Left Luggage

“If you are looking for a baggage storage service to take care of your luggage while you are out and about around London you have come to the right place when you come to Paddington Station. “When you arrive you can take a walk down to Platform 12 where you will find our Left Baggage Paddington service. Here you will be able to leave your luggage in our capable hands allowing you to further enjoy your London trip.”[i]

It had once been a splendid steamer trunk, bright blue with brass hinges, brass corner caps, and a brass lock.  But it has seen better days, the blue is faded and dingy, the brass badly tarnished, and one of the brass corner caps is missing.  Now it sits abandoned in left luggage in Left Luggage on Platform 12 at Paddington Station waiting to be reclaimed by someone who no longer wants or needs its musty contents and is perhaps embarrassed both by the sad contents, the rags and trash of a former life, and even more embarrassed by having packed it, brought it, and abandoned it.

When the steamer trunk has gravitated from left luggage to unclaimed luggage the Stationmaster flips through his great ring of keys, finds the right one and with a twist snaps the lock open.   Over the years the Stationmaster has opened many abandoned trunks; there are rarely any surprises.  This trunk, like many others, was stored in left luggage towards the end of a long trip.  What does the Stationmaster find?  Dirty laundry!  Dirty socks, dirty underwear, dirty shirts, dirty trousers; and adding a distinct aromatic bouquet, dirty sneakers.

What do you have in your old spiritual steamer trunk?  "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  The wild beasts will honor me, the dragons[ii] and the owls, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people”[iii]

For us, the trunk doesn’t just go away.  There is no spiritual Paddington Station Left Luggage; instead we just go around dragging the trunk behind us.  It needs to be unpacked and the Stationmaster, Jesus Christ, does do laundry.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”[iv]  All those old images of the aging Old Year being replaced by an infant New Year were false.  Now half way through the Lent many are dragging behind them that old steamer trunk filled with last year’s memories and the memories of years before, all pressed down and shaken together.  It takes an act of will, a surrender of the right to open the trunk before the old can actually be made new.

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[i] Left Luggage Advertisement on Paddington Station website

[ii] The Hebrew word is tan-neen, which actually means dragons not jackals, but modern translators don’t believe in dragons.  The Hebrew word for jackals is shuw`al.  

[iii] Isaiah 43:1120

[iv] 1 John 1:9  

The Hunter and the Farmer

      Current studies on people with a so-called attention deficit are pointing away from a negative diagnosis of attention deficits to a deeper underlying reality.  In our culture some of the new studies divide people into two basic groups.  The Hunter and the Farmer.  At the simplest level the Hunter constantly monitors the environment and is ever ready for a new chase to begin.  The Farmer is not easily distracted from the immediate task at hand.   The Hunter has some of gifts and weakness of the Hare, while the Farmer has some of gifts and weaknesses of the Tortoise.  Most of us mix the characteristics of the Hunter and the Farmer in varying degrees.  The story of the Tortoise and the Hare was incidentally written by a Farmer who had empathy with the Tortoise.

      That brings us to the very first pair of brothers in the Scripture.  Cain is a Farmer, slow and steady wins the race.  Abel is a Nomad/ Shepherd, a Hunter who follows the flocks and constantly monitors the environment for dangers.  The danger that he fails to recognize is the jealousy and resentment of his brother, Cain.  These dynamics occur many times in Scripture and come to light in the followers of Jesus.  Mary and Martha are a clear example.  Martha has her mind fixed on the mundane task at hand and plods through her preparation as a hostess, while her Hunter-type sister has dropped the dishes and is mesmerized by Jesus and his teaching in much the same fashion as the Hunter would drop the plow and go and chase a rabbit.  Both the Cain and Abel story, and the Mary and Martha story are written with an appreciation of the Hunter type and a caution given to the Farmer type.  On the other hand we need to recognize that when the crisis of death of Lazarus hits the family of Mary and Martha, it is Martha who rushes to meet Jesus on the road with a clear statement of her faith.  Mary is so overwhelmed by her grief that she remains in the house waiting for the call from Jesus. 

