Immediately - For Frank Mauldin McClain

Immediately. “Immediately they left their nets and followed him… Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.” Immediately. [Matthew 4:12-23] Four fishermen, Andrew, Simon, James and John, just left everything and followed Jesus. This alone ought to be enough to make us curious: Who is this guy? And why do people drop everything – livelihood, tools, their day job and their families – just at the invitation to follow Jesus?

The answer to the first question: this Jesus, says Matthew, is light in a world of darkness. Light denotes the presence of God in a dangerous world, a world under threat. The coming of God, the power of light, dispels the darkness and permits well-being. A world without God, without the light, leaves one endlessly endangered and under threat. Those seeking a way out of the darkness turn to the light like the heliotropism of some plants and flowers that follow the sun.

My mentor in ministry, The Reverend Frank M. McClain, wrote about a 19th century theologian, Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872). Every now and then, out of respect for all that Frank taught me, I dip back in to F D Maurice. It puts me closer to Frank to study the theological mind that so inspired my mentor, colleague and friend.

Maurice was in fact a kind of anti-theologian. He had no time for denominations, sects (s-e-c-t-s), theological systems, parties and the like. I get that. So much time is wasted writing, arguing, theorizing, blogging, debating, instead of following. While going through an essay by Richard Norris [in F D Maurice: A Study – Cowley Publications, 1982], I ran across this one example of Maurice’s thinking. It is from a letter to Daniel Macmillan, his publisher, in 1844:

“The one thought that possesses me most at this time and, I may say, has always possessed me, is that we have been dosing our people with religion when what they want is not this but the Living God. We are threatened now not with the loss of religious feelings, so-called, or religious notions, or of religious observances, but with Atheism. Everywhere I seem to perceive this peril. That battle within, the battle without is against this: the heart and flesh of our countrymen are crying out for God. We give them a stone for bread, systems for realities.” [Ibid p 15]

Andrew, Simon, James and John dropped everything, family and livelihood, because they were tired of sacred pronouncements from the inner precincts of Jerusalem, and the pronouncements in the synagogues. They wanted nothing of the competing religious systems of their day. Instead, they wanted nothing less than the Living God, as Maurice concludes. When the itinerant teacher from Nazareth came to them and said, “Follow me,” he was, in their experience of the moment, the very embodiment of the Living God. They wanted to turn to the light that was coming into the world. They chose to join with him to dispel the world of darkness and threat.

Now it would be silly to suggest that whatever they may have learned of scripture and both the history and present circumstances of their people had nothing to do with making it easier to recognize the genuine article when it arrives. But it may just have been his presence as he approaches them. We all have been, at one time or another, in the presence of someone or some place that just takes our breath away; stops us in our tracks; makes us suddenly see everything in a new light. We might even experience such moments as an epiphany – epi-phanos, “by light,” “the appearance of light,” or “the coming of light.” We even say, “We have seen the light.”

We can speculate endlessly as to why they follow him, but the story as reported in all four gospels allows for no over-analyzing. With just one word we learn all we need to know: Immediately. Immediately, on the shores of the lake in “Galilee of the Gentiles,” Jesus says, “Follow me,” and immediately four fishermen see the light coming to them. They drop everything and follow him – to the end of the story and beyond the end. For the end of the story is just the beginning of their story and ours.

A colleague posted the essence of this episode on Facebook and asked, “When did you first know that Jesus was saying "Follow me" to you? What was your answer?” My immediate response: it was 1978, attending a youth-group production of Godspell at Grace Episcopal Church, Providence, RI. Amidst tears streaming down my face, I knew. I said yes. And two years later the Diocese of Rhode Island sent me to seminary.

Or, was it when I studied with Rabbi Stanley Kessler in college, which led to my writing a thesis on Elie Wiesel under the guidance of another long-time mentor, Bernice Saltzman.

Or, was it during an informal conversation on the shore of Lake Michigan with Jet Thomas, a camp counselor at Camp Miniwanca, Shelby, Michigan, a house fellow at Harvard when I was playing music near Harvard Square, and eventually Dean of the Faculty of Marlboro College.

