3rd after Epiphany
January 26, 2020
Paddle your own canoe
These words are known from a popular 19th Century Celtic song. The song cautions against trust and risk ending with the couplet: "And I have no wife to bother me life, no lover to prove untrue, the whole day long I laugh with the song and paddle me own canoe." Such wisdom is commonly contradicted. A common example is "nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Matthew 4:19
And [Jesus] said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.
An interesting way to read scripture is to take the perspective of the different characters in a given story. For instance, in the call of the apostles you can put yourself in the place of the parents of the fishermen. As reported by Matthew, we see very quick decisions made by Peter and Andrew, followed by James and John. Presumably, fishing was a family business and the parents watched a stranger come and steal their labour. Their children were their only security for the future of their family business. What did they imagine as their boys walked away with a stranger after one line of conversation? This is an absurd scenario when pictured in your mind’s eye. What kind of parents would embrace such a moment! Jesus seemed very intent not to "paddle his own canoe" and chose instead to compel twelve intimate companions to join his journey.
4th after Epiphany
February 2, 2020
I am blessed
These words are ubiquitous. They can refer to something good from God or to something good from any source. It seems to be language that can unite, as if to say- it is good, let's not argue about where it comes from. On the other hand, one can use the phrase “I am blessed” territorially, as if to say, by using the word blessed, we are claiming God as a source. To some, this difference means the world, and to others, it means nothing. If your mother is cured of cancer, it is a great blessing. To some, how or who or why or any other question is irrelevant, it is enough just to be thankful. To others, unless this one understands the curing as the healing work of God through Christ, it is of little or no meaning or value. In fact, it is to be mistrusted. I imagine many of us go with the flow of the company we are in when the words are used. Arguments are rarely invited or requested.
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This is the first line of the “Beatitudes” – blessings found in Matthew 5:3-12 as well as in Luke. Contrary to the way Matthew relates the beatitudes, Luke alternates blessings and woes, implying that they are opposites. The point appears to be that God sends both joy and distress. Matthew allows the blessings to stand on their own. Rabbi Eric Yoffie and others have been attributed with responding to the 20th century Jewish experience, by speaking to God with words to the effect of "If this is the way you show us your love we'd like a little less love and a little more respect." While some might criticize this as an arrogant instruction to God, they fail to realize the playful way in which the rabbinical tradition can cope with contradiction and paradox. The holocaust did not feel very loving; what do you do with that? This is a reasonable question. Clearly, the biblical use of the word blessed is much broader than a simple synonym for the word "good" or "happy" as it is translated in the Good News Version of the beatitudes. The word "blessed" is more subtle, nuanced, textured and rich and invites us into a place of wonder about just how blessings appear and how they manifest in our lives.
5th after Epiphany
February 9, 2020
The law is an ass
This is a line from Dickens's Oliver Twist (1838) but is also found in a play by the name Revenge for Honour which was written almost two hundred years earlier. Authorship has been credited to both Henry Glapthorne and George Chapman. I also recall these words as the first line of my high school law text. Interestingly, Dickens actually wrote “The law is a ass – a idiot” and the context makes it clear that, while the law can fail us, it is not a statement about the general value of law but of how it may operate in certain circumstances. The earlier phrasing, in Revenge for Honour is actually “The law is such an Ass” and it, too, speaks of unique failings rather than the concept of law as a whole. A better rendering would be “The law can be an ass.”
Matthew 5:18
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not one letter, not one stroke of a letter,
will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
The quote above, in the two contexts cited, speaks of civil or common law failing to serve the greater good in all situations. When Jesus speaks of “the law,” he is talking about the Spirit which desires for our good. He speaks of law that is “finer than gold” and “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19:10). It may well be the case that any problems with law are less about the nature of law and more about the commonness of human misinterpretations, justifications, twists and manipulations that render the law to act like an Ass.
6th after Epiphany
February 16, 2020
One step at a time
I love The Garden Song. “Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow” written by Maine based folk singer Dave Mallett. I always assumed the song was traditional and until I saw him in concert and he said "I'm the guy who wrote this song" and then played it. I also love the book Bird by Bird which Anne Lamott wrote about the writing process in which the central image is from her doing a huge ornithology project as a child. Bird by bird she did it, just as she writes word by word. And my favourite book as a child growing up was The Big Jump about a kingdom where you could only have a dog if you were a king and you could only be a king if you could jump to the top of a castle. When the little boy, Ben, showed up and hopped, one by one, up the steps to the top of castle and asked if he could then have a dog the town laughed at him but the king did not laugh. Instead he said everyone just assumed it had to be in one jump and only Ben was able to imagine otherwise. These are but of few of the many lovely stories to remind us of the incremental nature of life.
1 Corinthians 3:2
I fed you with milk, not solid food,
for you were not ready for solid food.
Even now you are still not ready,
This is not Paul's only use of the metaphor of breastfeeding for people who are young in the faith. We grow and develop and become more able. People who join a gym and train don't start with the hardest machines and work backwards. When we learn an additional language we begin with rudimentary concepts. We find our speed and our path with trial and error, one step at a time and Paul finds creative ways to assure those he cares for that this is not a criticism but just a reality to be accounted for. Such an idea that some are further along than others bristles against our fixation with democracy which wants to see us all as equal, but that does not make it untrue.
Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
Pentecost to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to The Reign of Christ
Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
Trinity Sunday to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to The Reign of Christ
Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
Pentecost to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to Reign of Christ
For more on Glenn Morison and his book that led to this page, check out The Things We Say.
All this material is copyleft. Feel free to use it however you see fit, with or without attribution.
If you wish to value this page, please make a donation to the Winnipeg Quaker Meeting.
