the fourth sunday in lent: the cure of the man born blind

the gospel for this sunday is a long one, the ninth chapter of the gospel according to john, and much happens in it. the actual "cure" part of the story is short, and almost incidental to jesus' answer to a question of his disciples about the man, "'rabbit, who sinned, this man or his parents for him to have been born blind?' 'neither he nor his parents sinned,' jesus answered, 'he was born blind so that the works of god might be displayed in him.'" (vv.2-3)

jesus then does something simple but powerful, both in action and in symbol. after saying "i am the light of the world," he makes a bit of mud with his spittle and the dust, rubs it on the man's eyes, and tells him to wash at the pool of siloam (where the water was drawn for the feast of tabernacles, itself a great light festival).

the man obeys jesus, and he can see. what follows is a sort of turning point in the gospels of lent, for once again the work of the messiah is surprising, but to this surprise, which the pharisees--for which read the religious leaders of the first church of what every brand you like best--do not even admit. instead, after initial and not surprising incredulity, they become comdemnatory. whatever this whoever is doing, it is wrong. he must be corrected. next sunday we will hear the story of an even greater miracle, the raising of lazarus, and the religious leaders will be determined to kill jesus.

however, i want to take a little time to reflect on the man born blind, the disciples' question about sin, and how i find myself in his story. in the midst of the doubts and questions about the rumoured miracle, when people were doubting the identity of the former beggar with his sight restored. "the man himself said, 'i am the man.'" (v. 9

and i am the man, not born blind so much as born in blindness.

the situation is much as it is described in psalm 51, verse five of which is translated by miles coverdale as,
"behold, i was shapen in wickedness,
and in sin hath my mother conceived me."

this does not mean that i was a pre-natal transgressor, nor that my mother committed a sinful act in my conception. rather it recognizes that the environment in which my life started was sinful. indeed how could it be otherwise? i was conceived in san diego at the end of a war waged by the civilized nations of the world against all that might be called civilization, ended by the use of the most devastating weapon yet devised by civilized man, the product of an endeavor blasphemously called the trinity project. this is the character of the world in which i blindly beg.

yet, by the grace of god, i do manage, sometimes, to see. sometimes i recognize that the "word is a lamp unto my feet" (psalm 119:105), that "the word was the true light that enlightens all men." (john 1:9) my problem, my frustration, is that i recognize the light best only when it "shines in the dark." (john 1:5) that is, when i am in my little cell, with the darkness of night all around me, or with the morning stars singing together, calling me to awake then dawn, then i think i see. but when i go into the big world, even the little big world of basin park in eureka springs, my sight becomes fuzzy. i am like mark's blind man of bethsaida: "i see men as trees, walking." (mark 8:22)

pray for me, my brothers and sisters, that i may see those men and those women in basin park as our lord, hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or inprisoned, and not fail to come to their help. (matthew 25:44) pray that i need not fear jesus' final words in this sunday's gospel:

"blind? if you were,
you would not be guilty,
but since you say, 'we see,'
your guilt remains." (john 9:41)

28 february: wednesday in the third week of lent

it happened behind the clouds, within the clouds, which the ancient greeks thought to be living creatures, who veil and reveal. the holy one was at work changing the sunset. after a week of evening clouds, the winter sunset had been put away, in storage perhaps in the depths unfathomable to us mortals. the winter sunset that edged obliquely under the horizon, circling the world with the bright darkness of christmas, was only a memory. the new sunset came to the horizon much more sharply, a bright arrow that left a simple brightness all around. the waves of the sunset bathed the bare but budding branches bronze, and those trees in its shadows had outlives fuzzy with coming flowers and foliage.

wednesday in the third week of lent

not everything is frozen this morning, and the sunrise blankets all with at least a promise of heat. but my fingers are among the frozen things. my tongue may be the pen of a ready writer, but my fingers say, "not yet. let us embrace a warm cup of coffee, hold it. don't waste it on the ever-warm tongue."

still, lent means spring. the days are lengthening, and although it is brother crow, one of the black-robed monks, who awakes the dawn, and not myself, there is this morning enough light at 6:30 to read the morning psalms without a candle. This morning's psalms are numbers 120-125, songs of ascent, songs pilgrims sang as they went up to jerusalem, and I wonder what tune carried these words as jesus and his followers made the trip to mount zion for that last passover, the feast at which he himself would be the pascal lamb, sacrificed for his followers who would accompany him in the upper room, and for many, indeed for the sin of the world. at best i suspect a bitter-sweet melody, as they all at least silently agreed with thomas that they were going to jerusalem to die with their good master.

did they, could they, rejoice when he said to them, "let us go to the house of the lord?" perhaps the chill my fingers hold this cold lenten morning filled their whole beings, bowels and knees and tongues. still, they went, went to "jerusalem restored! the city/one united whole!/here the tribes go up,/the tribes of the holy one." they followed this son of david who would like his ancestor dance naked through the streets, not carrying the ark that held arron's blossoming rod into the city, but carrying the tree of life out. his followers then would not seem to be good candidates for living stones, "unshakeable, standing for ever."

yet when the cold darkness of today's lentnen night comes, i will pray the next psalm in this series, one that must have had joyous melodies for jesus' followers as they would begin to understand what he was doing as he recaptured jerusalem:



"when the holy one brought zion's captives home,
at first it seemed like a dream
then our mouths filled with laughter,
and our lips with song.
. . .
those who went sowing in tears,
now sing as they reap.
they went away, went away weeping,
carrying the seed;
they come back, come back singing,
carrying their sheaves."

the third sunday in lent: the samaritan woman at the well

by now you may have noticed a pattern to the eucharistic readings in lent. the tempter is surprised that jesus, fresh from his baptismal anointing, does not express his messiahship as one might legitimately expect if the salvation of the world were a reality television show. instead jesus choose the messiahship of isaiah's suffering servant, who a bruised reed shall not break, nor smoking flax quench.

(the motifs of the temptation will reappear in the ministry of christ jesus and his church. he will ask, what father whose child asks for bread would give a stone. james, the brother of jesus, would be flung from the parapet of the temple, resulting in the conversion of many and the pleasure at his death for many more. some would interpret the conversion of constantine as all the nations of at least the imperial world coming under the rule of christ. others would see it as the church yielding to temptation at an opportune time.)

the second sunday it is nicodemus, a ruler of israel, who is suprised by the works and words of the messiah.

and now it is the third sunday, and jesus comes, not at night as had nicodemus, but at noon, to the well jacob had given to his egyptian grandsons, and speaks to a samaritan woman, who is also quite surprised.

lent is not primarily about our works of penitence, although we often speak proudly as if it were. rather it is primarily a time to prepare for the surpassing surprise of the passover of the lord.

if we are honest, the surprise is always greater than we expect. by the grace of god it may be possible to let more of the old man die each year, that more of the new man may rise to new life. but some times we resist the grace, living not the good news, but the alfred hitchcock movie psycho, keeping the old woman alive in the attic so we can put on her clothes to act out the phantasies of death.

in my lent this year i struggle with the big koan of ezekiel, of whose prophetic work is written,

"son of man, the members of your nation are talking about you on the ramparts and in the doorways. they keep saying, 'come and hear the word that has come from YHWH.' . . . and my people sit down in front of you and listen to your words, but they do not act on them. they cannot tell the truth and their hearts are set on dishonest gain. as far as they are concerned, you are like a love song beautifully sung to music. they listen to your words, but no one puts them into practice. when the thing takes place--and it is beginning now--they will learn that there has been a prophet among them." (33:30-33 JB)

These words seem so accurately to describe the church.. this morning we sang "my song is love unknown", and i thought, how sadly true.

the samaritan woman at the well heard the words and put them into practice. then she disappears from our view, except in the legends of the church, a grain of wheat that has fallen on the ground and died, one who loved life and so lost it.

never have i heard the necessary paradox of losing one's life to find it (the gospel according to matthew 10:34) expressed better than by rebecca solnit in a field guide to getting lost:

