Credo ↔ Oratio

A few years ago I wrote a short little essay on dirt and several people have asked me about it recently.  So, since I haven’t posted it here before, I thought I’d do so (minimally edited from the 2003 version).   Enjoy!

A Thought on Dirt

Until recently, I had never really taken the time to think about how amazing dirt really is. In the last couple of weeks however, as my church (and place of employment) broke ground and started construction on the second half of our facility, I’ve begun to see the beauty of this, the most basic, and yet infinitely complex of elements.

Of course, the modern world doesn’t consider dirt to actually be an element. We reserve that title for substances that are impossible to discern with the naked eye. Fortunately however, our propensity for making everything more complicated than it really should be didn’t stop the ancient world from recognizing the immense value of this unique substance.

As a boy in northwest Iowa, I was raised knowing the worth of good dirt. And even though I now live in Michigan, where the dirt will require another million years or so to reach the moist warmth of the black gold my homeland produced, I have yet to forget the lessons of my childhood.

We had a pile of dirt in our front lawn. Actually, it was my Dad’s pile of dirt, not mine, but in line with the traditions of most children, I quickly took ownership of it. I don’t know where it came from, but eventually that pile of dirt was to end up insulating one of the three walls of the house we built. (Of course, my Dad actually built it, but as with the dirt, that didn’t stop me from thinking it was mine either.) One day, as I bathed myself in the elemental beauty of that black playground, my hand broke through into a nest of baby gardners. It was amazing. Hundreds of green and yellow snakelets hissing and squirming burst out onto my lap like a clown’s peanut can at a birthday party. With the swiftness of animal instinct, I hurled myself away from the roiling mass, but not without learning a very important lesson: Dirt is the root of all life.

God knew that. The book of Genesis tells the story of God creating dirt, and then, as if he had created it just for that purpose, on the sixth day, he played in it. You don’t believe me? Check it out. Genesis chapter 2, verse 7. Just a couple of pages into the sacred scriptures, God is playing in the dirt. Imagine the tiny divine sand castles God might have built on the shores of Lake Michigan or the gourmet mud pies carefully crafted from the best the world has to offer. Then, as if growing bored with inanimate objects, God built an adult. Knees, feet, fingernails, earlobes, nose hairs, lungs, appendix – everything but a bellybutton (if childhood jokes are to be trusted) and liking it, God took a deep breath and blew into it. The dirt became a man, and humanity was created.

Jesus liked dirt too. One apocryphal story from his childhood tells of him making small birds in the soil of his childhood homeland, and upon being chastised for playing during the Sabbath, he breathed into them and they flew away. Later, in the course of his public ministry, he healed a blind man with dirt and a little spit. Not to mention, the famous incident where he stooped to the ground and wrote the mysterious words that would set an adulterous woman free and silence her accusers.

Unfortunately, as humanity has “progressed,” dirt lost its position of favor among those of us who were created from it. Now, as if denying our own history, we participate in innumerable personal and familial rituals to rid ourselves of this primal element. Although perhaps providing a certain degree of freedom from disease, the side-effects of a germ-free society are devastating. Why? Well, it can all be sifted down to one very simple equation: E=D.

Enjoyment = Dirt.

The level of enjoyment one has in his or her life is relative to the amount of dirt one encounters. In other words, the more we play in dirt, the happier we are. The opposite seems to be true as well: the less we play in dirt, the less we enjoy life. As a matter of proof, let me direct your attention to two groups of people: Lawyers and 3-year olds. Lawyers encounter a minute amount of dirt in their daily lives, while 3-year olds practically sweat the substance. Let me ask you, who seems to enjoy life more? Is it the executive lawyer with a multimillion dollar office and a cleaning staff to protect her from dirt, or, is it the 3-year old who pulls of his shirt in the summer heat and paints “war-strips” on his chest after tracking down a “hippopotamus” in the grove?

The answer is simple: the child.

Jesus told us to be like little children, which according to pastors and scholars, was in the context of teaching about faith. Could it be possible, though, that faith is only part of what Jesus was talking about. I think so.

