So – no snow accumulation this week. I am officially allowed to wear white shoes (though I rarely choose to do so). And I took my kids to the beach over the weekend and they got tan instead of chapped.  I think summer is actually coming and that makes me think of music.

Here’s my play list for spiritual summer songs.  Let me know what some of your recs are.

1) “Saturday In The Park” by Chicago (Chicago V) – A cheesy song, but I LOVE the city of Chicago’s parks and street fairs.  Spirits can shine during a Chicago summer, especially when it has seemed so far out of reach. “I’ve been waiting such a long time…”

2) “Upside Down” by Jack Johnson (Curious George Soundtrack) – Curious George’s joy of exploring everything. Johsons’s beachy-surfy-sitting-round-a-campfire-with-friends mellow vibe. Simple joy. “Who’s to say what’s impossible….I’ll share this love I find with everyone.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqUdI4AIDF0&w=420&h=315]

3) “I Don’t Care” by Icona Pop (This Is… Icona Pop) – Summer just makes me want to just chuck things, and so does this song.  Pretend the dysfunctional relationship sung about is something from which you need to be spiritually liberated – could be people pleasing, a bad habit, denying yourself sleep or fun with others. You choose. (Listener discretion advised for some salty lyrics) “I got this feeling on a summer day…”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxxajLWwzqY&w=560&h=315]

4) “Happy” by Pharrell Williams (Despicable Me 2 Soundtrack) – OK OK. Overdone?  But PERFECT for summer and I dare you not to have your spirits lifted with this one!  Suitable for car, home, beach and dance floor. “Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM&w=560&h=315]

5) “Summer’s Evening” by Gillian Welsh (Going Driftless: An Artist’s Tribute to Greg Brown) – Midwestern songwriter Brown reminds us of life’s simple, earthy pleasures like lightning bugs, family, and the magic of a summer night when your cares drift away and anything is possible. Includes some yodelingesque stylings by Welch! “And you get the feeling things’ll be alright, on a summer evening before the dark of night.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWsh-SLfbts&w=420&h=315]

Katie Brick is Director of the Office of f Religious Diversity with DePaul University Ministry.  Leave your ideas for summer songs in the Reply box below.

The older I get the more it seems I don’t believe in coincidences or “random” acts anymore.   Remember the “Random acts of kindness” movement a few years back?  I thought it was a great concept to randomly share love and kindness just because it was the good and right thing to do.  Each random act has a tumbling affect by triggering a series of events unknown to the person who initiated the first act.  Some acts lead to great change, while other acts or events can lead to bad things.  However, when you live a life of purpose perhaps there is no such thing as “random”.

I have to confess that my question of “random” acts not really being random was triggering by the recent death of a colleague.  Leonore Draper was a bright, passionate, professional person who was clearly committed to ending violence in the city she loved, Chicago.  I met her years ago while I was running a mentoring program for Black and Latino youth in Rogers Park.  She was immediately impressive to everyone because she was intelligent, organized and eager to heal violence.  Last week she was killed in an apparent drive-by shooting while getting out of her car.  She had just left an anti-violence fundraiser.

While I was still mentally processing how random her death seemed to be on the surface; I could not help but think about the role of purpose.

What is the purpose of Leonore Draper’s death?  It’s the type of question that people of faith ask themselves all the time.  We ask this question about purpose because our faith traditions often teach that “all life has purpose” or that “God has a purpose and plan for us”.   In my mind, this means that so called “random” acts aren’t so random at all.  I believe that if we allow random acts to travel to their logical conclusion, they will always lead to changes that lead to greater changes, and so on.   So can one tragic, accidental death prevent another tragic accidental death?  Can one death create safer neighborhoods or less fear?

As a Christian minister I am searching right now.  I ask myself whether it’s too extreme to compare the eventual results of Leonore Draper’s death to the results from Jesus Christ’s death on the cross.  I believe Christ’s death was far from accidental or random and that his death was the price to usher in God’s spirit – the same spirit that would make way for human unity and salvation. Christians believe Christ’s death was a tragedy, but it was also a gift.

