"That, I suppose, is the final mystery as well as the final power of words: that not even across great distances of time and space do they ever lose their capacity for becoming incarnate. Adn when these words tell of virtue and nolity, when they move us closer to that truth and gentleness of spirit by which we become fully human, the readeing of them is sacramental."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 170-171)
Summer always seems to make people think about reading. Perhaps its visions of more free time, though I'm not sure that is actually true for most people. I know that if my vacations were sitting at the beach or lake front, I'd probably do more pleasure reading. I say this because I know at one time I was a voracious reader.
I haven't stopped reading, but will admit that the ratio of reading to tv watching is out of whack at the moment. I also know that I'd weigh a lot less if I'd change that ratio. Very hard to read a book and stuff your face at the same time.
What I recall loving most about reading was discovering insights into myself. Or perhaps putting me in the place of one of the characters. One of my favorite childhood books was My Side of the Mountain and I do recall dreaming of being that person. I identify very much with Gandolf from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Of course as a Christian, I find my self and my experiences of living in this world in the Bible. That's why it still speaks to me, because I'm in there. The good, the bad and the ugly of me.
For something to be sacramental it is supposed to be an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, and I can see how books can be that. Certainly they are outward and visible signs and the the places we find connection to ourselves the inward part comes into focus.
I don't know if I'll read much on my vacation this year. Too much baseball and driving. But I might try very hard to get back into the habit of reading for the sheer joy of it.
Blessings,
Ed
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Reflections for 6/27/11
"There is very little religion in Shakespeare, but when he is greatest, he is most religious."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 169)
I certainly have read plenty of Shakespeare in my life. From British Lit. at MHS, to a whole semester at Grinnell College. Of course it was probably ruined for me because I had to write a paper on whichever play it was we were reading. I should probably go back and just read them for pleasure, knowing there's no test or paper to write. Would I see religious themes in the writings now? Who knows. I certainly think of the soliloquy in MacBeth, life is but a fleeting shadow, a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing, and I hear echoes of St. Paul. Our Puck with "Lord What fools these mortals be."
Shakespeare would not be the only author I'd love to go back and read now that I could just read. How much more might I see in some of the other authors I read in high school and college? I know that reading the Chronicles of Narnia and the Harry Potter Books through the lenses of my vocation, I see very familiar themes. The end of the Deadly Hallows is almost blatantly Passion/Easter narrative.
So what would you love to read again if you knew you could just read it? What in your current life experience might reveal some new insight that you hadn't seen before?
Blessings,
Ed
I certainly have read plenty of Shakespeare in my life. From British Lit. at MHS, to a whole semester at Grinnell College. Of course it was probably ruined for me because I had to write a paper on whichever play it was we were reading. I should probably go back and just read them for pleasure, knowing there's no test or paper to write. Would I see religious themes in the writings now? Who knows. I certainly think of the soliloquy in MacBeth, life is but a fleeting shadow, a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing, and I hear echoes of St. Paul. Our Puck with "Lord What fools these mortals be."
Shakespeare would not be the only author I'd love to go back and read now that I could just read. How much more might I see in some of the other authors I read in high school and college? I know that reading the Chronicles of Narnia and the Harry Potter Books through the lenses of my vocation, I see very familiar themes. The end of the Deadly Hallows is almost blatantly Passion/Easter narrative.
So what would you love to read again if you knew you could just read it? What in your current life experience might reveal some new insight that you hadn't seen before?
Blessings,
Ed
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Reflections for 6/26/11
"To go on as though something has happened, even though we are not sure what it was or just where we are supposed to go with it, is to enter the dimension of life that religion is a word for."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 169)
I am sure there have been times in my life when I've experienced something or made a choice to do something and have no rational reason for doing it. I don't mean that in some fool hardy or dangerous way. But at a moment when I chose to take a direction that isn't clear to me where it will lead or why it is the right thing to do. I just know it to be right.
And when I reflect on the Elijah passage where he senses the presence of God not in earthquakes, wind, or fire, but in sheer silence. Something that makes no sense but he comes out of the cave anyway, right then.
In a world where we feel that we constantly have to justify or choices, weigh every pro and con, look to make sure we considered every possible outcome, we may miss the real opportunity to live fully into our lives. We may also miss out on encounters with God.
Often what we are looking for isn't as clear as it first seems. Usually below the surface of what we articulate lies the real heart of what we long for and really need.