"lost really has two disparate meanings. losing things is about the familiar falling away, getting lost is about the unfamiliar appearing. there are objects and people that disappear from your sight or knowledge or possession; you lose a bracelet, a friend, a key. you still know where you are. everything is familiar except that there is one item less, one missing element. or you get lost, in which case the world has become larger than your knowledge of it. either way, there is a loss of control. imagine yourself streaming through time shedding gloves, umbrellas, wrenches, books, friends, homes, names. this is what the view looks life if you take a rear-facing seat on the train. looking forward you constantly acquire moments of arrival, moments of realization, moments of discovery. the wind blows your hair back and you are greeted by what you have never seen before. the material falls away in onrushing experience. it peels off like skin from a molting snake. of course to forget the past is to lose the sense of loss that is also memory of an absent richness and a set of clutes to navigate the present by; the art is not one of forgetting but letting go. and when everything else is gone, you can be rich in loss." (pp. 22-23)

of course. this is what the apostle paul wrote to the church at phillipi: "for him i have accepted the loss of everything, and i look on everything as so much rubbish, if only i can have christ and be given a place in him." (3:8-9 JB)

difficulties with a modest proposal, 2: creeds

a good friend asked me yesterday if sometime i could explain to her my faith and my hope, thinking it would take some time and be very personal. i was probably somewhat disappointing. i said i am boringly orthodox, that my faith is expressed, as well as i think inadequate words can express such things, in the nicene creed (although i would lose the "and from the son" in the clause about the holy spirit, following the original wording), and that my hope is best expressed in a collect from the gelesian sacramentary, an eighth century collection of prayers, used in the easter vigil:

"o god of unchangeable power and eternal light: look
favorably on your whole church, that wonderful and sacred
mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry
out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world
see and know that things which were cast down are being
raised up, and things which had grown old are being made
new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection
by him through whom all things were made, your son jesus
christ our lord. amen." (bcp 1979, p. 285)

the american episcopal church's bishops, meeting in chicago in 1886, agreed with my accepting "the nicene creed as the sufficient statement of the christian faith." (bcp 1979, p. 877). the bishops of the church of england, meeting at lambeth two years later, modified that position slightly, including "the apostles' creed, as the baptismal symbol; and the nicene creed, as the sufficient
statement of the christian faith." (loc. cit.)

as simple as that change is, it opens up a fairly large door in our understanding of church unity. the "baptismal symbol," as lambeth called the apostles' creed, is very ancient, being used apparently as a dialogue between the one performing the baptism and the one being baptised, at least as early as the second century (see my earlier blog post, circle of prayer 24a). as the link to that creed suggests, it is widely accepted by the "reformed church," although it was apparently not used in worship except at baptism until around the twelth century.

nor was the nicene widely used in the west before 1014, although it was used from the fifth century in constantinople and from the late sixth century in spain. it has, however, come to be a central part of the eucharistic worship of much of the church.

the problem is not that the two creeds disagree in any way, but that the one says so much more than the latter. one is a symbol of baptismal unity, a source of christian unity accepted by nearly all of the church, which, with the exception of some orthodox and some congregational bodies, do not "rebaptize" those who come to them from other parts of the church. the other, which might be a source of eucharistic unity, tends to be accepted only with the insistance that one coming to the table agrees with the interpretation, often very precisely, of the communion whose table it is.

we may say in the nicene creed that "we acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins," but we do not quite consider baptism as making us fully members of "the one holy catholic and apostolic church."

st. peter's chair at antioch

this is perhaps the most beautiful morning of the winter yet in eureka springs! the sky is an even grey, the temperature is a dry 30 degrees, and everything is just-coated with the shiniest rime of ice.

as i have probably mentioned before on this blog, when i came to shore after spending my first summer on the waters of the whulji (which most folks call puget sound), i didn't want to live in a house again. it gave me a whole new understanding of francis's statement to the brothers that "we don't live in houses." what i find fascinating is that, not living in a house, not only do i wake to the sound of woodpeckers and the wind in the pines, but i read the words of genesis differently, too. these dudes were on a hiking trip. they had sheep because they didn't have dehydrators. jesus never had a cathedral, even though today the church celebrates st. peter's chair at antioch.

so, yes to anthony of the desert, who had no scrolls in his windowsill and who said to those who asked him about his lack, that to the one who had eyes to see, all creation sang of the glory of the holy one.

and make st. peter's chair a lawn chair at most.

difficulties with a modest proposal, 1: scripture

so, i have of course noticed that all the denominations have not collapsed into one self-recognized holy catholic and apostolic church in the 120 years since 1888. i can't help but think that one of the reasons for that is that most of the official work and discussion has been between folks in fancy clothes--top down. many of the laity don't seem to see so much difference between the different theological positions as they should.

while acknowledging that the episcopal church is currect to insist that there are "principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of christian faith and order committed by christ and his apostles to the church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender by those who have been ordained to be its stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit of all men." (bcp 1979, p. 877), it seems that what separates us are often not those things.

yet even on those things about which we seem to be in agreement, there are often unnoticed differences (and sometimes highly emotional ones). take the episcopal statement about scripture: "the holy scriptures of the old and new testaments . . .[are] the revealed word of god." the lambeth conference changed that statement to "the holy scriptures of the old and new testaments . . . "[contain] all things
necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith."

the lambeth conference statement is closer to the orthodox (and, mostly, catholic understanding) that the term "word of god" refers primarily to second person of the holy trinity, as he is spoken of in the preamble to the gospel according to john. the word of god did not become incarnate as a book, but as the son of mary.

why, you might ask, do i perhaps seem to undermine my modest proposal that such a statement might be grounds for a grass-roots understanding that the church is one because of the action of christ jesus? it is because of all the misunderstandings that are possible when people get into the "but i thought you said" frame of mind, which can easily happen when we hear what we want to hear.

for my own part, i am quite happy with the understanding of scripture from the lambeth conference. but i also notice that folks within the same communions, whether they be orthodox or baptist, or the same local congregations, whether they be methodist or episcopal, agree with that statement and disagree on what scriptures mean and still we come together at the lord's table. it is the objective authority of scripture which i find primary, not my or your subjective understanding or misunderstanding.

second sunday in lent: being born again: the hard labor

you are familiar, or think you are, with the day's gospel: the third chapter of the holy gospel of our lord jesus christ according to john, verses 1-17. it's a juicy text, a veritable shish-kebab of favourite verses, some of which we sometimes eat raw, sometimes over-cooked: "ye must be born again;" "the wind bloweth where it listeth;" "god so loved the world." just reading the passage, i found a new morsel on which to chew, but first, i want to tell you of my surprise.

yesterday, i heard not one but two good sermons on being born again. the first, explicitly on the text, was preached by the rev. edie bird at st.james episcopal church. the second, which broadly illustrated the text, was entertained by the slightly irreveral jody stephenson at the unitarian universalist fellowship.

to be fair to edie, i should say she was not unentertaining. first she asked us to sing along, if we knew the words--she had no power-point support--to "i'd rather have a paper doll that i could call my own that have a fickle-hearted real life girl," suggesting that we often prefer illusions to reality, if we think it's our wn illusion, and adding that in these modern times when we are bombarded with illusions, they are often not even our own. she did not mention my space, but i will.

then she asked us to sing along to a second song, if we knew the words--"amazing grace"--and preceeded to tell a bit of the stories of john newton and william wilberforce. i had always loved the legend of newton's turning around in mid-atlantic to return his load of slaves to their homeland, writing "amazing grace" along the way, but edie had done her homework and read newton's journals. he does describe his rebirth as beginning in mid-atlantic, reading thomas a kempis' the imitation of christ in a storm, but taking years, gradually leaving the slave trade, becoming an anglican priest, writing "amazing grace" and other hymns, and closing his journal at age 84 with the reflection, "i no longer rememeber much, but this i know: i am a great sinner; christ is a great saviour." he had been reborn with long and hard labor.

william wilberforce's rebirth had been swifter, but the fruits of his labor were not fast maturing. he was elected to the house of commons at twenty-one, and introduced a bill to end slavery in the british empire. he held his seat until his death fifty-four years later, continuing to seek a bill to end slavery, which was only passed a month after his death. his book, a practical view of the prevailing system of professed christians was influential on the religious and political thinking of his day in both england and europe.

wilberforce had been on "the brink of holy orders" when john newton convinced him he could better serve christ as a politician.

i'm not sure but jody stephenson thinks of painting as a kind of holy orders, but her book faltering towards perfection which she outlined yesterday is certainly proof that it can be outstanding service to christ: not easy service, but a long, hard labor.

if jody were ever a slave trader, she has yet to reveal that pst occupation. but she is wonderfully honest in revealing her own slavery to the sin of self-condemnation, and vigorous in telling how god in christ has saved her from it.

self-condemnation is a very seductive sin, one that can seem righteous, although it is only the subtly bright underbelly of self-approval. if we approve ourselves, we may be thought proud. if we condemn ourselves, we may be though humble. both acts are merely part of original sin, replacing the holy one with ourselves as "maker of all things, judge of all men."

so jody told her story, faltering, stumbling, but all along led by the one who speaks to her as often in movies as in sunsets or holy write, saying that she is his perfect work, not because of what she does but because of whose she is, and hearing, she is freed to do the work that he has prepared for her to falter in.

