Go Native

The natural and supernatural—to our minds two strictly separated realms—lie for the primitive man in one plane, like two concentric circles, which he calls the usual and the unusual. There is no absolute line of demarcation.

         Thus between religion and art, and between other domains, there is no actual contrast. What for us is a series of neatly separated planes, the primitive man sees as concentric circles. Life, for him, is still a unity. In our system of language, every act, every happening, can be judged scientifically, logically, religiously, or ethically. By primitive criteria, it can possess all of these characteristics at the same time, one merging into another. Even if we do not always hold ourselves to this separation, we have learned at least to avoid setting up ethical criteria in an economic situation. For the primitive man there are, of course, various motives and criteria as well; but one does not purposely differentiate them. A person performing a religious act can eo ipso act aesthetically. For example, one who dances acts through motives and pursues goals which to our minds, are at once recreational, economic, aesthetic, and religious. One of these motives or goals can predominate. Then, to retain our metaphor, one of the concentric circles is larger than the others. Nevertheless, they all exist at the same time and have the same center. This center is the single, unbroken life itself. There do not yet exist an ‘earth’ and a ‘heaven’; there is neither the concept ‘religious’ or ‘aesthetic.’ In other words, the problem we are considering does not yet exist for the primitive mind. We do not need to search for paths and boundaries when there are no boundaries and therefore also no paths. All primitive art is religious, but not in the sense that it is purposely dedicated to religious goals. It is, rather, religious in itself, even when specifically religious objectives are lacking.

Sacred and Profane Beauty: The Holy in Art—by Gerardus Van Der Leeuw

Part One: Beautiful Motion

Ministers & Ministry

In real life, the primary purpose in raising flocks is to gain income. 

Herding is an economic choice, a livelihood. 

Any shepherd, ancient or modern, would be surprised if he were criticized for raising animals only for their fiber, milk, and meat. 

Yet this is Ezekiel’s critique of the ‘shepherds of Israel’ in Ezekiel 34. The criticism only makes sense if the leaders of Israel are undershepherds. In that case they have no right to the products. 

The parable goes right to the heart of the matter: the rulers behaved like owners rather than hired servants.                      --Timothy S Laniak

Faux Joes

When I decided to make Sloppy Joes for the family I really should have checked to see if we had all the ingredients. My bad.

Missing were two standards to the recipe, Worcestershire sauce and steak seasoning. But I went ahead and browned the chuck, mixed in the tomato paste, substituted onion powder for the real thing, sprinkled in the brown sugar, had no peppers, forgot the mustard and then tried to pull off culinary alchemy by adding some Italian seasonings, a little smoked paprika, garlic, more onion powder and a little chili powder.

Everyone was starving when dinner was finally served and I thought maybe I had pulled it off until my wife said something ambiguous like, “These don’t taste right….what did you do?”

“Oh, just made ‘em special” I replied with nonchalance.

“Well”, she continued, “they’re not too bad. They just don’t taste like Sloppy Joes.”

And it was at this point that my youngest son looked up and asked, “You mean this isn’t the spaghetti sauce from last night.”  

A Sad Story

Have I told you this story before?

It is a sad story so if you are not in the mood then perhaps you might want to read this later. I truly do not want to spoil your day.

Are you still here?

Well then, here is my sad tale.

Every so often I travel somewhere to do something, usually to speak to others about living like a Christian. This is a subject, by the way, that I am quite good at.

There are times when my wife, Angela, accompanies me. We both like to travel and everyone who knows her likes her a lot. And so, you might think at this point—this doesn’t sound very sad at all—but wait, and prepare yourself to feel deeply regarding my misery.

It happened the first time that we traveled by plane. During any given flight, since I am not behind a steering wheel, I take the time to study or read or write. This is such a personal time for me, and an extremely rare occasion in my life. So this was my continuing expectation even though this time, Angela was with me.

The first sign of trouble was her asking me about what we might do during our ‘layovers’. This occurred right after I had pulled a book out of my travel bag. Yep, you guessed, I had to talk with my wife the entire flight. She asked about the people that we were visiting, what I might be speaking about, with whom we were staying with, what sights we might take in…it just went on and on until she, finally tiring, took a little nap. By that time I was tired too so I slept as well.

The next time we flew I was prepared. As soon as a flight attendant reintroduced to us all how a seat belt worked and then the wheels were in the air, she turned to me for conversation. I countered with a stack of magazines that I had thoughtfully bought for her; her favorites. I figured that she would now be happily occupied while I returned to my own personal time and space. Empathize as I sorrowfully report that instead of delving into Bon Appetit, Architectural Digest, or Garden & Gun on her own—she solicited my comment and opinion for almost every page! I was once again forced into shared life.

