Perfect Love

     This is another year that Valentine's Day falls on Ash Wednesday.  A real reminder of the sacrificial love of all the Saint Valentines.  (See also my other blog for some Valentine's thoughts)

For All the Saints

All Saints Day is November 1st.  It is a day to remember those who have departed the world before us and are in Christ's presence forever.  

My favorite departed saint to remember is my maternal grandmother, whose photos you will find scattered throughout.  In Lutheran thinking (following how the Bible uses the term), all Christians are "saints" because Christ has made us holy by saving us. We don't live it out perfectly (sadly, we often don't live it out well at all), but Christ is the Perfect One, the Holy One who makes us that way in God's eyes. 

For all the saints 

Who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith 

Before the world confessed;
Thy name, O Jesus, 

Be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, 

Their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain 

In the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, 

Their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, 

Fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, 

They in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, 

For all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

But then there breaks 

A still more glorious day:
The saints triumphant 

Rise in bright array;
The King of Glory 

Passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth's wide bounds, 

From ocean's farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl 

Streams in the countless host,
in praise of Father, 

Son, and Holy Ghost.
Alleluia, Alleluia!  --William Walsham How, 1864

W.W. How was born in 1823 in England and died in 1897 in Ireland.  He was an Anglican priest who rose to be a bishop.  

Consider*

Consider 

The lilies of the field whose bloom is brief:--

We are as they;

Like them we fade away,

As doth a leaf.

Consider 

The sparrows of the air of small account:

Our God doth view

Whether they fall or mount**--

He guards us, too.

Consider 

The lilies that do neither toil nor spin,

Yet are most fair:--

What profits all this care

And all this coil***?

Consider 

The birds that have no barns nor harvest-weeks;

God gives them food:--

Much more our Father seeks

To do us good.   --Christina Rossetti, 1866  

*"consider the lilies and the birds [ravens]"; Luke 12:22-31, Matthew 6:25-33

**mount the wing, take flight

***mortal coil: this fleshly, physical life

Bird in Lilies Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust

When Things Converge

 

     This is a story of how professional art inspires student art, which can inspire amateur art.  But, overall, God's inspired Word inspires all that is lasting, real and true.

     It starts with an environmental artist from New York City.  She also 'lives' it.  (You can research her from the info posted in this article.)  One of her gallery presentations tours various colleges and universities.  The students then contribute their work, based on the artist's project statement.  My daughter's zine class all contributed.  (A zine is a mini magazine, made on one sheet of paper folded a certain way, and reproduced in limited number on copy machines.)

       My daughter's zine reflected on water use and her wardrobe.  She reflected on how much water likely was needed to make all her clothes (and we are not too proud to pick up some clothes from secondhand stores).  She discussed how much water it takes, in this arid environment, to keep her clothes clean.  She discussed how she tries to recycle worn out clothes into rags, but this doesn't work for all of them.  She discussed how the clothes with artificial fibers will take a long time to break down.  When they do break down, the microfibers can end up in our water and in our very bloodstreams.

     She was absolutely thrilled that her father and I could make the gallery presentation.  She was also happy to see how much we seemed to be truly taking in and processing in the display.  She had first thought that she wanted to tour the other galleries in the museum.  But, due to the arduous semester and connections building over art, she said she wanted to go, instead, to a little amateur set up where anyone could make their own 'master' for a zine.  We agreed to go.

     As I sat down to approach this, I knew that it would have to be something related to nature.  It occurred to me that I wanted to honor the Hebrew I've studied, so the cover is the Hebrew word for "life."  Then, of course, I had to include another favorite:  the black-eyed Susan.  [If you see a sunflower, that's okay; that may suggest other things to you, especially in this time in our history.]  But I'm not Jewish; I'm Christian, so a cross had to be there somewhere.  Can you see it?  My very bright daughter picked up the symbolism with no prompts.  (She also knew what type of flower it was supposed to be.)  

      I was happy that, in real life, the tissue paper provided created a center that looked a bit like the velvety soft center of a real black-eyed Susan (which is really brown!).  Later on, I slipped in the Greek and German terms, since I have studied both of these.  I try to keep speaking some German, as it is the language of my ancestors (though there 'may' be a little ethnic Jewishness in me; that is inconclusive).  But what else might it say to you, especially in this setting, to see Hebrew and German so close together?  

