The Gleanings Project: Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies

“Piper at ECUAD” Collage by DS

McEntyre, Marilyn Chandler. Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. Grand Rapids, MI: 

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

385 words

“Foster the kind of community that comes from shared stories . . . “ (Mc Entyre, xi)

“There is, in all of us, a hunger for words that satisfy, not just words that do the job of conveying requests or instructions or information, but words that give a pleasure akin to the pleasures of music. “ (27)

“Mere lists of nouns can be poetry.” (38)

“Tell all the truth but tell it slant. . .” (Dickenson, Emily, in McEntyre, 41)

“Opinions are the stock-in-trade of thoughtful people to be earned and held strongly until further evidence requires their modification.” (41)

“The practice of precision not only requires attentiveness and effort; it may also require the courage to afflict the comfortable and, consequently, tolerate their resentment.” (44)

“Healing involves naming the insults and offenses.” (59)

“We inhabit narratives . . . every story provides a space in which author and reader meet . . . some readers . . . become the guides or docents in those spaces.” (78)

“Once we have dwelt in a particular house of fiction, we hold within us the memory of the landscapes and intimate spaces it affords. And that memory furnishes and redesigns our interior spaces where thought is born and nurtured.” (79)

“Our lives are lived in relationship to words, written and spoke, sacred and mundane. They are manna for the journey.” (86)

“Conversation is a form of activism . . .” (89)

“Curiosity is a form of compassion . . . ‘What is it like for you?’” (98)

“When silences are allowed, conversation can rise to the level of sacred encounter.” (107)

“Understand how richness of experience, even the most searing, blesses us in the struggle.” (115)

“Stories are pathways.” (121)

“High intelligence involved in word play offers not only entertainment but encouragement.” (188)

“The story is told of Mother Teresa that when an interviewer asked her, ‘What do you say when you pray?’ She answered, ‘I listen.’ The reporter paused a moment then asked, “The what does God say?’ She replied, ‘He listens.’ It is hard to imagine a more succinct way to get at the intimacy of contemplative prayer.”  (211)

“When the mystics speak of prayer, they are talking about that which will create in us a new structure of consciousness.” (O’Connor, Elizabeth, in McEntyre, 220)

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as a Practice of Lament: Matthew 15-18

“Stanley Park from Ambleside Beach” Phone Photo, DS

Here are today’s explorations:

Matthew 15-18

Jesus interviewed by Pharisees

Why do your traditions violate

The commandments of God

Jesus asked

Hypocrites

Blind guides

Then he said to the woman

Whose daughter had a demon

Within her

I was sent to help the Jews

Sir help me

Woman 

Your faith is large and

Your request is granted

Jesus now returned to

The Sea of Galilee

Climbed on a hill

And sat there

Crowds

Lame blind maimed and

Those who could not speak

Healed

Jesus had

Disciples feed them with

Seven loaves and a few 

Small fish

Blessed by God

Peter

I will build my church

And all the powers of

Hell will not prevail 

Against it

What profit is there

If you gain the whole world

And lose eternal life

Six days later Jesus took

Peter James and his brother

John to the top of a high

And lonely hill

His appearance changed as

They watched

His face shone like

The sun

His clothing became dazzling

White

A voice from a bright cloud

This is my beloved Son

I am wonderfully pleased

With him obey him

Don’t be afraid Jesus said

Jesus rebuked the demon

In a boy and he was well

From that moment

Pray and fast for this

Mustard seed faith

Jesus warned disciples of his

Betrayal and

His rising on the third day

Go down to the shore

And throw in a line

Find a coin in the mouth

Of a fish and pay taxes

Sir how often should I

Forgive my brother

Seven times

Jesus said seventy

Times seven times

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as a Practice of Lament: Matthew 8-10

“Grey Day, Ambleside Beach” Phone Photo, DS

Here are today’s explorations:

