Labor Day

September 07, 2009

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
Emily Dickinson

Once I outfitted a group of children with makeshift butterfly nets, and watching them skip over the meadow was even more delightful than watching fireflies sparkling above the grass it the dusks of July. In April, before the ball diamond uptown dries off, our softball team uses the biggest meadow as a practice field. My son and son-in-law also use it as a golf driving range. These values should go on the cottage farmer's computer spreadsheet, but how? Gene Logsdon, The Contrary Farmer

There is a parable about three stonecutters working on a cathedral, set in the Middle Ages. Each is asked what he is doing. The first responds angrily, "Idiot! Use your eyes! They bring me a rock, I cut it into a block, they take it away, and they bring me another rock. I've been doing this since I was a boy, and I'm going to be doing it until the day I die."

The second man smiles warmly and says, "I'm earning a living for my beloved family. With my wages I have built a home, there is food on our table, the children are growing strong."

The third man pauses, and with a look of deep fulfillment says, "I am building a great cathedral. It will be a holy lighthouse where people lost in the dark can find their strength and remember their way. And it will stand for a thousand years!"
(Adapted from Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli)

This would be heady stuff in the hands of Stephen Spielberg and John Williams. But not all lives are even close to the movies. Not everyone feels the nobility of the third stonecutter. Or the selflessness of the second. But we have all felt the heaviness and bleakness of the first. To wonder, does any of what I do make a difference?

I know this for certain: it doesn't take much to nurse resentment. There are times when whatever I am doing seems not enough (no doubt my miasma of guilt or shame and the vagaries of public opinion).

But the parable is not just about work. (Lord knows there are plenty of folk these days that would be thrilled to have any job.) The parable is about how we derive our value---our self-worth and our dignity and our vocation---and how that spills
onto everything we do,
everything we touch,
and every person whose path we cross.

In the recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Neil Strauss interviews Stephen Colbert (famous for his Comedy Central talk show, The Colbert Report).
Strauss: "What's an example of saying yes to simplicity?"
Colbert: "Finding joy in the present achievement of today's action. I have this on my computer. It says, 'Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.' I call the show, jokingly, 'the Joy Machine,' because if you can do it with joy, even in the simplest show, then it's 'The Joy Machine' as opposed to 'The Machine.' Considering the speed at which we do it, we'll get caught in the gears really quickly unless we also approach it with joy."

I understand. The gears of urgency and stress and or need to impress.
Of being overlooked, ignored or disregarded.
The gears chew us up. And the joy goes away. And we cannot see what is there, inside of us, all along.

Is Colbert right? Is it that simple? Just make a choice?

Jesus made it simple when he said, "Let your light shine."
Not, when you get your act together.
Not, when you feel noble.
Not, when you find your calling or vocation.
Not, after you've chased all the gloom away.
Just let it shine. Because the light is already there. Inside of you. NOW.

As if that's not enough, Jesus points out that we cover our light with a bushel. I don't know about the bushel part, but I do know about the covering up part. And there's a whole lot of fear and worry and apprehension and hurry and the need for perfection and certainty that can do the job of cover-up.

Some night soon, make some popcorn and watch the movie, Whale Rider. It is set in a small New Zealand coastal village, where the Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. In every generation for more than 1000 years, a male heir born to the Chief succeeds to the title. Tragedy envelops the village when the Chief's eldest son, Porourangi, fathers twins (a boy and a girl) and the boy and his mother die in childbirth. The surviving girl is named Paikea, nicknamed Pai.

Grief-stricken, her father leaves the country. And Pai is raised by her grandparents. Koro, her grandfather (who is the Chief), refuses to acknowledge Pai as the inheritor of the tradition and claims she is of "no use" to him. In his world, girls cannot be chief. But her grandmother, Flowers, sees more than a broken line. She sees a child full of strength and dignity and light, and in desperate need of love.

Koro is blinded by prejudice, and even Flowers cannot convince him that Pai is the natural heir. The old Chief is convinced that the tribe's misfortunes began at Pai's birth and calls for his people to bring their firstborn boys to him for training. He is certain that through a grueling ritual of ancient chants, tribal lore and warrior techniques, the future leader of their tribe will be revealed to him.

Meanwhile, deep within the ocean, a massive herd of whales is responding, drawn towards Pai and their twin destinies. When the whales become stranded on the beach, Koro is sure this signals an apocalyptic end to his tribe. Until one person prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the people: the Whale Rider. (Adapted from imdb.com)

As I write these words, the rain outside my window is unrelenting. Tropical. Pounding the roof. I close my eyes and am in Guatemala. Thunder rolls through a foreboding sky. We are not ready for this kind of weather. A part of me is unnerved, and another part of me marvels at the wonder of it all. Out in the garden I watch as plants surrender, and English Roses (in their second blooms) bow and their branches break, under the burden. Even so, in dusk light their petals---an ivory white---become beacons of joy in a dreary day. And they let it shine.

No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands. Barack Obama (Addressed to teenagers in a speech to the NAACP September, 2009)

Vocation is the place where your deepest gladness and the world's greatest hunger meet. Frederick Buechner

Poems / Prayers

Blackberry Pie
is kernels of juice
blue, mom makes it do
magic heat to vanilla ice cream
purple dream

there were many nice things,
the corduroy pinafore
the daily notes in lunch sack
of a smiley face and curly cue hair
your mama loves you, and do great
with a thermos of homemade soup

dad too, he rocked me on front porch
after seven yellow jacket stings
i howled through the valley
in baking soda paste
while he sang, in the big rock candy mountain.

but just like grandma vernon always said
don't bother doing anything nice for your children
they'll only remember the bad things, anyway
like when she tethered my dad
to the front yard tree
so he could play when she was at work

was that bad? a ruined childhood?
bless her heart
and pie too, is sometimes
tart
Jennifer Rae Vernon
from Rock Candy, © West End Press, 2009

Loving God we offer you
Every flower that ever grew
Every bird that ever flew
Every wind that ever blew
Every thunder rolling
Every Church bell tolling
Every leaf and sod
Every wave that ever moved
Every heart that ever loved
Every river dashing
Every cloud that swept o'er the skies
Every human joy and woe
Watch over us today as we strive to understand your word of love
We ask this through Christ our Lord
Amen

News and Notes

Bruce Springsteen sings This Little Light of Mine with The Sessions Band, Live in Dublin (this will make you stand and clap and sing along, even in your office)
youtube.bruce

James Horner and Sweet Honey in the Rock with inspirational photographs--"this little light of mine"
youtube.littlelight

The Whale Rider
WhaleRider

Waltz #1 by Elliott Smith (Theme song in Whale Rider)
youtube.waltz#1

Whale Rider, Paikea's speech
youtube.Paikea

From last week:
New pictures of Terry's garden.
(There will be new pictures to come. Look for updates in future Sabbath Moments.)
TerrysGarden

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