It's Never Too Late for Love

Valentine's Day? What's that to me?  I'm way past sixty-five.

It's quite enough to strut my stuff and say that I'm alive.

But this day brings back memories of happy days of yore 

When youth and energy, dreams and hopes emerged . . .and yet there's more 

There's that enchanted feeling that emerges from above 

Our lifetime starts a second time - this time the theme is love.

But love, you say, is youthful,  naive and juvenile.

I disagree -  you missed the mark by sure a country mile.

We grow older but not colder, our hearts beat fast as ever, 

And joy and laughter triumph amid all the threats to sever.

Pains and sorrows come our way - we bear them patiently 

But love? It never dims - it rather stirs relentlessly.

So Valentine has come again - perhaps to fan the flames 

Reminding us of youthful aspirations, inspiration, aims, 

Considering that while much is taken, much still abides 

Calling us to make the most of what we are - besides 

Thanking God we still can love - it is our unique pleasure, 

For loving is our deathless virtue, our prevailing treasure.

Larry Gruman.         Valentine's Day.  2014

Why It All Began

The poet is more of a cosmologist in the 90th Psalm. He envisions a time before the earth  existed, before mountains came forth, and concludes that God made something from nothing. There is  no big bang here, but a creation, or perhaps a transition, is called for. The immensity of time is called for "Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God."

This is rare thinking in a time when the existing world was considered to be permanent and eternal. The poet also wrestles with time, unlimited time that God has at His disposal.  God chooses; He creates! That's his conclusion to the question of why we exist. 

Scientists at the Hadron Collider are trying to fathom how something arose out of nothing. But they cannot begin to answer the question of why that happened. Leave that to the poet, the psalmist. It is imagination stretched to the utmost.

A Table for Sheep?

The marvelously poetic twenty-third Psalm, probably the most memorized passage of the Old Testament, is marred.  The problem comes in the line "Thou preparest  a table in the presence of mine enemies."  Before and after this phrase the image of God as shepherd is perfectly maintained.

There have been many attempts to explain this fractured image, none of them able to justify a table set in the presence of enemies.  The flaw in the Psalm as we have it is in the translation, likely by the King James Bible team . . . .or in the early printing of their version.

In order to make sense and maintain consistence in the poem, it is necessary to change one word: table.  The writer is describing the care given by the shepherd in preparing pasture for his sheep, ridding that land of the sheep's enemies, the jackals, snakes and foxes that prey on sheepfold. Perhaps the word table suggests flat table-land or an expanse of pastureland.

The telling phrase in the Psalm should read: "Thou preparest a field ridding it of my enemies."

That revision clearly retains the imagery of the Psalm, adding an emphasis on God's outreaching  care for his people.

Famous Trumpet Players

The Bible says that Gabriel blew  a horn
And just so was the old tradition born.
Then John on Patmos said the trumpet sound
Will wake the dead and everyone rebound.

The troops of Charlemagne heard trumpet's blast
And charged ahead , triumphant to the last.
The trumpeter of Krakow in his tower
Inspired soldiers to their finest hour.

And in our Civil War the trumpet called
To action tired armies that were stalled.
While reveille an taps enclosed the day,
Early and late the bugle had its say.

In modern times the trumpet had a spurt
Of popularity, so James and Hirt
Armstrong, Marsalis, Miles and Dizzy
All kept the music headlines extra busy.

The instrument's the same since it was born,
Three small valves, a mouthpiece and a horn.
The players change, however, and they play
With stirring moving power every day.

So if you play the trumpet, play it strong
You can make sweet music all day long,
Brightening and entertaining all
Who listen gladly to your trumpet's call.

It All Began...

The question had been on people's minds for at least two thousand years, and many attempts were made to answer it.  Never had it been so simply asked as when Leibniz, three hundred years ago, queried, "Why something, why not nothing?"  Earlier inquirers, the Greeks, recognized the problem, saying "Niholo ex Niholo fit". . .or "nothing comes out of nothing." 

The Hebrews were acutely conscious of this imponderable question.  Their answer, or rather answers, were rooted in the conviction  that God initiated the process.  They did not try to explain the transition from nothing to something, but assumed God was shaping something that already existed.

