December 22, 2010
This is the season when people sing about the star that led certain folks to Bethlehem long ago. Some people get hung up on the literal truth of this event recorded in Matthew’s gospel. Has anyone of you every followed a star and had it stop over a particular place? It begs a bigger question: What does it mean to say that a star is ‘over’ something? Are we thinking of stars as Goodyear blimps? How could a star be ‘over’ Bethlehem without being over half the world at the same time? I’ve read folks who argue that Matthew is drawing on certain Old Testament references to a star (a famous one being in the account of the story of Balaam found in Numbers) Science and biblical scholarship are doing something similar when confronting the star over Bethlehem….trying to explain what has happened. I wasn’t there at the birth of Jesus but I am present in the same world he was born into….sun, moon, planets, and stars….these silent witnesses whose movements can be measured with great precision but whose speech is of an entirely different matter. Maybe Matthew was hearing the music of the spheres when he was writing his gospel….or the music of the Psalmist:
Day to day pours forth speech
And night to night declares knowledge,
There is no speech, nor are there words;
There voice is not heard;
(Psalm 19:2-3)
I wish I could hear better.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
December 14, 2010
The Food Day section of today’s Oregonian featured some recipes that looked pretty mouth-watering to me. Maybe it was because I was hungry.
My son Sam, a junior in college, has shown an interest in cooking and we like to watch the Iron Chef show on the television when he is home. We have decided to do an “Iron Chef” meal at some point over the holiday season. We plan to identify several food items, write their names on a slip of paper, throw them in a paper bag and when it comes time to cook a meal we will draw a slip out and that one item must be included in every course of a five course meal. So far in the bag we have oranges, mustard, clams, walnuts and a few others I can’t remember. The other limitation is time. We must cook this meal in one hour. We have some time to think about this. For example, what if we draw ‘clams’? We must come up with five courses that include clams as an ingredient. Clams in a soup, clam fritters, pasta with a creamy clam sauce, clam dip for veggies and a dessert—using the clam shells as cups and filling them with ice-cream or fresh fruit. That’s five!
We’ll have to go through each of the ‘theme’ ingredients in this way so that when the hour comes we have a game plan. I view this as a kind of playing. Play is viewed in our culture as frivolous, a waste of time, and something we outgrow. Isn’t it ironic that we spend big bucks to watch a sporting event, theatre production, or a concert (essentially paying to watch other adults play!)
Cooking is about creation. It reminds me of the Creation account in Genesis 2. God forms man out of ‘red clay’ (adamah). He works with what is at hand. The ‘ingredient in the bag’ was clay. I don’t read this literally, i.e. man was formed from clay, but I do read it as saying something about God. He plays.
The Food Day section of today’s Oregonian featured some recipes that looked pretty mouth-watering to me. Maybe it was because I was hungry.
My son Sam, a junior in college, has shown an interest in cooking and we like to watch the Iron Chef show on the television when he is home. We have decided to do an “Iron Chef” meal at some point over the holiday season. We plan to identify several food items, write their names on a slip of paper, throw them in a paper bag and when it comes time to cook a meal we will draw a slip out and that one item must be included in every course of a five course meal. So far in the bag we have oranges, mustard, clams, walnuts and a few others I can’t remember. The other limitation is time. We must cook this meal in one hour. We have some time to think about this. For example, what if we draw ‘clams’? We must come up with five courses that include clams as an ingredient. Clams in a soup, clam fritters, pasta with a creamy clam sauce, clam dip for veggies and a dessert—using the clam shells as cups and filling them with ice-cream or fresh fruit. That’s five!
We’ll have to go through each of the ‘theme’ ingredients in this way so that when the hour comes we have a game plan. I view this as a kind of playing. Play is viewed in our culture as frivolous, a waste of time, and something we outgrow. Isn’t it ironic that we spend big bucks to watch a sporting event, theatre production, or a concert (essentially paying to watch other adults play!)
Cooking is about creation. It reminds me of the Creation account in Genesis 2. God forms man out of ‘red clay’ (adamah). He works with what is at hand. The ‘ingredient in the bag’ was clay. I don’t read this literally, i.e. man was formed from clay, but I do read it as saying something about God. He plays.
Monday, December 6, 2010
December 6, 2010
The ancient neglected Gravenstein apple tree was so laden with fruit this past summer that several of the branches snapped off leaving ugly jagged scars. There are several apple trees on this property, some old, some young, and I have done fairly well at keeping them pruned but intentionally left a couple of the old ones ‘go wild’ mostly because I simply did not choose to make the time to keep them pruned but there was also something about their magnificent wildness that was captivating. When my children were young they hung ropes from the mighty moss clothed arms and constructed a primitive platform supported by these same arms. As they grew older and lost interest in that kind of imaginative play I noticed that their platform had been taken over by creatures of the night, raccoons I suspect.
