She looks happy. A smile wreathes her face, which is smudged with charcoal. So is her frilly pink dress. She’s on her hands and knees inside the fireplace, one small hand raised in greeting.
Our daughter Sharon was eight months old when we moved into our dream home in North Vancouver. The rest of us were busy carrying boxes. Sharon was too young to carry anything, so we parked her inside and carried on carrying. How much trouble can a still-crawling child get into in an empty house?
Then my wife asked, “Where’s Sharon?”
No one had seen her.
We scattered through the rooms, searching frantically. Panic rising in our throats, we gathered in the living room.
That’s when we heard the happy gurgle coming from the fireplace.
Zoom out a little
That story arises from a writing workshop I attended last week. The facilitator instructed us to write for ten minutes about a picture that had gripped us, that we couldn’t ignore.
As an example, he used Lewis Hine’s famous picture of a 12-year-old girl known only as Addie, child labour in a cotton mill in New England, 1910. The picture eventually helped bring in the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Our exercise was to emphasize the power of stories. Hines’ picture had power because it invited viewers to imagine their own stories. Author Elizabeth Winthrop imagined an entire novel, Counting on Grace, around the sad-eyed waif.
Mere description of a situation or a scene, no matter how precise or accurate, never carries the power of a story. Don’t just show us a mountain of garbage in Manila, the exercise taught us; tell us stories of the people who root through that garbage to survive. Don’t dump statistics about rape on us; share the continuing trauma of a victim struggling to recover.
Zoom out a little farther
– think of the Bible as a collection of stories. Not as a history textbook. Nor as a moral code-book, with scattered verses here and there that must be assembled by self-appointed gurus into a comprehensive set of instructions.
It’s a collection of stories. About human encounters with God. With God as they understood him/her/it at that time, in their culture and context. Each encounter opened their eyes to another facet of the mystery they knew was there, but that they couldn’t fully wrap their minds around.
There’s a progression of understanding. Also of digressions, and perhaps of misunderstandings.
Each story stands on its own. Each story provides a context for every other story.
Now zoom all the way out
The Bible is no longer our primary source of knowledge. Not about God; not about the world we live in.
As a letter-writer to a Reformed Church publication put it, some years ago: “The Bible is God’s written text; nature is God’s science text.”
We now know about germs, quarks, gravity, and DNA. We can map brain functions, plot social trends, predict the weather. We have been to the bottom of the oceans; we have seen the earth from the heavens.
If there is a God – by whatever definition – these too need to be told as part of God’s story.
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Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
Dale Perkins: All three items you've presented are wonderful. The young woman's valedictory is exceptional, also your response. And Cohen ... what can you say. Not having his voice around now (except as record/tapes) is sad.
I have given lots of time and energy to look ahead to my demise -- written my own memorial (mostly music with connecting thoughts). I gave copies to children for their possible use. Realizing that I'm spending time reflecting on my past 75 years here was inspired by David Suzuki's "Letters to my Grandchildren" -- I guess trying to duplicate something like it myself. I've happily found I can write easily long-hand on almost every recollection I have. Perhaps I will use the stuff to write a more formal article/book later, but simply writing it all as it came to mind has been good. I want it to be the source of my testimonial for my progeny -- perhaps used or read when I'm no longer about.
Cliff Boldt responded with a simple, “Hallelujah!”
Frank Martens didn’t use the same word, but the same message. He referred me to several recordings that moved him deeply.
And Tom Watson thanked me, for “Sandra's ‘Valedictory Address.’ And thanks for your verse response. Both are incredibly insightful and incredibly moving.”
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PSALM PARAPHRASES
The psalm reading for the second Sunday of Advent is Psalm 72:1-7 and 18-19. But I prefer the poetry of Isaiah 11:1-10. So I did a paraphrase of it instead.
Roots do not die.
When you don’t expect it, a shoot comes out of the ground;
a bud sprouts from a stem.
The spirit of God does not die.
When you don’t expect it, a leader appears out of the crowd;
a voice is heard in the wilderness.
And the Holy One lives among us again.
It sees us when we’re sleeping;
it knows when we’re awake;
it knows when we’ve been good or bad….
So be good, for goodness’ sake!
You will recognize the presence of the spirit
by people’s behaviour.
The homeless will be housed by the wealthy;
the children will be taught by the brilliant.
Politicians will tell the truth,
and drug dealers will get business licences.
Young women can walk home without fear;
Old men will not be lonely.
In a world soaked with the spirit of the Holy One,
no one will hurt or destroy —
that is how you will know that the Holy One has spread her wings over us.
For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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YOU SCRATCH MY BACK…
• Ralph Milton has a new project, called Sing Hallelujah -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
• Isabel Gibson's thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
• Wayne Irwin's "Churchweb Canada," an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
• Alva Wood's satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town are not particularly religious, but they are fun; write alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
• Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” – ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at twatson@sentex.net
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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