We humans love to follow beaten paths. Both figuratively and literally.

            In the literal sense, the environment is grateful. For 82 years, when members of the Skyline Hikers go hiking into the high mountains of Canada’s national parks, they’re instructed to stay on the paths. Especially if they go up where the mountain meadows dance with wildflowers. 

            But if there is no path at all, then the group should spread out. Those wildflowers can recover from one set of footprints flattening them. They will not recover from two or three sets of foot prints all stomping them down.

            If there’s a path, then, we should follow it. 

The joy of bushwhacking

            But what if you don’t want to go along a beaten path?

            Personally, I like “bushwhacking.” I worked in the woods a couple of summers. I learned to trust – to an extent -- my own instincts and my mental map. 

            So when I’m out on the local trails, walking my dog, I occasionally take side trips. To explore a rock face, perhaps. To circumnavigate a small lake. To find an alternate viewpoint. 

            But I’ve noticed that if I take that diversion more than once or twice, my feet leave enough imprint that other people start taking the same route. And before long there’s a whole new beaten path, that wasn’t there before.

            Figuratively, too, we also like to follow beaten paths. In politics, in theology, in economics, we are much more comfortable endorsing and supporting ideas that someone else has expressed already. 

            It’s nice to be able to quote wisdom from Albert Einstein, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer, or Nelson Mandela. You’re not out on a limb alone, if you’ve got one of them out there too. 

            It’s even better if you can cite some unquestionable authority: an encyclopedia, a dictionary, the Bible. 

Feeling vulnerable

            I wonder what it feels like, though, if you’re an authority figure yourself, and you feel you need to establish a new trail. 

            Pope John XXIII shook up the church when he called Vatican II. Centuries of tradition got left behind when Catholic priests started celebrating Mass in the local language. 

            Scarborough Missions sent priests to China, before Mao booted missionaries out. The Chinese priests they ordained, long ago, were cut off from the world church for 50 years. They knew nothing of Vatican II’s reforms.

            I happened to be visiting the Scarborough Mission the day some of those Chinese priests celebrated Mass in Latin, as they had always done. 

            The retired Scarborough priests living there were in tears.

            Now Pope Francis is breaking his own trails. Accepting same-sex marriages. Investigating the sexual deviations of men like U.S. ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Making the environment, capitalism, and climate change into up-front issues. 

            Bushwhacking must feel very vulnerable, where no one has ever set foot before.

            Someday soon, an economist will produce a new theory that makes sense out of the massive deficit borrowing of governments all around the world to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. If everyone’s borrowing, who’s supplying the cash? Who are they borrowing from? 

            We need new theories occasionally. Different circumstances demand new theories. 

            But it it’s not easy being out there on your own. it’s much easier to follow paths that someone else has already beaten smooth. 

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Copyright © 2020 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

In last week’s column, I invited you to leave off the conventional endings of stories, and see what kind of ending you would like to have.

            “A truly intriguing idea!” James Russell wrote. “Either that or another rabbit hole down which the easily bewitched might be lured for hours on a COVID afternoon.”

Ralph Milton called the column “An interesting essay. It got me thinking about the theory that a culture's folktales gradually morph in the retelling to satisfy the needs of the culture in which they grow. The biblical stories have morphed over the ages to satisfy the diverse needs of the cultures that retold the stories -- for instance the promised land stories in Exodus were retold by enslaves and depressed peoples to foretell an idyllic heaven. 

            “This is not a conscious effort by the story-teller. It's the slight alteration and detail added by a teller who is trying to make the story more interesting. All story-tellers, you and I included, do that. The new testament stories were retold by various groups in the early church to reflect their need of what a messiah must be like. The Jingle Bell theology implicit in our culture's Christmas stories and traditions reflect the consumer culture in which the stories arose.

            “Which begs the question -- how is the Covid pandemic changing our folk tales -- both the secular and the religious? That question probably can't be answered for another decade or so.”

