Beyond Day SixMy sometimes-daily blog of a photograph or two with a few words, celebrating all the days of life that flow through creation into perspiration, inspiration, reflection, sabbath, and resurrection. How Many TimesThe Gospel Lesson for today is Matthew 18:21-35. Peter, like everyone of us, has been harmed by someone else. And he asks Jesus, "How many times must I forgive? Seven times?", which sounds like a generous offer. But Jesus replies, "Seventy time seven." The parable following this passage is troublesome on many levels and those questions entice us to evade the push of Jesus' answer. We all want forgiveness. It is hard to keep giving it over and over to those who wound us again and again. Who is going to forgive that much?
It is not about counting or keeping track of wrongs. Life is not about revenge. Rather, we are to practice extending forgiveness. Easy to say, tough to do. But this is advice about how to live in community. Sooner or later, we all need to be forgiven for a word or an action that harmed another. And we will want the other to forgive us. Again and again and again. If our relationship is going to grow, forgiveness will be an essential part of our living together. Could It BeSometimes the leaves float downstream, but this time they are caught, trapped by the force of the water, pinned to branches and rocks, unable to journey any further downstream. Could be us, wanting to be carefree, floating with the current. But we get caught by worry and fear and the mundane and what we regard as necessary and by others' expectations of us. I prefer to float free.
No Weeds PleaseSome gardeners are constantly on weed patrol. No, I suspect that it is most gardeners, and it could be all gardeners are armed with some kind of physical or chemical execution method when it comes to weeds. This thistle wouldn't dare to grow in our garden, so it is blooming next door in the vacant lot, in the portion that I don't mow. It must not be a weed over there; it appears to be a wildflower in the lot next door. I guess it's all in one's definition or perspective about what doesn't belong and what you choose to label it. I notice that it doesn't change in any way whether it is a weed in my yard or a wildflower next door. My label doesn't change it. It is what it is.
iso 400, f/8, 1/250 second exposure with a 100mm lens. PearlsJust a portion of a dew-covered spider's web. It was huge. More than 5 feet across.
The dew looked like crystal pearls strung from junction to junction, highlighting the design. I imagine that it would take days and weeks to weave this gigantic web. But I had used the trailer on Sunday to haul dirt and mulch for the enlarged flower bed. And there was no spider web on Monday morning. So it was spun in just one day. From tree branch to shrubs on the pool fence and anchored in several places to the trailer. And now it was drenched with dew. The invisible had become obvious, revealed.
Spring's Promise in SeptemberThe fog Tuesday morning was thick. And when I went out to get the morning newspaper, I noticed an enormous dew-covered spider's web in the driveway. The errand was forgotten and I went back inside to get my new camera with a 100mm macro lens. I'm still learning the intricacies of the new camera but I took nearly two hundred in my yard and the lot next door. But this photo of a dogwood bud declares to me that there are seasons to come. The bud will likely make it through the fall and winter and blossom pink in the spring. Some promises come true.
Since 1879Ranked as the 21st must-see attraction of 122 Nashville sites, Hatch Show Print has specialized in letterpress posters since 1879.
Forty NineNo, it is not the season for daylilies, although we do have one (Autumn Minaret) still blooming. But we are imagining what next summer will bring. We have enlarged the original bed and stacked stones to make a retaining wall on the west side. We brought in more dirt and compost to make the bed level, and have made plans to re-arrange some of the plants so that the taller ones will be toward the back, away from the pool. And we bought a few more plants at Iris City (they grow lots of flowers), so that now we have 49 varieties that will begin blooming in late May and continue into September. The season almost lasts as long as the pool season (5 months). We are having fun imagining what next summer will look like. Peak will be mid-June through much of July.
Wading in the MudThe Gospel lesson for Sunday is Matthew 18:15-20 which concerns the process for dealing with conflict and sin in the church. I found myself using this passage many times to help a congregation and its pastor to find its way through difficulty. But "just because the Bible says it" doesn't make it easy or even helpful. Most of the time I felt like I was wading in mud, and sometimes I was up to my neck. What I found helpful was that sometimes wronged people need to deal with an issue face-to-face. It did not work, nor did I do it, with an abuser who would victimize, terrorize, and manipulate the one they harmed all over again. In other situations, I hear that it is important to be honest and vulnerable and genuinely to listen to the other. It is difficult to extend or experience forgiveness without being willing to listen. And it is difficult to experience forgiveness without some intention to live differently. The Bible calls that repentance. What I found to be a problem was that congregations were generally unwilling to confront persons who were harming the church by their arrogance or meanness or gossiping ways. I fail to understand why the most destructive persons in a church are tolerated. They complain about them, but no one wants to deal with them. And if they are substantial financial givers, then it will never happen. And then we hear these words to treat the unrepentant as tax collectors or Gentiles. Hmmm... Jesus loved the sinners and the outcast and the marginalized. And Matthew continues next week with the question of whether there is a limit to the number of times we ought to forgive. I'm glad for the grace. And I think it goes all the way down in the mud.
Near the Port of SavannahThis lighthouse on the south channel of the Savannah River, rebuilt in 1855 or 1857, is the shortest lighthouse at 46 feet along the Georgia coast. Built on an oyster bed, it survived the civil war, especially the Union bombardment of the nearby Fort Pulaski. Cockspur Island Lighthouse is only accessible by boat, although at low tide there is a small patch of visible land. John Wesley first landed at Cockspur Island (just west of the present location of the lighthouse) on February 6, 1736. A simple brick column on the island notes that the small band of travelers gathered for prayer at their first stop in America. From the National Park Service: "Wesley's departure from Savannah to his native England was unplanned. He left Georgia a very disappointed man. His plans to preach God's word to the natives never materialized. Wesley also became a man of great controversy in the new settlement. His love affair with the Chief Magistrate's niece further isolated him from the citizenry." And what really became a problem was when he declined to serve the Eucharist to Sophie and her new husband. He had to escape in the dark of night. Lots of stories, even before the lighthouse was built and directed sailors to this place, could be told here.
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