      A simple overview of the Apostolic band uncovers obvious Hunters like Peter, and his brother Andrew who is marked by a quieter and steadier approach to life.  What binds them all together is the person of Jesus.  He is the only thing that some of them have in common.  Jesus himself is an interesting study.  For the first thirty years of his life he lives as a farmer type methodically following the family business of carpentry.  It takes much more patience to finish a piece of carpentry than most Hunters possess.  On the other hand, at the age of thirty, like a true Hunter he drops everything and becomes an itinerant preacher wandering from village to village preaching the good news of the Kingdom and healing the sick.  Jesus combines in himself the perfect balance of Hunter and Farmer.  He is the complete man who attracts them both drawing the impetuous Hunter Peter into a deeper steadiness in following him, and challenging the less adventuresome Andrew to go out and preach and perform miracles.  For the love of Jesus they both rise to the challenge.  For the love of Jesus those who are Hunters within the Church and those who are Farmers are called to honour and respect each other, to complement each other, and to grow in grace in his image.

After the Shepherds Left

“It was a long journey and cold,” said the Donkey,

        stamping his feet.

“The man led the way, I walked, and she rode,

        all on a winter’s day.”

The Ox looked down on the man and the maid and the little babe

        all asleep on the hay,

        and said in awe and wonder,

“They’re very tiny when they are newborn.”

“Yes,” said the Donkey, “but consider this,

“It takes years of love and nurture

        to bring each of them to full maturity.”

“I know,” said the sentimental Ox,

looking down at the babe in the manger

        and shaking his head all on a Christmas day.

“Don’t be deceived by what you see,” said the Donkey,

“This one will conquer death and hell,

        and overthrow all the kingdoms of the earth

        and the sky.”

CHRYSOS CHRYSTUS CHRYSALLIS

Chrysos.

Chrystus.                                                                  

Shell Chrysallis

I shed thee

Spreading golden wings

For him to see.

Poor pupa

Golden pain

Springing joyous

Christening me.

Death’s baptism

Into life,

Into love,

In the midst of life.

Christo sunestauromia

Shedding only shell

My being ever living.

Chrysos,

Christus

Ever living

Lives in me.

Sanctifica me,

Salve me,

Inebria me.

Christen me

with thine own self,

For thou dost know me

for what I am.

Thou knowest I need thee.

Deep-laid in a soft red womb,

Absconde me

Ne permittas me

Separari a te,

Intra tua vulnera!

Bring to me

third birth

beyond death,

Spreading golden wings

for Him to see.

He died,

Chrysallis.

He lives,

Chrysos

Chrystus.

I died.

I will die again,

I will ever live.

Deo gratia!

Notes:

Chrysos.                                             Gold               

Chrystus.                                           Christ

Christo sunestauromia                    I am co-crucified with Christ

Sanctifica me,                                    Sanctify me

Salve me,                                           Save me

Inebria me.                                        Inebriate me

Absconde me                                     Hide me

Ne permittas me                              Do not permit me

Separari a te,                                     To be separated from Thee

Intra tua vulnera!                            In your wounds!

Deo gratia!                                         Thanks be to God!

God Initiates, Man Responds. A Meditation from Ephesians

From time to time in my morning Lectio Divina I write a reflection on the Scriptures I have been reading. Lectio Divina has four parts: Read the passage, Reflect on its meaning, Respond to God, and Rest in His presence. My Response this morning is to humbly give thanks for the riches of His grace.

It is God our Father who says to us, “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you” [Isaiah 43:4], “even when we were dead in our trespasses” [Ephesians 2:4]. We were loved at the very lowest point of our lives. It is there that He finds us. Those who will admit no need cannot be found. That is true of me, and it is true of all of us.”

 “By grace you have been saved,” occurs in verse 5 and is repeated in verse 8. We are saved by grace, God’s unmerited favour, not by faith. It important to realize that faith is not another work, but is a response on our part to God’s grace which initiates our salvation. Faith is essential, but without God’s initiating grace it has nothing to hang its hat on.