I think Jesus was talking about dirt too. Of course, I probably won’t mention that on Sunday morning. After all, if everyone ran outside to play in the dirt during worship, my Consistory might not be very happy – let alone the people who are signed up to clean the church next week. But maybe – just maybe, it’ll happen some other time. Hours after everyone has gone home from worship, and hours before anyone might call for a visit or a counseling session. In those quiet moments just before the moon rises or shortly before the sun peeks its face over the eastern horizon. Maybe, I’ll throw on some old blue jeans, a T-shirt and some sandals and carefully sneak out to the pile behind the church to explore what’s hidden depths of one of God’s most popular playgrounds.

Of course, you’re welcome to join me. I’ve gotten over my childhood need to pretend everything is mine. But please don’t tell the Consistory or the people signed up to clean next week. It’s a lot easier to explain if they think the kids did it.

(c) 2003, 2010 Tim TenClay

Grace and Peace,

`tim

I wasn’t able to make it to the internet truck yesterday and last night I was too busy working on this morning’s sermon to write much about Ragbrai, but I thought I’d write up a quick post.

I wrote last about Friday morning (which was beautiful and wonderful). Friday afternoon took a major twist for the worse – headwinds and heat… ugh. The last 30 miles just about killed me. Finally, when we got into town they put us out in the middle of nowhere. Yep, it’s my biggest pet peeve of Ragbrai. They couldn’t care less about those of us “traditionals” — the people who use the baggage truck. If you’re a charter or in an RV, the towns often give great spots, but if you’re in the baggage truck… out of luck. Mt. Pleasant put us 1 1/2 – 2 miles away from downtown in some fairgrounds with only a single food booth (unless you count popcorn). We had to pay for shuttles (which we did) and ate downtown. They tied with Chariton for the Wost overnight towns of the week.

Best towns of the week: Ottumwa and Red Oak. I liked Indianola too.

The last day was a fairly short day (about 44 miles). I was pretty sore but made it through reasonably quickly. By 2:00, Brenda (my wonderful Sister in Law) dropped off the van and by 3:30 we were on our way back home.

Home by about 11.

Ragbrai is over.

It’s hard to believe it’s all over. In the end, it’s was a great week. Over all, I was severely under-prepared (especially for the hills this year). If I ever end up doing it again, I’ll have to definitely make sure I put in more training miles.

The people this year seemed more friendly than last year. Last year everyone seemed a bit surly. I think maybe it was the heat. This year people were a lot more friendly, more talkative, more cooperative, more patient, etc.

A few things about good through-towns:

A few things about good overnight towns:

I’m totally sorry it’s over, but am sure glad to be sleeping in my own bed and was incredibly happy to NOT put my seat on a bike saddle this morning!

Thanks for following. If you’re interested in pics, I put a few up on facebook here and a few (some overlapping) on flicker here.

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Why? Well, I haven’t posted anything in a while and it’s good clean fun….

Grace and Peace,
`tim

One of my favorite websites is http://www.despair.com – great stuff. Anyhow, today I ran across one of their new(ish) T-shirts. It is among the funniest I’ve seen in a long time:

Social Media Venn Diagram

Gotta love it.

That one doesn’t trip your trigger? Check on the others… one is bound to!

Grace and Peace,
`tim

I probably shouldn’t find this as funny as I do; oh well. Enjoy…

Grace and Peace,
`tim

I haven’t written much around here lately (mostly because I’ve been busy and giving my free time to the Church Herald Blog and my FarmTown plot). Having said that, I ran into a great website today. It’s called Perpetual Kid.

There are hundreds of fun, unique and sometimes crazy products. It’s been all I can do not to whip out my Discover Card and go crazy (which, for the record, I have NOT done!)

Check it out.

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Love it…

Originally found at: The World is My Oyster

Grace and peace,
`tim

Lisa VanderWal, a friend and colleaguegue of mine, sent me this and I had to share.

The St. Francis de la Sissies “sing” the Hallelujah Chorus:

Grace and Peace,
`tim

I just put up a new post on my portion of the Church Herald blog site regarding the ordination of commissioned pastors.

If you have any interest in such things, I’d appreciate your comments…

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Make your own hero at:

(Thanks for the link Mel; have a GREAT trip!)

Grace and peace,
`tim