A reflection from the last hostel window, overlooking the plaza of Compostela.

Is there a way to nurture that faith within us?  The answer is yes: it is the way of poverty, the way that Jesus himself shows us as He moves to the cross. Jesus consistently refuses the way of success, power, influence, and celebrity. Always, he chooses the way of weakness, powerlessness, compassion, and obscurity-the way of the poor.

In the midst of the world, but hidden from its view, something very new, very tender, and very fragile can be born. When such a new birth takes place in and among us, we will recognize it, even though we lack the words to express it fully. It is the work if the Holy Spirit, the Spirit from above. It is the greatest gift a human being can receive, a gift to be gently held, carefully protected, and patiently led to full maturity. Henri Nouwen, "Reborn from Above"

So it was raining this morning, and Andres and Mercedes kept peering out of the window and offering words of experience and thus, wisdom. David was still in bed, savoring the first day of summer vacation. And with all of the green tea and chocolates and warning shakes of heads, Tracy and were very willing to doze under the blankets Andres had tucked under our chins.

But at last we had to head up through the very thick, very damp fog. So thick, in fact that the national highway had been closed and all of that traffic was being poured into our humble regional roadway. And we head uphill for a long, long time, our bodies rebellious but our hearts full, reflecting on new birth, and what we had just seen.

And those 47 kilometers seemed long. But we made it into the albergue of last year with the big shelves for boots. And there were no visions or conversations. A quiet night of consideration, in the midst of the rumble of many pilgrims.

And it is possible that we will make it into Santiago tomorrow, although I am thinking about staying on the Mountain of Joy. And so I spent a lot of time reflecting on this long ride, its purpose and impact. And the initial goal of Brandon Time sort of evaporated, although I do hope seeds of friendship have been sown deeply. And my prayers for freedom, joy, love and vocation are still intangible, much like that dense fog of yesterday, where we could not see either where we had been, nor where we were going.

But, dear Lord God Almighty, I pray that something very new, albeit very tender, has been born, a fresh work of the Holy Spirit in my life. A gift to be carefully led to maturity, a well-watered tree planted by Your river, fruitful and strong, vibrant and whole.

And I read a post from Nicholas about no pain in freedom. And one can parse words and argue definitions, but what spoke to me is the joy in singlemindedness.

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And we rolled into the plaza in front of Santiago de Campostela yesterday at three. And those last 87 km were steep ups and downs, even after the fabled hardest climb of El Norte, but it didn't matter; my mantra was "no pain in freedom."

And all along the way were memorials to His past faithfulness, the ancient tree in Baamondo, the pausing point on the highway where Andres knelt in the road, the roundabout where the three bumbling pilgrims comforted me, life is full of Joshua Stones. He is faithful. And nothing else matters.

And today I will confess my lack of singlemindedness. And attend the Mass of the Pilgrims. And continue the way that lies ahead, with the joy set before me.

But, dear Lord God Almighty, I pray that something very new, albeit very tender, has been born, a fresh work of the Holy Spirit in my life. A gift to be carefully led to maturity, a well-watered tree planted by Your river, fruitful and strong, vibrant and whole.

Splashing with joy in the waters

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If you are thirsty, come to me and drink! Have faith in me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you, just as the Scriptures say.”  Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit, who would be given to everyone that had faith in him. The Spirit had not yet been given to anyone, since Jesus had not yet been given His full glory. John 7:37-39

So I am loving those little green gmail lights because sometimes people just call for the fun of it, like Matteo called this morning while he was waiting for his Barilla pasta to finish cooking in the monastery he is sharing with a real friar who goes to be at midnight and gets up at six and spends the rest of his life helping drug addicts through restoration. And then Matteo is going to go practice his violin, preparing for his conservatory graduation recital of Bach in a week. And he practices in this soaring fourth century library at the monastery, him and old manuscripts for hours a day. And sometimes life is like that, quiet and beautiful.

But sometimes we thirst. There is an ache inside that quiet contemplation does not fill. And sometimes the Spirit sweeps over us and carries us out the door into the street. And yesterday Matteo stepped outside of the flickering candle-filled cathedral and tottering a bit while he found his landfeet, tasted the deep-flowing stream from within and offered cupfulls of intercession to the man on the street. And God met him there with joy.

And may I drink freely today. This rushing refreshing water is here for the slaking. And then, the next step out the door and down the cathedral steps into the street.

Freely give for freely you have received.

Splashing by not drowning

At that time people began to pray to the Lord. Genesis 4:26

 I did not want to be controversial this morning. As I prayerfully work my way through the Scriptures that I have read so many times before. But when one starts wading through the translators’ lexicons there can be absolutely no agreement as to what this verse means, even the simple idea of “who” nor the “what” this short simple sentence is about.

And the folks who wrangle with words cannot agree whether the subject is singular, plural, masculine, neuter, specific or general. Nor can they agree whether the action that occurred was to “call upon the name of the LORD” is an act of personal prayer or corporate worship, or the total opposite because the word translated as “began” means “to pollute, defile, profane … The most frequent use of this Hebrew root is in the sense of ‘to pollute, defile.’” (chalal OT:2490 Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words) The Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon defines this as “to profane, to defile, to pollute, to desecrate.” (OT:2490 Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon) The Hebrew word translated as “call” can imply “the idea of accosting a person met.” (qara’ OT:7121 Strong's Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary) 

And the beat goes on. Page after page of parsing.

But the main point is this: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The point is that The Word is breathed out by the Spirit God and is profitable so that the man (or plural or neuter or passively acted upon) of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. It is infallible in that Scripture does not fail in its purpose, because He does not fail in His purpose.

It has been very helpful these past few days to reflect on how Jesus felt about Scriptures. He obviously memorized it. Took it all very seriously. Applied it to his life and understanding. And sometimes interpreted it differently than the Bible scholars of his day.

And every morning as I enter into this quiet spot, I ask the Holy Spirit to join me, and move within my heart and soul and mind that I might become conform to the nature of Jesus. Jesus has promised that the Spirit of truth will guide me into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”

And the fruits are all about the Holy Spirit at work in me, His temple, producing righteousness and peace and joy.  And I think, really, this is what the fear and trembling is about–not questioning God’s salvation or love with trembling doubt, but always questioning my pride and self–and aware of the Holy One who lives within, who is at work in me to will and to work His good pleasure. And from there the Scripture rolls right into Do all things without grumbling or disputing.

No to grumbling and disputing. Yes to will and work His good pleasure.

And I was so surprised how hard it was to comfort a fellow swimmer this morning when she confided that she had two funerals to attend today, and one was a man who was diagnosed with skin melanoma and died in four months and left a kid in high school and a kid a sophomore in college. And I fumbled for words to say and stumbled out the door. Got in my car, and drove out of the parking lot and then drove back into the parking lot, got out of the car and went back into the door. And looked Sue, with whom I have swum at 5:30 in the morning for over fifteen years, and when she asked if I forgot something, I said, “I will pray for you today. That God will comfort you and surround you with His love, because you have a very hard day ahead of you.” And she thanked me very much, and I walked out the door again.

And I have a lot of learning to do, and not so much of it has to do with parsing.