Matthew 8-10

I know you have authority

Say be healed and I believe

Prophecy fulfilled

Crowds too large so

Went to other side of

The lake but

First a violent storm brewed

He comforted his disciples 

And rebuked and silenced 

The storm

Awing them

On the other side of the lake

Demons attacked and

Jesus rebuked them and

Silenced them

Whole herd of pigs

Rushed off the cliff

Jesus went by boat

To his hometown of Capernaum

I have forgiven your sins

Paralyzed boy

Blasphemy

I the Messiah have

The authority

Paralyzed man pick

Up your mat and walk

Called Matthew

Why

People who are well

Do not need a doctor

New wine new wineskins

What pity her felt for

The crowds that came

The harvest is so great

The workers so few

Calls disciples all twelve

To him and gives authority

To cast out demons

And heal every kind 

Of disease and illness

In his Name

Go only to the people

Of Israel

God’s lost sheep

When you are arrested do

Not worry what you will

Say at the trial

And the very hairs on

Your head are numbered

Don’t imagine that I came to

Bring peace to the earth

No rather a sword

Daughter against her mother

Take up your cross and 

Follow me

If you cling to your life

You will lose it if

You give it up for me

You will save it.

If you welcome a prophet

As a man of God

You will receive the reward

Of a prophet.

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as a Lament Practice: First Century Second Covenant Scriptures, Matthew 2-4

“Stanley Park from Ambleside Beach” Phone Photo DS

This is Ambleside Beach where many outdoor baptisms have been held.

In another lament practice I am sorting art school notes and drawings. I came across a large print paperback New Testament. Collages stuffed its worn pages. After art school, in my studio collage practice I had come up with another respectful way to reuse an old book of Scripture. I will keep this and add to it. The autobiographical collages seem at home in the holy text-filled pages.

Here are today’s explorations:

Matthew 2-4 

Galilee

John the Baptist began

Preaching the Judean

Wilderness repent

Jesus went from Galilee to

The Jordan River to be

Baptized by John

Please do it for I must

Do all that is right

The heavens opened up

The Spirt of God descended

Like a dove

This is my beloved Son and

I am wonderfully pleased 

With him

Jesus was then led by the 

Holy Spirit

Into the wilderness

To be tempted by Satan

No

Bread won’t feed men’s

Souls but God’s words

I will give you all the

Nations of the world 

And their glory if

You worship me

Get out of here Satan

Worship only the 

Lord God

And obey only him

John was arrested

Jesus returned home to 

Nazareth and

Began to preach

People in darkness

Have seen a great

Light

Called disciples

Come along with me

Preached in synagogues

And everywhere healed

And delivered from demons

Enormous crowds followed

Him.

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as lament Practice: Hebrew Scriptures, Jeremiah 27-52

“Pylons at Shipyards Waterfront, North Vancouver”

photo by DS

Here are my explorations:

Jeremiah 27-52

When Jeremiah had finished his message

Saying everything the Lord had told him to

The priests and false prophets and all

The people in the Temple mobbed him

The pillars of bronze standing before the temple

And the great bronze basin in the Temple court

And the metal stands and all the other ceremonial

Articles left here by Nebuchadnezzar king of 

Babylon when he exiled all the important people

Will all yet be carried away to Babylon and

Will stay there until I send for them then

I will bring them all back to Jerusalem again

To all the captives he has exiled from Jerusalem

To Babylon

Build homes and plan to stay

Plant vineyards

Work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon

Pray for her for if Babylon has peace so will you

I know the plans I have for you says the Lord

Plans for good and not for evil

In those days when you pray I will listen

You will find me if you look for me in earnest

God will rescue them

I will give you back your health again

And heal your wounds

Thank you God

I have loved you oh my people with an

Everlasting love

With lovingkindness I have drawn you to me

I will make a new contract with the people of

Israel and Judah

And I will forgive and forget their sins

You have made the heavens and the earth is

Anything too hard for you

Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable

Secrets about what is going to happen here

As a reward for trusting me

I will  preserve your life and keep you safe

I will save you from far away and

Bring your children from a distant land

My people have been lost sheep

Their shepherds have led them astray

Lead my people home again

Their Redeemer is strong His name is

The Lord of Hosts he will plead for

Them and see that they are freed to live

Again in quietness in Israel

Idols are nothing they are lies

I will be your lawyer

I will plead you case

I will avenge you

There were ninety-six pomegranates

On the sides and on the network

Around about there were a hundred more.

. . .