Tom Watson took a philosophical approach: “As for how the stories in my own life will work out, as long as I write those stories in what I believe to be the right way as I go along, I'm content to leave the ending to whatever it will be.”

Frank Martens had two stories to share: “I was born in a very poor immigrant family,  an outdoor toilet, no running water, no electricity, farm family.  I walked, rode horses, buggies, and sleighs to a one-room school, two miles away.  But I persevered, eventually got a couple of degrees, married well, and am now middle-class.  

            “That’s the conventional ending of thousands of kids in Canada where education was considered a priority, even for the poor.

            “My parents had relatives who decided to stay in Russia rather than migrate.  Over 50 or 60 years under communist rule, they were really poor and stayed that way, with few managing to get a decent education despite being above average in intelligence. Such was their lot, until Russia opened its borders and Germany took them in. There the youngsters got a good education, the parents got decent jobs, and now they have homes that rival a lot of middle-class homes in Canada. Who would have thought? Unpredictable luck!”

Bob Rollwagen also brought in his own story: “Endings are elusive. I have never made a five-year plan, something you would expect a CFO would do every five years. While I have spent many hours creating events that could be stories, they never seem to end and I usually am not focused on them when they do. The preferred ending is not my reason for being part of the process, and I believe it creates a meaningless or conflicting limit. We are each one story and usually, will not control what is the end.”

Isabel Gibson thought I failed to provide an ending for my own story: “What did you do with your father’s  papers? Did you store them in binders on a bookshelf, later a closet shelf? Did you scan them for posterity? Did you read them and chuck them?

            “Those are all endings I've made for similar inheritances, and that was the ending I was expecting.” 

David Gilchrist: “Realizing that it is a parable means looking only at the essential element. Three of us told the Prodigal Son story one Sunday: Clarence Ferguson (late 70s) told it from the Dad’s point of view; Lori Crocker (mid 30s) spoke as the younger son; and I (early 60s at the time) expressed how big brother felt -- not being invited to the feast, hearing about it when he returned home from work, etc. 

            “We realized how much argument we could generate worrying about  everyone’s possible feelings, instead of just concentrating the main message of God’s love.”

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Psalm paraphrase

Frankly, I’d far rather you sang Linnea Good’s musical treatment of Psalm 100, Make a Joyful Noise All the Earth. But perhaps that’s not possible in these Covid-19 days. So here’s my paraphrase, based on the notion that no one knows how to make a joyful noise unto the Lord better than children:

1          Leap and dance with joy--
The showers have ended, the sun has come out again. 

2          Splash through the puddles! 
Roll in the grass! 
Let laughter rise in the air like flights of sparrows!

3          This is God's world!
God made it, God made us--and it is good!
We spoil it if we stare at it through sour faces.
God set us free to frolic, to gambol, to celebrate the gift of life. 

4          So dance your way down the garden;
scatter rose-petals with every step.
With every breath, enjoy the goodness of God!

5          From the beginning of time, God has poured out love;
God will continue loving until time grinds to a close. 

You can find paraphrases of most of the psalms in the Revised Common Lectionary in my book Everyday Psalmsavailable from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.

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                  I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

                  And for those of you who like poetry, please check my webpage .https://quixotic.ca/My-Poetry I posted several new poetic works there a few weeks ago. If you’d like to receive notifications about new poems, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca, or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blank email (no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca (If it doesn’t work, please let me know.)

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PROMOTION STUFF

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have blocked my posts because they’re suspicious of some of the web links.

                  Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca He’s also relatively inexpensive!

                  I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also has lots of beautiful photos. Especially of birds.

                  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 tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)

ALVA WOOD’S ARCHIVE

                  I have acquired (don’t ask how) the complete archive of the late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures. I’ve put them on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. You’re welcome to browse. No charge. (Although maybe if I charged a fee, more people would find the archive worth visiting.)