I Am Not Hamlet

...for a so-so book. http://erb.kingdomnow.org/15-days-of-praying-with-st-john-of-the-cross-brief-review/ Thanks again to the Englewood Review of Books.

From Jeremy S. Begbie: The three days of Easter do not tell us that the world's pain and agony are required for God to achieve his purposes (still less for God to be God), or that sin is a requisite part of the harmonious fabric of things, part of the world's chiaroscuro.  God does not bargain with evil but shatters its power, overthrowing the principalities and powers; evil is a wholly contingent intrusion, an irrational interruption of original goodness....  By the same token we ought to be wary of schemes of salvation that suggest the divine strategy is, so to speak, primarily to balance things out (as in strictly retributive views of atonement and eschatological justice).  The world is not so much balanced as reconciled , and reconciled with a God of infinite excess. Through the three days of Easter, evil, sin and death are defeated by a love that does not simply "match" what has been hurled at it from rebellious creatures, but infinitely exceeds anything and e...

Christ is risen from the dead!  Trampling down death by death!  And to those in the tombs He has given new life! P.S. The Easter Bunny is delicious!

Until Sunday morning, that is.

It's my last Maundy Thursday (at least from this vantage point in time) as a Protestant.  Thank you, Evangelicalism for my upbringing.  Now it's time for something more.... Have a blessed Triduum, friends, no matter where you find yourselves.

Last Sunday the Martin family took another step in securing our small homestead: we had a prescribed burn in our woodlot.  The purpose was to kill young exotics, stimulate the nutrient cycle, jump start a natural process, and frankly burn stuff.  Smokey the Bear is a great marketing tool, but he has unwittingly contributed to huge forest fires by creating the idea of a fire regime as some horrible and cruel act of nature (or man) that is to be avoided like taxes.  Perhaps moreso.  Regular burns in natural areas helps to cut down on titanic conflagrations as they burn up combustible fuel that collects regularly in forests and other ecosystems.  Additionally, fire creates a check on invasive, opportunistic species (mostly plants) that are not fire adapted.  All in all, an occasional fire is a good thing.      The first thing the crew did was prep the area.  This is accomplished by a quick survey and then blowing or raking leaf litt...

Tonight, I make first reconciliation (or confession for the way backs).  I feel dread, partly of the unknown, partly of bringing things to light that crave the darkness.  I pray for courage to peel back the skin to the skull, for the pus to make its way out to be destroyed by absolution.