Being Wealthy

The Tanzanians regard all foreigners as being fabulously wealthy. Relatively speaking, we are. A manual laborer here may make about U.S. $3 to $4 per day. Our dollars do go a long ways for certain items such as locally grown food, transportation, domestic help, and hand-made items.

But I think the Tanzanians are only focused on the money in our personal pockets. My feeling of being wealthy, as an American, arises not from what I possess as an individual but from other kinds of tangibles and from many intangibles.

There are the things that could be called "public assets". These include an extensive and reliable power grid; water supplies that provide clean, potable water out of the tap; sewage systems; garbage collection and disposal; and paved streets and roads. There are hospitals and clinics; fire departments; health departments; and parks, playing fields, and zoos. Then there are the intellectual and cultural resources: public libraries; museums; and colleges and universities. All of these come from what we envision, maintain, fund, and value collectively as a society, not individually.

And there are the intangibles such as civil rights and political freedoms. I remember living in Taiwan in 1971 during a time of military dictatorship. I was stunned to learn that newspapers and magazines were strictly censored; that only a few people were allowed to have passports and to leave the country; that a police officer sitting outside a movie theater could stop me for having hair that was too long.

I feel wealthy not because of the modest amount of money that Diane and I have managed to earn and save (which would not go far in the U.S.) but because I benefit immeasurably from what I have inherited from a developed, democratic country in the latter half of the twentieth century. -Earl

Ikon: The Harrowing of Hell


Down through the tomb's inward arch
He has shouldered out into Limbo
to gather them, dazed, from dreamless slumber:
the merciful dead, the prophets,
the innocents just His own age and those
unnumbered others waiting here
unaware, in an endless void He is ending
now, stooping to tug at their hands,
to pull them from their sarcophagi,
dazzled, almost unwilling. Didmas,
neighbor in death, Golgotha dust
still streaked on the dried sweat of his body
no one had washed and anointed, is here,
for sequence is not known in Limbo;
the promise, given from cross to cross
at noon, arches beyond sunset and dawn.
All these He will swiftly lead
to the Paradise road: they are safe.
That done, there must take place that struggle
no human presumes to picture:
living, dying, descending to rescue the just
from shadow, were lesser travails
than this: to break
through earth and stone of the faithless world
back to the cold sepulchre, tearstained
stifling shroud; to break from them
back into breath and heartbeat, and walk
the world again, closed into days and weeks again,
wounds of His anguish open, and Spirit
streaming through every cell of flesh
so that if mortal sight could bear
to perceive it, it would be seen
His mortal flesh was lit from within, now,
and aching for home. He must return,
first, in Divine patience, and know
hunger again, and give
to humble friends the joy
of giving Him food--fish and a honeycomb.

by Denise Levertov

Good Friday

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?
Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;
Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon—
I, only I.
Yet give not o’er
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

by Christina Rossetti (1896).

The Last Supper

They are assembled, astonished and disturbed
round him, who like a sage resolved his fate,
and now leaves those to whom he most belonged,
leaving and passing by them like a stranger.
The loneliness of old comes over him
which helped mature him for his deepest acts;
now will he once again walk through the olive grove,
and those who love him still will flee before his sight.

To this last supper he has summoned them,
and (like a shot that scatters birds from trees)
their hands draw back from reaching for the loaves
upon his word: they fly across to him;
they flutter, frightened, round the supper table
searching for an escape. But he is present
everywhere like an all-pervading twilight-hour.

Rainer Maria Rilke

[On seeing Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper", Milan 1904.]

Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming

Happy Birthday, Earl!

He doesn’t look 60 to me! Yep, Earl just turned 60 today. Can you imagine that? Fortunately, we are on our much-too-short-mid-term break so we are able to really celebrate! We escaped to the Benedictine Fathers’ beach house, Eden II, for three days and it’s heaven! Silence and serenity…a soul-stirring solitude…such a grace!

And in the photo you will see many of Earl’s birthday gifts: gifts from our best friends, Moris & Bernard, the sun, the sea and the sky including smiles, sunshine, sea stars, sea urchins, seashells, a little sea crab, a starry night with full moon light topped off with stove-top brownies! How can you beat that? I know it’s Earl’s birthday and he is supposed to receive all the gifts, but I have truly been gifted with his love in my life. Happy Birthday, Darling!

Meetings as Pastime?

"Besides, the pace of all discussions was immeasurably slow. ... From a European point of view such meetings wasted hours of time and were maddeningly long-winded, but to the Kikuyu they were a form of pleasure, like a game of chess, or watching a cricket match." -Elspeth Huxley, The Mottled Lizard.

This is certainly a different attitude about meetings! I am recalling my years in corporate life, where meetings were seldom well run, mostly tolerated, often used as a way to kill time on the company clock, and an endless source of black humor for employees. Could we instead regard meetings as a form of entertainment?

Not likely! Life back in California is frenetic, distracted, and impatient. We Americans seem to have much difficulty in enjoying our material comfort and abundance. Is this trajectory of restlessness the consequence of our legacy as a nation of immigrants, forever heading out to the frontier? -Earl

Last term I taught Bible Knowledge to the Form III students. We were studying the Gospel of Luke. So I divided the class into groups of four, handed each group two passages from Luke’s Gospel and two sheets of brown parcel paper. I asked them to illustrate the passages. Well, was I delighted to discover the artists in our midst!

In this photo you’ll see Faraja’s illustrations. The picture on the top illustrates the story of the paralyzed man in Luke 5:18-20,24:
“And behold, men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” … “I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home.”

The two lower pictures illustrate the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17:12-16:
“And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.”

I love these two illustrations that Faraja did. Aren't they beautiful?

If you would like to see the rest of the students’ illustrations, come visit our library. The once bare walls are plastered with the students’ artwork now! And as the Bulletin Board/Art club moderator, I’m sure I will be discovering more and more of the students' artistic talents. So stay tuned for the opening of our Art Gallery!