c. 400 A.D. Are there any who are devout lovers of God?Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! Are there any who are grateful servants?Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!Are there any weary with fasting?Let them now receive their wages! If any have toiled from the first hour,let them receive their due reward;If any have come after the third hour,let him with gratitude join in the Feast!And he that arrived after the sixth hour,let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.And if any delayed until the ninth hour,let him not hesitate; but let him come too.And he who arrived only at the…
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Reckless Hope
Too often, people try to reduce Revelation to a riddle to be solved, as though the beasts and bowls, trumpets and thrones could be decoded into a neat timeline. To be sure, apocalyptic language has a logic to it—a symbolic grammar that can and should be studied, much like one might analyze poetry or music. Understanding the meaning of those symbols is part of engaging the text; in some ways, Revelation is like a puzzle. But it can’t stop there. Once you’ve “figured it out,” you don’t simply close the book, heave a sigh of intellectual satisfaction, and move on. To do so would be like pulling apart the pieces…
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Carrying Grief
Even if it is helpful to know that deep grief is quieting, it is consoling that some are closer to our particular pain. Most people immediately become awkward when I mention the miscarriage. It makes sense to me, as I act similarly around people who have more extensive familiarity with death than I do. I have never experienced the death of a child I have given birth to, have never yet experienced the death of a parent or a spouse. I am not old; I still cannot, as my professor told me in college, really understand Lear. But at twenty-five, watching Lear carry the body of Cordelia and cry, “Why…
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Interstate Rest Stops for Those in the Slow Lane
Even if you don’t have kids in tow, dropping out of the interstate fast lane for a few minutes certainly can’t hurt. Reduce the blurring effect of modern transportation. Ignite your curiosity. And experience what Ray Bradbury called the “pores of life” instead — its finer features, texture, and details.
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Wonder, Love, and Mushrooms
That is a surprising progression — from mushrooms to meaning, but it is possible because all things are united by their ultimate cause. The thoughts we draw from reality are like the fruiting bodies of a vast interconnected “network of being.” Beyond this, the Christian encounters reality not merely as “being” but also as a created order — an order that is, as Gerard Manely Hopkins puts it, “charged with the grandeur of God.” The inky cap mushrooms along my favorite walking path owe their existence to a creator. This gives my interactions with them a truly personal dimension. God is the giver. They are gifts. And I am the…
