Clerical Oppressors

JUST God! and these are they
Who minister at thine altar, God of Right!
Men who their hands with prayer and blessing lay
On Israel's Ark of light!

What! preach, and kidnap men?
Give thanks, and rob thy own afflicted poor?
Talk of thy glorious liberty, and then
Bolt hard the captive's door?

What! servants of thy own
Merciful Son, who came to seek and save
The homeless and the outcast, fettering down
The tasked and plundered slave!

Pilate and Herod, friends!
Chief priests and rulers, as of old, combine!
Just God and holy! is that church, which lends
Strength to the spoiler, thine?

Paid hypocrites, who turn
Judgment aside, and rob the Holy Book
Of those high words of truth which search and burn
In warning and rebuke;

Feed fat, ye locusts, feed!
And, in your tasselled pulpits, thank the Lord
That, from the toiling bondman's utter need,
Ye pile your own full board.

How long, O Lord! how long
Shall such a priesthood barter truth away,
And in Thy name, for robbery and wrong
At Thy own altars pray?

Is not Thy hand stretched forth
Visibly in the heavens, to awe and smite?
Shall not the living God of all the earth,
And heaven above, do right?

Woe, then, to all who grind
Their brethren of a common Father down!
To all who plunder from the immortal mind
Its bright and glorious crown!

Woe to the priesthood! woe
To those whose hire is with the price of blood;
Perverting, darkening, changing, as they go,
The searching truths of God!

Their glory and their might
Shall perish; and their very names shall be
Vile before all the people, in the light
Of a world's liberty.

Oh, speed the moment on
When Wrong shall cease, and Liberty and Love
And Truth and Right throughout the earth be known
As in their home above.

-John Greenleaf Whittier


I happened to open my Whittier book to this poem the other day. It was originally printed in the Charleston, S.C Courier on September 4th, 1835, addressed to all clergy attending the popular pro-slavery meetings going on at the time. But as I read it, without having yet read the context, I thought of the Orthodox priests in Romania who kept the poverty-stricken under their iron thumb, perpetuating the cycle of bitter toil by charging the spiritually uneducated high taxes of money and gifts to "pay" for their sins or keep loved ones out of eternal hell. From there my mind drifted to ministers and clergymen here in the more affluent places of the world who may not exact monetary gain from their flocks, but present to them such a bitter and unforgiving portrait of God as to drive many away. Many who never return. What a horrifying thought that the very men who claim to teach the ways of God to a world desperately in need of Him would so pervert that office, would so blantantly display greed and vice in the name of a Holy God!

But then, I thought to myself, how is my position so very different? I have been charged to be a walking example of what God can do in the life of one of his children, haven't I? And if I, in following my own inclinations, present to others selfishness, unkindness and pride, what is to prevent them from equating those very qualities with the God I supposedly serve?

"Woe, then, to all who grind
Their brethren of a common Father down!
To all who plunder from the immortal mind
Its bright and glorious crown..."

I have as much responsibility as any of those clergy did to present a true picture of our kind, forgiving, and most importantly our life-changing Savior to the world, and I count that an honor.

Christmas time is here!!!

Great memories!!

I was looking through the old iphoto library this evening and I was reminded of some memories that I hadn't thought of in a long time... I'm not good at blogging, but I can post pictures at least. Greatest apologies to all my sharp-witted friends who are able to post long, profound and inspiring blogs about all sorts of things- pictures will have to suffice for now. :-)


My lovely little orchestra in Costa Rica. Surprisingly we weren't so bad. Only because of Jorge, certainly.
Someday I'm moving back to C.R.!!! The best place I've lived besides home...
Barefoot violin lessons in C.R.
By the way: that's where I'm moving back to in C.R., our little casita in Aileen and Alex's backyard. :-) Good times.
Someone gave me a present?? I look surprised! haha...
Popham Beach!!! Probably before "the beach" and I developed a mutual dislike... :-)
Christmas program 2004!!!! The stress! I loved it...
The St. John!! With my brother ("Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!") Always an adventure... ;-)
Razvan- he of the VERY deceptively innocent face...
Train ride with Lauren from Switzerland to Romania--- where they stopped us nearly every hour to see our papers.
Sleeping a phone booth in the train station in Brig, because Lauren and I very literally had no place else to go-- Later, it got kinda creepy, especially since it was a clear phonebooth, so we were forced to break into the employee locker room. But you've all heard that story. Probably the coldest night of my life.
Having a blast at the Penner's camp since way back when...
Julie!! Bit we still do this...
Insisting on photopgraphing the Howes before leaving for Romania-
Julie came over and helped me pack and weigh 2 HUGE suitcases before I left to Romania...

Finn!!!! I love this job!!!

Finn....

He's pretty smart for a 10-week-old... :-)



I have 2 new jobs, aside from babysitting for the 2 families I already have. One is managing the affairs and patent approvals of 2 inventors who happen to be very good friends of mine. (ask me if you can't guess who they are... haha)
The other is spending an hour 3 times a week playing with Finn so he won't get too lonely while his mother (Dr. Carroll) is at work. Really, it's not so bad. :-)

Elaine's wedding (and I suppose it was Nate's too...) :-)

The drive up to Jackman was loooong- especially since it was the first time I had done such a thing by myself- about 3 1/2 hours each way. But it was so gorgeous, I really enjoyed it. And- it was perfect wedding weather down by the water...

I may be partial, but I never saw such a beautiful bride as Elaine--



It was a very small service and I was the only person I knew there, except Elaine, but it was the best and by far most spiritual wedding I have ever attended. I was very happy to be there...


Now, they live in Freeport!! Yay! :-)

Update

we're making some changes to the house.... and grounds.... and the barn.... and driveway....
Even though all the work is unbelievably loud, and there is scarcely room to walk on the driveway amidst crews working on the barn, deck, siding, etc.., (and their cars and trucks and saws and dogs.... and Robín hauling wheelbarrows of huge rocks),
it hasn't been so bad to have all the shouting and laughing for the past few weeks. (Of course, when I'm studying it gets a bit crazy and I often need to visit the library- and I could do without all their smoking, but they are all very nice) When the next door-goats start screaming at 4 PM the crews starting hollering right along, when we're going to start making lunch they offer advice on how best to boil pasta, and when I was cleaning the attic today they were on the scaffold right outside the window having an enthusiastic sing-along. Basically, it's a zoo.... But the house it really looking lovely- and they were right about the pasta....