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as Lament Practice: Hebrew Scriptures, Jeremiah 1-26

“Luv-Riders -_2-2021”

by Mous-Lamrabat

Here are my explorations:

Jeremiah 1-26

I knew you before you were formed

within your mother’s womb

before you were born I

sanctified you and appointed you

as my spokesman to the world

Yet for years on end my people

Have forgotten me –

The most important of their

Treasures

I have heard great crying

Like that of a woman giving

Birth to her first child

You can’t heal a wound

By saying it’s not there

Yet the Lord pleads with you

Still ask where

The good road is

The godly paths you

Used to walk in

Oh that my eyes were a fountain of tears

I would weep forever

I would sob day and night

For the slain of my people

Don’t be frightened by the predictions

Of theirs for it is all a

Pack of lies

O Lord you always 

Give me justice when I bring a case

Before you to decide

Then in loneliness my breaking

Heart shall mourn

Your words are what sustain me

How proud I am to bear your name

God you alone can heal me

You alone can save me

My praises are for you alone

Be fair-minded

Do what is right

Help those in need of justice

He shall be a King who shall rule

With wisdom and justice

And cause righteousness to prevail 

Everywhere throughout the earth

Does my word not burn like fire

Is it not like a mighty hammer that

Smashed the rock to pieces

The good figs represent the exiles

In Babylon

I will see that they are well treated

And I will bring them back here 

Again I will help them

I will plant them

They shall return to me

With great joy

The decision is right.

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as Lament Practice: Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah 34-43

“Urban Forest” by DS

The shredding of the Bible pages intermittently with the pages of my journal is becoming a pattern. Throughout my days I begin to think of this being a practice of healing. Many of the prayers in the journal have been answered with either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and ‘let go’. One day it happens that the pages waiting in the shredding machine are from the Bible reading and the pulling apart of the aged pages from the night before. 

In the morning, I realize that shredding my journal is a courageous act. The journal feels like a part of me. The deconstruction of the Bible is a bold act. It too has been memorized in places and is part of me as well. As I read a few journal pages and take them to the shredder, they join the other pages there. They co-mingle, so does their work? 

The call and answer of prayers, these prayers and the learning from each of these kinds of pages written by me and by the biblical authors, has done the job of sustaining me in the faith and in daily life, like my daily bread as promised by Jesus. The Word of God co-mingles with my words to create healing so I might be strong to work on behalf of others for God. The act of shredding feels holy. It feels saturated with the Spirit’s presence, for me to pass on – in my writing of words.

Here are my explorations:

Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah 34 – 43

Be strong

Fear not

For your God is coming

To destroy your enemies

Those who could not speak

Will shout and sing

Springs will burst forth

In the wilderness

And streams in the desert

I will let you have your own farm

And garden

And water until

I can arrange to take you

To a country very similar to this one

Bountiful harvest of grain and grapes

A land of plenty

O Lord our God save us

So that all the kingdoms 

Of the earth will know

That you are God,

And you alone

The Lord God of your forefather

David sees your tears

And will let you live

Fifteen more years

The grass withers

The flowers fade but

The Word of our God

Shall stand forever

They that wait upon

The Lord shall renew

Their strength

Do not be dismayed

I am here to help you

In the deserts will be 

Pools of water and 

Rivers fed by springs

Shall flow across the dry

Parched land

Cedars

Myrtle

Olive trees

The cypress

Fir

And pine

On barren land

I the Lord God

Have called you

To demonstrate my

Righteousness

I will guard and support you

You shall also be a light

to release those who sit

In despair

When you go through

Deep waters and great trouble

I will be with you

You will not drown

Through the fire of oppression

You will not be burned up

I’m going to do a brand new thing

See I have already begun

Don’t you see it

Meandering My Way Through the Writings of Others as a Practice of Lament: Hebrew Scriptures, Ecclesiastes to Songs of Solomon

“Warming by the Fire on a Cool Spring Day” Phone Photo DS

The idea of decommissioning a Bible comes back to me as I review my Bible reading habits after the pandemic. Some Bibles are yellow dog-eared small print paperbacks. As I go through them gathering meaning and practising worship and gratitude, I wonder which is the better way to let these old Bibles go? 