Who hasn’t wanted to live in a tree at some time in their life? To the east, along the banks of Rock Creek some enterprising young folks have built a fantastic tree house that goes up four storeys! I kid you not! You can ascend a flight of stairs and a series of ladders and sit on a leather couch thirty feet above the ground. When I came upon this structure several years ago during my annual Winter Solstice walk, wherein I am on the lookout for the tiny Wren, I was incredulous. The Wookie scenes in “The Return of the Jedi” came immediately to mind. It was truly magical and truly real. I sat at the base of the tree and marveled at all the material and labor that went into this ‘play’ for truly it was nothing more than the expression of grand imagination.
Trees do many things….too many to list but it strikes me that one of their greatest contributions to my life has been their capacity to lift my imagination. And then there comes a day like today when I have just come in from cutting away at that old Gravenstein apple tree with my chain saw. The roar of the engine, the hot steel teeth cutting into the very old wood, and the warm chips flying, take me to a different place.
I understand my place in the garden as that of being a steward and in this case it means confronting wildness and taming it. The broken branches and serrated scars, if left unattended, herald the entry points for disease, rot, and eventual death.
I will say this. It’s a lot more fun to play in a tree than climb a ladder with a chain saw and start cutting away, yet, my imagination remains a part of my stewardship. I imagine the apple wood bucked up and curing in the woodshed over summer and warming the house next winter. I imagine corn, potatoes, or almond trees growing in the ground that has been opened up. I imagine the raccoons that ravaged the garden last summer checking the tree out in their nocturnal prowling and saying to themselves: “Hmmm….didn’t we see something more to our liking down there on the banks of Rock Creek.”
But what really grabs my imagination is the idea of Wookies living down there.
I’ll look for signs when I’m down there again on the 21st of this month.
The ancient neglected Gravenstein apple tree was so laden with fruit this past summer that several of the branches snapped off leaving ugly jagged scars. There are several apple trees on this property, some old, some young, and I have done fairly well at keeping them pruned but intentionally left a couple of the old ones ‘go wild’ mostly because I simply did not choose to make the time to keep them pruned but there was also something about their magnificent wildness that was captivating. When my children were young they hung ropes from the mighty moss clothed arms and constructed a primitive platform supported by these same arms. As they grew older and lost interest in that kind of imaginative play I noticed that their platform had been taken over by creatures of the night, raccoons I suspect.
Who hasn’t wanted to live in a tree at some time in their life? To the east, along the banks of Rock Creek some enterprising young folks have built a fantastic tree house that goes up four storeys! I kid you not! You can ascend a flight of stairs and a series of ladders and sit on a leather couch thirty feet above the ground. When I came upon this structure several years ago during my annual Winter Solstice walk, wherein I am on the lookout for the tiny Wren, I was incredulous. The Wookie scenes in “The Return of the Jedi” came immediately to mind. It was truly magical and truly real. I sat at the base of the tree and marveled at all the material and labor that went into this ‘play’ for truly it was nothing more than the expression of grand imagination.
Trees do many things….too many to list but it strikes me that one of their greatest contributions to my life has been their capacity to lift my imagination. And then there comes a day like today when I have just come in from cutting away at that old Gravenstein apple tree with my chain saw. The roar of the engine, the hot steel teeth cutting into the very old wood, and the warm chips flying, take me to a different place.
I understand my place in the garden as that of being a steward and in this case it means confronting wildness and taming it. The broken branches and serrated scars, if left unattended, herald the entry points for disease, rot, and eventual death.
I will say this. It’s a lot more fun to play in a tree than climb a ladder with a chain saw and start cutting away, yet, my imagination remains a part of my stewardship. I imagine the apple wood bucked up and curing in the woodshed over summer and warming the house next winter. I imagine corn, potatoes, or almond trees growing in the ground that has been opened up. I imagine the raccoons that ravaged the garden last summer checking the tree out in their nocturnal prowling and saying to themselves: “Hmmm….didn’t we see something more to our liking down there on the banks of Rock Creek.”
But what really grabs my imagination is the idea of Wookies living down there.
I’ll look for signs when I’m down there again on the 21st of this month.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
December 2, 2010
The name on his lapel tag read: Forest Violette. This young salesman at Fry’s Electonics had a hairstyle true to his first name. Miniature cedars of Lebanon rose from his scalp in spiked perfusion. As I think about it, the little triangular patch of neatly trimmed beard sprouting underneath his lower lip fits his last name….a patch of violets.
