More about ourselves

What is it that makes us who we are and act the way we do?  Is it the particulars of our physical nature - our genetics and brain structure?  Is it our environment?  Nature and nurture are two aspects of a tired, old line of human inquiry.  Saint Paul famously writes of another dimension to the problem:

"For that which I do I allow [know] not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." (Romans 7:15)

Paul of Tarsus by Rembrandt (1606 - 1669) from Wikimedia Commons

Can we, in our present condition, overcome this?  Does this mean we should stop trying?  Consider what this means as science discovers more and more about the deep contradictions of our human nature.  It is part of who we are to continue to try to control this dilemma, to control both nature and nurture.  Will it one day succeed or is there something more fundamental at work - the fallen nature of humanity itself?

Uncomfortable words

We know the great "Comfortable Words" of scripture, e.g., "Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." (Matthew 11:28).  Today's reading from the Book of Numbers is something of the opposite.  Balaam did not listen to God although God was quite clear (Some characters - who are they?).  God chose to speak to Balaam through a very novel means.  Completely perplexed and overwhelmed, Balaam finally listened.

"Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face." (Numbers 22:31)

Odd and uncomfortable to be sure.

Balaam and his Ass by Rembrant, from Wikimedia Commons.

Some characters - who are they?

The Israelites have defeated two kings before crossing the Jordan river: Sihon and Og.  Balak, king of Moab, is concerned that the same thing will happen to him.  He sends emissaries and attempts to enlist Balaam to curse Israel.

"And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed."  (Numbers 22: 12)

Think about the profound importance of blessings and curses and the meaning of human language.

Balaam Receiving Messangers from Balak (illustration from 1890 Holman Bible), source Wikimedia Commons.

Disappointment and its antidote

If you are a caring person, conscientious and kind, you will be disappointed in your own actions some days.  I have been told that one should be positive and recognize that one is doing the best that one can.  This is good advice.  I personally find it difficult to follow, although I try.  The truth is that there is no human remedy for this, despite our best intentions.  Hear the words of the Psalmist, though:

"The Lord upholds all those who fall; he lift up those who are bowed down." (Psalm 145:15)

The Lord understands our faltering nature.  If we do not respond in our failings and shortcomings with a stiff neck of rebellion, but with a contrite heart, He will lift us up.

The Psalmist David by Gustave Dore from Wikimedia Commons.

Sadness for God's rebellious people

The waters of Meribah poured forth out of the bitterness of rebellion.  Soon to follow would be the death of Aaron, the high priest.

The Death of Aaron by Tissot (1896-1902), from Wikimedia Commons.

Domine, exaudi

Psalm 102 remains for me the great Psalm that speaks the words that I am unable to speak.

"My days pass away like a shadow, and I wither like the grass." (Psalm 102:11)

 But yet I am given another day and so are you, my children.


Mudil Psalter (Coptic), from Wikimedia Commons

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

It is midsummer.  The honey moon and Saint John's wort conspire to make us dream.  But the church celebrates the birth of Saint John.

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me..." (Malachi 3:1)

As his father Zacharias said, "and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest" (St Luke 1:76)

Happy Midsummer!

John the Baptist, from Wikimedia Commons.

Human limitations

Sometimes we tire.  Sometimes we see nothing but emptiness.  Sometimes we despair.

"My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation..." (Psalm 119:123)

 We strain to see, to believe, to sustain our selves by our own power.  Recall that we are blessed with the word of God, especially in the Psalter.  This Word is for us, for humanity, as we watch and wait in faith.







David Dictating the Psalms, from Wikimedia Commons.  From the Treasury of Saint-Denis, France.

The power of belief

I have made several allusions over the course of these few months about the importance or recognizing that the foundation of God's interaction with humanity and Christianity itself is grounded in historical fact.  This is something that should not be forgotten - not for a moment.  However, this is in a way just the beginning.  You must believe in the meaning of this history, this communication from God.  Abraham did.

"For what saith the scripture?  Abraham believed God..." (Romans 4:3)

Abraham Entertaining the Angels (Rembrandt) from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Perfection

Perfect.  Complete.  Saint Matthew relates the story of deeply sincere young man who understands the importance of being straightforward with Jesus.  He does not seem to be pretentious.  He is not obtuse.  He is ready to hear what responsibility he might bear.

"What good thing shall I do?" the young man asks.  Jesus has an answer:

"If thou wilt be perfect..." (Matthew 19:21)

We should rejoice that Jesus does not directly rebuke the young man in his desire to somehow earn "eternal life" but presents him with what may be a happy puzzle.  The young man in fact has the capacity to do as Jesus instructs - sell what he has and give to the poor.  But the young man is saddened.  He sees the problem.  One has the feeling that soon he will also see the solution.