oh: my new-found morsel is verse 8: "the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit." i have friends who--sometimes, on confusing days--have told me that i am either spirit-filled or that i walk in the spirit. yeah. sure. i hardly remember where i've been, and i seldom have a clue where i'm going. but the signs are hopeful. slowly, as in a long hard labor, is being born in me the faith that these are not the things i need to know.

i need to know only christ, and him crucified, who if he be lifted up will draw all the world unto himself.

further thoughts of modest proposal

ryan and ryan have really helped me to clarify my muddled thoughts some, as has reading on being a bishop.

one of the great steps forward (backwards) the episcopal church in the united states has taken in its last prayer book revision was a return to the earliest known sources describing episcopal ministry, rather than to repeat the argumentative sort of words from the heat of the reformation. although there have been some words spoken within the anglican communion lately which are hard to describe as entirely charitable, at least no one has been burned at stake lately that i know of.

what i am suggesting is simply to take that direction further. ryan knight suggested what i am saying seems like part of the independent catholic/apostolic movement, and it is; but again, taking it further. i mean, think of it: "independent" catholic church--an oxymoron. of course what is meant is independent of papalism and empire. the episcopal church, although it recognizes that a big change in the role of the bishop, from the local expression of the one holy catholic and apostolic church, to an administrative supervisor of a diocese, took place in ryan blackwell's bad-tasting fourth century, still clings to dioscenal bishops, with the difficult-theologically addition of suffragans and assistants. so, why not go behind constantine to ignatius and hippolytus and iranaeus and cyprian, indeed to paul and timothy and jesus and the disciples gathered in the upper room after the resurrection. (you might look, ryan b., at 1 timothy 3"1-7. titus 1:7-0, acts 20, i peter 5, or even to the gospel according to john, 20:19-23) for ordination in the new testament.)

you see, ryan knight, i am in no way condemning ordination within the episcopal church u.s.a. as i have suggested privately to you and to many others, i find it as clear an expression of the orthodox church as we have in english. i am simply noticing that its origins remain entangled with the arguments of the reformation which seem to me to be severe limitations to the work of evangelism, of reconciliation, today.

a modest proposal

ember days are always dangerous, especially today when the first reading for this morning is the second chapter of ezekiel.

so, here's my proposal, even though it might require me to leave my little hermitage amongst the loblolly pines:

rather than encourage ordination in the various "brands" of churches, a term i know every sort of division of the church hates for itself but is happy to call her sisters, why not begin ordination in the one church, holy, apostolic, catholic? the standards might be those proposed by the chicago-lambeth quadrilateral:


1. the holy scriptures of the old and new testaments as the revealed word of god.

2. the nicene creed as the sufficient statement of the christian faith.

3. the two sacraments--baptism and the supper of the lord--ministered with
unfailing use of christ's words of institution and of the elements ordained by him.

4. the historic episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of god into the unity of his church.

but, although this would be the basis of ordination into the one church, i am suggesting that we would recognize that "no one can call jesus lord without the holy spirit," (i corinthians 12:3), so we would not "excommunicate" any part of the church. rather we would seek that all the church would recognize her unity because she is the bride of christ, his body, built on the one foundation of her lord.

education for ordination would be in any seminary of the whole church, one's course of study being determined by one's bishop or the person or group of person who exercised the equivalalent of episcopal ordination within one's local congregation, but ordination would be within apostolic tradition.

i am sure there are many possible objections to this modest proposal, but i think it is at least a recognition of the largely post-denominational, post-reformation nature of today's church. it would look back to the early, councilar church for that heritage of understanding and teaching that belongs to the whole church, and it would look to proclaim ministry of reconciliation for which we pray in today's collect from the anglican book of common prayer:

"O ALMIGHTY God, who hast committed to the hands of men the ministry of reconciliation; We humbly beseech thee, by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, to put it into the hearts of many to offer themselves for this ministry; that thereby mankind may be drawn to thy blessed kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

fools for christ

paul's first letter to the corinthians continues to help me with my ezekiel koan. this morning the third chapter continues (vv.18-21a):

"Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,
‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’,
and again,
‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile.’
So let no one boast about human leaders."

of course ezekiel probably seemed a fool not only often but always, lying on one side and the the other, contemplating a time decorated not with fleur-de-lis or lion's head, but with toy soldiers attacking a toy jerusalem, eating unclean food.
(ezekiel 4)

some of the other and more recent notable fools for christ include basil of moscow and john of san francisco.

i was intrigued and pleased to hear rowan of canterbury called a fool for christ. not only was i happy that someone recognizes that there is a need for this sort of profoundly prophetic ministry, but i was a bit surprised that alex kirby, the bbc writer who made this comparison of rowan williams, knew about fools for christ. would that some of the american news writers were so well-informed.

i had a dream

one of the readings from this morning's daily office (i'm using the 1943 lectionary of the episcopal church in the u.s.a.) included 1 corinthians 3:1-4:

"And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul’, and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human?"

after reading it, i thought about what it is like to come into eureka springs. there are signs advertising the first church of paul, the first church of appolos, the first church of wesley, the first church of luther, the first church of calvin, even the seventh day adventist church--i don't know what happened to the first six.

it was a very cold morning, and after morning prayer i took a nap, and i dreamed. i dreamed all the congregations had signs that said first or second or third or whatever church in eureka springs, a congregation of the one church, holy, apostolic, catholic.

i read a little book recently by a priest in the church of england called and you visited me, in which he attributes the lack of power of the contemporary church to its many divisions. i think fr. martin is exactly right. sadly i hear, nearly every day, of more divisions, rather than more recognition of the true nature of christ's body, described in the rest of today's epistle reading:

"What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labour of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
. . .
"Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple."

sometimes i wonder if my brothers and sisters who are looking for the rapture are partly right: right in there being a rapture, but wrong to look forward to it. i wonder sometimes if it has already happened. i remember jesus' enigmatic question, "when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" luke 18:8b), and i wonder if he will find not faith, but jealousy and quarreling.

regarding prophecy and doom and gloom

there is no room in real prophecy for doom or gloom.

rather the prophet says things about our dooming situation such, "oh, my dear one, look, there is this big log of greed across your chest; let's take it off so you can breathe. and look, a big wall of sloth has fallen across your legs; let's clear it off so you can walk again. now, we can wash these cuts and put salve on these bruises and you can begin to heal."

and to those who live in gloom, in the darkness, real prophecy shows the light that shines in the wilderness, that enlightens all. (indeed the gospel of john becomes a work of prophecy seen in this way.)

the book of ezekiel begins with a magnificent vision of the glory of god, and ends with a vision of the rebuilding of the temple, the temple in which we are called to be living stones.

this is a wonderfully joyous koan.

prophets among us

there are prophets among us, but it seems often they are not in the church, at least not explicitly. among them i would certainly include david james duncan and cormac mccarthy.

of mccarthy's work, suttree is an unusually insightful book which, among other things, seems to me to be what the book of jeremiah might look like set in knoxville, tennessee. for fans of the revelation to st. john, no country for old men contains fairly explicit suggestions to that work. it is an extended chase story peopled by good folks who try to serve god and mammon and one bad dude who makes no such pretense.

duncan's work is all theological, but god laughs and plays is out and out sermonic.

clues to the koan

(by the way, if there are towels to wash your faces as you leave the church house, the video clip below is not a bad way to observe ash wednesday, despite what i said about lent in general).

so, my first clue came last night during vespers:

Psalm 142. Voce mea ad Dominum.

I CRIED unto the LORD with my voice; * yea, even unto the LORD did I make my supplication.
2 I poured out my complaints before him, * and showed him of my trouble.
3 When my spirit was in heaviness, thou knewest my path; * in the way wherein I walked, have they privily laid a snare for me.
4 I looked also upon my right hand, * and saw there was no man that would know me.
5 I had no place to flee unto, * and no man cared for my soul.
6 I cried unto thee, O LORD, and said, * Thou art my hope, and my portion in the land of the living.
7 Consider my complaint; * for I am brought very low.
8 O deliver me from my persecutors; * for they are too strong for me.
9 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks unto thy Name; * which thing if thou wilt grant me, then shall the righteous resort unto my company.