Blessings,
Ed
I am sure there have been times in my life when I've experienced something or made a choice to do something and have no rational reason for doing it. I don't mean that in some fool hardy or dangerous way. But at a moment when I chose to take a direction that isn't clear to me where it will lead or why it is the right thing to do. I just know it to be right.
And when I reflect on the Elijah passage where he senses the presence of God not in earthquakes, wind, or fire, but in sheer silence. Something that makes no sense but he comes out of the cave anyway, right then.
In a world where we feel that we constantly have to justify or choices, weigh every pro and con, look to make sure we considered every possible outcome, we may miss the real opportunity to live fully into our lives. We may also miss out on encounters with God.
Often what we are looking for isn't as clear as it first seems. Usually below the surface of what we articulate lies the real heart of what we long for and really need.
Blessings,
Ed
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Reflections for 6/25/11
"There is a game we play sometimes. If we could somehow meet one of the great ones of history, which one would we choose?"(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 167)
I certainly have played that game, though I think it usually was played more in the writing of a paper or answering an interview question. I suppose the first choice would be obvious given my vocation, Jesus of Nazereth. Next I'd take Paul of Tarsus. Both I'd like to hear directly what they meant. I'd ask them what they thought of my world.
Because my interests vary I would have someone in almost any field of study or era. The history major in me would actually rather go back in time to observe events rather than interview individuals. My hunch is that most of the great ones in history would be no better at articulating their real thoughts, motives etc. than our current important people are. Imagine the great ones being interviewed by Jon Stewart or Bill O'Reilly to name two who people take seriously.
So who would you choose? What would you ask? It is a fun game to play. Here's another if someone in the future decided to come back and talk to you, what would you have to say?
Blessings,
Ed
I certainly have played that game, though I think it usually was played more in the writing of a paper or answering an interview question. I suppose the first choice would be obvious given my vocation, Jesus of Nazereth. Next I'd take Paul of Tarsus. Both I'd like to hear directly what they meant. I'd ask them what they thought of my world.
Because my interests vary I would have someone in almost any field of study or era. The history major in me would actually rather go back in time to observe events rather than interview individuals. My hunch is that most of the great ones in history would be no better at articulating their real thoughts, motives etc. than our current important people are. Imagine the great ones being interviewed by Jon Stewart or Bill O'Reilly to name two who people take seriously.
So who would you choose? What would you ask? It is a fun game to play. Here's another if someone in the future decided to come back and talk to you, what would you have to say?
Blessings,
Ed
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Reflections for 6/23/11
"To read the story of our immigrant forebears as it is summarized on the base of the old statue is to read our own story, and maybe it is only when we see that it is our own story that we can really understand either it or ourselves."(F.Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 166)
The summer before my senior year of high school I went to American Legion Boys State. It was basically a conference about civics and was in many ways a great experience. One goofier moment that I recall was waiting for a film to start and they were having technical difficulties. For some reason someone shouted "I'm an Italian-American." This was followed by a multitude of other hyphenated Americans, until I finally shouted "I'm a WASP." To which everyone laughed.
The truth is that I don't have a fabulous immigrant story. No love for some other country that I've never visited let alone lived in. I'm not even an American mutt. My ancestors have been in this country since the 18th century.
When I visited Ellis Island, as a history major, I found the place fascinating. So many stories. And then I thought about the history of each of those waves of immigrants. Each one seen as lower forms of life by the established population. And yet in time each of those nationalities becoming "American" eventually. With all the rights and privileges and all the heartbreak and headache that come with it.
And I believe it is those foreigners in our midst that continue to make the fabric of our nation so wonderful. And while I love being who I am in that context, I learn much from my encounters with the non-WASPS. And as a Christian, I share in the hope of another promised land.
Blessings,
Ed
The summer before my senior year of high school I went to American Legion Boys State. It was basically a conference about civics and was in many ways a great experience. One goofier moment that I recall was waiting for a film to start and they were having technical difficulties. For some reason someone shouted "I'm an Italian-American." This was followed by a multitude of other hyphenated Americans, until I finally shouted "I'm a WASP." To which everyone laughed.
The truth is that I don't have a fabulous immigrant story. No love for some other country that I've never visited let alone lived in. I'm not even an American mutt. My ancestors have been in this country since the 18th century.
