Reminded me of a passage from Strahan Coleman’s book:
“To look at the world is to see Christ hidden amidst it, and though it may not always feel ecstatic or outer body, it's as valid as sharing a meal with Jesus in Cana, where before He transferred water into wine, He was just another ordinary guest. The Eucharist demands that we see the world enchanted.
The miracle of God filling ordinary stuff is that ordinary stuff suddenly becomes sacred and otherworldly again. The world becomes illuminated with God like it was in the Garden, a place for communing and meaning-making with Him. To say that God fills our mundane lives is the same as saying once we see the world Eucharistically, there is no such thing as the mundane. God is everywhere, and were invited to transform every ordinary thing into holy things by loving God with and through them.”
I was attending a home church that we had formed after expressing grievances with leadership. We slowly began to fail in all the ways we left for of course. As we started to gain new members with the “gift” of discernment or saying what everyone is thinking I was accused of witchcraft for playing a magic themed card game. Mind you they only found out I played through gossip. I didn’t promote the stuff. As we had our meeting I told them if they thought I was actually doing witchcraft then they were doing the right thing and that I could not abandon themes of magic and allow a legalist witch hunt in my home. For my children’s sake Narnia and Tolkien would remain. (MacDonald I hope to add to the list soon) as I left I went to the store and bought a trilogy kombucha and a $1 french loaf and went to a ditch where I skated and I opened my bible and read about the betrayal of Christ and I wept and I took communion. Never have I felt more close to touching the hem of understanding separation. These were my brothers in Christ and good friends and years of working together. Some kids rode up on a bicycle and I had to try and get my shit together real quick pretending I wasn’t crying. Imagine Leonardo in the chair mourning the loss of Splinter in the TMNT 1990 film, general disposition.
That was the first time communion had tied me into some corporeal experience of a broken body and blood being spilt. Partaking in it. Tasting a little death.
God used it to break off alot of the non essentials.
I share that for no apparent reason but I am reminded and I wonder in all the ways which God’s children have stumbled upon creative communion.
Thanks for the post and glad you’re taking care of yourself enough to hang around.
I like the hot take and where things are going. I’d like to imagine Christ sitting on the hillside pointing. “Look at the birds. Look at the flowers. Your heavenly Father cares more for you. It’s all going to be ok.”
And for my logical mind one of the greatest proofs that it will be ok is that we are here right? If the Creator made and sustains us to an end than it must be worth it, and what a hope we have by the glimpses we see here and now.
Or as a wiser brother once said,
“To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”
C.S. Lewis, Made for Heaven: And Why on Earth It Matters
"Lay down on the table and weep for loss and gain and how you’ve found and lost and found your faith and woken up to the self-inflicted breaking of your own heart along the way.
“It’s all going to be okay.”" WTF DUDE THATS SO GOOD??????????? sorry just found ur work will be tuning in more ur so fantastic
I received this via email and tried to reply but don’t know if it works that way. But my God, you are talented. Please never stop writing these. I laughed out loud and then felt a little teary. These things are hard to come by, you know?
a poet! I was reminded of him by the almond reference: e.g.,
IN THE ALMOND—what stands in the almond?
nothing.
nothing is standing in the almond.
there it stands and stands.
in the nothing—what stands there? the king.
the king, the king is there, standing.
he stands there and stands.
jewcurl, you’re not turning gray.
and your eye—whereabout does your eye stand?
your eye stands against the almond.
your eye, against the nothing, standing.
it is standing before the king,
so it stands and stands.
humancurl, you’re not turning gray.
nulled-almond, king-blue.
and - quoted at random from the internet - but concerning almonds in his poetry...
God tells him: 'You have seen well, for I will keep watch (shoked) over my word to perform it'. So almonds are a metaphor for eyes, keeping watch, being awake, being alive; and not just a metaphor invented by Celan, but one that resonates in Jewish history and poetry. Almond blossom decorates the menorah of the Israelites in the wilderness. The almond-symbol is an emblem and reassurance of Jewish identity.
"the Glimpses of “gonna be okay” are the reasons I decided to try to like myself more than continuing to think I need to become you."
Yes. Also, loving the additional ramblings like I already said, def keep those coming.
Thanks Rachel. Will do! Appreciate you!