Or, was it when Mrs. Mitchell, our Sunday School Teacher at First Congregational Church, Oak Park, IL, who would bring in a trunk of old clothes to let us act out Bible Stories week after week.

Or, or was it when my father gave me a quarter every week to put into the offering plate as a sign that I was, even as a child, a part of this whole thing our Presiding Bishop likes to call The Jesus Movement. Which Maurice very well might say is not a movement, or a system, or a religion, it is simply the experience of the Living God – and that’s enough said about all this. That is all people want – The Living God.

There is so much noise and distraction all around us every minute of every day, that we forget those moments when we first perceived there is something more than us, something beyond ourselves, a light in the darkness, something or someone that calls us to a higher calling and a challenge to be the best version of ourselves possible. That’s what Jesus was about. Not all the stuff the church and others layer and layer on top of the simple fact that he says, “Follow me.” We rarely take the time to think about these things. And so, we end up giving ourselves and others “stones for bread, and systems for realities.”

That is why we read these stories and ask ourselves, “When did you first know that Jesus was saying ‘Follow me’ to you? What was your answer?” We need to remember. For four fishermen there was no question. Immediately they dropped everything and followed him. They saw the light. The world has never been the same. People can debunk the Christian story all they want, but what happens next must have been true: lives were touched, lives were healed, people were reconciled, hungry people were fed, strangers were welcomed – in short lives were changed, and still are. Immediately. Maurice would probably say that’s quite enough evidence to turn to the light and become children of God/children of Light. It is hard, in the end, to disagree with him.

- For Frank Mauldin McClain

You've Got A Friend

What Are You Looking For?

I have heard Marin Alsop, Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, describe Gustave Mahler as “one of the first rock stars” in the world of music. He was, she suggested, the Mick Jagger of Vienna as those who watched his uniquely wild approach to directing opera found him interesting and even mysterious. He would dash up and down a specially constructed gangway from the orchestra pit to the stage and back! He was known primarily for his opera productions, much less for his own symphonic creations, which in and of themselves were mysterious, breaking long established form and method. His popularity was such that people who saw Mahler on the street would follow behind him and try to imitate the way he walked, the way he looked. Perhaps, they may have thought, I might become as mysterious and creative as Mahler if I can learn to walk the way he walks. I only know this because of the testimony of Maestra Alsop.

This is how we learn or know anything at all – through imitation and practice, and from the testimony of others. Which is how we know about Jesus’s baptism by John the Baptizer as reported in chapter one of the Gospel of John [John 1:29-42]. There are two reported scenes.

Scene One, Day One: John sees Jesus coming toward him and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!... he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” The Lamb of God. Son of God.  Although sheep were often sacrificed in the Jerusalem Temple, lambs were sacrificed only for Passover – that annual ritual that recalls the great escape of a disparate band of slaves from Pharaoh’s Egypt. The Passover, or Paschal, Lamb is sacrificed on the eve of Passover.

John is unique among the four gospels. In this case, John does not describe the baptism of Jesus, but rather depicts the Baptizer giving testimony as to what he saw and experienced. Equally unique is depicting the Baptizer calling Jesus The Lamb of God. And again, John is unique in depicting Jesus’s crucifixion on the day of preparation for Passover – the day the Paschal Lamb is slain. It does not take much in the way of religious imagination to see what is going on here. For the Fourth Gospel, Jesus’s Baptism and Crucifixion make him out to be the inauguration of a New Passover, a New Exodus, a new deliverance from bondage for the people of God who have suffered under, and in many cases have been forced to accommodate and acquiesce to, the oppressive domination of Rome. Jesus is the new way out: Christ our Passover.