I’ll admit: I’m biased about all this.  I am eager for the seemingly random death of Leonore Draper to not be so random, but to instead hold true purpose.  Just like with those random acts of kindness I want Leonore Draper’s death to have power, to have meaning and bring good changes.   While still difficult to accept, the day after learning about her death I began imagining other people in Chicago, people just like me suddenly… waking up.

Something clicked in me after Leonore’s death.   Someone I personally knew was “randomly” killed yet I felt motivated, inspired and creative. I suddenly had clarity of purpose, and confidence.   While still sad and a bit shocked I know Leonore’s life was not lived in vain…neither was her death.  There has been a spiritual shift.  Even if the shift is only in me, I still consider it profound.  I believe we are to all learn from the Leonore Drapers of the world.  They are the muses, inspirations and catalysts necessary for the next revolution, the next blessing and the next spiritual shift.  Leonore will be deeply missed but I am so very thankful she was never “random”.

Keith Baltimore is University Minister with the Office of Religious Diversity’s DePaul Christian Ministries. Feel free to comment on his piece at the bottom of this page.

Photo from of the family of Leonore Draper featured in the Chicago Tribune on April 26, 2014.

My father’s hands were some of the biggest hands I’ve ever seen – powerful, strong, worn, hardworking hands. My father’s hands were some of the biggest hands I’ve ever seen – giving, forgiving, caring hands that constantly reached out to others.

Last year Marcia Stout, one of DePaul’s nursing professors, invited me into her nursing class to encourage her students to think about nursing from spiritual and pastoral perspectives. From that invitation grew an opportunity to work with School of Nursing Director Dr. William Cody and other nursing faculty and staff to begin weaving a ritual of Blessing of the Hands into the fabric DePaul’s School of Nursing.

The rituals begin with nursing faculty and staff not only symbolically washing the hands of many students but also offering kind words of encouragement.  With hands and hearts prepared, the students then stand with one of DePaul’s University Ministry staff who offer a blessing while anointing their hands with precious oils.

Last year Jewish students received a blessing from DePaul’s Jewish Life Coordinator. Daughter of Charity Sr. Katie Norris blessed the hands of Catholic students. Muslims received blessings from DePaul’s Muslim Chaplain. And as DePaul’s Protestant Chaplain, I was privileged to join my colleagues in blessing many. I don’t know if the hands I held and anointed with sweet myrrh belonged to students of my faith or of any faith. I don’t know if the students I was privileged to bless were rich or poor, ready to serve as nurses or not. None of that mattered. What mattered is that I was given a moment to hold and bless hands that were even bigger than my father’s hands.

To the bystander, the nursing students’ hands that were washed and blessed last year were just regular in size. But from my perspective, the hands I blessed were enormous. They were hands whose size was exaggerated by the hearts of those students whose path in life would require them to be constantly giving, forgiving and caring. The size of the hands I blessed was exaggerated by the passions of students preparing to be compassionate, patient, talented, healing nurses.

The hands of DePaul’s nursing students are enormous, not physiologically but spiritually—much will be required of them and much more will be given.

St. Vincent DePaul held the ministry of nursing in high esteem. He wrote, ”Now if there ever was a good work, it is that of nursing the sick, so much indeed that it surpasses all others in value. “

In recognition of the enormous work required of nurses and in appreciation of the great value of those called into nursing, DePaul’s School of Nursing has begun a tradition of blessing students’ hands. When DePaul’s president, Fr. Holtschneider was invited by Dr. Cody to join nursing students for the Second Annual Blessing of the Hands next week, Fr. Holtsneider responded: “This is a lovely new tradition.“

Indeed, this is a lovely tradition—a DePaul tradition—reserved for our nursing students who I believe have some of the biggest hands in the world—matched only by their large hearts! God bless all of our nursing students!

—   Rev. Diane Dardon is a Chaplain with DePaul Christian Ministries.  You can comment on her post below.

For more information on DePaul’s School of Nursing Blessing of the Hands scheduled for May 6, please contact Alexander Stachniak, ASTACHN1@depaul.edu.