Spring is perhaps the busiest time of year for me. That has more to do with my gardening schedule than with work at the church. And this year the list of chores is increased substantially by Oscar, the English Cocker Spaniel who has joined our family. It is amazing how much time it takes to get a puppy ready to go to gun dog school, but if he is to hunt like his parents and grandparents, it is the only way. Between the dog, the garden, the greenhouse, the family , and my work at St. John’s, I seldom have to look far for something to do. One of the great benefits of being busy is having a lot to think about. Some of those thoughts are practical and some are more philosophical in nature. But all of them are deeply spiritual, because they call me to give my will over to the revealed will of God, and to live for him. I don’t always do as well as I’d like, but I do try, and I hope you do the same. Here are a few of the thoughts which have been occupying my time as Eastertide moves toward Pentecost and Spring explodes all around me.
*English field bred Cockers, unlike their American show dog cousins, are known for being very “biddable.” That is, they are sensitive dogs with a deep desire to please the human members of their pack. As I see how hard Oscar works to make me happy, and how quickly he learns, I find myself wondering if I do as well in my relationship to God. How “biddable” am I when it comes to learning to do my Master’s will?
*The bulb beds at Briarwood have been magnificent this year. I find myself going the long way to the barn or to the cars in order to spend a few minutes looking to see what has changed in the beds since my last trip. It has been time well spent. So often we don’t take the time to see the details of God’s handiwork around us. We are the poorer for it.
*One of my most phenomenal Easter meditations this year has been prompted by the ongoing treatment and recovery processes of two of our parishioners, Jessie and John. Easter reminds us all of the promise of new life here and in the world to come. Jesus has overcome death and the grave, and the Bible says that he is become the “first fruits” of what all of us will be. When we look at the resurrected Christ, we get an idea of what we will be like in our resurrected bodies. In the same way, when we receive Communion in Church, we are given a foretaste of that Marriage Feast of the Lamb in which we shall participate after Jesus gathers all of his people home. Just a few years, or even just a few months ago, neither of our friend’s treatments would have been nearly as successful as they have been. Now, by God’s grace and through good science (which is also his gift to us), They are on their way to physical restoration and are smiling again. We ought never to discount the blessings that God offers us in this world. For we are his people, who are called to bear Christ to the nations by believing that his grace really does make a difference for us in the here and now.
*Art has started the fountain in the garden again, and Nancy and Annie have wonderful plans for filling the garden with medicinal herbs from the biblical and monastic traditions. I cannot help but remember as I walk through our parish garden that there is a river which flows from the throne of God, on the banks of which grow trees, the leaves of which are given for the healing of the nations. The beauty of our parish home inspires me and calls me to believe that God’s love, manifested usward by the blood of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Ghost, is everlasting, and is with us in the here and now.
*Like all of you, I have been deeply troubled by the senseless acts of violence which have occurred in our nation over the last few weeks. Gone are the days when we all thought, “That will never happen here.” As I try to make sense of such tragedy, I am disturbed by the response of many of my fellow citizens to the terrible, evil events of this spring. Disturbed because so many of the responses I see or hear seem driven by anger, and passion, and illogic, rather than by the Image of God in all of us. The immediate rush to judgment about guilt and cause and perpetrator by people across the political and cultural spectrum still seems to me to be devoid of rational methodology. It is as if large segments of our populace have become a people totally motivated and driven by feelings and pre-existent political agendas. In effect, many people seem to have torn away that thin veneer which we call civilization and become a mob. Those commitments instilled in me in both public and private educational institutions to scientific method and classical logic, to considering the long term implications of any action, and to considering individuals and arguments on their own merit and not based on the group to which they are perceived to belong, and the realization that genuine thinking empathy is always preferable to emotive sympathy, seem to have been forgotten in so much of our national clamor. I am reminded that reason, along with the capacity for love, the propensity to live in communities built on mutual respect, and the understanding that we really ought to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, are among those qualities which set us apart from the lesser species. We are indeed marvelously and wonderfully made in God’s own image. I honestly don’t understand how or why so many people are so quick to replace reason with feelings, or to shorten and simplify a rational decision making model which has served us so well for so long.
Five of my six rambles this month were very positive, and I am still troubled by the last. I hope you will grant me the liberty of addressing such a serious problem as the peevish emotionalism of our citizenry in a forum usually reserved for pleasant devotional ephemera. There is so much blessing all around us, but we must never shy from honestly identifying the serious problems in our midst.
Sincerely,
Bill+
No comments:
Post a Comment