The Baptizer’s testimony that Jesus is the Son of God is the one detail consistent with the other three gospels. And for John’s Gospel, the Son of God is also the Paschal Lamb who takes away the “sin of the world.” Richard Rohr in his weekly meditation for Tuesday, January 14 [Bigger Than Personal Moral Failure @ cac.org], reminds us that Early Christian Moral theology recognized three major sources of evil: the world, the flesh, and the devil. In that order. Yet, the Church and Christians have almost exclusively focused on the secondary “flesh” level, letting the world and the devil off scot-free. This leaves individual humans to carry the majority of the blame. Just look at poor Eve! The implications have been massively destructive, both for the individual and for society, leading to many twentieth-century catastrophes that often took place in Christian countries.” [Ibid]

Rohr continues, “Both Jesus and Paul passed on to their disciples a collective and historical understanding of the nature of sin and evil, against which individuals still had to resist but in which they were usually complicit. Jesus and the prophets judged the city, nation, or group of people first, then the individual. This is no longer the starting point for many people, which leaves us morally impotent. We do not reproach our towns, our own religion, or our nation, though Jesus did so regularly (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 10:10-16). My hope is that this recognition of Jesus’s and Paul’s emphasis on the collective nature of evil will increase both personal responsibility and human solidarity, instead of wasting time on feeling bad about ourselves, which helps nobody.” [Ibid]

Scene Two, Day Two: The Baptizer is standing with two of his disciples, sees Jesus again, and again declares, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples leave the Baptizer and begin to follow Jesus. Eventually Jesus turns around and asks, “What are you looking for?”  They said to him, “Rabbi, …where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, runs off to find his brother and bring him to Jesus. Who looks at him and says, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Like the Venetians following Mahler, Andrew and another of the Baptizer’s disciples follow Jesus. Note that Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?” Try to imagine just how Jesus might say this. Because this is the question for all of us. What are you looking for? What are we looking for when we follow Jesus? Are we looking for answers? Are we looking for truth? Note: Jesus does not ask if they have faith. He sincerely wants to know what they are looking for.

They say, “Where are you staying.”  He says, “Come and see.” I will suggest that that is what Jesus always says. Come and see. He wants us to stay with him. Because once we go and see where Jesus is, like Andrew we will go and tell others, in this case his brother. And then Andrew brings his brother to Jesus. That’s the shape of discipleship summed up by this little encounter in Scene Two: tell Jesus what we are looking for; go and see where he is; go and tell others; bring them to wherever Jesus is today. This is the Christian Life in summary.

Where is Jesus today? He is quite clear about that. He is with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the prisoners, the stranger. He is with those who are blind, lame, poor, homeless, lonely, widows, orphans, resident aliens. He is with the Vets who have PTSD. He is with the Vets who have lost limbs. He is with the Vets who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. He is with immigrants at the border. He is with victims of volcanos, tsunamis, earthquakes and fires. He says he is with and in all of those people. To “come and see” does not take much imagination to be with Jesus.

In other news, somewhat related, legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart died this week. He once wrote a lyric in the song Limelight, “I can't pretend a stranger/Is a long-awaited friend.” I understand that rock stardom can sometimes feel overwhelming. Yet, I find it sad. Jesus didn’t know Andrew and the other disciple of the Baptizer following him. Yet, he does welcome these two strangers as “long-awaited friends.” Jesus welcomes everyone as long-awaited friends.

What else are we looking for, if not being welcomed, as we are, as a long-awaited friend?

Come and see. You will not regret it! You will be welcomed as a long-awaited friend.

The Baptism of Jesus

Nephesh Chayah

Respiration. Inspiration. Aspiration. The Bible has one word for breath, spirit and wind – ruach. At his baptism by John in the River Jordan, Jesus comes out of the water when something surprising happens: God opens up the heavens and breathes ruach into the world once again. Just as he had with a handful of mud in Genesis 2 and created a living being: nephesh chayah – which literally means “living throat.” But the throat is the organ of respiration, inspiration and aspiration. And it is respiration, inspiration and aspiration that gives life to ALL living beings - nephesh chayah . And at that moment in time in ancient Israel, the need for ruach was great for all three dimensions of life – respiration, inspiration and aspiration. [Matthew 3:13-17]

A lot has happened since the Magi chose not to return to Herod, but rather “left by another way.” They perceived the danger that lay in store. In a dream Joseph is warned that Herod is about to search for the child and destroy him, and that he, Joseph a son of David, must take the child and his mother to Egypt. Which Joseph does. They become a family of refugees.

