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Monthly Archives: November 2020

The answer is in your hands – Feast of Christ the King

21 Saturday Nov 2020

Posted by mcummins2172 in Uncategorized

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Christ the King, Feast of Christ the King

There is a story told in the Lakota tribe of the Man who Spoke Softly.  (Taken from The Lakota Way by Joseph M. Marshall III.) 

In a certain village there was a leader, a headman, who was respected for his quiet ways and good decisions.  He never sought to become a leader but as a young man he proved that he could think clearly and act calmly on the battlefield.  He was a good provider for his family and he took care of the helpless ones.  For these reasons the people asked him to be their leader and he reluctantly agreed.  As leader, he made good decisions and always spoke the truth in council meetings and under his leadership the village prospered and grew strong.

Two generations grew up under his leadership and the man was getting on in years.  There were a few young men in the village who yearned for a new leader.  They wanted someone with more daring and flair – more fitting to their prosperous village, they thought.  They had forgotten it was the headman’s leadership that grew their village. 

The young men formed a plan.  They would catch a small bird and one of them – in front of the whole village – would question the headman.  “Grandfather, I have a bird in my hand.  You are wise.  Is the bird dead or alive?”  If the headman answered “alive” then the young man would crush the bird and kill it before opening his hand.  If the headman said “dead” then the young man would open his hand and the bird would fly free.  Either way, they thought, the headman would be shown to be weak and uncertain. 

So, on the morning of an important tribal gathering when all the people were gathered, one of the young men called out in a loud voice to the headman. “Grandfather, I have an important question.  I have a bird in my hand.  Since you are wise, is the bird dead or alive?’

A hush fell over the people.  They knew that some of the young men were wanting new leadership and some wondered if the young men were right.  They waited for the headman’s answer. 

The old headman approached the young man with the question.  He stood quietly, seeming to study the ground as the people whispered.  Finally, the headman turned to the young man and smiled patiently and spoke firmly and gently as he always did when something important was to be said.

“Grandson,” he said, “the answer is in your hands.” 

In a sense, the same answer is given to us on this Feast of Christ the King.  Yes, Christ is King.  Jesus is the Son of the Father.  He is risen from the dead – the firstborn.  Jesus is king of all creation.  This is truth and whether people like it or not, whether people or nations acknowledge it or ignore it does not really matter.  Jesus Christ is King!

But what resides in our hands, what we can either crush or let live, is whether we choose to live our lives in such a way as to acknowledge Christ as King.  This is what is within our power.  Grandson/Granddaughter, the answer is in your hands. 

Jesus, himself, gives us the criteria by which we will show forth our answer to this most fundamental of questions before all of creation when he returns as King of all nations and just judge. 

When I was hungry, did you feed me?  When I was thirsty, did you give me drink?  When I was a stranger, did you welcome me?  When I was naked, did you clothe me?  When I was ill, did you care for me?  When I was in prison did you visit me?

Jesus Christ is King!  This is truth and no power in earth or heaven can alter it.  God has willed it.  What is within our power is how we choose to live our life in relation to this truth. 

Grandson/Granddaughter, the answer is in your hands. 

Contemplation in Lamar Valley

20 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by mcummins2172 in Uncategorized

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Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park

It was the evening of the last day of my sabbatical and I was sitting in my truck at a roadside pullout gazing across Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park.  Lamar Valley was formed by the weight of towering glaciers acting over centuries that pressed down, hollowed and smoothed out the terrain underneath.  The valley itself is wide and open with a river coursing in the middle and a stand of trees seeming to reside almost in the center of the expanse.  Some days prior, the Junction Butte wolf pack had wandered out of the valley toward the Slough Creek area of the park so there was not the energy and noise of wolf watchers spotting through scopes and tourists hoping to catch a picture of one of the park’s famous apex predators.   

The valley was quiet with bison scattered here and there grazing, one lone coyote mousing for dinner and a little remaining snow left in the shadowed areas of hillsides and low ravines.  Neither a person nor a car could be seen and as I watched the sun set with the sky turning a phenomenal range of colors I sat in my truck and prayed evening prayer and then listened to Symphony No. 3 by Aaron Copland.  I cannot imagine a more appropriate setting for the sweep and expanse of Copland’s final symphony than Lamar Valley. 

In the ninth chapter of the book Happiness and Contemplation, Josef Pieper lays out the three elements of contemplation.  The first element is that contemplation is the silent perception of reality.  It is an understatement to say that this is fundamental.  Contemplation, by its very nature, points to objective reality and it proclaims that this reality can be perceived.  Judeo-Christian thought goes further and says that it wants to be perceived.  The second element is that contemplation is a form of knowing arrived at not by thinking but by seeing, intuition.  Drawing from the thought of Thomas Aquinas, Pieper reminds the reader that intuition – properly understood – is the higher form of knowing, above reason.  In intuition the object is already present where in rational thinking the object is being striven for. 

 Contemplation, then, is intuition; that is to say, it is a type of knowing which does not merely move toward its object, but already rests in it … In intuition there is no ‘future tension,’ no desire directed toward the future, which desire corresponds with the nature of thinking.  The person who knows by intuition has already found what the thinker is seeking; what he knows is present ‘before his eyes.’

The third element is that contemplation can be characterized as a knowing accompanied by amazement.  Amazement is born from our perceiving a reality that yet remains beyond our full comprehension.  This amazement also carries with it a bit of an unease because – at gut level – we know that we are in the presence of that which is so much more and, through that, we are being summoned to be more.  Quoting Paul Claudel, Pieper writes, the call of perfection to the imperfect, which call we name love. 

It was a moment of contemplation for me.  Sitting in my Toyota Tacoma, gazing on the expanse of Lamar Valley, caught up in the sweep of Copland’s symphony and enriched by the prayer of the psalms.  Amazement and gratitude were born and I remain richer for it. 

Eventually another car arrived at the pullout.  That is the nature of Yellowstone – a parked car attracts other cars.  Everyone looking to spot something … anything.  A man got out of the passenger side while his companion remained in the car.  I nodded my head to him but did not want to speak, did not want to break the moment.  The man looked through his binoculars upon the valley for a few minutes.  Eventually he returned to his car and as he opened the door, I heard him say, “There is nothing here.  Let’s go.” 

“No,” I thought, “there is so much here.  So, so much.” 

May we have eyes to see. 

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