Civilization?

Overheard:

"You know, I've been thinking that while I don't know what civilization is supposed to be that I'm pretty sure that we're not as civilized as folks were a hundred or so years ago. In fact, I'd say we, meaning us folk in North America, aren't as civilized as people were two thousand years ago."

"What do you mean by that Clovis? Look at all the advances we've made in medicine and science and technology, look at electricity and the internet."

"Now that's just what I mean Cletus, the electricity and internet part especially. One of the headlines I read when the storm hit was, "Everything good is gone". The fella that said that was referring to Twitter and Netflix both being down. That's a sad state of affairs when Netflix and Twitter constitute everything good."

"Now that you say that Clovis I'm reminded of the family of a coworker of mine. Last fall when Hurricane Irene knocked out power to his neighborhood the kids had to play outside for a few days. He said it was pretty neat seeing teenagers and younger children outside, riding bikes and playing ball. Then one day the electricity came back on and one of the kids ran outside and yelled, "The power is back on!" With that the kids all ran into their respective homes to charge their smart phones and turn their computers on."

"Just consider this Cletus, last Monday a storm knocked out power to some folks in the Richmond area; then this past Friday another storm knocked out power to millions of people in a number of states, and then Saturday some more people got hit with another storm - more power knocked out. While there are some folks who try to do the best they can when the power is out, others get right mean, I mean MEAN, downright ugly - and the longer the power is out the meaner they get...and the meanness seems to infect others and spread like a fever; people get delirious with meanness.

"Now what would happen if the electricity stayed out three weeks, four weeks, five weeks? I'll tell you what would happen, we'd have anarchy fueled by meanness. And so I ask you Cletus, would people in 1850 have gone over the edge if electricity had gone out? Would people two thousand years ago have gone mean and crazy if the refrigerator stopped working because there wasn't electricity?"

"Clovis, you know good and well there weren't no electrical power back in them days."

"Yes sir, I know that; but I also know that people wouldn't have gone crazy and mean over a few severe storms. If those people could act somewhat civilized, realizing that I'm not entirely sure what the word civilized means, without electricity, why can't we act halfway decent without electricity?

"Cletus, the more I ponder it the more I'm convinced that the only thing that separates us from a rabid coon or fox is a functioning power line...and I'm just not sure that's what I'd call civilization."

The Fragrance of Heaven

A few weeks ago as we were walking through garden fragrances Vickie said, "This is what heaven will smell like." I was reminded of my wife's words today (July 1) when I read the following from Elizabeth Browning, the context is that Adam and Eve have been cast out of Eden, these words are from the Flower Spirits:

We linger, we linger,

The last of the the throng,

Like the tones of a singer

Who loves his own song.

We are spirit-aromas

Of blossom and bloom.

We call your thoughts home, - as

Ye breathe our perfume...

Heaven reveals itself in many ways; in our sense of Paradise Lost, in moments of beauty, in elusive joy, in a sense of longing for something more than the transitory...and in the fragrances of flowers.

The Twins

The deer twins are still with us - amazing. It is has been a treat watching them survive as orphans. As the summer progresses and hunting season looms I can't help but wish that they would fear people, for their absence of fear may lead to their deaths if hunters come. I realize deer are animals and I don't mistake them for humans, but there is tension between that recognition and the care and stewardship of creation. Our present circumstances are imperfect and a time will come when: "They will neither hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea," Isaiah 11:9. (This is a passage where we read that the "wolf will dwell with the lamb"). The knowledge of the LORD teaches us peace and reconciliation, as James says, "The wisdom from above is first peaceable."

I'm also reminded of the enigmatic Romans 8:19, "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God...that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." I think that in some mysterious sense creation can have a better appreciation of the chaos and corruption of life, and of the hope of redemption, than the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. 

God must have delighted in the creation of animals; and how many kinds He made! 

This past week in our bird-feeding area I saw: Mr. Woodpecker at the suet feeding Mrs. Woodpecker; a hawk so thirsty that it alighted on the birdbath and stayed there some minutes, drinking its fill, looking for danger, and passing on an opportunity to pursue other birds; the black cat perched atop the squirrel feeder in the early morning, no doubt thinking no one would see him. Then there are the twins. Within a small piece of land Vickie and I witness the beauty of creation on a daily basis - the trees and flowers and shrubs and birds and chipmunks and squirrels and puppies and even the predatory black cat who hasn't learned to live peacefully. 

And I wonder what will be left for our grandchildren and, the Lord willing, our great grandchildren. When I read of the near extinction of so many animals it is as if we are on a butchering frenzy - not driven by the need for food as much as driven by money. But should this surprise us? Our sport is blood and violence, whether it is physical or rhetorical or violently emotionally and psychologically manipulative; sports talk shows are vitriolic, political talk shows are vitriolic, video games that kids play are vitriolic, sex is portrayed violently, much so-called preaching is vitriolic. Since we engage in forcing each other to do what we want it is little wonder we subject creation to our orgy of destruction.

We have become a nation and world of mobs; political mobs, religious mobs, sports mobs, corporate mobs, sexual mobs, entertainment mobs, economic mobs. We evaluate and judge each other based on which mobs we belong to; we have the conservative mob, the liberal mob, the Tea Party mob, the Christian Right mob, the Christian Left mob, the socialist mob, the capitalist mob...the list goes on and on. Children are taught which mobs are good and which mobs are bad; can any mob be good? Isn't this one of the things Paul and James address? (Paul in 1 Corinthians, James in his one NT letter). And mobs, all mobs, beget violence of one sort or another.

It is too bad the deer twins don't fear mankind; and it is far sadder that we don't fear ourselves.