Herod, who was Rome’s King of the Jews, is some mixture of furious and scared. He sends his troops to Bethlehem to kill all children under the age of two to make sure that the child born to be King of he Jews, according to the Magi, would not survive. The slaughter of all those innocent children recalls when that other power-hungry king, Pharaoh, ordered the killing of all baby Hebrew boys. But, as in this case, one was chosen to survive – Moses who would lead God’s people out of the brutality of the Egyptian Empire to new life in a new homeland. We know all too well that such slaughter of innocents continues well into our own time.

Joseph has another dream saying that it is safe to return for Herod has died. When Joseph learns that Archelaus, the son of Herod, was ruling in Judea, however, he chose to take the child and his mother to Nazareth in the region of Galilee. Jerusalem and nearby Bethlehem would not be a safe place for the child born to be king to grow up. The family are once again refugees.

Some years later, life under the brutal yoke of Rome had not improved. Outside of Jerusalem, on the banks of the River Jordan appears one like the prophets of old, dressed in camel-skin with a belt around his waist – John. John invites the people of the region to a baptism of repentance. We are mistaken if we think this is simply to confess their sins, which they do. Rather, it is to turn away from decades of Roman occupation, and even some collaboration by the Sadducees in Jerusalem, and to commit to a new way, another way. It is a commitment to be a resistance movement within the Empire. No matter how bad things look and how dark things are, there is always another way. Matthew tells us that all of Jerusalem and all of Judea come down to the river to commit to another way. To commit to the resistance.  

Matthew also tells us that even Sadducees and Pharisees come to join in. John confronts them to be sure that they know this is not just a feel-good ritual bathing in the very waters the ancestors had crossed into the land promised to Abraham and his seed forever. Either you are with us, or you are not, and from this day forward your actions must be committed to a new way of life. Those who produce fruit worthy of repentance will be gathered into a new community of the faithful. The rest will be consumed by unquenchable fire. For another is coming who will baptize with the Spirit-Breath of God and Fire!

It is into this atmosphere that Jesus comes to join with those who have to turned their lives around. John defers for a moment, but Jesus assures him that he must join with all those who have already committed to repent, to turn away from the brutalities of the Empire, to turn away from the sinful collaboration with the Empire, to turn away from acquiescing to the Empire’s rule. And to turn back toward the God of Life, the God of Breath, the God of Spirit, and of Fire!

That’s when the surprising things begin to happen: Jesus sees the heavens open and  he is breathed upon by God’s Spirit-Breath – the same Breath that hovered over creation in Genesis 1; the same Breath that animated the first being, Adam; the same Breath that the Risen Lord will one day breathe upon his frightened disciples to animate them as Apostles, those who are sent to proclaim the News – you can turn away from brutal regimes of this world and become a “living being” again, a nephesh chayah. Isaiah imagines it is this same Spirit-Breath that placed upon his beloved servant to bring forth justice in the nations. [Isaiah 42:1-9]

It will be this same Son of God, this same God’s Beloved, who will baptize the whole creation with fire, burning away all the rubbish of evil, and purifying as gold all deeds of justice, mercy, humility, peace, forgiveness, hope and love. [Thomas Long, Matthew: Westminster Bible Companion, p 31] As the prophet also declared long ago: Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out… who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness… I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. [Isaiah 42:1-9]

This will be the Aspiration of all who follow Jesus throughout all time – to turn their backs on the falseness and evil of this world, while embracing the One whose property is always to have mercy; to proclaim hope in a world that rarely offers evidence that such hope is justified. The inspiration and aspiration of all who accept the invitation to follow him is to rid the world of the rubbish of evil and embrace justice, mercy, humility, peace, forgiveness and love for all people, everywhere, all the time. This is the resistance to which John calls people, and which Jesus lives.

Matthew’s audience knows all too well what the fire looks like. They have seen this fire in the eyes of their fellow country men and women who have rejected the Empire’s machinations. Matthew’s audience has also seen the smoke and fire rise over Jerusalem when Rome destroyed the Temple and slaughtered thousands more than either Pharaoh or Herod had in the past. The city, its Temple and its people, lies in smoldering ruin as Matthew proclaims the news: Jesus joins with John to declare, this is not the end. This is just the beginning.