Salisbury Cathedral Miserere Mei Deus

lent. again. already

i'm still excited from the nativity, and here it is lent, time to get ready for easter, as if one could be ready for such an astounding event.

the past several years my "lenten disciplines" have taken a different turn. partly this turn has been a gift, and partly it has been the result of a conscious dissatisfaction with lent as usual.

i mean, consider ash wednesday. we read the gospel. jesus tells us that we when we fast we are not to disfigure our faces, but to wash our face, that we appear not to fast. but we ash our faces. the for forty-six days we gosspin about what we have "given up for lent." giving up chocolate is popular with many of my friends. i always feel this reduces the resurrection to "o joy!, now i can ear chocolate easter bunnies."

the traditional prayer, fasting, and alms are very good disciplines, of course, but are best done secretly. the lenten discipline which came to me as a gift, however, does not seem to require secredy. in fact discussing it may be a helpful part of it. it is to take a lenten koan, to borrow a term from by zen buddhist buddies. a koan is a text to unriddle. my first lenten koan, from a. d. 2006, was the passage from the gospel according to john in which some greeks come to philip and say, "we would see jesus." philip tells andrew. andrew and philip tell jesus. jesus answers them, "the hour is come, that the son of man should be glorified. verily, verily, i say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the ground, it abideth alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit." on one level, a text as simple as possible. but, there are levels and levels.

this year my koan seems to be a bigger one: the book of the prophet ezekiel. this strange text has been haunting me since last june. there is a central part, the most in-your-face-perssonal part, in the second chapter:

"son of man, i send thee to the children of israel, to a rebellious nation . . . . i do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, thus sayeth the lord god. and they, whether they will hear, or whether they will fore bear . . . yet shall know there has been a prophet among them." (2:3-5)

i suspect this is ot only my koan, but the koan for all the church, as we look once again toward the biggest celebration of the resurrection of jesus christ of the whole year. do we, dare we, do i, dare i, share the words that are sweet as honey in our mouths, "alleluia! christ is risen! the lord is risen indeed! alleluia!" dare we go through the three days of death, the desolation of israel, that leads to the resurrection and the rebuilding of the temple that is ezekiel's vision and jesus' promise or do we just give up chocolate for forty-six days?

candlemass: feast of the presentation: feast of the meeting of our lord jesus christ

in matins of the orthodox church are sung each morning nine odes, one of which is from the 26th chapter of isaiah. the ode sung only begins with the 10th verse. but i think on this morning the beginning of the chapter is appropriate to describe the expectation of simeon, who was waiting in the temple for the coming of the messiah of israel:

in that day shall this song be sung in the land of judah; we have a strong city; salvation will god appoint for walls and bulwarks.
open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
for he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
the foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
the way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
yea, in the way of thy judgments, o lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
with my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

it is in that context that simeon's canticle, the nunc dimmitis especially makes sense:

lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, *
according to thy word;
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, *
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,
to be a light to lighten the gentiles, *
and to be the glory of thy people israel.

the temple in which simeon waited is no more. its replacement is made not with the hard stones cut by herod, but with the living stones which are our hearts. do we wait there for the coming of the messiah of israel? the words of the prophet isaiah can only encourage us today as they must have done simeon.

winter transfiguration

thursday morning daily office reading for the thursday in sextugesima week:

"and after six days jesus taketh with him peter, and james, and john, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
"and his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." (mark 9:2-3)

i looked out the window and the whole world was white as snow. ah, how boldly isaiah writes of the holy one:

"holy, holy, holy, is the lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." (isaiah 6:3)

and i am reminded the the new creation is about the whole universe. so i was delighted to sing the second section of the benedicte omnia opera:

"II The Cosmic Order

O ye heavens, bless ye the Lord; *
O ye waters that be above the firmament, bless ye the Lord;
O all ye powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; *
praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye sun and moon, bless ye the Lord; *
O ye stars of heaven, bless ye the Lord;
O ye showers and dew, bless ye the Lord; *
praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye winds of God, bless ye the Lord; *
O ye fire and heat, bless ye the Lord;
O ye winter and summer, bless ye the Lord; *
praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye dews and frosts, bless ye the Lord; *
O ye frost and cold, bless ye the Lord;
O ye ice and snow, bless ye the Lord; *
praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye nights and days, bless ye the Lord; *
O ye light and darkness, bless ye the Lord;
O ye lightnings and clouds, bless ye the Lord; *
praise him and magnify him for ever."

what a wonderful gift is the snow!

bright darkness: harts' desire

"like as the hart desireth the water-brooks;
so longeth my soul after thee, o god."


on either side, dark walls of black pine;
below, night-black asphalt;
above, only the slight light of the seven stars.

in this dark, i walk,
my feet finding sometimes the path,
sometimes the road verge.

this is not the valley of the shadow of death,
but i do think of the people who walk in darkness.

one black pine wall flattens,
becomes a black grass field,
where flame forth black deer,
undulent as fire-tingues, running.

they, seven, perhaps sisters to match the pleides,
(perhaps seven dark flames of the spirit)
cross my path, invisible
but hoof-heard on the hard road.
in the black pine wall,
they stop and pant.

"o send out thy light and this truth, that they may lead me,
and bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy dwelling."

i stop and hear, unseeing,
and turn to climb to the ridge-top, up.
the wall opens:
orion and faithful sirius
lead me to the tent.

godless capitalism

"the fool hath said in his heart, there is no god."

i am certified by the standards of the world not to be a fool. by that i mean that my "i.q." has been measured to be about 150. yet again and again i find that i hold convictions that are commonly called foolish by popular contemporary wisdom: the virgin birth; the resurrection of the body; the ascension; pentecost. all of these things are wisely rationalized away by any number of best-selling books by people who claim to be making "christianity" "relevant."

it is popular these days to remember forgotten stresses or abuses from childhood at the hands of one's parents. as far as i can remember about my parents, i was a desired and cherished child. but i do remember that i was stessed and abused by the government of my country. i grew up in the "duck and cover" period of american history, when we were told of the daily dangers of "godless communism." even my father, who was a self-professed taoist, came to visit me early one morning at my college because he had seen on the news the night before a communist speaking at my school.

but as i have grown older, i realize that the danger was never from godless communism. i never quite found that theory believable anyway, because so few things the government was telling seemed believable, but i realize more and more the danger from godless capitalism.

but perhaps i am too harsh on capitalism. this state religion does seem to have a god, the god of the bang: the big bang which has replaced creation; the sacrilegious bangs of the trinity project: alamagordo and hiroshima and nagasaki; the bang-for-the-buck that measures all things.

i sat this week in a coffee shop and wept. i heard of the newest war-idol of the empire, a tank with a specially-shaped bottom to resist the bombs that had toppled the previous idol, the british challenger. the cost was expected to be $81 million each.

i confess i am less-than-thrilled that one of the projects best-supported by american main-line churches has been the millenium development goals. but even that lame project, to which my little parrish in eureka springs magnanimously donated the proceeds of our yard sale in our generous efforts towards sharing .07% of our income with starving children, would be a far better way to spend eighty-one million dollars than for another machine whose sole purpose is the destruction of human life and homes.

it is not that capitalism has no gods. it merely considers the living god no longer to be necessary for its purposes, and is convinced it can created any god it does need.

the third mystery of the theophany: stone jars

"and the third day there was a marriage
in cana of galilee"

perhaps a tuesday wedding, a wedding day
of grass and herb and fruit tree;
perhaps the third day after john bare record
"this is the son of god."

"and there were set there six water pots of stone,
after the manner of the purifying of the jews."

how heavy, how hard, how permanent.
the holy one gave moses the law on tablets of stone,
harder to misplace, one might think, than a
scrap of paper with the thought for the day, one
of god's 365 promised blessings,
or the marriage certificate from our first wedding.

moses made a box,
put the tablets inside,
covered the thing with gold,
"overlaid it with pure gold,
within and without,
and made a crown of gold to it
round about."

but they lost it. misplaced it
somewhere.
box, tablets, rings, chittim wood staves,
the law.

no one knew quite where.
no one would have looked in cana, in galilee.

"and the third day, there was a marriage
in cana of galilee."

sometimes, we pray, "if it be thy will," upon marriages
may be bestowed "the gift and heritage of children."

you can see the mill stone coming.
might we, might i,
offend one of these little ones?
might we, might i, become little ones?

"and there were set there six water pots of stone,
after the manner of the purifying of the jews."

best we remain among the jars,
not filling them full,
lest the new wine burst
our old stone skins.

"and there were set there six water pots of stone,
after the manner of the purifying of the jews,
containing two or three firkins apiece."

all these firkins of water:
will they not wash us clean?

and how many firkins make water enough
to comprehend my millstone and my offenses?

