a couple two three...

The more I carpent, the more am intrigued with Jesus' choice of being born into the household of a carpenter. I mean, who gets to choose those kind of details on the front end of life? Not usually really big on reading into things, but the smell of all the wood shavings, the sound of tools, the sense-immersed concreteness of everything...

Have been reading a bit about architecture. There is some fun to be had in the properties of different materials. All force acting upon a structure as either compression (pushing) or tension (pulling). Stone is amazing under compression, but it cracks easily under tension. Steel has wonderful capacities in tension and compression until it is very cold or hot. But wood.

Wood has good compression strength and amazing tensile strength. Look at a tree. Every part of the tree above ground is reaching, branching out further and further, balancing above the ground in a dance of tension and compression. Then open it up and look at the wood. The grain made up of layers, producing the strength of a composite structure in a direction. The design is beautiful. And working wood with chisel in hand and the tree in mind... Buber's example at the beginning of 'I and Thou'.

I think of Blake's Ancient of Days. God, the creator of all things, the one who fashioned men and trees chose to be born into the household of a carpenter.

an observation...

Jesus was a carpenter.
Socrates was a stonemason.
Buddha was a coddled prince.

why not...

Have been circling this book for a while, and finally bit the bullet and bought it. Only a few chapters in, it is tremendously informative, readable, and fun. Don't think I have just plain enjoyed a read this much in a long time.

'Why Buildings Stand Up' by Mario Salvadori

And if you are planning on adding a skyscraper on your back forty, it is a must read.

you may say i'm a dreamer...

Paul and I were talking the other day in the wilds of Coast Village Road after rambling around Cold Springs for a bit. As usual the conversation sort of wandered everywhere as we wandered, winding up the hill to a great vantage-perch. Well, one of the things we were talking about was Timothy, and specifically where another Paul told a particular Timothy to pay attention to the public reading of Scripture.

When thinking of such things I often remember a particular conversation from my meteoric semester of seminary education. I took a class on Old Testament Introduction with a wonderful professor who opened up many of the beautiful intricacies of form and content in the Scriptures. It was wondrous, and a little overwhelming for all of us, I think. Now there were some folk in the class who, being especially practical and zealous became frustrated. And one of these students, a man I called Shlomo (to this day I can't remember his real name) confronted the good doctor after class one day. If it was necessary to understand the complexity of the warp and woof of the literature to follow the meaning of the Scriptures, how could Shlomo teach a group of Jr. High kids? Wasn't the Bible accessible to everyone? I can't remember what the professor's answer was exactly. But I remember that for me the following image was formed...

You can set the rifle on a bench, unscrew the plate, take it apart into pieces, and marvel at the intricacy of the springs, the finely machined pieces, the miniature masterpieces of engineering that go into a fine crafted firearm. But to use the rifle as a rifle, you must put the pieces back in order (good luck), screw the plate back on, load it, point it at something, and pull the trigger.

The Scriptures were made to be read aloud, complete. As I understand it, the Torah was to be read aloud in the hearing of all the people. The narratives come to life as storytelling. The words of the prophets rain and ring and hammer. And the epistles encourage and exhort and teach best when read aloud to the church in their entirety. I don't know. Not a big advocate of much, really. I just think that the Word among other things is mythology. As we hear it spoken aloud, it forms our minds, crafts our ways of thinking, gives us words, introduces its laws into the way we think and feel and act.

Wouldn't it be cool to sort of reintroduce the public reading of Scripture to the church? I am sure that there are folk who are doing it. But it seems like it would be fun to just get together sometimes and apart from a sermon or too much framing just read a whole book of Scripture aloud.

Another cool thing would be if instead of a sermon as such, a book of Scripture or an extended passage was read aloud and then some of the elders and teachers of the church were to dive into it, discuss it... a sort of interactive teaching conversation. And the young could listen and learn the Scriptures, brotherly conversation, gracious speech.

In the interest of sustainability, just a few recycled thoughts...
I am stoked to give 'em a try.

come as you are...

And did the Buddha never
Deep in contemplation
Of being and becoming nothing
Swat mindlessly a passing fly?