Saint Matthew from Wikimedia Commons.

Some concepts - noumenon

You certainly know the term "phenomenon."  This word refers to that which is observable.  There is a contrasting term, "noumenon."  Noumenon sometimes refers to that which is not observable.  Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) used this term to mean the "thing-in-itself" (or in the German, Ding an sich).

Why is this important?  It is a fascinating and critical key to much of post-Enlightenment Western philosophy.  Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980), for example, rejected the idea of the noumenon.  So have others. Many in our own contemporary culture also reject this idea - dismissing it as something completely incompatible with our way of life.  My suspicion is that most physical scientists reject the idea - certainly in favor of "phenomenon" - that which can be observed.  I have heard it recently said, however, that perhaps noumenon was once historically manifest as phenomenon.  That historical event would of course be the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I may return to these words and ideas in time.


Portrait of Immanuel Kant, from Wikimedia Commons.

Saturday diversion with Murdoch

Reading Iris Murdoch this past week, as I sometimes do, I ran across the following moral assertion:

"As the world runs, evil soon makes tools out of those who don't hate it."  From her novel, The Unofficial Rose.

It's not entirely clear from Murdoch's text if the antecedent is the "world" or "evil" itself.   It's an interesting statement either way, but I choose to interpret it as "evil" that one must hate.  There can be no middle ground.

Ophelia Hybrid Tea rose from Wikimedia Commons.

A plain statement

From today's Psalm, Domine, Deus:

"For I am full of trouble..." (Psalm 88)

No, nothing new or special.  This is every day.  This is true for good days and for bad days.

God upholds Moses

Miriam and Aaron confront Moses about his marriage to a Cushite woman.  God Himself directly intervenes in this dialog and declares of Moses:

"With him I will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches..." (Numbers 12:8)

From Wikimedia Commons, Moses Confronted by Miriam and Aaron (10th century)

Moses is described as being meek.  One wonders if Moses continued to be reluctant in his role and weary of the constant stresses of his responsibilities.

A Wednesday diversion with Chekhov

What is sufficient?  The character is Chekhov's story "In Exile" thinks very little is sufficient.

"...I can sleep naked on the ground and eat grass.  God give such a life to everybody.  I want nothing."

 Indeed, God give such a life to everybody.










Photograph of Anton Chekhov (c. 1904) from Wikimedia commons - Anton Chekhov.  Quotation from "In Exile" from Modern Library edition (1959) of "The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov".

What a menu

Is what God has provided not sufficient?

We desire what we cannot have or perhaps should not have...even though manna ("...as coriander, and the colour thereof the colour as the colour bdellium") is more than sufficient.

"We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick..." (Numbers 11:5)

However, it is hard not to "remember" along with Israel, the fish, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic... There is surely nothing "wrong" with these ingredients.  What wonderful simplicity and beauty.  O Lord, have mercy on our simple hearts.


Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The cloud upon the tabernacle

When the cloud rested, the people stayed.  When the cloud moved, the people moved.

"And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the Lord they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed." (Numbers 9:20)

Can you imagine such a God-focused culture?  How inconvenient this must have been.

  Tabernacle from Wikimedia Commons.

Much is given to you

Today my homilist preached from Saint Luke about forgiveness of sins (Luke 7:36-50) noting that we cannot pay our debt of sin regardless of how large or small our self-assessment might be (and for whatever a self-assessment might be worth).  Fifty denarii or five hundred denarii.  It doesn't matter.  I was also struck, though, by the first two readings from second Samuel (2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:10, 13-15) in which David is convicted by God (through Nathan) of his sin; and Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (Galatians 2:11-21) in which Cephas is described as being "self-condemned."  There is a remarkable continuity between these readings regarding the condition of the sinner to convict himself.  Now consider this in light of the Evening Prayer reading from Luke:

"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required..." (Luke 13:48)

 Der Evangelist Lukas from Wikipedia Commons, Meister der Fuldaer Schule, c 840.

We have been given much if we have "heard" the Word of God.  We have even more if we have understood the facts and have no intellectual reason to deny those facts.  Finally, we convict ourselves if we refuse the work of the Holy Spirit in giving us faith.

Taking a break

Marker1662 will be taking a break for an indefinite period of time.  Maybe a day or so, maybe longer.

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

May God bless all of you.

Practical Advice

Since we have been in the mode of Ecclesiastes, with a little English literature thrown in, offering "good advice" and ignoring theology for a few days, maybe just one more day of the same.  Well, not quite.  This is good, practical advice with theology all at the same time.  I credit my homilist who interrupted the regularly scheduled lectionary topic for some practical advice, perhaps urgent practical advice.  Having spent some time at the side of a hospital bed of a parishioner who was unable to read or communicate verbally, the priest attempted to teach the parishioner the so-called "Jesus Prayer" (aka "prayer of the heart").