Thus we have in scripture three different stories of creation, each one arising from a different perspective:

  The Priestly answer. The question was framed, "How did the elements of the universe come into existence?"  That sequence needed to include oceans, the sun and moon, birds, animals, man, and so on.  This sequence was based on the eight-act decree of Tiamat in the Babylonian poetic legend. The Hebrew priests, eager to enhance their solemn seven-day week, compressed these eight acts of "creation" into six days.  So we have the result in the first chapter of Genesis.

The humanistic answer.  The question was framed, "How did the first human beings come into existence"? Into an already existing garden, God deposited a man.  In order for the man to generate children, a woman was created.  Two children were born, one a crop farmer and the other a shepherd.  How these two men fathered children and where their wives came from is not covered. The story seems to suggest that agriculture of settled farmers was replacing  the hunter-gatherer plan for obtaining food. The story is found in the next three chapters of Genesis.

The anthropologist answer.  The question was framed, "How did the races of man arise?"  The story was composed when three recognizable distinct races were visible.  The tale begins with a man, Noah, being commissioned to build a boat large enough to carry his family and a pair of every existing animal.  Then an immense flood destroys every living thing outside the boat.  In our Bible there are two different versions of the epic lying side by side, but the results of the flood are that Noah becomes drunk and is sexually seduced by his three daughters, producing the three races of mankind: Europeans, Asians and Africans.  This story is found in Genesis 6 - 9.

Each story satisfies an aspect of creation.  As T. S. Eliot writes, "nobody likes to live with a mystery", and a resolution of that dilemma remains hidden after centuries of creative imaginative efforts. The mystery remains.  Neither scientific investigation or logic is capable of a satisfying answer.  The biblical answers are partial and inconclusive.  Our minds are not capable of answering the question.  Poetry, drama, dance, art and music are our efforts to address the issue, perhaps more perceptive than the sheer exercise of the mind.

The Message

There is a lively debate generated by the commentators who think they can explain precisely the message sent across the world by any action. They count themselves capable of reading the minds of the nations. It should be no surprise that their analysis reflects their own value system..

Critics of Jesus said his message of love for enemies sent a message of weakness and self-doubt.  Critics of Martin Luther King held that he sent a message of racism. Critics of President Obama say his actions sent the message that he is a dictator who caved before overwhelming objections to his actions. 

"Sending a message" is a cheap way of evaluating any action since it avoids dealing with the issue  involved; and it is clearly a prejudiced opinion. Evaluating motives, projecting results, analyzing effects . . . .that takes time and thought. 

In the case of President Obama, many regard his retreat from his personal aim to attack Syria as a bow to the democratic majority. Government of, by and for the people is still alive.

Two Sides of a Coin

The age-old debate about the conflict of the biblical view of the world and the scientific view is relentless.  Advocates of both sides heatedly defend their side in this science-versus-religion debate.  Fundamentalists proclaim that the religious view is comprehensive and complete.  Progressives disdain that picture as outmoded by the new world of scientific discovery.  They add evidence from linguistic studies, archeological discoveries, and scientific advances.

Focusing on the center of it all, the person of Jesus, we have the one side totally committed to the Christ of faith. The other side is obsessed with the Jesus of history.

The Christ of faith arises from reported miracles, sermons, teachings, and events - with the conclusive account of the resurrection.  Jesus is seen to be the exclusive Son of God. This view satisfies the search for meaning in life as well as the possibility of eternal existence.

The Jesus of history is understood to be a Galilean peasant-evangelist who challenged the authorities and was put to death by them.  The man had sisters and brothers and spent some time in Jerusalem.  This view holds that the elaboration of his life story, like leading a group of disciples, healing the sick and raising the dead, are all products of the imagination, fashioned to further the evangelistic enterprise.

Today's Christians are asked to choose which of these views they accept.  Sometimes the effort is made to combine them in an acceptable compromise, an accommodation that sees the two approaches as compatible. 

But the basic supposition here is that the human being is incapable of holding antithetical positions - the choice is depicted is an either-or option.  I think of the mind as a two-sided coin - there is no such thing as a one-sided coin.  We have a poetic side which sees life in terms of wonder and beauty and symmetry  and joy.  And we have a realistic side which sees life in economic, visible, materialist and practical terms.  Both sides are essential ingredients to an abundant life. 

It would be unrealistic to hold that we must choose which side we adopt as our rule of life.  The poet needs to eat and exercise; the workman needs to find the depths of imagination and richness.  Life that excludes one or the other is not possible.  There is no such thing as a one-sided coin.

       Larry Gruman.   2013