 Not long after that trip I was booked again somewhere else and she was once again invited to come along. Being the wise and resourceful person that I am, I took all my previous experiences and formulated the perfect plan. After lift-off I offered her a set of ear buds so she could enjoy the inflight movie. She readily accepted this gift with loving gratitude. But to my chagrin, as she enjoyed the film she constantly poked me with her elbow to signal the appearance on the screen of notable actors or pivotal scenes or points of gorgeous cinematography. As you might imagine this can make concentration on anything of importance highly difficult. When the film ended she asked to rest her head against my shoulder to which I complied. I even surrendered my hand to hers and as she slept leaning against me I realized I had failed again.

So that is my sad tale. Thanks for listening.

But before you leave and because of your kindness in sharing the burden of my personal cross. I’d like to utilize the gift that God has given me to encourage you in your personal walk. So here is the basic gist of what I usually talk about in those places that I travel to.

Romans 12:1-2 is well known to most of us. ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.’

But what is not usually understood is its application. The application is purposely set in the rest of the chapter. For instance, the very next verse tells us that one way that we know that we have indeed offered our bodies as living sacrifices is that we don’t take a high view of ourselves—after all, we are all vitally connected to each other. The apostle Paul goes on to stress that the love we show to one another is to be genuine to the point of preferring others above ourselves.

So, look for occasions to do this.

I am sure that we all have tons of opportunities to practice this very basic aspect of our faith.

We just need to open our eyes.       

    

The Greater Context

I know that you don’t feel well. I know that you are lonely, diseased, and poor.

I understand that you have addictions and that you have suffered great loss.

I wish things were different for you but they are not—and they might never change.

So, as I hold you, you hold on.

Hold on and listen, for there is hope.

Listen to me for I love you and what I am about to say is going to sound harsh.

Are you ready?

Your context is too small.

The parameters of your life are narrow. They allow only for your happiness and the happiness of a few others. And if you were honest, the happiness of these few is included only because your own selfish desires cannot be satisfied without it.

Stop! Stop trying to break free from my embrace.

Listen. Your suffering is real but your perspective is making it worse. Pain comes into everyone’s life—and yours has come into mine and compounds the burden that I am already carrying.

That is not a complaint on my part just a fact and that means that everyone around you is also bearing this weight. And the weight will eventually bring everybody down.

We all struggle under the circumstances.

But I am telling you to rise above your problem and the problem, frankly, is you. 

You have resigned your trouble outside the bounds of God’s providence.

You refuse to acknowledge the truth that “all things work together for the good to those who love God” and this is sad because it is such an important promise to all those who inhabit the kingdom.

The kingdom is based on a love that lead to personal sacrifice and that is why I hold you.

Our king gave his life for us and now he calls us to live for him and for one another and so to lose our own lives in these two pursuits.

The kingdom is the greater context, a place where you can only live by giving your life away.

Now, I can see how hard this might be for those who are healthy or popular or have great possessions, in other words, those who have much to lose. I remember something about a camel and the eye of a needle…

But you, my friend, what have you to lose, the desire to have more of what you lack? Would you be healed and then, healthily, give your whole life away?

Would that not place you out of the realm of being poor in spirit?

Is it not easier at this point in life to give it all away?

I implore you, give our king your illness.

Give him your pain, your addiction.

Offer to him the shards of your broken life.

Hunger and thirst for righteousness instead of just relief.

Remember, praying for his kingdom to flourish and to seek the right-ness of that kingdom in our lives puts our needs and desires out of our control.

You haven’t, you are not doing this and that is a problem worse than all the others you have.

Am I wrong to tell you this? If this indeed is the truth, then what kind of friend would I be if I did not tell you?

Leave then your pettiness.

Stop the weary rule of your personal kingdom. It is bankrupt of possibilities.

Rise above by waiting on the Lord.

I, and many others, long to see strength in your weakness.

The world needs to see what the king can do with chaos.

They need to see the beauty that his holiness brings to desert real estate.

And now I am going to let you go. I must.

As your dilemma has become part of my own I must keep my promise to our king.

You are now part of my ‘seeking first’ the greater context of life.

As I approach the altar to die once again to myself, my concern for you must be crucified too.

I will say, “Here Lord are all my concerns, dreams, possessions.

As you know my heart and mind concerning all of these…not my wishes but Thy will be done.”