Lord Jesus Christ, (thou) son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

This may have had its origins it an ancient hesychastic tradition, referring to Gospel injunctions to pray secretly and without ceasing.  Hesychasm - Greek, for stillness, quiet.  The tradition following Saint Matthew's Gospel may imply a stern asecticism, but this is a great and noble prayer, encapsulating an acknowledgement of who man is in relation to God, and provides a means of quiet and interior "apartness" that will go with you in your busy lives.  Busy lives that are in need of God's mercy.

Pray this prayer.  It will stay with you (to say the least).

(There is another one of those wonderful books, this one anonymous from 19th century Russia, that each of you should read: The Way of a Pilgrim.  This is a book about praying this prayer and about studying the Philokalia, a collection of ancient Eastern Christian texts.)

Image of Christogram with Jesus Prayer encircling in Romanian (Doamne Iisuse Hristoase, Fiul lui Dumnezeu, miluieste-ma pe mine pacatosul.) from Wikimedia Commons.

How to get a good night's sleep

If you have little and work hard for what you have, you have more than those who have much and don't work for it.

"The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep." (Ecclesiastes 5:12)

 From Wikimedia Commons, la Meridienne by Van Gogh.  This painting is also known as The Siesta, but I'm sure they will still get a good night's sleep.

Friday diversion with Thomas Hardy

We are expected to make judgments quickly even though we are warned not to judge a book by its cover and other such conventional thinking.  In Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy makes the following observation:

"Wisdom lies in moderating mere impressions,..."

We are impressionable creatures and much of the contemporary world conspires to exploit that.  Not all "impressions" are wrong or misleading, either.  However, Mr. Hardy suggests that if we are to live in wisdom, we should have the ways and means of subjecting our sensitive natures to some kind of thoughtful reflection.  We should not just react, but  pragmatically control our impulses.

Landscape with Sheep Herder from Wikimedia.org (Painting by Henry Brittan Willis, 1810-1884)

Justification

This is a great debate that has gone on for centuries.  What can we achieve by our own devices?  Our culture of course says the possibilities are unlimited.  We can amass wealth, we can make discoveries, we can obtain power, we can try to keep our bodies healthy and pure, we can fight disease.  (Recall we have been reminded these past two days of the "vanity" of all of this by the "preacher.")

Can we therefore also make ourselves right in the eyes of God by our good works?  Saint Paul's letter to the Galatians is about justification.  He addresses the vanity, in a way, of attempting to become "justified" by our own merits (as in adhering to the canon of "law").  Can we achieve justification on our own, by our own efforts?  The word "justification" is an odd sounding word today.  Is it even used outside of theological discussion?  What could it possibly mean?  Sometimes I hear this word used in the sense that someone "felt" justified in such and such an action as if the person was "justifying" himself.

"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just [righteous] shall live by faith." (Galatians 3:11)

Of course if you do not have ears to hear and eyes to see the hand of the Lord, why would you want to be "justified?"  Justified with what? or to what?  Perhaps justification is a word that has more and more meaning as you "live by faith."

What is time?

I have recently heard discussion about the nature of time and whether it has always "existed" - or not.  Time - and history - are an important ways in which God communicates with us.  It is also a "creation."  Time was created and created for a purpose.  God uses time to his purpose.

"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11) KJV

Or, in the words of the RSV:

"He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11) RSV

The Preacher's View of Life

The book of Ecclesiastes is sometimes known as "the Preacher."  Ecclesiastes certainly seems in some verses to look at life as it stands without grace or salvation.  Ecclesiastes looks at the measure of man by himself and finds it wanting; finds it utterly lacking.

"Therefore I hated life;" (Ecclesiastes 2:17)

Here we see articulated the points of view of the stoics and perhaps even the nihilists and existentialists.  The Preacher warns future generations about this, saying, "...there is no new thing under the sun."  Ecclesiastes may in part make the case for despair and for giving up, but the book is also immensely practical and worldly wise - it recognizes that there is a "time" for everything.

This is an important book to read if you think that humanity is on some kind of march of continual improvement, some long-term plan of greater and greater enlightenment, some kind of progress program. The Preacher has seen all of this before.  It is not new.

Man's help is not man.

But we know that this is not the end of the story.

As an antidote and a comfort, remember the words read at Evening Prayer:

"See him that made the Pleiades and Orion, that turneth deep darkness into the morning, and darkeneth the day into night, that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his Name." (Amos 5:8)

and

"If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night," darkness is not dark to thee, O LOrd; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to thee are both alike." (Psalm 139:10,11)

(Image of Ecclesiastes from Wikimedia Commons)