gestalt

Random thoughts regarding value keep showing up. I just read that the monetary value of the elements found in the average human has been placed at $4.50 (depending on the daily market). Obviously, the

intrinsic value of a human being is of infinite worth. Years ago I read a story about an artist who kept one of his own paintings hanging above his drawing board. One day a man came to his studio and, after looking around, asked, "How much for that one?" He was pointing to the painting above the drawing board. "It's not for sale." The man, quite wealthy, pulled out his checkbook and said, "You

don't understand, just name the price and I will pay it." The artist smiled as he looked at the painting and said, "No, you don't understand. That painting makes me happy. It keeps me going. It is not for sale, at any price."

One of the joys of a teacher is watching students grow into their potential. My students keep me going. They keep me humble. Here's a lesson I learned last week- learning is based on receptivity. My receptivity, my willingness to receive is directly related to whether the lesson offends me, and, the level of offense.

Last week, one of my students looked me in the eye and said, "I liked my old art teacher better." How do you respond to

that? I said, "O.K." Later, that same week, a parent let me know that one of my lesson choices was wrong and offered a 'better' alternative. In both instances I immediately took offense. For days I chewed on their words and came to this conclusion- taking offense is a choice, a cognitive reaction that is possible to overrule. In a moment of time I can delay my response or remain silent- an aspect of "taking every thought captive." Then I can learn from someone's comment (or opinion). Who knows? Maybe God is trying to teach me how to teach.

"I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, O LORD, but with justice; not with Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing."

Jeremiah 10:23,24

Relevance

Recruitment Ad for Antarctic Expedition

Sir Ernest Shackleton, 1914

"When first conceived, an idea is a breakthrough; once adopted and repeated, it tends to become a cul-de-sac." Abraham Joshua Heschel

After fourteen months of unemployment, I am teaching again. Last week I wanted to quit. That, I suppose, is the life of a teacher. Like Sir Shackleton's description of an expedition, the wages tend to be small (no one becomes a teacher for the pay- you can make more money by managing a Taco Bell) with long months of complete darkness. But then it happens, the moment every true teacher yearns to see- the phenomenon known as the 'aha' moment, when the veil is parted and the light comes on. In my life, the Lord puts enough distance between the 'aha's' to keep me going (too many, too often might make me prideful).

During the summer, while still unemployed, I was visiting Hugh Gill. He looked at me and said, "You will be teaching soon, but not like you've ever taught before." He spoke prophecy over me that day. Now I am teaching with the good folk at Trinity Christian Preparatory School, or Trinity Prep for short. It is an amazing and challenging place. The old ways of teaching seem different here. Some of them don't work at all. Hugh was right. I have been praying for strategy. God is re-teaching me how to teach. Yesterday He reminded me that He made my students uniquely unique- as only He does. I cannot approach them with a 'bread' recipe, i.e., "If I follow these steps a perfect loaf will result." No, if I can teach them anything it will be to embrace their uniqueness, to explore the possibilities of what it means to be made in the image of God, the possibilities God Himself has instilled within them. The methodology then will not be learner-based or curriculum-based but God-based outcome.

There is a war being waged against our youth. The forces of darkness are building walls, attempting to erect gates around young minds. In 1986 Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his book Night. As he accepted the award he said this:

"We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere."

"This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out. "

Matthew 16:18

The Message

Portrait of a Student

Alex Jamison

Bearing Reality

1909-S V.D.B.

Designer: Victor David Brenner

Diameter: 19 millimeters

Metal content:
Copper - 95%
Tin and Zinc - 5%

Weight: 48 grains (3.11 grams)

Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children

Hidden, excitedly, containing laughter.

Go, go, go said the bird; human kind

Cannot bear very much reality.

Time past and time future

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present.