January 26, 2020
Paddle your own canoe
These words are known from a popular 19th Century Celtic song. The song cautions against trust and risk ending with the couplet: "And I have no wife to bother me life, no lover to prove untrue, the whole day long I laugh with the song and paddle me own canoe." Such wisdom is commonly contradicted. A common example is "nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Matthew 4:19
And [Jesus] said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.
An interesting way to read scripture is to take the perspective of the different characters in a given story. For instance, in the call of the apostles you can put yourself in the place of the parents of the fishermen. As reported by Matthew, we see very quick decisions made by Peter and Andrew, followed by James and John. Presumably, fishing was a family business and the parents watched a stranger come and steal their labour. Their children were their only security for the future of their family business. What did they imagine as their boys walked away with a stranger after one line of conversation? This is an absurd scenario when pictured in your mind’s eye. What kind of parents would embrace such a moment! Jesus seemed very intent not to "paddle his own canoe" and chose instead to compel twelve intimate companions to join his journey.
4th after Epiphany
February 2, 2020
I am blessed
These words are ubiquitous. They can refer to something good from God or to something good from any source. It seems to be language that can unite, as if to say- it is good, let's not argue about where it comes from. On the other hand, one can use the phrase “I am blessed” territorially, as if to say, by using the word blessed, we are claiming God as a source. To some, this difference means the world, and to others, it means nothing. If your mother is cured of cancer, it is a great blessing. To some, how or who or why or any other question is irrelevant, it is enough just to be thankful. To others, unless this one understands the curing as the healing work of God through Christ, it is of little or no meaning or value. In fact, it is to be mistrusted. I imagine many of us go with the flow of the company we are in when the words are used. Arguments are rarely invited or requested.
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This is the first line of the “Beatitudes” – blessings found in Matthew 5:3-12 as well as in Luke. Contrary to the way Matthew relates the beatitudes, Luke alternates blessings and woes, implying that they are opposites. The point appears to be that God sends both joy and distress. Matthew allows the blessings to stand on their own. Rabbi Eric Yoffie and others have been attributed with responding to the 20th century Jewish experience, by speaking to God with words to the effect of "If this is the way you show us your love we'd like a little less love and a little more respect." While some might criticize this as an arrogant instruction to God, they fail to realize the playful way in which the rabbinical tradition can cope with contradiction and paradox. The holocaust did not feel very loving; what do you do with that? This is a reasonable question. Clearly, the biblical use of the word blessed is much broader than a simple synonym for the word "good" or "happy" as it is translated in the Good News Version of the beatitudes. The word "blessed" is more subtle, nuanced, textured and rich and invites us into a place of wonder about just how blessings appear and how they manifest in our lives.
5th after Epiphany
February 9, 2020
The law is an ass
This is a line from Dickens's Oliver Twist (1838) but is also found in a play by the name Revenge for Honour which was written almost two hundred years earlier. Authorship has been credited to both Henry Glapthorne and George Chapman. I also recall these words as the first line of my high school law text. Interestingly, Dickens actually wrote “The law is a ass – a idiot” and the context makes it clear that, while the law can fail us, it is not a statement about the general value of law but of how it may operate in certain circumstances. The earlier phrasing, in Revenge for Honour is actually “The law is such an Ass” and it, too, speaks of unique failings rather than the concept of law as a whole. A better rendering would be “The law can be an ass.”
Matthew 5:18
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not one letter, not one stroke of a letter,
will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
The quote above, in the two contexts cited, speaks of civil or common law failing to serve the greater good in all situations. When Jesus speaks of “the law,” he is talking about the Spirit which desires for our good. He speaks of law that is “finer than gold” and “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19:10). It may well be the case that any problems with law are less about the nature of law and more about the commonness of human misinterpretations, justifications, twists and manipulations that render the law to act like an Ass.
6th after Epiphany
February 16, 2020
One step at a time
I love The Garden Song. “Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow” written by Maine based folk singer Dave Mallett. I always assumed the song was traditional and until I saw him in concert and he said "I'm the guy who wrote this song" and then played it. I also love the book Bird by Bird which Anne Lamott wrote about the writing process in which the central image is from her doing a huge ornithology project as a child. Bird by bird she did it, just as she writes word by word. And my favourite book as a child growing up was The Big Jump about a kingdom where you could only have a dog if you were a king and you could only be a king if you could jump to the top of a castle. When the little boy, Ben, showed up and hopped, one by one, up the steps to the top of castle and asked if he could then have a dog the town laughed at him but the king did not laugh. Instead he said everyone just assumed it had to be in one jump and only Ben was able to imagine otherwise. These are but of few of the many lovely stories to remind us of the incremental nature of life.
1 Corinthians 3:2
I fed you with milk, not solid food,
for you were not ready for solid food.
Even now you are still not ready,
This is not Paul's only use of the metaphor of breastfeeding for people who are young in the faith. We grow and develop and become more able. People who join a gym and train don't start with the hardest machines and work backwards. When we learn an additional language we begin with rudimentary concepts. We find our speed and our path with trial and error, one step at a time and Paul finds creative ways to assure those he cares for that this is not a criticism but just a reality to be accounted for. Such an idea that some are further along than others bristles against our fixation with democracy which wants to see us all as equal, but that does not make it untrue.
Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
Pentecost to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to The Reign of Christ
Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
Trinity Sunday to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to The Reign of Christ
Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
Pentecost to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to Reign of Christ
For more on Glenn Morison and his book that led to this page, check out The Things We Say.
All this material is copyleft. Feel free to use it however you see fit, with or without attribution.
If you wish to value this page, please make a donation to the Winnipeg Quaker Meeting.