     

     You might recognize the reference to Romans 8:19-23 which literally unfolds in this zine. This is not an exact quote.  I know my own reasons for not being exact, but what does it say to you?  

      You may have to zoom in to see the small collage items on your screen. 

     Do you notice black, white and grey here? 

     Throughout the pages, what do you see of both hope and despair?

    

      Do you see any repeating color schemes here? What does that say to you?

     What comes together on this page?  What does it elicit in you?  Anything a little different on this page?

     

              

              Any thoughts, now, seeing front and back cover, side-by-side?  

      This is the inside, full paper fold out.  (This is especially a time you might want to zoom in to catch the smaller items.)

     There are things particular to my interests, but what do they say to you?  The verse from Job is, again, in Hebrew, Greek, German and English.  It is also, in older English, set to music, specifically Handel's Messiah.  (Interestingly, you can sing the German version to this music!)  There are elements from Luther's Small Catechism.  I happen to be Lutheran, but is there more that speaks to you?

     One statement is on the "groaning" side and here, the "eternal bliss" side.  Did you see that?  What does it mean to see it in this place?

*****************************************

     There are things I learned from this process. Some are basic, practical things.  Others are more philosophic.

     Some production issues were "the learner's curve", though this may well be the only zine I ever create.  Overall, I was thinking of my work as a finished creation, rather than a "master" from which to copy things.  I forgot to account for copiers "shifting" things and placed some things too close to edges, folds. or cut lines.  Because the glue sticks didn't keep things stuck down tight, I Mod-Podge'd the final product.  Unfortunately, I used the glossy Mod-Podge we already have.  So I couldn't photograph my original because the sheen was too much. Also, it created streaks that messed up the copying.

     I did discover, on the other hand, the color copier I used created some better detail on the magazine cut-outs.  This is more noticeable on paper copies than the virtual ones here.

     The cheap markers and cheap paper were provided to us amateurs at the museum.  Having started there with family, I did not really wish to start over. The markers bled through, and I had to account for this on laying out the inside.  The Mod-Podge cause the ink to smear even more, so I had to use caution.  

     Some philosophic things came to mind.  It began to occur to me that, though the original artist's statement was about conserving resources, I was using resources to create this.  In this case, not many new resources were used.  The original paper and ink from the markers were new.  The tissue for the black-eye Susan was new.  The Mod-Podge was already purchased. Evaluating the use of this is mixed:  I already had it, and the resources were already used in production. But I could have saved it for a needed project later (like fixing a book rather than throwing it out or using more toxic resources to fix it).  On the other hand, if I don't use it for something, it could dry out and be wasted, anyway.  There was also the use of glue sticks.

     The magazines and catalogs were already produced.  They could have gone to the landfill without being repurposes. The admixture used in glossy productions means they don't recycle well.  The green paper Luther catechism sections were already in our scratch paper bin.  They were part of an erroneous print for confirmation class.  The Job quotes were done on scratch paper; just the ink was a new resource.

     You will notice stickers on this zine.  All of them came from unsolicited mail, some cut off from mailing labels.  (I have more mailing labels than I could use in a long, long time.)  There was a risk that some of these unsolicited items could have ended up in a landfill.  Unlike "regular" paper, they would not recycle well.  Ironically, some of these items came from agencies promoting [secular] environmentalism.

      I included some things cut out from a Valentine I got earlier this year from someone who's been a friend since we were both 5 years old.  I had hung onto it, though it was one of those "kid style" Valentines.  But how long do we hang onto every scrap of things?  That's always a question. This Valentine was one of those "search for details" type and reflected some of my very personal preferences.  It was perfect for this zine, fitting right into the themes.  This has given the Valentine a "new life" for others, also.  Do you think you're able to find the pieces of the Valentine in the zine?  

      I have made a few paper copies.  It does not escape me that this involved more paper and ink use. There was also the slight bit of electricity use to copy.  What you see here eliminates "the paper trail."  However, there is the electricity used in preparing the post. There is the electricity used in you reading it.  (Even if it's on a battery-powered device, there will be the electricity used to recharge the battery.)  I've come to learn that all the data we create and then store is 'held' in virtual warehouses that create big power draws.  Those that are built in hot deserts, like where I currently live, add to our climate problems.

