The Word
Stay in the Word, I was told. Stay in it, because it is a source of life and the most strength. Stay in it, because it is the only reality in the midst of your shifting sands. Trust it and dwell in it. Let it fill your soul and take you over.
Stay in the Word. Let it be enough to consume you. To create hopeful obedience. Let it be your guiding source and your light and hope for salvation.
Trust in the Word. Don’t stray, don’t wander. Don’t put your hope in these temporary fleeting dreams. Don’t try to become someone that you aren’t.
the fremont rounds
i just got back from the ’rounds’ @ fremont abbey. it was a special christmas show and the idea is to bring together artists- musicians, beat poets, and painters, to perform and interact with the audience. i loved it.
The Sword
“I wrote another of my ‘Oxford sonnets’ on the Veronica legend about the woman who wiped the sweating face of Jesus on his way to the crucifixion, and dedicated it both to Davy and to swift, impetuous Bee Campion. I could see either of them doing just that.
Yes, Mark was posted to the Tenth that year.
The day we got there priests contrived to bring
This ‘god’ to death, and mobs that made me cling
To Mark surged round us, all on mocking jeer.No omen warned me when Mark led me near
The yelling street that I should be implored
By God to wear my girlhood like a sword
So edged with mercy men would freeze in fear.Mark’s armor made the crowd draw back a space.
Just there beneath his cross the god limped by.
I saw his eyes and rushed into the street
Through sudden stillness and I wiped his face.
‘My child,’ he said and staggered on to die.
- My girlhood lay in fragments at my feet.Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy
how the saltwater refreshes me.
saturday morning, things didn’t go quite as i expected them to. i managed to get over to caffe fiore on the end of 85th, and was inspired by the golden gardens dog park signs to take a walk down. i am so glad i did.
i have been reading ‘A Severe Mercy’ by Sheldon (Don) Vanauken, and I had packed the book into my purse along with a journal and umbrella. aside from the occasional jogger and family perusing for shells, i was alone. finally alone. it is really, REALLY hard to get alone in the city. it has been especially difficult sharing a house with five roommates (though i love each one dearly), and sharing a room directly.
so in the moment of discovery- when i realized that i was fully alone- that no one was watching me or even near me- i actually prayed a verbal prayer of thanks. i read each page of the mercy with more and more curiousity, more admiration, more praise.
i watched several sailboats far away, across the harbor, and some seagulls closeby. not much action on the water, even for a crisp bright saturday. the tips of the cascades were white with snow, as seemingly enticing- i would love to be having the same moment from a mountain pass outside the city- but for the moment, i was completely satisfied, and completely aware of my surroundings.
God in His perfect creation is a brilliant divine artist. mountains alive, sands, winds, brilliant colors, clouds, and domineering evergreens- all longing for home. all waiting to be released from the constraints of this earth, the creation longs for the Creator, and even in the midst of all the jaded complexities and the ugly sin, i see (like in these moments) my glimpses of heaven.
Seattle Artwalk
The first place we stopped was in Interbay; the Q Cafe’s gallery- Goma In Perspective. It was photos and drawings exploring the people, places, beauty, and darkness of Goma (Africa). The drawings were simple sketches, black pencil, charcoal on black, beige papers. Ripped, torn, faded, like the faces of the men and women portrayed. One drawing was of a woman, smiling, with a traditional African dress and hat. Another drawing was of five people on a motorbike, looking at the ground. Creative and simple.
Next, we went to Rovzar Gallery, on University Ave. downtown. The gallery is filled with colors. Lights. Tracey Adams, Imago 21:
We noticed the incredible way the artists can make life- paintings really coming alive, because of light. They us light to their advantage, and it’s incredible how the bright whites make each piece glow. Tal Walton, Stephanie Hargrave- each piece more brilliant than the one before.
We then went to SAM (Seattle Art Museum). Every first Thursday of the month, SAM opens free to the public. We went to the viewing of Edward Hopper’s ‘Women.’ Edward Hopper is one of my favorite painters. In college, I did a paint study on Hopper- I have a piece hanging in my room that was a reproduction of his famous ‘Room In New York.’
We also enjoyed works by Whitfield Lovell and Anselm Kiefer.
I love the artwalk. It is an opportunity for me to celebrate beauty, the arts, the treasure of creation. Art is so befuddling, so tricky, so subjective. If only I could peer inside the artist’s mind. To know where her soul lived when she created the piece. To digest the mystery in her stroke. Art is such a mystery to me. It leaves me more confused, but in a slightly pleasant way. I have to ask the question, “Why?”
I ask it over and over, with each piece I see.
“Why would they paint this?”
“Why are we so drawn to it?”
James’ Book
This morning, I’ve been reading through James book. It is so straight to the heart in that it exposes hypocritical practices and teaches what true Christian behavior looks like. Lately, I’ve been battling with identity and what it means to truly rest on his opinion of me alone. Every day, I am inundated by a sea of extravagant claims. For only a few dollars, I can have cleaner clothes, whiter teeth, glamorous hair, tastier food…the good life in a nutshell. God has been showing me that talk is cheap, and too often we soon realize that the boasts were hollow, quite far from the truth.
James confronts this conflict head-on. It’s not enough to talk the Christian faith, he says; we must live it. The proof of the reality of our faith is a changed life. Genuine faith will inevitably produce good deeds.
In chapter three, James talks about our speech. This is something that I’ve personally been convicted of, because I am not always ‘quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.’ Here’s a thought:
When our speech is motivated by satan, it is full of:
Bitter jealousy
Selfish ambition
Earthly concerns and desires
Unspiritual thoughts and ideas
Disorder
EvilWhen our speech is motivated by God and his wisdom, it is full of:
Purity
Peace
Consideration of others
Submission
Mercy
Sincerity, impartiality
Goodness
Here’s a verse that I believe sums up the book of James to it’s most essential element:
“Now someone may argue, ’some people have faith; others have good deeds.’ I say, ‘I can’t see your faith if you don’t have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds.’” (James 2:18)