T S Eliot- Four Quartets: "Burnt Norton" (1935)

Last night I asked my Dad about the time he bought a penny for a hundred dollars. He went to the bank and asked to borrow $100.00 (in the 1960's you could actually do such a thing). The banker behind the desk was a doodler- scribbling and drawing on a pad while talking to customers. Without looking up, he asked, "What do you want it for?" "I want to buy a penny" said my Dad. The banker stopped doodling and looked up. "Carter, your crazy." And with that my Dad borrowed $100.00 and bought a 1¢ piece- a 1909-S VDB. I still remember the first time he showed it to me. I asked why it cost so much. "It's rare" he said. "The mint only made 484,000." That sounded like a lot to me. Years later he sold it, for $100.00. In his words, "I had three kids who needed groceries." At the time, that amount was equivalent to a monthly mortgage payment.

The 1909 VDB penny was revolutionary- it was the first time in US history an actual person's image (Abraham Lincoln) was placed on a coin for circulation. In February, 2001, a 1909-S VDB penny, Grade MS-66, sold at auction for $5,750.00. It is a curious thing to me, the way we humans assign value to things, from the price of a penny to a loaf of bread. My prayer list grows daily with the names of friends and family, every name representing a soul with needs. A few of the names have dire financial needs and, at the moment, their value as human beings appears depreciated- perhaps, in their minds, worth less than certain pennies. Visible reality has a way of overshadowing the Reality Christ carries. "What a fathomless wealth lies in the wisdom & knowledge of God! How inscrutable His judgements! How mysterious His methods!" Romans 11:33.

To those of you on my list, from Germantown, TN to Mobile, Alabama... to those sinking under the weight of a present reality you are unable to bear, you are much loved.

"This I know; God is on my side! I praise God for what He has promised; yes, I praise the Lord for what He has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?"

Psalm 56:9-11

Armistice

“For love is exultant when it unites equals, but it is triumphant when it makes that which was unequal equal in love.” 

Sǿren Kierkegaard

“You can tie two polecats together by their tales and throw ‘em over a fence- they’re together, but they don’t have unity!” 

Julius Washington

The Lord reminded me of something that happened in Memphis, years ago. I was in Midtown pumping gas into my car when a homeless man walked up and asked, “Clean your windshield?” “I don’t have any money.” I said. “Oh, it doesn't  always have to be about that!” And, with a bottle of cleaner and crumpled newspaper, he cleaned my windshield. As he walked away, he said, “God Bless you, brother!” An unemployed, homeless man blessed me, an employed homeowner. He saw a need (my windshield was filthy) and he took care of it. As I thought about that my mind went to John 3:30, one of my life verses, and I realized- There is still a lot of Me in me! 

I hear talk of a second reformation- a time for the Church to be the Church. Perhaps the Church needs an

Armistice Day; a time for individual factions to meet on common ground at the foot of the Cross. It would, of course, have to begin with me.

Inscription dated Easter 1922

The New Testament, A New Translation by the Reverend Professor

James Moffatt, D.D., D. Litt.

Latent image \lā-t^ənt\ \ˈi-mij\ 

an invisible image, produced on a sensitized emulsion by exposure to light, that will emerge in development.

“Because God is outside the realm of time He can Kingdomize your past.”

John Cava

‘When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I argued like a child…’

I Corinthians 13:11 Moffatt

There is on my right forefinger a small scar. You would have to look closely to see it. I have other, more impressive scars.

Forehead- Montgomery Bell State Park, Church Camp

Forearm- Camp Boxwell, Boy Scouts of America

Scars happen, especially to boys. Each has a story; some are interesting, some gross, and some- just plain old dumb. The scar on my finger is the result of rebellion. Sin leaves scars. In my Junior year of High School I was handed my report card- a couple of D’s, one or two F’s. What would I say to my parents? A friend of mine had the same dilemma. One of us said, “Let’s run away!” It seemed like a good idea at the time. And that’s what we did. For me it would be the second time. He had a car and, between us, we had a few dollars. We headed south. When the car ran out of gas we left it on the side of the road. It was dark, somewhere in Mississippi, when it happened. We were walking down a two-lane road. Behind us we heard a car and stuck our thumbs out, hoping to hitch a ride. As the car passed I felt a pain across my knuckles. When I pulled my hand back I could see by the moonlight that my fingers were bleeding. The car antenna had rapped my fingers like a whip.