What is said of Isaiah is true for each of us, “The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name” [Isaiah 49:1]. Paul repeats the same theme in Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” And note that we are individually foreknown and predestined to be part of the family of God, not to stand alone.

The focus is on God, and his work, not on us and our faith. Grace is God’s loving kindness towards us; the unmerited favour which he extends toward us. Our faith is only the connecting link, the channel through which grace flows. There is an important theological paradigm at work here: God initiates, Man responds. God’s steadfast love has been extended to you from the moment you were conceived. That is why St. Paul emphasizes that, “this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

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Ephesians 2:4-10  4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved -  6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

Where Be All the Splinters of Bone?

Where be all the splinters of that bone, which a shot hath shivered and scattered in the air?  Where be all the atoms of that flesh, which a corrosive hath eat away, or a consumption hat breathed, and exhaled away from our arms, and other limbs?  In what wrinkle, in what furrow, in what bowel of earth, lie all the grains of the ashes of a body burnt a thousand years since?  In what corner, in what ventricle of the sea, lies all the jelly of a body drowned in the general flood?  

What coherence, what sympathy, what dependence maintains any relation, any correspondence, between that arm that was lost in Europe, and that leg that was lost in Afrique or Aisa, scores of years between?  … all dies, and all dries, and moulders into dust, and that dust is blown into the river, and that puddled water tumbled into the sea, and that ebbs and flows in infinite revolutions, and still, still God knows in what cabinet every seed-pearl lives, in what part of the world every grain of a man’s dust lies; and … he whispers, he hisses, he beckons for the bodies of his saints, and in the twinkling of an eye, that body that was scattered over all the elements is sat down at the right hand of God, in glorious resurrection.   

  – John Donne, The Resurrection of the Body, Sermon, 19 November, 1627

On Making Mistakes

I noticed with some amusement a mistake  I had made in an earlier article.  Apparently I quoted the Western “Dessert” Fathers, Instead of the Western “Desert” Fathers, saying, “If you have a snake or a scorpion, put it in a box and put the lid on it, and sooner or later it will die.”    I take it that the Western Dessert Fathers wore powder blue leisure suits and lived primarily on cheesecake and mimosas; while the Western Desert Fathers wore coarse garments, spent their time praying and fasting, and also recorded a few of their pithy sayings.

Everybody makes mistakes and even Smellcheck can’t catch them all.  Mothers and fathers make mistakes, old and young make mistakes, smart people and not-so-smart people make mistakes.  Lay people make mistakes.  Bishops, priests, and deacons make mistakes.  Pharisees and Sadducees make mistakes.  Making mistakes is a normal part of life.

Did I say, “Pharisees” make mistakes?  Here we have a problem.  Pharisees don’t accept a fact that is obvious to everybody around them, that is that even Pharisees make mistakes.  They also don’t accept that others are allowed to make mistakes.  The result is that they spend an inordinate amount of time correcting other people’s mistakes.  They live for the adrenalin rush that comes when they can point out the mistakes of everybody around them.

I once had a prominent and very devout church member who felt that it was his spiritual 

right every Monday, to present the Office Staff with a list of their mistakes in the Sunday bulletin.  Those who knew him knew that he had a few glaring flaws of his own, notably a lack of love and common courtesy, and a serious problem with shaming and blaming.  His attitude was like painting a “correct” smile on the Mona Lisa; it spoiled his reflection of the image of Christ.

The problem we face is that while some are blatant Pharisees, there is a little streak of the Pharisee in the best of us.  It is so very easy to cloak our own anxieties and feelings of inadequacy by critiquing others. 

Two things will help.  The first is the simple acknowledgement that everybody makes mistakes.  Second, we need to lighten up and develop a sense of humour.  Who knows?  There may actually be some Western Dessert Fathers who wear blue leisure suits, and live entirely on cheesecake and mimosas.