I was at Fry’s this morning to buy some ink cartridges for my printer. I mentally prepared myself before going in. My strategy was to walk directly to the first human being I could identify as a Fry’s employee and ask him/her to show me where the cartridges were. I even had an empty one with me to compare for verification. I steeled myself and entered. I never am quite fully prepared for the bombardment of screens and sound and in the past I would have started muttering inwardly, “I hate this place. I can’t take this sensory overload. How can people work in this environment? Who would want to? (actually, I know someone who would like to…my son!!)” This stream of negativity would make me want to withdraw and just be alone. In my solitary withdrawal I would go about trying to find what I needed. Up and down the aisles I would trudge, my eyes slowly beginning to itch and water with the strain of searching, my heart beginning to sink, my mind telling me that they will be out of what I need and I’ve put myself through this for nothing. I’ll have to come back!
But with my new strategy I could avoid all of that negativity and concentrate on connecting with a human being and rely totally on him/her for what I was after. I walked in with a smile, greeted the young man at the Gate of Entry. The wire mesh screening to my right always makes me feel like I’m entering a prison but not today. I said, “How’s it going, Shawn!” (name tag on lapel) I need to buy an ink cartridge. Can you take me to where I need to go?” He had to remain at his post (What a job. It must be an entry level position) but he did point me in the direction I needed to go and gave me an aisle number.
No way was I going to start looking for aisle numbers! That’s the first step towards succumbing to the seduction of standing and looking at all the screens. I headed out in the direction he pointed me and ran into Hakeem. “Hey, Hakeem (name tag on lapel) What up?” Showing him the empty ink cartridge I had in hand I asked him to take me to where I could find full ones. He was in the ‘telephone’ section and took me to the edge of his domain and pointed me towards a desk way down at the end of an aisle. “You need to go there.” he told me politely.
That’s where I met Forest Violette. “Hi Forest, do you have these in stock?” His fingers darted over the keyboard and a message came up on screen that they were indeed in stock and I took them to the checkout section…more cages! The checkout line was short and after Shauna made a little pink slash on my receipt I was out into the fresh air. I felt good! Then, to cap it off, it occurred to me that the reason I wanted the ink in the first place was so that I could run off a copy of the essay I am working on that has to do with the Tree as a helpful metaphor for how one can read the Bible.
…..and who do I meet? Forest!! I broke into a big smile.
The name on his lapel tag read: Forest Violette. This young salesman at Fry’s Electonics had a hairstyle true to his first name. Miniature cedars of Lebanon rose from his scalp in spiked perfusion. As I think about it, the little triangular patch of neatly trimmed beard sprouting underneath his lower lip fits his last name….a patch of violets.
I was at Fry’s this morning to buy some ink cartridges for my printer. I mentally prepared myself before going in. My strategy was to walk directly to the first human being I could identify as a Fry’s employee and ask him/her to show me where the cartridges were. I even had an empty one with me to compare for verification. I steeled myself and entered. I never am quite fully prepared for the bombardment of screens and sound and in the past I would have started muttering inwardly, “I hate this place. I can’t take this sensory overload. How can people work in this environment? Who would want to? (actually, I know someone who would like to…my son!!)” This stream of negativity would make me want to withdraw and just be alone. In my solitary withdrawal I would go about trying to find what I needed. Up and down the aisles I would trudge, my eyes slowly beginning to itch and water with the strain of searching, my heart beginning to sink, my mind telling me that they will be out of what I need and I’ve put myself through this for nothing. I’ll have to come back!
But with my new strategy I could avoid all of that negativity and concentrate on connecting with a human being and rely totally on him/her for what I was after. I walked in with a smile, greeted the young man at the Gate of Entry. The wire mesh screening to my right always makes me feel like I’m entering a prison but not today. I said, “How’s it going, Shawn!” (name tag on lapel) I need to buy an ink cartridge. Can you take me to where I need to go?” He had to remain at his post (What a job. It must be an entry level position) but he did point me in the direction I needed to go and gave me an aisle number.
No way was I going to start looking for aisle numbers! That’s the first step towards succumbing to the seduction of standing and looking at all the screens. I headed out in the direction he pointed me and ran into Hakeem. “Hey, Hakeem (name tag on lapel) What up?” Showing him the empty ink cartridge I had in hand I asked him to take me to where I could find full ones. He was in the ‘telephone’ section and took me to the edge of his domain and pointed me towards a desk way down at the end of an aisle. “You need to go there.” he told me politely.
That’s where I met Forest Violette. “Hi Forest, do you have these in stock?” His fingers darted over the keyboard and a message came up on screen that they were indeed in stock and I took them to the checkout section…more cages! The checkout line was short and after Shauna made a little pink slash on my receipt I was out into the fresh air. I felt good! Then, to cap it off, it occurred to me that the reason I wanted the ink in the first place was so that I could run off a copy of the essay I am working on that has to do with the Tree as a helpful metaphor for how one can read the Bible.
…..and who do I meet? Forest!! I broke into a big smile.
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