Now I have children. Now I understand why my parents wanted to know where I was, who I was with, what time I would be home, and why they were so upset when lied to. Now I grieve over the anxiety and pain I caused them. They were doing their utmost to be godly parents. They never did anything to deserve a prodigal son. I praise God for their patience, and their prayers. We who claim the name of Christ are, somewhat, like latent images. “At present we only see baffling reflections in a mirror, but then it will be face to face; at present I am learning bit by bit, but then I shall understand, as all along I myself have been understood. Thus, ‘faith and hope and love last on, these three,’ but the greatest of all is love.” And so, like the prodigal in Luke, chapter15, I say to my Pop, “I have sinned against heaven and against you. Forgive me.”

No Knead

id quod visum placet
'that which pleases when seen'

Thomas Aquinas' definition of beauty

Here is the easiest bread recipe I have found-

In large mixing bowl dissolve

1 pkg. dry yeast

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup water

slowly add

3 cups plain flour

stir until blended, but no more

cover tightly with plastic wrap, let rise 12-14 hours

turn out onto floured countertop and using floured fingertips spread into 12" square

fold over 1/3, from left to right, repeat from right to left, forming a rectangle
cover with towel and let rest 15 minutes

Fold top 1/3 down, bottom 1/3 up, forming a square

Cover with towel, let rest 45 minutes

Place round, covered baking dish in oven, preheat to 500F

Gently place dough in baking dish, cover, reduce heat to 450F

bake 3o minutes

Remove cover, bake additional 15 minutes

Cool on rack...look for butter.

Ineluctable-
\ˌi-ni-ˈlək-tə-bəl\ impossible to avoid or evade.

“On the human imagination events produce the effects of time.”
James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer, opening line

“We are so little reconciled to time that we are even astonished at it. “How he’s grown!” we exclaim, “How time flies!” as though the universal form of our experience were again and again a novelty. It is as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the wetness of water.”

C.S. Lewis, Second Meanings in the Psalms

I just received a book in the mail from someone I have not seen in years- a beautiful copy of The Deerslayer, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. Immediately, I could see the giver’s face in my mind and hear bits of the last conversation we had. Time is strange business. I can return to a day from my childhood without leaving my chair. I can ‘foresee’ today, before it unfolds, spending time in planning and preparation. We explain time with expressions and ‘isms, like- “Time is money!” or, “I can’t afford to spend any more time on that!” (especially valid if you’ve ever ‘spent’ time in a court of law and decided to argue with the Judge). How about- “Time flies when you’re having fun!” or, the opposite, “I spent a week in that town one night!” There is time’s elusive nature- “I can never find time to do that!” And yet, for humans, time is ineluctable. Job cried, “Since his (man’s) days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee, and his limits Thou hast set so that he cannot pass.”

Being unemployed for an extended period gives a fellow opportunities to reflect; time to think about where time is being allotted. Jesus said, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” When I was younger I believed that time was an enemy- a deadly foe who would one day overtake me. Having passed the half-century mark, I see time as a gift- a gift I want to be a better steward of. Of course, as an artist, I continue to struggle with priority and validity- ‘Shouldn’t I be doing something worthwhile?’ (i.e., something that puts bread on the table), and the wrestling match between guilt and excuses begins another round. The making of art, in some respects, is as great a mystery to me as the making of humans by an all-sufficient, all-knowing God. Why bother? I can’t fully explain it. In fact, I remember something James Thurber said, and smile. He said, “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” And so, as a struggling artist, here are a few of the questions I ponder-

“Who is my audience?”
“What are my goals?”
“How much do I charge? Should I always charge?”
“Where do I see the art landing?”

(Is the final destination the wall of a home or museum, a book or the internet, or, should I cast the art on the surface of the waters, as Solomon suggests?)

This morning I read- “Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12