     Beyond this, I've come to learn about environmental issues that arise in traditional art.  As my daughter progresses in oil painting, I see the chemicals and toxicity.

     And, yet, humans need to create and to share their creativity. We lose something of our humanity, something of the gifts God gave us before our world (and we) were damaged by sin. And art is used to communicate environmental messages. So a real quandary can arise.  I have no answers.  This time, what began as a very amateurish endeavor led me down many paths simultaneously.

     I hope it has stimulated some thoughts in you.  In the meantime, we have hope, real hope:  we have God given gifts to help us improve things as we live on this earth.  We have hope for a perfected physical world, populated by perfected humans, in the next.

     As a Lutheran, we have a total 50 days in our Easter season, all the way until Pentecost.  I wish you a blessed Easter season.

  

Looking Backwards & Forwards at Hopkins

 

For this new year, I'm reviewing for you all the Gerard Manley Hopkins entries on this blog.  There are works by Hopkins himself, plus references to his work.  Hopkins was a 19th century English Jesuit poet.  He both modernized and stuck with old forms in his work. Enjoy, and Happy 2021!

"Pied Beauty" [Best known]

"God's Grandeur" [2nd best known]

"Spring & Fall"

"Peace"

"Spring"

"My Own Heart Let Me Have More Pity On"

"Moonrise"

"Patience"

"Easter"

"The Starlight Night"

"Music on the Wing"

Excerpt from "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection."

"Moonless Darkness Stands Between" [Christmas]

"He Hath Abolished the Old Drouth"

"May Magnificat"

Here is Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, reading "God's Grandeur":

Reading of "God's Grandeur"

Here's an original poem of mine, drawing from a line in God's Grandeur":

"Nature is Never Spent"

This is by a poetess who really admired Hopkins:

"A Song of Spring"

Here's a portrait of Hopkins, done in "icon" style:

Hopkins as Icon

Chokecherries, White Mountains of Arizona
October 2021

The Long View

 

"If I knew tomorrow were the end of the world,

I'd plant an apple tree today." 

(attributed to Martin Luther; 16th century German)  

 

 

O God, Our Help in Ages Past*

 

1. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Our shelter from the stormy blast,
   And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
   Thy saints have dwelt secure;
   Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
   And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
   Or earth received her frame,
   From everlasting Thou art God,
   To endless years the same.
4. Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
   “Return, ye sons of men”:
   All nations rose from earth at first,
   And turn to earth again.
5. A thousand ages in Thy sight
   Are like an evening gone;
   Short as the watch that ends the night
   Before the rising sun.
6. The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
   With all their lives and cares,
   Are carried downwards by the flood,
   And lost in foll’wing years.
7. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
   Bears all its sons away;
   They fly, forgotten, as a dream
   Dies at the op’ning day.
8. Like flow’ry fields the nations stand
   Pleased with the morning light;
   The flow’rs beneath the mower’s hand
   Lie with’ring ere ’tis night.
9. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
   And our eternal home.  --Isaac Watts, 1708 (pub. 1719)

*A hymnodic version of Psalm 90.  (This Psalm and hymn are often used in liturgical churches on New Years' Eve, due to the discussion of "time.")

Posh Hopkins

   

Here is Prince Charles reading Gerard Manley Hopkins' second most famous poem, "God's Grandeur."

"God's Grandeur" Prince Charles 2021 Easter Message

Here is the text for this poem, with explanatory notes, from an earlier post in this blog:

"God's Grandeur"

This is not a strong "resurrection poem"; Hopkins did write some Easter specific poems.  If you click the "Easter" link, you will pull some up.  But at least it does mention "the Holy Ghost."  At one time, Charles seemed to be drifting away from Christian-specific matters, but that does not seem to be the case anymore.

I imagine Charles chose this, partly, because of the environmental theme.  I also wonder if, as Prince of Wales, he did it for the Welsh connection.  Hopkins was an English Jesuit priest, but his most favorite place of serving was Wales.  He learned some Welsh.  (For a poetry day event several years ago, the Prince of Wales read a poem by the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas.)

