Dismissals

I try to be careful which actions in this world I attribute to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, things just happen. Othertimes, things happen with purpose, the Holy Spirit somewhere in the mix. I said to a man, “The Spirit is at work in your life!” He countered by expounding on the physical world, about neurons and random actions and subconscious decision matrices and so on. All I could say in reply was, “Exactly! Just so!” Maybe that is how the Holy Spirit works, in ways too wondrous to comprehend. Some things are true, even if I don’t understand them. 

The priest, holding my infant goddaughter, said, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.” That was 24 years ago. She lives far away now and told me she has no commitment to faith. I wrote to her: “I’m a Christian because the message of the Gospel is rooted in love. I’m a Christian because the Church is the one place I can ask Big Questions, celebrate the gift of life with friends, and rejoice that I, as well, am “sealed by the Holy Spirit … and marked as Christ’s own for ever.”

Summer ’68, you may recall the Democratic Convention, Chicago, Grant Park, protestors and police, newspapers called it a riot. It wasn’t much fun. Separated from others, I walked over a knoll and a lone policeman walked toward me, blue shirt, helmet, billy club. We stopped two paces apart. He took off his helmet, wiped his forehead with his sleeve and said, “Hot!” I agreed. He was about my father’s age. We stood there a minute. He said, “Well, take care.” I said, “You too” We each went our own way but that moment remains the highlight of my Summer ‘68.

John Calvin Coolidge, (1872-1933), America’s 30th President, lived life by this maxim: “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On,’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” On the whole, I agree with Silent Cal, save to add that a little good luck and a ready prayer are often tremendously helpful. 

An article* on How to Drive Cattle may have good advice on working with people. Excerpts: “You have to read your cow. You have no idea how cows are going to react.” … “Drive cattle at the pace of a walk.” … “Make sure they see you and start talking to them.” … “It is easier to wait for a cow who has gone rogue than force it back to the herd … leave them be and let them calm down. They’ll get the drift and follow along, and you let them back in.” … “Reveal to your herd as little of your stress as possible.” … “[Cattle] have the capacity to tire out and just stand there, and they…

The world is troubled yet I am a fortunate man. I have work to do and a quiet room to wait out the dystopia, a refuge where I can read and work, if only fitfully, at some small project, more for diversion than to create anything new. From my window, I see a large bird, circling. A hawk? An Eagle? I should know but I do not. The bird, unfazed by the siren of a passing fire engine, continues, wings motionless, banking in a great, sweeping arc, and drives me from my room, out the door, and onto the sidewalk. 

When I was sixteen, I had a tedious summer job sorting out bits and pieces of hardware … this bolt in this bin … that screw in that bin. Boring, but I did my best and I appreciated the pay. Once, a man came and watched me work. He didn’t say who he was so I paid him no mind, I just worked right along. He didn’t speak until he turned to go. He said, “I like your style.” That’s all he said to me. I’ve not forgotten those words. I’ve since said those same words to one or two young men. 

A church community meal … good food, china tableware, table cloths, meals served to seated guests … they ate, laughed and talked. Second helpings were offered and a little to take home. This necessarily ceased with the shelter-in-place order. Instead, the church offered grocery bags of food but there were few takers. Was no one hungry? With reflection and prayer, the church realized that their ministry to the community was not sustenance alone, but to provide an unhurried, quiet place for families, friends and those who live alone to enjoy a great rarity in this world … convivial conversation at table. 

Life is complicated. So many decisions. Most are insignificant: Single-serving or economy? Cash, check or credit? But some decisions are consequential and must be weighed and prayed: Give the man a dollar or look the other way? Be an activist, or step back and let others? This decision-making will, now and then, stop me in my tracks. Verna Dozier, self-described “Lay Theologian,” to the rescue: “I will live the best I can discern today. Tomorrow I may find out I was wrong. Since I do not live by being right, I am not destroyed by being wrong.”* *Verna J. Dozier, The Dream of God: A Call to Return.

The Daily Office of the Episcopal Church offers us everyday readings of scripture on a two year cycle. On the day I write this,* the scripture readings start out this way: Exodus: “The people gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Make gods for us, who shall go before us…’” Colossians: “Wives, be subject to your husbands…” Matthew: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Scripture is a mix … often perplexing, occasionally jarring, sometimes soothing. Scripture is ours, for every day and for times like these, along with the short Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families.** *Monday, Week of 4 Easter, B.C.P. p. 961. **Daily Devotions, B.C.P. pp 136 – 140.

In the pall of the pandemic we shelter at home, though our home is now not the welcoming place of bygone days. It is now a refuge; haven; bastion; redoubt; retreat; sanctuary; asylum … home is an oasis in this troubling time. There is an apt Spanish word, querencia, the place where we feel secure and out of harm’s way. In Hemingway’s writing,* the querencia is the one place in the bullfight ring where the bull is impervious to the toreador. Yet querencia holds metaphysical connotations: In our querencia, we become centered, our identity coalesces and we know who we are. [*Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon]

Almost everyone has one talent that can divert or amuse people for a few minutes … or a few hours. I could use a little diversion now … we all could! … all this sitting at home. My mother knew a card game that could be played with any ten cards and the change in your pocket … I had a friend who could sing every verse of the Tom Terrific theme song … and my father, the storyteller … “A traveling encyclopedia salesman stopped at an old farmhouse. He knocked. A farmer in overalls opened the door, looked the salesman up and down, and said … ”