I think of shredding as a form of creating a holy fire that totally consumes the fuel. As I do a search on fuel I come across the term ‘Fire Triangle’. These are the three things that are needed for a fire to burn: oxygen, heat, fuel. So these symbolize my part as the offering of the Bible back to God, God’s part in receiving the shredding and the actual pages of the Bible themselves as the offering.

The other way, the one recommended for contemporary de-commissioning/de-consecrating of Bibles, would be to put them into the recycling. I ponder this. If I deconstruct the Bible into sheaves of pages and place them lovingly into the yellow re-cycling bag, the Bible is not totally destroyed. Someone may find these pages and perchance read snippets of Scripture and be saved. I think of how Saint Augustine heard the words, take up and read, initiating his salvation. In this way, the Bible continues its mission by the Spirit.

In the end, I decide to offer one Bible for being consumed by the shredder as an act of low key worship. The other Bible I place on the altar of the yellow recycling bag for possible continuation of the Great Commission. At the beginning of this quest, I did not consider it possible to get rid of a Bible. Over the years I had many in my collection. Some were too written on and fragile to give away. It did not seem right to put them in a bag with refuse or touch the machine which would be their destruction. 

I consider now, that it is the intention, the heart, that denotes either respect or is demeaning to an object. It is prayer, as a two-way conversation that gives the book meaning. As the book changes form, the conversation will continue. As well, I need more space for writing my comments between the lines of the verses in newer Bibles of different versions. God knows the history of my growth in comments in older Bibles, the corrections and the affirmations that were given to me there. I review them as I shred them to see how God spoke to me in the past. The speaking is always there. May the Spirit help with the listening. I find myself reading. Is this my new, temporary practice of reading the Bible? God speaks again as my eye goes to the underlined passages.

In theory, both methods are okay. In practice, I find today, that the shredding feels more meditative. I also accidentally come across these verses from Leviticus 22,  under the heading ‘Acceptable Sacrifices’ as I shred:

The Lord told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons and everyone else the rules for offering sacrifices. He said: The animals that are to be completely burned on the altar must have nothing wrong with them . . . whether the sacrifice is part of a promise or something you do voluntarily. . . When you offer a sacrifice to give thanks to me you must do it in a way that is acceptable.

In one way, the book is not important; it is the words of the book. Or actually it is the Person of the book; the Word of God who lives and speaks and acts on our behalf when we call, and sometimes before we call.

Here are my explorations:

Ecclesiastes to Songs of Solomon

The rivers run

Into the sea

But the sea is

Never full

The more my wisdom

The more my grief

To increase knowledge

Only increases distress

Anything I wanted

I took

I must leave my 

Hard work for others

There is a time

For everything

A time to heal

A time to destroy

A time to rebuild

A time to cry

Two can accomplish 

More than twice

As much as one

It is far better

Not to say you’ll

Do something

Than to say you will

And not do it

A good reputation

Is more valuable

Than the most

Expensive perfume

Because God does not

Punish sinners instantly

People feel it is safe to

Do wrong

Give generously

For your gifts will

Return to you later

How fragrant your cologne

How great your name

Follow the trail of my flock

To the shepherds’ tents

And there feed you sheep

And their lambs

How beautiful you are

My love

My lover is an apple tree

Rise up my love my fair one

And come away

For the winter is past

The rain is over

And gone

My beloved is mine and I

Am his

You have ravished my heart

My lovely one

My beloved tried to unlatch the door

And my heart was moved for him

My hands dripped with perfume

My fingers with lovely myrrh

As I pulled back the bolt

My beloved my friend

Your hair is your crown

The vines have budded

The blossoms have opened

The pomegranates are in flower

Seal me in your heart

With permanent betrothal.

“Awning” Installation View

“Awning 2022” Phone Photo DS

Artist Statement

“Awning”

Like streamers flying in the wind, textile strips provide an awning for the sunshine that often goes under the deck umbrella. There are strips of raw canvas with purple and flesh-coloured acrylic drips. There are torn striped bedsheets in purple, burgundy and blue. Blue crocheted chains enclosing coloured pony beads provide a visual for prayer intercession. The Pope’s mandatory visit to Canada to help mend damages of the past and present will bring hope toward a different future. Some pray, some advocate, some do the work on the ground, while the Spirit broods over like an awning for flourishing in the midst of overwhelm.