Just for "fun", here is a poem I wrote as a "riff" off of a line in "God's Grandeur."

"Nature is Never Spent" 

Moisture Comes to Arizona

Rain, Rain,

Came again,

Came to ease our climate's pain.

Cloud, Cloud,

You're no shroud;

You're a joy to have around.

Snow, Snow,

Do not go:

Beautify us here below.

"Cleanse me with hyssop,

And I shall be clean;

Wash me,

And I shall be whiter than snow."  (Psalm 51:7)*

Grey, Grey,

Gone away:

Would you stay another day?

Sun, Sun,

Elsewhere fun,

Here you give our drought a run.

Rain, Rain,

Come again:

Leave us not with hopes in vain.

"'For just as the rain comes down

And snow from the heavens

And does not return there

Without watering the earth...

Thus is My Word

Which goes forth from my mouth:

It does not return to Me void.'"  (from Isaiah 55:10-11)*

--C. Marie Byars, (c) 2021

*original retranslations of the Bible from Hebrew

 

This poem is fourth in a series of drought & rain across Arizona.  These are the other three:

What Color is Your Christmas?

Rain Redux

Perspectives

The below links show pictures of the author (and family) sledding in the US Southwest across the past several years.

More Sledding, More Snow

Sledding

 

 

Imagine

 

Imagine...

love that embraces the enemy

grace that preaches repentance

joy that strengthens during depression

peace that accompanies the conflicted

hope that enlivens the dying

Jesus gives this.  --Rev B.T. (c) 2021

What Color Is Your Christmas?

Customs say that Christmas colors

Feature red and green:

Reams and reams of dusty paper

Tell what these hues mean.

Newer en vogue Christmas pallettes

Favor blue and silver-- 

Mildest hints of bracing cold,

Tinselly chills with frosty lure.

"I'm dreaming of a...

    ...blue, blue Christmas."

Irving wrote of Christmas white,

Decked in sparkling snow;

Here an unplanned black-eyed Susan

Joins planned lemons dressed in yellow.

"Susan" on December 1st

Lemons on December 17th
Photo by my husband

Others might await their snow:

Winters here bring liquid flow.

Yet our rain has gone away--

Still not back this holiday.

If the rain falls on us all,

Good and evil both the same*,

What does this prolonged' drought

Say of our respective blame?

Christmas comes, Christmas goes,

Elsewhere as they brave the snows.

Christ's love blankets all our sin:

Someday all that's right will win.

--C. Marie Byars; (c) December, 2020

*Matthew 5:45

This poem forms a triptych with two other poems on our lack of rain:

Rain Redux

Perspectives

It partially "twins" with the black-eyed Susan poem below and forms a partial "triptych" with the visuals in all three of these posts:

Black-Eyed Susan (poem)

Black-Eyed Susans (homegrown images)

 

Black-Eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan~
The name doesn't fit:
Your eye's not an eye--
So much like brown velvet.

Susan~
The Hebrew Shoshanna
The name of the lily.
But you're the cousin
Of the sunflower and daisy.

Susan, oh Susan,
You old friend of mine,
What then was your name
When the Maker made time?

Yellow for joy~
Reminder of heaven*--
Multi flowers in brown**--
Keeper of secrets,
In simplicity renown.
     --Marie Byars, 2019 (c)


*Romans chapter 8:  all creation waits to be renewed when Christ returns. 
**The "center" in flowers in the composite family is a cluster of minute flowers. What are often called the petals are really "rays."

St. Paul, Minnesota; July, 2019

Botanical Gardens
Albuquerque, NM

Lake County (suburban Chicago), Illinois;
July, 2018

The ones which inspired this poem
Prescott, Arizona; August, 2019

My own, which came up a year later:

A field of Black-eyed Susans 
that became naturalized in Flagstaff, AZ
October, 2022:

Black-eyed Susans in south central Texas 
get a maroon hue near the center

More Flowers of the Upper Midwest

Travels (related to the Christian life) took me to Minnesota recently. Though I love the southwest, there are things there I find refreshing:

Johnny Jump-Up; violet strain

" '26So if you cannot do such a small thing,' [said Jesus] 'why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith!…' "

Berean Study Bible