This is the Good News: The world need not be like this. We are called to be those people who, like Jesus, are inspired to aspire to better days ahead for all people everywhere. Respiration. Inspiration. Aspiration. This is the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the invitation open to all who dare to hear this story – the whole story – and join with him in the healing of the world and everything therein. This is what it means to be a “living being,” a true nephesh chayah. We too can breathe with new life. We too can receive the Spirit-Breath. When we do, we too will hear the words uttered that day long ago: You are my child, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. As Matthew’s Jesus repeatedly says, “Those who have ears, let them hear!” Amen. 

The Camel’s Tale

Ships of the desert, my eye! Being a beast of burden is not all it is cracked up to be when old nothing but dust for brains Adam named us camels, and when Isaiah proclaimed that a multitude of us would cover the land of promise bearing peoples and gifts from all corners of the earth to come and see the brightness of the light of God's people shining through the thick darkness covering all the earth. But still, without the bunch of us lugging all the supplies and tents, and yes, those precious if not somewhat odd gifts for a baby shower, the Magi, or the Wise Ones as I like to call them, would never have made it by the twelfth day. Besides, I consider myself one of the lucky ones who only had to carry one of the Wise One's himself, Melchior.

As it was, by the time we got there, Bethlehem, after being a town bustling and bursting with people and commerce for those few days of the census, had returned to its sleepy, tired City of David after everyone had been counted and had gone home. Which is to say, when we got there, the place was empty. Just a man, a woman, and between them the baby who was to be King. But there I go getting ahead of myself.

Thank goodness for Omar and Zepho and the other camel boys who actually saw to it that we were fed and watered and rubbed down now and then, while the Wise Ones could hardly if ever keep their heads out of the stars. If they were not gazing at the stars they were talking about them, charting them, interpreting them, and searching for just the one that would relieve them of their endlessly restless, inquiring and yearning spirits. While they searched the heavens and earth for something they kept calling "the truth," the rest of us in their not so little caravan saw to it that life was lived and everyone was taken care of. They often missed the most interesting and exciting parts of the journey, so absorbed and preoccupied were they with their own concerns and interests. Like the mouse who smuggled herself into the saddlebag of Gaspar's camel, Bella. She was a teenage mouse who had had a terrible fight with her parents and ran away. But there I go again. I'm getting off the point.

So, where were we? Certainly not at that dreadful King Herod's palace. That’s Herod, King of the Jews. Oh, there was plenty of company for all of us camels amidst his livestock and barns, and plenty of water and grain and other good things to eat, but even we could sense the terrible cloak of darkness and death that surrounded his entire little piece of the great Roman Empire. And who was this Caesar he kept talking about? He seemed troubled to hear all the Wise Ones talking about the stars and a new King of the Jews and could he give directions to the place where the child lay. Well, no, blustered Herod, but surely you will return to tell me where the little one is so I can go there myself to worship him. It wasn't what he said but how he said it that made even the fleas on my humps crawl with uneasiness. There was a rattling in his throat, and his hands trembled, and the air was as still as death. It doesn’t take a Wise One to know that no king has ever yet bowed down to another king. We all thought, Surely there must some other way out of here. And as it turned out, we never did return to Herod as we headed off in a new direction afterwards, which was too bad since there was something compelling about that child.

On the outskirts of Bethlehem, we decided to make our camp where we ran across the happiest and wildest bunch of Bedouin shepherds you ever did see. All of them talking at once about angels and a baby and Good News for everyone. The Wise Ones smiled. The first time any of us had ever seen them smile! Just then we took the Wise One’s and all the gifts and headed into town to see if it was just as the shepherds had told us.

When we found the young family, it was night. It was very cold. The odor of the hay was very sweet, and the cattle's breath, like ours, came out in little puffs of mist hanging in the air. Of course, I wasn't supposed to come into the place where they were. In fact, it was such a tiny little cave of a place there wasn't much room. But we had come so far, traveling for so many years to find something, someone, somewhere, that it seemed possible that we really might have to search no further. I figured it couldn't hurt if I just stuck my head in for a peek.

