[Propertalk] Proper 17 b - part 3 of 4

[Robert P Morrison]

  _q_"Robert P Morrison"  _q_"robertpmorrison at charter.net"  _q_ _q_
Saturday August 29 2015 2:25:19PM     Attachments  Print   Part 3 of
tomorrow's sermon - references in the next part:

	I suppose I ought to reassure Caitlynn, Connor and Phillip that they
won’t end up in similar circumstances. But, truth be told, there ARE
no guarantees – except that they and we are ALL marked as Christ’s
own – FOR EVER! There IS nothing that can separate from the love of
God. Caitlynn, Connor and Phillip are all invited, to reiterate
Wendell Berry’s words, to “come into the presence of still
water”, to find company, and welcome, and reassurance. God says to
each – to them and to us – “Arise, my love, my fair one, and
come away”. 

 WE ALL DO HAVE TO BE REALISTIC, THOUGH. “WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN
ARTIST'S HAND STARTS TO SHAKE IS A LESSON FOR US ALL.” PHIL HANSEN
IS AN ARTIST WHO ALMOST WASN’T AN ARTIST. HE WAS BEGINNING HIS
STUDIES WHEN HE DISCOVERED THAT THE INTENSE USE OF HIS TECHNIQUE HAD
CREATED A NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEM. “IN ART SCHOOL, PHIL HANSEN
DEVELOPED AN UNRULY TREMOR IN HIS HAND THAT KEPT HIM FROM CREATING THE
POINTILLIST DRAWINGS HE LOVED. HANSEN WAS DEVASTATED, FLOATING WITHOUT
A SENSE OF PURPOSE. UNTIL A NEUROLOGIST MADE A SIMPLE SUGGESTION:
EMBRACE THIS LIMITATION ... AND TRANSCEND IT.” 5

	 “Say it with me,” said Hansen. “Embrace the shake.” He did,
and now has a large collection of his art to show just what can be
done. He sought the source that gave him rest, and grace, and freedom
– the expression of life through art. He sought to use the blessing
that God had given him, and he worked through the obstacles placed in
his way, just as Louie Crew-Clay worked through the obstacle of
misunderstanding and held fast to the vision of that moment when he
was nine when his aunt’s and uncle’s faces were wreathed in
smiles, and his young cousin responded. 

	 Louie ended his story with the words, “We had a gentle reunion.
Neither wanted argument. We wanted just to love one another face to
face again. She put it best: ‘Louie, niceness has become very
important to me. You were always nice to me. It is so good to be
together as family again.’ 

	 “Or as another friend put it, ‘Be kind to one another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake has
forgiven you.’” 

	 Where did Wendell Berry come up with his poem? He WAS a committed
Christian, but like most poetic works, I think it’s open to many
interpretations. For today, though, I see it as a reminder of the
peace, and the joy, and the strength we find in coming to the water of
Baptism. So I read again: 

	 When despair for the world grows in me  

	 and I wake in the night at the least sound  

	 in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,  

	 I go and lie down where the wood drake  

	 rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.  

	 I come into the peace of wild things  

	 who do not tax their lives with forethought  

	 of grief. I come into the presence of still water.  

	 And I feel above me the day-blind stars  

	 waiting with their light. For a time   I rest in the grace of the
world, and am free.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20150829/c6ec6376/attachment.htm>