17 january: st. anthony of the desert with snow

with what carl jung calls synchronicity, i have been reading j. philip newell's listening to the heartbeat of god these days between the commemorations of sts. paul of thebes and anthony of the desert.

anthony was noted for not having any books in his hermitage. most of the monks at least had a psalter, with the gospels a close second choice. anthony most probably knew the psalms by heart, but when he was asked about the lack of scrolls on his window sill, he said simply that for one who has eyes the holy one is revealed in all his creation.

newell's book explores this theme in celtic spirituality, tracing its birth in the traditional understandings of the celts, its suppression under the augustinianism of the roman mission in britain beginning in the seventh century, and re-emerging in the last several centuries, even within the calvinistic church of scotland, especially under the influence of george macleod.

and so it was with great if cold joy that i looked out of my little hut this morning on the snow, calling to mind psalm 148:

Praise the Lord, for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God *
yea, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.
The Lord doth build up Jerusalem *
and gather together the out-casts of Israel.
He healeth those that are broken in heart *
and giveth medicine to heal their sickness.
He telleth the number of the stars *
and calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and great is his power *
yea, and his wisdom is infinite.
The Lord setteth up the meek *
and bringeth the ungodly down to the ground.
O sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving *
sing praises upon the harp unto our God;
Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth *
and maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of men;
Who giveth fodder unto the cattle *
and feedeth the young ravens that call upon him.
He hath no pleasure in the strength of an horse *
neither delighteth he in any man’s legs.
But the Lord’s delight is in them that fear him *
and put their trust in his mercy.
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem *
praise thy God, O Sion.
For he hath made fast the bars of thy gates *
and hath blessed thy children within thee.
He maketh peace in thy borders *
and filleth thee with the flour of wheat.
He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth *
and his word runneth very swiftly.
He giveth snow like wool *
and scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes.
He casteth forth his ice like morsels *
who is able to abide his frost?
He sendeth out his word, and melteth them *
he bloweth with his wind, and the waters flow.

15 january: commemoration of paul of thebes

morning had broken, like the first morning.
black bird had spoken, like the first bird.
i had slept late,
knowing there was raisin bread for breakfast.

i had gone to fayetteville yesterday, a trip fascinating in many ways as i met new people, but i had not netted much in trade for some books i had taken: gregory of nyssa's life of moses, and $2.65.

i am in one of "those" periods when i feel as if all that stand between the present disastrous condition of the world and universal salvation are the little groups of books that line the walls of my hut--a reminder that i haven't quite "sold everything." at the same time, excited that my two favourites books were favorites of the great monastic saints of the middle ages and earlier--the psalter and the song of songs, i have even ordered another translation and commentary on the psalms, as if some other part of beautus vir qui non abiit would spring to life in me if i just read robert alter's translation.

so: would the world be a better place if i sold all my books and gave the slightly more than $2.65 to the poor, or maybe all but five or six, just little ones? i won't know, of course, unless i try. but i do know how close the holy one seemed the years i was in a kayak on puget sound with only one book. my friend cassidy has suggested the inside passage some summer. this may be the message i need, perhaps not for universal salvation but for my personal salvation.

come sunday/with cold & blue jays

sunday came, cold and luminous;
first after the epiphany, jesus' baptism:
i remember jesus coming "straightway out of the water,"
back bare, brown, and luminous.
o ye frost and cold, bless ye the lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.
o ye seas and floods, bless ye the lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.

i am walking, after the epiphany,
after the great thanksgiving,
hoping. i am hoping to see the holy,
a bush burning in cold lord's day light.
o ye children of men, bless ye the lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.
o all ye green things upon the earth, bless ye the lord,
praise him and magnify him for ever.

in the barren bush, blue jays, plump,
turned round white feathered bellies towards me,
white as baptismal gowns, fruit but for
their legs, not twig brown but black.
o ye fowls of the air, bless ye the lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.
o ye servants of the lord, bless ye the lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.

let us bless the lord, father, son and holy ghost:
praise him and magnify him for ever.

christmas: where was it?

i am missing it. sunday evening was warm and clear and i walked around a long time on my way back to the little hut from st. james' din-din--every sunday evening there is a free meal for whomever, very good, sort of my replacement of soup tuesdays except that john and bob make the soup and gloria makes some pasta wonder--and luxuriated in the christmas stars. now comes the hard work of showing forth that light in my life.

tonight i start a six-weeks excursion in christology with the wesleyan quadralateral at the methodist church. i am using as a sort of theme the introduction to john's first epistle:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

and as our prayer the old prayer book's collect for the second sunday after christmas:

"ALMIGHTY God, who hast poured upon us the new light of thine incarnate Word; Grant that the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

now that the malls have stopped proclaiming the santa claus season and the light posts of our town are no longer pouring forth the message to buy-buy-buy, it is time for us who call ourselves after the name of the new-born king to explain "what child was this."

fleeting christmas

already it's the eleventh day. a friend mentioned that she only just now noticed how many of the "christmas decorations" around here are snowmen or some such, which have nothing to do with what we say we're celebrating, that her old and nearly worn-out peace banner is more what we should use to greet the coming of the prince of peace. and this morning i read the 65th chapter of isaiah, that wonderful passage

For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18But be glad and rejoice for ever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
19I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
20No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23They shall not labour in vain,
or bear children for calamity;*
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.
24Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.

i read this and think about the fighting among the priestly clean-up crew in bethlehem at the church of the nativity and wonder if we should all becomes muslims.

saints of winter

i have often fantasized about living in one of the little stone beehive huts off the coast of scotland, or in a daub and wattle hermitage in ireland. i appreciate my little scrapwood and plastic hut in the ozarks, right on the edge of the 100 aker wood, but it isn't likely to yield any interesting archaeological residues after even five years, much less a thousand.

yet, it is cold enough here, and not only a little wet, so that when i think of what life must have really been like for the irish saints who recited the psalter whilst standing up to their necks in a cold stream, i am both happy and grateful to be where i am, chanting the psalms in coziness, with few chinks for the wind to find.

but of course as soon as i had typed "chinks for the wind to find" i heard what an ambiguous phrase that is. reading the first letter of john in the daily office this crystalclear morning, i was struck by this sentence: "and hereby we know that he abides in us, by the spirit which he has given us." (3:24b) and i think how often this first gift, this ultimate gift, this gift which marks those who are in christ's new creation remains unopened, for this is also the gift which requires us to "love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." so often we seem to find it easier to reject the gift.

therefore i find great comfort in the wonderful lists of winter saints, beginning with thomas on the solstice, including stephen the protomartyr and the holy innocents, and going on to encompass basil and seraphim of savlov and gregory of nyssa and paul of thebes and anthony of alexandra and mark of ephesus and maximus the confessor and xenia of petersburg and john chrysostom and isaac of syria, all of whom lived lives which embodied love not [only] in word or speech,"--certainly the words of john chrysostom and isaac of syria and gregory of nyssa are as powerful encouragements for love as we can find--but also "in truth and action," even in action which this world finds bizarre or incomprehensible, as it does xenia of petersburg and paul of thebes.

and yet. yet this morning the sun rose brilliantly, a minute or so earlier than yesterday, and it shone in the darkness, even though the darkness could not comprehend it.

circle of prayer: epigrah

a wheel was shown to me,
wonderful to behold . . .
divinity is in its omniscience
and omnipotence
like a wheel,
a circle,
a whole,
that can neither be understood,
nor divided,
nor begun nor ended. --hildegard of bingen

st. thomas day/winter solstice/o dayspring

st. thomas' feast comes on the winter solstice, the 21st of december, a date i always find quite appropriate. thomas is usually called "doubting thomas," but if matthew's gospel is to be credited, there were others doubters (matt. 28:17), so i think it is more helpful to look at the witness of thomas as proof that the resurrected jesus is the same as the crucified jesus, that this is an event in the body and not only in the spirit.

in the same way, remembering thomas at the darkest time of the year, just on the edge of the commemoration of the incarnation of our lord, also witnesses to the physicality of our salvation, that it is brought about as much by the incarnation as by the resurrection, that indeed these are parts of the same event which continues through the assumption to this very day.

i am delighted to find that western white man protestantism is beginning to pay more attention to the worldliness of salvation. brian mclaren's latest book, everything must change seems an important move in that direction. i hope it is not just condemned. in it mclaren pointed me to an old jackson browne song that unfortunately we who call ourselves the church would do well to remember, not just at this season.

december 17-24: the great o's

the magnificat* is the song of the church at sunset, as the new day begins. for each day there are antiphons to give it particular meanings for changes ofthe cycle of the year. few of us know these antiphons unless we live in a monastic community, but most of us know the antiphons for the last week of advent, because they are the verses of the popular hymn "o come, o come, emmanuel

each verse is a title of the messiah from one of the prophets, especially isaiah. the hymn has been recorded and sung many times, but one of the most surprisingly moving renditions i have found is by a primarily rhythm and blues group, boyziimen. i hope you enjoy it as much as i do.