So, while Omar and Zepho and the others were unloading the gifts off the back of my cousins, and the Wise Ones were still consulting their charts and graphs to make certain that this truly was the one they were searching for, I stuck my head in. Well, it was a bit surprising to find the scene so ordinary. I don't know what I had expected, but after years of schlepping these Wise Ones and all their gear and supplies all over every-possible-where place, I guess I thought there would be crowds, and family, and all kinds of hoopla. I mean, even when a new camel is born amongst the herd, there is more attention and excitement: camel boys doing the midwifery, the rest of us clomping around to get a peek, shouts, cheers, everyone watching the new one try to stand up for the first time.

There was none of that in this little tiny place in Bethlehem. The man, the woman, between them the child. But no, just from the glance I caught, even I would have to say "between them, the King." Even I could see that this little child was True Light itself, but it is really curious how little babies like this one cannot even get up on their legs the way we do. They just lie there, so, well, still and vulnerable. Even I could see that even the stars might bow down before this one. Even I could see that he could teach creepy old Herod a thing or two about being a king. Even I could see that the heavens and earth and all creation were somehow about to be made new by the presence of this one baby in the hay.

It's just too bad the Wise Ones did not seem to see all that. I mean they put their gifts in there, and bowed down on bended knee and all. But then it was back out the door, and up looking into the heavens again, and soon we were being loaded up and herded down the road and out of town. All of us except Bella, that is. Our little mouse companion stayed behind. She just could not bring herself to leave those people alone. She was not going back. Or going anywhere. She was staying right there with him, the one born to be King. She wanted to live the rest of his story!

Of course, we missed her. Gaspar's camel had come to like the little one. It was some years later that another mouse joined our caravan and started telling some fantastic and wonderful stories she had heard from her great-great-grandmother Bella! Seems that throughout the years many people came to see the child born to be King. Some went running through the streets and all over the world telling others the good things they had seen and heard about this child. Others came to offer whatever gifts they had so that he might bring abundant life to all the world. All came seeking to receive something from him. But once you see him, really see him, you long to give whatever you have to further his life in the world.

Sometime or another, everyone comes to take a look in that manger. Whenever your time comes to be with him, stop and spend more time than we did. The Wise Ones kept us wandering all over the place, looking for whatever they called "the truth." Somehow, they just could not see that the “truth” is not an idea or a belief, but rather truth and salvation are a person – that child we once saw in Bethlehem. They kept vowing that one day they would return to Bethlehem, but every year they spent more and more time doing everything else but spending time with him before whom even the stars are said to bow down. I don't know what they saw, but I know what I saw. Just that glance, a peek in the door was enough to know that this Jesus reveals to you how much God watches over you and loves you. Even I could see that this Jesus calls us to follow him so we might do something beautiful with our lives and bear much fruit. Even us camels!

That’s the one thing I saw that night: that the World needs you. God needs you. Jesus needs you. They need your gifts, your light and your love. Isn't that the funny part of it all? The Wise Ones are off all the time looking at the light in the stars, when the light that is the light of the world is right here in the midst of us. He is the true light that is the life of the world. Any camel with eyes could see that! Know, my sister, my brother, that there is a hidden place in your heart where Jesus lives and his light shines! This is a deep secret that even the Wisest Ones overlook most of the time. Let Jesus live in you. Go forward with him into all the world. Let your little light shine, for the light that is the life of the world is still coming into the world through that child we saw that night long ago.

By the way, did I fail to mention the seemingly little-known fact that Melchior's name was really "Salome," and that it was changed not merely because of the patriarchy, but because of the seemingly strange gift of Myrrh that she brought to the Christ child? Myrrh. A burial spice. Of course, the Wood of the Manger is the Hard Wood of the Cross. I will ask you a terrible question. Is the Truth beyond all truths, beyond the stars, just this – that to live without him is real death, that to die with him is the only life? But, that’s an altogether different story. Or, is it?  Keep looking at the babe in the manger. Offer him your gifts, and you will see all that there is to know and see! And then some. And then some. And who knows, maybe if we all offer of ourselves as much as we receive from him, we just might one day make it through the eye of a needle!

Amen.

[Thanks and apologies to Ted Loder, Frederick Buechner, John Shea, and Jean Vanier whose writings and reflections inspired this telling of The Camel’s Story.]