When I visited Ellis Island, as a history major, I found the place fascinating. So many stories. And then I thought about the history of each of those waves of immigrants. Each one seen as lower forms of life by the established population. And yet in time each of those nationalities becoming "American" eventually. With all the rights and privileges and all the heartbreak and headache that come with it.
And I believe it is those foreigners in our midst that continue to make the fabric of our nation so wonderful. And while I love being who I am in that context, I learn much from my encounters with the non-WASPS. And as a Christian, I share in the hope of another promised land.
Blessings,
Ed
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Reflections for 6/22/11
"He hears inside himself the words, 'Water the earth with the tears of your joy and love those tears' and suddenly he gets down on all fours and kisses the earth with his lips, and when he gets up, he's no longer a teary wreck of a boy but a 'champion,' Dostoevsky writes-some kind of crazy champion and hero."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 165)
Buechner's reflection is on a scene from the Brothers Karamazov. I may have read the book in my high school World Literature Class at Metuchen High School, I just don't remember. But I can picture the scene. The character awakes from a dream that he has at a funeral and runs out of that place filled with joy because of the dream, and moves away from his grief and disappointment to a different way of being.
Tears of joy. I think the last time I shed those was when my son won his first varsity wrestling match. I hope I was just happy for him. Somehow I'm sure there was that part of me that was reliving my lack of sports success, but recalling how good that first win felt, and how it made me want to continue.
Tears of joy, when something just goes so superbly right that the very thing you were ready to quit on, you decide to keep going. Who knows why. A dream perhaps? Just an ah-ha moment? Or that small dose of something coming from somewhere that reminds you why you started this in the first place.
Here's hoping for more tears of joy in one's life. Certainly we have enough of the other kind.
Blessings,
Ed
Buechner's reflection is on a scene from the Brothers Karamazov. I may have read the book in my high school World Literature Class at Metuchen High School, I just don't remember. But I can picture the scene. The character awakes from a dream that he has at a funeral and runs out of that place filled with joy because of the dream, and moves away from his grief and disappointment to a different way of being.
Tears of joy. I think the last time I shed those was when my son won his first varsity wrestling match. I hope I was just happy for him. Somehow I'm sure there was that part of me that was reliving my lack of sports success, but recalling how good that first win felt, and how it made me want to continue.
Tears of joy, when something just goes so superbly right that the very thing you were ready to quit on, you decide to keep going. Who knows why. A dream perhaps? Just an ah-ha moment? Or that small dose of something coming from somewhere that reminds you why you started this in the first place.
Here's hoping for more tears of joy in one's life. Certainly we have enough of the other kind.
Blessings,
Ed
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Reflections for 6/21/11
"But it happened-this glimpse of something dimly seen, dimly heard, this sense of something deeply hidden."(F.Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 164)
On Sunday I drove my son Peter up to stay with my parents in Copake Falls NY. I really do love it up there, not just because my parents are there , but because of the quiet and the beauty of the place. I love just walking in the woods, and listening. No noise other than the birds, the babbling of the brook and the wind sometimes whipping through the trees.
I also know that my favorite time of day is the morning for much of the same reason, it is quiet, there is time to think, to meditate and just be still.
And it is in those moments of solitude, that I do occasionally catch a glimpse of something, hear a faint sound and begin to dive deeply into the meaning of life, my relationship with God, and my relationship to others.
I hope to retire to Copake Falls, though there are a lot of variables outside of my control. To walk the woods in my retirement, maybe with an old dog. Then to remember and to continue to catch a glimpse, to hear the sound of silence, and to sense God's presence even more deeply than normal.
Blessings,
Ed
On Sunday I drove my son Peter up to stay with my parents in Copake Falls NY. I really do love it up there, not just because my parents are there , but because of the quiet and the beauty of the place. I love just walking in the woods, and listening. No noise other than the birds, the babbling of the brook and the wind sometimes whipping through the trees.
I also know that my favorite time of day is the morning for much of the same reason, it is quiet, there is time to think, to meditate and just be still.
And it is in those moments of solitude, that I do occasionally catch a glimpse of something, hear a faint sound and begin to dive deeply into the meaning of life, my relationship with God, and my relationship to others.
I hope to retire to Copake Falls, though there are a lot of variables outside of my control. To walk the woods in my retirement, maybe with an old dog. Then to remember and to continue to catch a glimpse, to hear the sound of silence, and to sense God's presence even more deeply than normal.
Blessings,
Ed
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