*The Song of Mary Magnificat
Luke 1:46-55a


My soul doth magnify the Lord, *
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
For he hath regarded *
the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold from henceforth *
all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me, *
and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him *
throughout all generations.
He hath showed strength with his arm; *
he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, *
and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel, *
as he promised to our forefathers,
Abraham and his seed for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

circle of prayer postlude: getting started, or don't try this at home

one never knows where the path will lead.

it is 6:00 in the morning on the third sunday of advent, still dark and eighteen degrees. i light a candle, pull a blanket around my shoulders, and begin morning prayer. "o lord, open thou our lips, and our mouths shall show forth thy praise." because it is advent, i start with venite (psalm 95:1-7, 96:9,13), which ends with
"for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth,
and with righteousness to judge the world
and the peoples with his truth."

next, because it is the sixteenth morning of the month, follow psalms 79, 80, 81, beginning
"o god, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple
have they defiled, and made jerusalem a heap of stones."

psalm 81 concludes
"i would have fed them also with the finest wheat-flour;
and with honey out of the stony rock would i have satisfied them."

then comes a reading from isaiah, promising the desert will bloom (ch. 35), and because it is sunday, the te deum. the new testament reading describes the birth of john the baptist (luke 1:57ff), and by the time his father zecheriah is singing that
"the dayspring from high has visited us,
to give light to them that sit in the darkness, and in the shadow of death . . ."
a cold winter sunrise is reddening the south-east horizon, showing through my frosty plastic window a hundred-acre wood dusted with snow.

i sing christina rossetti's "in the bleak mid-winter" softly.

i am very cold, and most people would think me very alone, and i am very happy.

how did i get here? did the circling path that led to this cold hermit's morning begin the early fall morning my kayak took me around a bend of the st. francis river to find a huge bald cypress becoming dozens of great blue herons in the sunrise? yes.

did it begin the morning in the season of epiphany when i walked cautiously through the red doors of all saints' episcopal church to enter the daily office? yes.

or did it begin when i moved to santa fe to watch sunsets? yes.

by the grace of god when there has been a fork in the road, at least for the past thirty years, i have taken it. gradually the curves had led me back to the place where i had begun, to find it for the first time.

i began to notice what was happening, that i was becoming an accidental hermit, during a three-year long exploration of the waters of north-west washington and south british columbia in a red folding kayak named brendan. i cautiously cast off from a dock in anacortes one may morning, weighted down with all the gear the fear-and-gear mongers want to sell paddlers, and with the expectation of seeing a lot of beautiful "nature." three septembers later, i pulled up on an afternoon beach in bellingham, wearing only shorts, carrying a single cooking pot and a century-old copy of the holy bible, authorized version.

i knew i did not want to move back into a house, or to return to a career. as francis of assissi said, we do not live in houses. and as i've been told tom robbins said, " a career is a totally inadequate response to life. asked what i had learned, i was surprised to find the answer was easy. what i had expected to be many parts of nature had proved to be one whole creation.

a neighbor in the ozarks is shocked and a bit worried that i live without what she calls creature comforts, but i find that what i have found are the comforts of the creature, that, as annie dillard wrote, we are all created.

if you decide to take the path, do not expect it to lead to my little hut in the ozarks. do not be afraid that you will end up cold and alone on a snow morning. but do pay attention. what the holy one has in store for you is more than we can hope for or imagine.

pay attention. stay awake. put an axe in your television and watch the sunsets and the sunrises instead of listening to morning edition. sing with mary in the evening and zechariah in the morning instead of listening to mp3's. read the daily office instead of the new york times.

i'm alive serious here. there is a great pearl in that field, but if you are not willing to sell everything that you hve to buy it, you will die with the stuff for a good yard sale, but you will miss living in the kingdom of heaven.

commemoration of brother louis (thomas merton)

blessed are the peacemakers. and likely to have a difficult time in 1968, when opponents to the war (there's only one, which the empire now admits it wants to make endless) tended to die in rather mysterious circumstances.

i was in college in 1968, only tangentally connected to the church, which seemed to me to have failed to live by the standards it had taught me. occasionally i participated in worship and activities of centenary united methodist church in memphis, which was active in the civil rights movement. my knowledge of things catholic was quite limited, but ramparts magazine published very insightful essays by this monk called thomas merton.

i have always assumed that the cia was involved if not directly responsible for merton's death. i was one of the students picked by the cia to attend national student association activities to see how radical we might become, and to keep under surveilance.

merton's effective opposition to the war began to open to me the understanding that contemplation is action. the most effective action. i still have great respect for the work of centenary united methodist church, and especially of the rev. j. m. lawson, the then-young pastor. if i had not had the experiences i had at centenary, i might have abandoned the church entirely.

but, i can't help but believe that much of our "action" today lacks the foundation of prayer that is necessary for the real work of the kingdom, the kingdom headed by the one we so lightly call at this season of encouraged greed, the prince of peace.

advent and st. nicholas

i could not resist sharing this post.

circle of prayer 30. reconciliation: lent (spring)

"give them grace, when they hurt each other, to recognize and acknowledge their faults, and to seek each other's forgiveness and yours." (prayer from "the celebration and blessing of a marriage," bcp 1979)

i was reared in a baptist church in a small southern town where we were convinced that roman catholics were followers of the whore of babyon. one of the proofs was that all catholics had to do to have their sins forgiven was to confess to their priest. little did we recognize how difficult true confession is. the closest we came was "revivals," at which just about the only sin confessed was drinking, although there were occasional mentions of "that jezebel."

the difficulty of making a good confession has a long history. in the baptismal covenant we are asked "will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the lord?" adam and eve should have had the advantage of such a question. when they fell into sin, the holy one, who if omniscient knew they had eaten the forbidden fruit, came to walk with them in the cool of the day as usual. rather than repenting and returning, they dissembled and blamed whomever was convenient except themselves. (genesis 3:8-13)

although we tend to agree with crosley, stills and nash that "we've got to get back to the garden," most of us have no clue how to do so. we remain in the ignorance from my childhood, maybe convinced that creation was originally good, maybe even believing that in baptism our sins are forgiven and our innocence restored; but we look around at a world that seems deeply mired in hopelessness.

hence the strength of the little bombshell embedded in the marriage liturgy and quoted above, a prayer for grace to recognize our faults and to seek forgiveness, knowing we will hurt each other. it is too simple for us to accept. we are like naaman, who came to elishah to be cured of leprosy and expected some elaborate ritual. he was told to wash seven times in the jordan. his response was like my childhood distrust of the roman catholics. how could healing, how could salvation, be simple? (2 kings 5:1-12) how could spring, with its thousands of blossoms, follow the dead of winter?

lent means spring. (because the days lengthen then).although the lenten practice of repentance began as a method to restore "notorious evil livers" to the communion of the church, it has become popular for anyone as a time of annual repentance, often leading to a renewal of baptismal vows. this reflects the understanding of the early church, and the continuous understanding of the eastern church, that repentance serves as a second baptism.

in many ways the traditional service of reconciliation is a recapitulation of our whole lives and of the sacraments of the church:

"The Penitent says:
Holy God, heavenly Father, you formed me from the dust in
your image and likeness, and redeemed me from sin and
death by the cross of your Son Jesus Christ. Through the
water of baptism you clothed me with the shining garment of
his righteousness, and established me among your children in
your kingdom. But I have squandered the inheritance of your
saints, and have wandered far in a land that is waste.
". . . I confess to you [the priest] and to the Church. . .
. . .
"Therefore, O Lord, from these and all other sins I cannot
now remember, I turn to you in sorrow and repentance.
Receive me again into the arms of your mercy, and restore me
to the blessed company of your faithful people; through him
in whom you have redeemed the world, your Son our Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen.
. . .
"The Priest concludes:
"Now there is rejoicing in heaven; for you were lost, and
are found; you were dead, and are now alive in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Go (or abide) in peace. The Lord has put away all
your sins.

"Penitent: Thanks be to God."

circle of prayer 29. healing: christmas

"mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.
risen with healing in his wings,
life and light to all he brings,
hail, the sun of righteousness!
hail, the heaven-born prince of peace!" (charles wesley)

nothing said above about advent should be understood as acceptance of death as "normal."

