The Nature of Things
February 5, 2023 Leave a comment
I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?
-Samwise Gamgee to Frodo Baggins, reflecting on their journey
The twelve of us are in fishing boats anchored just offshore. Four of us – me, Andrew, James and John – are fishermen and the rest, landlubbers.
Jesus, the one who called us together to be with him, is standing on one of the fishing boats facing a huge crowd on the shore. He is teaching about the kingdom of God in parables.
At the end of the day Jesus says, “Let’s go over to the other side.”
Our boats leave the crowded shore and head across the sea toward the land of the Gerasenes. On the water, wind in our sails, we have downtime. Jesus is asleep on a cushion in the stern of my boat. I guide the craft with oar and sail and reflections. Where have we been and where are we headed?
I look around. The twelve of us come from small villages in Galilee. Most of us have attended synagogue. The tax collector hadn’t shown his face there until Jesus called him to follow along. We each share some common knowledge about God and our world. Is that why Jesus called us to follow him?
In synagogue we recited Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. We were taught that our God brought order out of chaos when He formed the world. We were taught that God gave the created order functions and promised As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. We learned that our God is involved in our world.
We were taught that we are made in the God’s image and that we are to function as God’s image in this world.
We learned the history of our people. The law, the prophets, and psalms were read.And there was talk of someone that would save Israel from her oppressors.
Jesus came along and announced that the kingdom of God has arrived. He began teaching us to understand things in kingdom of God ways. I cast a net into the sea and I catch fish and men. I plant a grain of wheat and wheat grows and the kingdom of God grows.
We’ve heard Jesus say astonishing things in synagogues across Galilee. We’ve witnessed Jesus casting out demons and healing all kinds of afflictions. Right before our own eyes we saw him restore order and function. It is exciting and daunting to be with Jesus. What’s next in our journey?
Suddenly, the wind starts whipping our sails back and forth. A big storm is upon us. Monster surface waves are beating on the boats. Can we stay afloat? Each boat is quickly taking on water and with it the fear of the destructive power of nature. What are twelve men and a carpenter-teacher against such a storm on open water?
Andrew rouses Jesus.
“We’re going down! Don’t you care?”
Jesus gets up, his garment soaking wet. He scolds the wind and says to the sea “Silence! Shut up!”
At once, the wind died and there was a flat calm. Order was restored. Jesus looks at our terrified faces. “Why are you scared? Don’t you believe yet?”
A great fear washed over us. Believe what? Hair on the back of my neck stood up. We looked at each other trying to comprehend who and what just happened. “Who is this? Even the wind and the sea do what he says!”
After that, thoughts came flooding in. How could they not?
In synagogue we had heard that the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God] swept over the face of the waters and that God created great sea monsters. We heard that God brought order and function to the churning, chaotic primordial deeps.
The deep, the wind, the storm, the great sea monsters – everything serves God.
As a fisherman, how could I forget the words of the Psalm I heard in synagogue last Sabbath?
Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their calamity;
they reeled and staggered like drunkards
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
And the Sabbath before that . . .
You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you still them.
And the Sabbath before that . . .
At your rebuke the waters flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
And the words of Job, the Sabbath before that . . .
The pillars of heaven tremble
and are astounded at his rebuke.
By his power he stilled the Sea;
by his understanding he struck down Rahab
Could that mean . . .?! Whoa whoa whoa! I lived to tell this!
Adapted from the gospel according to Mark, chapter four.
Additional Texts: Psalm 89, 104, 107; Job 26
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You and I are in a tale of cosmic proportions. It’s a tale of the unseen as more real than the seen and where mysteries are revealed. For God is always active in the world in countless and often undetectable ways.
It’s a tale of learning to practice the presence of God. It’s a tale of life in sacred space. For God is with us. And should we then be presumptive of God and domesticate him with our theology? Or, should we learn to be practitioners of his presence come what may?
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Mark Chapter 5: when the boats reached the land of the Gerasenes, Jesus and the group of twelve are met by a man with an unclean spirit. The demoniac, feared by everyone around, brought disorder to God’s creation. People tried to bring about order by restraining him with chains and shackles. But he tore up the chains and snapped the shackles.
Jesus sent the Legion of demons into a herd of pigs. The herd rushed down the steep slope into the recently “ordered” sea and drowned. He restored order in that district.
Only God is able to bring order out of cosmic disorder. (The World Economic Forum cannot no matter how many shackles and chains they apply.)
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Order and function in all that is:
As Kingfishers catch fire
By Gerard Manley Hopkins
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.
I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.
“Each of these objects does exactly what its nature dictates, in a kind of (unwilled) self-assertion. More generally, every “mortal thing” might be thought to do the same: to express that essence that dwells inside (“indoors”) of it.”
Hopkins’s Poetry “As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame” Summary & Analysis | SparkNotes
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Informed Dissent:
“What of the vaccine damaged and dead”?”
Speaking for the Dead – by Robert W Malone MD, MS (substack.com)
And who is Martha Stewards’ audience?
Bill Gates concludes that mRNA shots aren’t actually useful, warns of ‘next pandemic’ (substack.com)
Project Veritas massive #Pfertility bombshell… going viral online now… – Revolver News
Science vs. religion as Greek priests lead the anti-vax movement – POLITICO
Project Veritas has broken Pfizer’s Gain-of-Function Research Program Wide Open. (substack.com)
Prof. Retsef Levi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) warned about the risks associated with experimental mRNA COVID vaccines.
THE PLAN – WHO plans for 10 years of pandemics, from 2020 to 2030 (rumble.com)
It is the most expensive “free” product of all time.
Pfizer colluded with the federal government to siphon off $100 billion dollars from the American taxpayer last year, in filings announced Tuesday by the drugmaker. $31 billion of that massive haul amounted to pure profit, which was up 43% from 2021. (Emphasis mine.)
Nothing to see here, only Sudden (Slab Jab) Deaths and the culling of the human population to save the planet:
18-Year-Old Freshman Dies Suddenly After Collapsing During Workout (thegatewaypundit.com)
Famed Olympic athlete and rugby player dies suddenly at 35 (wnd.com)
32-Year-Old Firefighter and Marine Corps Veteran Dies Suddenly (thegatewaypundit.com)
Former NFL linebacker dies suddenly at 25, no cause of death given – LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)
Search Results from the VAERS Database (medalerts.org)\
Vaccine Caused Excess Deaths?
Do you want to be free from medical tyranny?
Health Freedom Advocacy Center | Stand For Health Freedom
Bills to watch:
- Representative Andy Harris’ HR118 – No Vaccine Passports Act
- Representative Andy Biggs’ HR72, which prohibits the use of federal funds to maintain or collect information that can be used to identify any individual to whom a COVID-19 vaccine is administered, as well as for other purposes.
- Representative Thomas Massie’s HR185, which will terminate the COVID vaccine mandate on foreign travelers flying to the United States.
- Representative Chip Roy’s HR343 – No Taxpayer Funding for the WHO Act
- Representative Andy Harris’ HR79 – WHO Withdrawal Act
More wealth transfer:
Cindy Wity 