The 215 Children at Kamloops

“Orange Knee Praying” DS

You know I try to come to grips with human nature and how we can survive the murderous evil among us; in us.  I read snatches of poetry, essays, newspapers.  An author (Mordecai Richler) speaks of hating Germans until he read “All Quiet on the Western Front” only because it was delivered from the library as he was sick in bed and bored, and he began to read it.  So, I began to muse about the amount of forgiveness that has begun to happen among people.  Here is my short random list:

Allies need to forgive Germans, and Italians

Italians (in the news this week), and Japanese, and Chinese, need to forgive Canadians

Indigenous peoples need to forgive other Canadians

Canadians need to forgive Americans (they are always the southern neighbour with big shoulders so easy to blame for societal ills here)

Americans, I wonder who they need to forgive, oh yes, terrorists, like of 9/11

A lot of people it seems need to forgive Americans and the British (thankfully the Scots are hardly to blame), so people from Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, just to name a few

Jews need to forgive Christians; Israelis need to forgive Palestinians and vice versa

Christians need to forgive Muslims and vice versa too

Japanese need to forgive Americans and Koreans need to forgive them

Chinese need to forgive North Americans and maybe Russians

Russians need to forgive (my meager knowledge or world affairs comes up short here)

This musing started with a memorial service this morning.  I had no intention of attending.  I felt I was already experiencing burnout just from my own life.  I was nudged early in the morning to get up and get ready for the 9:00am offering of grief (I thought).  I felt defensive as the descendent of Scots settlers who could not be to blame as they had befriended First Nations as they could identify with them so strongly because of the Highland Clearances.

I find forgiving others excruciatingly difficult; myself as well, so I try to consider what I do.  I also, as the oldest child in my family of origin, like to place blame.  In that way, I can focus a solution.  I am also usually quick to ask for forgiveness when I know I have crossed a line.  But this time?  I cannot face any blame for killing 215 innocent children, I just can’t.  Or can I?

Can one father be blamed for the action of all abusive fathers?  Yes, as many blame the Father in that way.  Only when we have our own children can we really forgive the foibles and inadequacies of our own parents.  Do we have to experience our own guilt in order to accept responsibility for hurting others?  There are sins of commission and sins of omission.  I have not killed anyone, so I am off the hook for the first one (but I have been quite angry at times).  For omission, what could I have done?  I did not even know about it.  I doubt if my Church of Scotland ancestors did either.

So I consider individual guilt and the guilt of a people.  Can I feel guilt on behalf of my race?  I have never really been faced with this before.  Of course, as a woman, I can certainly get into male-bashing (but not much anymore: love cured much).  That is one half of my race (and every other race too).

I read of the unspeakable damage.  I read of the injustices.  I read of the betrayals.  I read of the pain and it touches me.  I am stained with this.  In some sense this was my own race that perpetuates these injustices.  I only dabble in helping, just to be kind.

As I start to grow up (later in life), I realize the blood of the children is somehow on my hands too and I need to find out more.  In the online Memorial for the 215 Indigenous children found buried at a residential school in Kamloops B.C., they say, we are all one.  Have they forgiven?  Can I face my vicarious guilt and sins of omission?  This morning they give me courage.  As a settler, I felt too much grief at the news.  I felt sick.  I do not want to be sobbing on Zoom.  But it is not about me.  

The memorial service, rather than being filled with people wailing and crying (as they have already done in private, this being the fourth day since the news) I see they are already in the mode of offering healing, of offering forgiveness.  It is the love that draws me in to look and to awaken.

The amount of forgiveness needed is staggering all over the world and in our part of the world too.  It is overwhelming but I think of two sayings, Rome was not built in a day, and a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.  The first steps of Alcoholics Anonymous state that we admitted we were powerless and that a power greater than ourselves could return us to sanity.  May it be so.  The news is staggering.  The grief for families is encompassing.  The road ahead is daunting.  The victims, the bullies and the bystanders all need the Creator’s help.  I contemplate what it means to be a witness, to be an ally, to be a friend; to be forgiven.