Reminded me of a passage from Strahan Coleman’s book:
“To look at the world is to see Christ hidden amidst it, and though it may not always feel ecstatic or outer body, it's as valid as sharing a meal with Jesus in Cana, where before He transferred water into wine, He was just another ordinary guest. The Eucharist demands that we see the world enchanted.
The miracle of God filling ordinary stuff is that ordinary stuff suddenly becomes sacred and otherworldly again. The world becomes illuminated with God like it was in the Garden, a place for communing and meaning-making with Him. To say that God fills our mundane lives is the same as saying once we see the world Eucharistically, there is no such thing as the mundane. God is everywhere, and were invited to transform every ordinary thing into holy things by loving God with and through them.”
I like that.
I thought the same thing!
I was attending a home church that we had formed after expressing grievances with leadership. We slowly began to fail in all the ways we left for of course. As we started to gain new members with the “gift” of discernment or saying what everyone is thinking I was accused of witchcraft for playing a magic themed card game. Mind you they only found out I played through gossip. I didn’t promote the stuff. As we had our meeting I told them if they thought I was actually doing witchcraft then they were doing the right thing and that I could not abandon themes of magic and allow a legalist witch hunt in my home. For my children’s sake Narnia and Tolkien would remain. (MacDonald I hope to add to the list soon) as I left I went to the store and bought a trilogy kombucha and a $1 french loaf and went to a ditch where I skated and I opened my bible and read about the betrayal of Christ and I wept and I took communion. Never have I felt more close to touching the hem of understanding separation. These were my brothers in Christ and good friends and years of working together. Some kids rode up on a bicycle and I had to try and get my shit together real quick pretending I wasn’t crying. Imagine Leonardo in the chair mourning the loss of Splinter in the TMNT 1990 film, general disposition.
That was the first time communion had tied me into some corporeal experience of a broken body and blood being spilt. Partaking in it. Tasting a little death.
God used it to break off alot of the non essentials.
I share that for no apparent reason but I am reminded and I wonder in all the ways which God’s children have stumbled upon creative communion.
Thanks for the post and glad you’re taking care of yourself enough to hang around.
I like the hot take and where things are going. I’d like to imagine Christ sitting on the hillside pointing. “Look at the birds. Look at the flowers. Your heavenly Father cares more for you. It’s all going to be ok.”
And for my logical mind one of the greatest proofs that it will be ok is that we are here right? If the Creator made and sustains us to an end than it must be worth it, and what a hope we have by the glimpses we see here and now.
Or as a wiser brother once said,
“To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”
C.S. Lewis, Made for Heaven: And Why on Earth It Matters
So it is.
Cheers,
"Lay down on the table and weep for loss and gain and how you’ve found and lost and found your faith and woken up to the self-inflicted breaking of your own heart along the way.
“It’s all going to be okay.”" WTF DUDE THATS SO GOOD??????????? sorry just found ur work will be tuning in more ur so fantastic
Thanks Lauren! That means a lot. :-) I appreciate you stopping in to read / say so. Much love!
I received this via email and tried to reply but don’t know if it works that way. But my God, you are talented. Please never stop writing these. I laughed out loud and then felt a little teary. These things are hard to come by, you know?
Thank you, Erika! That means so much! :-) I'm sure at heck hopin' to. Appreciate you being here.
God's body is an almond?? Celan 2.0
Hi Philip! What's Celan?
a poet! I was reminded of him by the almond reference: e.g.,
IN THE ALMOND—what stands in the almond?
nothing.
nothing is standing in the almond.
there it stands and stands.
in the nothing—what stands there? the king.
the king, the king is there, standing.
he stands there and stands.
jewcurl, you’re not turning gray.
and your eye—whereabout does your eye stand?
your eye stands against the almond.
your eye, against the nothing, standing.
it is standing before the king,
so it stands and stands.
humancurl, you’re not turning gray.
nulled-almond, king-blue.
and - quoted at random from the internet - but concerning almonds in his poetry...
God tells him: 'You have seen well, for I will keep watch (shoked) over my word to perform it'. So almonds are a metaphor for eyes, keeping watch, being awake, being alive; and not just a metaphor invented by Celan, but one that resonates in Jewish history and poetry. Almond blossom decorates the menorah of the Israelites in the wilderness. The almond-symbol is an emblem and reassurance of Jewish identity.
Amazing. Thank you for this.