"christianity is not reconciliation with death. it is the revelation of death, and it reveals death because it is the revelation of life. christ is this life. and only if christ is life is death what christianity proclaims it to be, namely the enemy to be destroyed and not a 'mystery' to be explained. religion and secularism, by explaining death, give it a 'status,' a rationale, make it 'normal.' only christianity proclaims it to be abnormal and, therefore, truly horrible."
(alexander schmemann)

in christ is fulfilled the prophecy that death will be swallowed up in victory. (isaiah 25:8; romans 15:54). often we think of that victory's being won only at calvary, by the crucifixion. but all of human life is transformed by the incarnation. everything that god the son assumes in his humanity is healed, which is the usual meaning of the greek word often translated "saved." eternal life is possible for human beings because the eternally begotten son of the father entered time as the son of mary.

"o that birth for ever blesssed,
when the virgin, full of grace,
by the holy ghost conceiving,
bare the saviour of our race;
and the babe, the world's redeemer,
first revealed his sacred face . . . ." (a.c. prudentius)

"what child is this . . .?
this, this is christ the king,
. . .
the babe, the son of mary." (w.c. dix)

"for he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet, and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death." (1 corinthians 15:24-25)

circle of prayer 31. eucharist: at all times and in all places

"thanks be to god!"

"It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should
at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God, Creator of the light and source of life, who hast made us in thine image, and called us to new life in Jesus Christ our
Lord." (eucharistic preface, rite 1, book of common prayer 1979)

we sometimes forget that eucharist, thanksgiving, indeed the great thanksgiving, is, next to the breaking of the bread, the oldest and even more the most appropriate name for the central act of christian worship. we call it the breaking of the bread, the lord's supper, because of the very special meaning which our lord gave to the jewish communal meal, the chaburah. again and again, he gave thanks. so, we too give thanks.

the first thing for which we give thanks is creation. this we have often forgotten in the past few hundred years, as we have vainly assumed that we are now in charge of creation, which we have abstracted as "nature." but the early church always started with giving thanks for creation. indeed if there had been no "night in which our lord jesus christ was handed over to suffering and death;" if he had only formed us in his image; if he had only made covenant with us; if he had only through the prophets taught us to hope for salvation;, if he had only sent us the only-begotten son to be incarnate of the holy spirit, born of the virgin mary; if he had only lived as one of us, yet without sin; if he had only proclaimed to the poor the good news of salvation, to the prisoners freedom, to the sorrowful, joy; still it would be our bounden duty to glorify the one god, living and true, dwelling in light inaccessible before all time and forever.

our eucharistic gatherings, the great act in which we recognize our true role in creation as priest, offering back to the holy one what has been given to us that we and the whole world might be holy, would hardly be changed. this idea is expressed in the jewish passover song dayenu, which lists the great works of the holy one in delivering his people, and says about each, that if that were all he had done, that would have been enough.

but there is more. that god's purpose might be fulfilled, jesus gave himself up to death: and rising from the grave he destroyed death and made the whole creation new.

and that we might no longer live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again, he sent the holy spirit, his own first gift to those who believed, to complete his work in the world, bringing to fulfillment the sanctification of all.

as paul wrote so eloquently in his second letter to the church at corinth, ". . . for anyone who is in christ, there is a new creation; the old creation is gone, and now the new one is here." (5:17) paul describes the nature of the christ to the church at colossae in a beautiful hymn:

he is the image of the unseen god
and the first-born of all creation,
for in him were created
all things in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible,
thrones, dominions, sovereignties, powers--
all things were created through him and for him.
before anything was created, he existed,
and now he holds all things in unity.
. . .
as he is the beginning,
he was first to be born from the dead,
so that he should be first in every way;
because god wanted all perfection
to be found in him
and all things to be reconciled through him and for him,
everything in heaven and everything on earth,
when he made peace
by his death on the cross. (colossians 1:15-17, 19-20)

reconciliation and peace: this is the goal of the new creation, and of the new creator.

all of the seemingly contradictory things that are listed in the song of the three young men that we sing on saturday, "heavens and waters,sun and moon, winter and summer, fire and heat and ice and cold, nights and days, light and darkness," (see the appendix for the full text) all these things and more are reconciled and brought to peace, and their nature and purpose as revelation and prophecy of the christ to come is revealed.

the work of the holy one whose beginning was described in genesis as good is brought to fulfillment and perfected in the sacrifice of christ which we celebrate in the eucharist.

and so we finish:

deacon: go in peace to love and serve the lord. alleluia, alleluia.

people: thanks be to God. alleluia, alleluia.

(the eucharistic prayer which is quoted or paraphrased throughout this chapter is the liturgy of st. basil, the most widely accepted eucharistic prayer of the whole church, east and west, catholic and protestant.)

circle of prayer 27: marriage: may

"o father, all creating,
whose wisdom, love and power,
first bound two lives together
in eden's primal hour,
to-day in these thy children
thine earliest gifts renew . . . ." (j. ellerton)

there was a time in england when all of may was kept to onour the virgin mother of our lord. since she is seen as the model of the church, the bridge of christ, may was the most popular time for marriages.

marriage became attatched to may for other, perhaps more mysterious if related reasons as well. the feast of pentecost most often falls in may, when the holy spirit comes upon the whole church, making her a christ-bearer, just as the spirit had come upon mary. paul explored the imagery of the church as the bride of christ and what that image suggests for christian marriage in his letter to the church at ephesus:

". . . christ loved the church and sacrificed himself for her to make her holy. he made her clean by washing her in water with a form of words, so that when he took her to himself she would be glorious, with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless. in the same way husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies . . . . that is the way christ treats the church, because it is his body . . . . this mystery has many implications; but i am saying it applies to christ and the church. to sum up, you too, each of you, just love his wife as he loves himself; and let every wife respect her husband." (ephesians 5:25-33)

there were additionally some pre-christian reasons for the popularity of may as the marriage month. one of the most popular beltane celebrations was the maypole, around which men and women wound strips of cloth, walking in opposite directions. after it was wound they might go into the fields to make love, encouraging the sun and earth to follow their example and be fertile. (beltane is the beginning of summer in the celtic calendar.)

in all of these examples, marriage is seen as a re-uniting or uniting of opposites, either restoring the original bliss of creation, as suggested by j. ellerton's hymn from the english hymnal, or leading to the desired bliss of creation, as in the maypole activities. it is no wonder then that the most powerful image of the relationship of christ and the church is that of marriage. the reading that most powerfully illustrates this is the song of songs, which is read at passover in the jewish liturgy.

for many such a physical depiction of love and life is shocking to find in the bible. but it has been called in the midrash (the ancient oral commentary on the jewish scriptures) the most holy of books. as such, it's association with marriage and the period following easter is another indication of the power of the seasons of the year as revelation of the love of the holy one, and of the holiness of all creation. rather than suggesting that pagan activities surrounding the beginning of summer are mis-placed, it becomes apparent that the desire for reunion is also fulfilled in the mystery of the christ.

circle of prayer 28. death and the world to come: advent

sunset of the eve of the last day of november: st. andrew's day. for the western church this is the beginning of the advent season. the hills all around are dark, cloaked in winter blue, the blue-black of ink. yet they are outlined with a golden dark glow that makes winter vespers the most hopeful times of the year, what the eastern church calls the bright darkness.

of this time gertrude mueller nelson has written, "it is advent, and the whole world is pregnant." we tend easily to assume we know who will be born: the baby jesus, the christ child. we seldom seriously reflect on "what child is this?" but herod knew. this child is the death of the old world, the old regime, the old self. for many of us this is more than we want to bear, so we, like herod, try to deny the birth, to kill the child. (matthew 2:1-18) we cover the bright darkness with watts and watts of "christmas lights." rather than recognize that "light . . . shines in the darkness"(john 1:5), rather than "casting off the works of darkness" (collect for the first sunday of advent), we put on a cloak of pretended joy, as if death did not await each of us.

