Come on dad, it's slightly ironic for a pastor to have devil's club festering in her booty. Sorry I said "ass".
It's not overly pleasant, but could be worse. In case you are unfamiliar with this amazing plant, it is huge and covered with poky things that embed in your skin and fester.
I don't mind them much. They're better than poison ivy. You will never accidentally wipe with a devil's club leaf.
But, if you are making your way down a hillside filled with devil's club and your dog runs into you, then you might end up sitting on a plant. Luckily I have reflexes like a cat, especially when pain is involved.
So now I'm laughing about the paradox of a pastor and festering devil's club.
Even before my fabulous hike into the devil's club laden wilderness, I was excited today because the Juneau Empire highlighted a quote by Soren Kierkegaard. What a tremendous way to start a day (it would have only been better if someone had brought me coffee in bed).
Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.
I love Kierkegaard. He was willing to stand up to the established church and preach the leap of faith instead of the adoration of virtue. He proclaimed the honest awareness of oneself instead of hiding behind a facade of righteousness.
And tonight I get to teach a class on sin. Love it!
Especially since we'll spend time with another of Kierkegaard's quotes, "But too often it has been overlooked that the opposite of sin is not virtue. . . No, the opposite of sin is faith"
One's confrontation with one's own self reveals our disconnect, our sin, and leads to the leap of faith, the trust fall into the arms of grace.
It's kind of like the first three steps in recovery that I'm paraphrasing for my theological motives:
we're powerless over our sin,
we believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to wholeness (sanity),
and we made the leap of faith (decision to turn our lives over).
I don't escape festering devil's club (metaphorically here) by being a better behaved person; I escape the festering by leaping into the arms of grace.
we're powerless over our sin,
we believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to wholeness (sanity),
and we made the leap of faith (decision to turn our lives over).
I don't escape festering devil's club (metaphorically here) by being a better behaved person; I escape the festering by leaping into the arms of grace.
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