Feeling
    Habit
    Halloween
    Hallucinations
    Happiness
    Happy New Year
    Harassment
    Haystack
    Haywire
    Healing
    Health
    Hearing
    Heart
    Heartache
    Heaven
    Helen Keller
    Holiday
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Thursday
    Home
    Homesickness
    Homogenized Spirituality
    Homosexuality
    Honest
    Hope
    Hunger
    Hunters And Gatherers
    Hurrying
    Hyacinths
    Hypnotic
    Iceburg Spirituality
    Icon
    Ill Will
    Immigrant
    Imprisoning Habits
    Incarnation
    Infallibility
    Influenza
    Injustice
    Inspiration
    Interruptions
    Intoxicating
    Iq
    Ireland
    Islam
    Jealousy
    Jesus
    Jesus The Challenger
    Jingo
    Job
    John The Baptist
    Joy
    Joy As Gratitude
    Judge
    July 4th
    Justice
    Karl Barth
    Karl Marx
    Kindergarten
    Kindness
    Kingdom
    King Solomon
    Kkk
    Kowtow
    Last Supper
    Learning To Unlearn
    Lent
    Letters
    Letting Go
    Liberation
    Listening
    Live
    Loneliness
    Lonely
    Loony Rabbi
    Lord's Prayer
    Lottery Rule
    Lottery Winner
    Love
    Love Of Self
    Lover
    Mad Delusions
    Mad Messiah
    Madness
    Mantra
    Manure/dung
    Mark Twain
    Marriage
    Martin Luther King
    Mascara
    Masks
    Meditate
    Memories
    Mennonite
    Merry
    Mindfulness
    Miracle
    Miraculous
    Mirages
    Misbehavior
    Mohandas Gandhi
    Money
    Moon
    Mother As Teacher
    Multiverse
    Mystic Merriment
    Naked
    Natural Creed
    Natural Disasters
    Near-sighted
    Needle
    Neighborhood
    Newness
    New Wine
    New Year
    No Littering
    Nonbelievers
    Nostalgia
    Obituary
    Olympic Games
    Olympics
    Open Minded
    Oppressor
    Our Father
    Out Of The Woods
    Overweight
    Pain
    Palestinian
    Parable
    Paradise
    Passion
    Peace
    Penance
    Pentecost
    Pious
    Play
    Playfulness
    Poison
    Possessions
    Poverty Of Spirit
    Prairie Spirituality
    Pray
    Prayer
    Precrastination
    Prejudices
    Pretending
    Primitive Tendencies
    Purpose
    Pyromaniac
    Quantum
    Question
    Quiet
    Reality
    Reconciled
    Recycling
    Religious Experience
    Religious Garb
    Renaissance
    Reputation
    Resurrection
    Revolution
    Rich And Poor
    Risen Christ
    Ritual
    Robert Frost
    Robin Williams
    Robot
    Rumi
    Sainthood
    Saline Savior
    Salt Of The Earth
    Samurai
    Sanctuary
    Santa Claus
    Scapegoat
    Self-deceit
    Sensuality
    Shiite
    Shinto Monks
    Signs
    Silence
    Sinning
    Slavery
    Smile
    Solar System
    Solitary Confinement
    Solitude
    Solstice
    Soul
    Souvenir
    Space
    Spark Of Madness
    Speech
    Spirit
    Spirit Of The Holy
    Spiritual Renewal
    Sports
    Spring
    Spring Renaissance
    St. Benedict
    St. Nicholas
    Stories
    Stranger
    Strength
    Struggles
    Submissive
    Suffering
    Suffering As A Toy
    Summer Solstice
    Sunni
    Sunrise
    Sunset
    Symbols
    Sympathy
    Tale
    Tears
    Technology
    Television
    Temporary Insanity
    Thanksgiving
    Thank You
    The Last Psalm
    Thinking & Acting
    Thirst
    Thomas Edison
    Thoughts Equal Deeds
    Time
    Touch
    Trash
    Traveling
    Trick-or-treat
    Trip
    Trust
    Truth
    Truthfulness
    Unbelievers
    Unethical Behavior
    Unhappiness
    Universe
    Untruth
    Vacation
    Vaccination
    Valentine's Day
    Valentine's Gift
    Valley Of The Blind
    Vatican
    Violent Behavior
    Virus
    Visionary
    Visiting
    Vow Of Poverty
    War
    Wastefulness
    Way Of The Cross
    Wealthy
    Wellness
    Whimsical Spirituality
    Winter Solstice
    Wishes
    Women
    Wonder
    Woods
    Work
    Wrestling With God
    Writing
    Zealot
    Zen
    Zeus


    RSS Feed


Home

Blog


Biography

Stories & Parables


Contemporary Spirituality

Pilate's Prisoner


Daily Almanacs

Novels


​Lent

Prayers & Psalms
Christmas & Advent

​Artwork

Copyright © 2023 Thomas Turkle. All rights reserved.