"yet in the dark street shineth the everlasting light." (phillips brooks)

the death that we would avoid is the only way to eternal life:

"unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,
it remains only a single grain;
but if it dies,
it yields a rich harvest.
any one who loves his life loses it . . . ." (john 12:24-25)

in the worlds of the mayan creation myth of the first father, "death is the door to awe." in advent we are allowed pass through the darkness of all that is old, of all that is dead, of all that no longer serves our true self, into the light of new and eternal life. this is a great and beautiful mystery. alas, many of us pass through the mystery without ever noticing it.

the eastern church honors and says farewell to the old dispensation by commemorating the old testament prophets at the beginning of december. for all the church the most significant advent saints are john, the great forerunner of the light, the greatest and last of the prophets of the old covenant, and mary the virgin mother, the first to enter the new kingdom, who took the word of god into her very body, giving birth to god the son.

all too often we react to the good news of the coming of the true king, who

". . . comes to judge the earth,
to judge the world with justice
and the nations with his truth: (psalm 96:13)

as did herod. rather than letting go our "carved images and . . . vain gods" (psalm 98:7), our understandings and pretentions and projections, we are willing to kill the innocent. we limit advent to preparing for the birth of the christ child, but we allow no room in our hearts for the child to grow.

but equally available is the way chosen by simeon, who had spent his life seeking not self-aggrandizement but "the consolation of israel" (luke 2:25), and whose song has ever since been the prayer of christians at the end of their days and at the end of their lives:

"now, master, you can let your servant go peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people israel.: (luke 2:29-32)

circle of prayer 25: the daily office: the day

"Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears" (sheldon harnick)


"our physical, emotional, and social systems follow a twenty-four hour cycle. this cycle normally provides an alteration of fatigue and rest, hunger and eating, work and leisure, which becomes basic to our consciousness of ourselves and our world. man must relate himself to the day and accept the discipline of it. we must begin every day with the will to make it a meaningful and useful day; but we must also be content to accep the close of the day in spite of the awareness that we may have accomplished little we must be able to sleep with reasonable confidence that we will not be attacked by enemies, beats, dreams, or demons--yet we must be wise enough to take reasonable preacautions for ourselves and others. finally, we must not be surprised that a day will come when do do not awake. a balanced and fully human life thus demands that we accept the discipline of living day by day, while not forgetting the necessity of long-range planning in many particular matters. we must have the faith that the day is good, and thankfully receive the daily bread that our heavenly father gives." (from prayer book studies 22)

"will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?

"i will, with god's help." (the baptismal covenant, bcp, 1979)

the daily cycle of prayer is so simple, so repititious, that it is easy to dismiss it as merely a rote act, or "unspiritual." all sunsets are the same, too. the daily prayer of the church, the "daily office," is not telling god what we want god to do or what we want to do, asking for a blessing for what we have already decided whether it is god's will or not. it is prayer with the words given by the holy spirit, the psalms, and listening to god's speaking to us in holy scripture.

the invariable rhythm of the canticles and intercessions, the longer rhythm of the psalms, the annual rhythm of the lessons from the scripture, weave us together in a pattern as simple as our inevitable death, as complex as our unspeakable life. this rhythm provides the context in which everything else in life takes place, and underlies its comprehensibility.

circle of prayer 24a. a discursus

at first the church baptised immediately on profession of faith (see acts). but it was not long before a two or three year period of catechesis came to be norma. it is not entirely known why this happened. a common explaination is that as christianity became the official religion of the empire, people were coming to conversion with little or no idea of what that meant. karl rahner makes a passing remark in on heresy that the new emphasis on teaching was a response to heresies, especially gnosticism. when one considers that jesus spent three years with the disciples and they were often very slow to understand, the catechesis makes good sense. during this second period, baptism came under the close supervision of the bishops, who were in charge of a local church. deacons and priests had their role in the actual ceremony, as hipppolytus of rome described in the apostolic tradition, but the bishop did the actual annointing, the "chrismation" that underlies the words "christ" and "christian." hippolytus' description of the practice in this second period is worth considering at length:

"At the hour in which the cock crows, they shall first pray over the water. When
they come to the water, the water shall be pure and flowing, that is, the water of a spring
or a flowing body of water. Then they shall take off all their clothes. The children shall be
baptized first. All of the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer. If there
are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for them, or
someone else from their family. After this, the men will be baptized. Finally, the women,
after they have unbound their hair, and removed their jewelry. No one shall take any
foreign object with themselves down into the water.

"At the time determined for baptism, the bishop shall give thanks over some oil, which he
puts in a vessel. It is called the Oil of Thanksgiving. He shall take some more oil and
exorcise it. It is called the Oil of Exorcism. A deacon shall hold the Oil of Exorcism and
stand on the left. Another deacon shall hold the Oil of Thanksgiving and stand on the right.

"When the elder takes hold of each of them who are to receive baptism, he shall tell each
of them to renounce, saying, "I renounce you Satan, all your servicea, and all your works."
After he has said this, he shall anoint each with the Oil of Exorcism, saying, "Let every
evil spirit depart from you." Then, after these things, the bishop passes each of them on
nude to the elder who stands at the water. They shall stand in the water naked. A deacon,
likewise, will go down with them into the water. When each of them to be baptized has
gone down into the water, the one baptizing shall lay hands on each of them, asking, "Do
you believe in God the Father Almighty?" And the one being baptized shall answer, "I
believe." He shall then baptize each of them once, laying his hand upon each of their
heads. Then he shall ask, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was
born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and
died, and rose on the third day living from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sat
down at the right hand of the Father, the one coming to judge the living and the dead?"
When each has answered, "I believe," he shall baptize a second time. Then he shall
ask, "Do you believe in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Church and the resurrection of the
flesh?" Then each being baptized shall answer, "I believe." And thus let him baptize the
third time.

"Afterward, when they have come up out of the water, they shall be anointed by the
elder with the Oil of Thanksgiving, saying, "I anoint you with holy oil in the name of Jesus
Christ." Then, drying themselves, they shall dress and afterwards gather in the church.

"The bishop will then lay his hand upon them, invoking, saying,
'Lord God, you who have made these worthy
of the removal of sins through the bath of regeneration,
make them worthy to be filled with your Holy Spirit,
grant to them your grace,
that they might serve you according to your will,
for to you is the glory,
Father and Son
with the Holy Spirit,
in the Holy Church,
now and throughout the ages of the ages.
Amen.'

"After this he pours the oil into his hand, and laying his hand on each of their heads, says,
'I anoint you with holy oil
in God the Father Almighty,
and Christ Jesus,
and the Holy Spirit.'

"Then, after sealing each of them on the forehead, he shall give them the kiss of peace
and say,
'The Lord be with you.'
And the one who has been baptized shall say,
'And with your spirit.'"

as the church grew, the powerful expressions of the nature of baptism as initiation into the one, undivided church of christ, represented by the bishop, consisting of those who had died and risen with christ, began to change, both in how it was performed and in what it meant. bishops no longer present at each baptism.

in the west the annointing by the bishop continued to be a necessary part of christian initiation, but separated in time from baptism, sometimes by many years, and called confirmation. in the east the entire ritual came to be performed by priests.
the meaning of the rise, especially in the west, came to be less about initiation into the community of those "who were being saved" and more about individual salvation. with each schism and division that tore the Church into different "churches," the image of community became less clear and that of individual salvation more prominent.

circle of prayer 26: ordination:the ember days

as many people, christian and otherwise, have moved to the cities and adopted their commercian calendars, and as even those who live in "rural" areas have come to get their holy times from the television, ember days have mostly fallen to the wayside. this should not surprise us.

"the ember days constitute a very interesting feature of the christian year, possessing one characteristic which is entirely unique. they are the only component of our annual observances in the church whose ultimate origins lay only in the 'natural' or solar year, which gave form to most primitive religions. . . . 'the ember days of the four seasons' began by being exactly what that name implies. they were in latin the quattuor tempora, a term fused into the teutonic quatember and curtailed into the english ember. they were derived from pagan agricultural observances which originally were three in number, devoted to the winter sowing in december,the summer reaping in june, and the autumn vintage in september. it was leo the great who added the lenten days to bring the number up to the four annual fasts of the jews." so wrote the standing liturgical commission of the episcopal church in prayer book studies xii: the propers for the minor holy days (new york: church pension fund, 1958)(, pp. 84-85.)

in the church year the ember days have been times of fasting and prayer before ordinations, and time for the priesthood, both ordained priests and the royal priesthood that is the whole body of christ, to reflect on how well we are carrying out our commission.

so it is as a complaint that the standing liturgical commission wrote, "the agricultural origin of the days is still discernible in some of the lections . . . prescribed in the roman missal. it also accounts for the fact that not one single lection therein has the slightest bearing upon the holy ministry." (p. )

their complaint misses the understanding that is the basis of this whole essay, which is that the holy one uses time, and the events specific to particular times, as a prophetic self-revelation, even though, "in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his son." (hebrews 1:2)

no parable is more central to the gospels that the parable of the sower. one might even argue that in the relative parable-poor gospel according to mark, it and the discussion around it has a role similar to mattthew's sermon on the mount or luke's sermon on the plain:

""listen! imagine a sower going out to sow. now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because it had no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. and some seeds fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced rich crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundred fold.' and he said, 'listen, anyone who has ears to hear.'" (mark 4:3-9)

add to this parable john's description of the harvest, and an agricultural typology for ministry is quite fully evoked:

"have you not a saying:
four months and then the harvest?
well, i tell you:
look around you, look at the fields;
already they are white, ready for harvest." (john 4:35)