Abraham and Isaac Preview (svithe)

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This is one of the Old Testament's most terrifying stories. Sure, sure, filtered through a New Testament lens it makes some sense, but Abraham and Isaac is --- awful. Admit it. (And really, if God the Father is standing above us with a knife --- is that really the image of him we want?)

I'll be teaching this story in Sunday School next Sunday and I've been struck by the list of takes on the story by Bored in Vernal at Mormon Matters (note the comments also).

One of the stories she mentions, Master Fob's "Abraham's Purgatory" has proven to be one of the most thought-provoking bits of Bible-based fiction I've ever read. It started me on the path of thinking on all this.

I'm still just percolating how I will approach this topic, but I am definitely planning something more like BiV's list than the traditional way of looking at the story.

Your suggestions are welcome.

last week's svithe

We Draw the Lines (roughdraftii)

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(click to read the previous installment)

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Please describe your ability to be impartial, as discussed in Regulation 60800. You may include with this description any occupational, academic, volunteer, or other life experiences you have had that demonstrate this ability.

I teach high school. At least once a week we analyze a professional commentary from somewhere along the political spectrum. As an education, I feel part of my duty is to help sculpt citizens who have a firm grasp on the complexities of public discourse. Most teenagers, unsurprisingly, don't come to me with a sense of political nuance. And that's what I try to teach them. For instance, I did an entire unit on the language of the propositions the year Prop 11 passed. If the kids felt chickens should be protected (Prop 2) I argued that eggs--our state's most affordable protein--would get more expensive. If one class thought kids should have to report abortions to their parents and another class thought they shouldn't (Prop 4), then for the first class I argued parental rights and to the second class I openly feared a return to the back alley. In both those cases I had strong opinions regarding those propositions, but my students would be hard pressed to tell you what wise I was on. Because fairness mattered more to me--I wanted my students to have the opportunity to make up their own minds. And whatever they decided--so long as their decision was based on solid reasoning and true facts--was acceptable to me. There was one exception to the they-don't-know-where-I-stand rule: Prop 11. Prop 11 moves beyond who's right and who's wrong. Prop 11 is about the opportunity to have your vote count. Without Prop 11, it doesn't much matter how well informed you are about candidates, because we have no true democracy. Redistricting matters so much because without it, impartiality cannot exist. So yes, I can be impartial. Being impartial is, in my opinion, the first step in saving our great state. (Addendum: I'm not looking to seek for public office and yes, as a teacher I am a member of one of the state's largest unions, but we don't always get along. Maybe fifty percent of the time?)

We Draw the Lines

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I'm applying to be on the redistricting commission for California because I promoted Prop 11 with vigor and I want it done right. So I decided I ought to do more than talk.

Now, considering the final tally of commissioners can be counted on our respective fingers and toes and over 20,000 people have applied, I'm not likely to get the position. So really, applying is just a symbolic act.

But I'm posting here my rough drafts for the secondary applications. The first question:

Please describe why you are interested in serving on the Citizens Redistricting Commission. I've long felt that our gerrymandered districts are largely to blame for the political problems faced by California. The lines as presently constituted ignore the natural boundaries formed by neighborhoods, cities, geography, industry, etc. I remember when I was young, on the front page of the Bakersfield Californian, talk of splitting California into two states. I don't remember if the article was appalled by the same thing I was, but I was horrified by the notion that Kern County would be shunted into "Southern California." We weren't Southern California! We're Central! And I imagine that people in Eureka are amused by the notion that San Francisco, the north-south midpoint, by actual miles, might somehow be as "Northern California" as they. Asking about where the split between North and South is has since become a habit of mine. I'm always curious where the lines should be drawn. Where does the Central Coast fit in? Culturally, much of it is more like LA than it's like the San Joaquin, but don't even think about calling Big Sur SoCal. I make it sound like California is broken into factions. But that's not it at all. There are gradations of alliances. And one great thing about not having an actual political line dividing the state in halves (or into thirds) is that we can balance those gradations. Now that I live in the Bay Area, I'm more comfortable with my so-called Southern California heritage. I'm more defined by the geography of my childhood than some label placed on it. Because our placement in the state matters. It matters less how we register to vote. The Republicans and Democrats of my Tehachapi hometown share certain needs and values and priorities. By grouping that community together politically, their representatives find a common ground based in real needs. The current gerrymandered groupings lead representatives to find a common ground based on ethereal ideology. We need representation grounded in the real world. And so we need redistricting grounded in the real world.

Dispensation

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I am currently reading Zarahemla Book's Dispensation: Latter-Day Fiction, a collection of some of Mormondom's best short-fiction writers. I'm going to thweet short reviews of each story, but to save on characters, each review will have a two-letter code and a link to this post.

Two-letter codes alphabetically:

AC - Arianne Cope, "White Shell"
AH - Angela Hallstrom, "Thanksgiving"
BE - Brian Evenson, "The Care of the State"
BJ - Bruce Jorgensen, "Measures of Music"
BU - Brady Udall, "Buckeye the Elder"
CN - Coke Newell, "Trusting Lilly"
DC - Darin Cozzens, "Light of the New Day"
DS - Darrell Spencer, "Blood Work"
DT - Douglas Thayer, "Wolves"
ES - Eric Samuelsen, "Miracle"
HJ - Helen Walker Jones, "Voluptuous"
JH - Jack Harrell, "Calling and Election"
KR - Karen Rosenbaum, "Out of the Woods"
LA - Lee Allred, "Hymnal"
LD - Lisa Torcasso Downing, "Clothing Esther"
LH - Lewis Horne, "Healthy Partners"
LM - Larry Menlove, "Who Brought Forth This Christmas Demon"
LP - Laura McCune-Poplin, "Salvation"
LR - Lisa Madsen Rubilar, "Obbligato"
LV - Levi Peterson, "Brothers"
MB - Matthew James Babcock, "The Walker"
MC - Mary Clyde, "Jumping"
MY - Margaret Blair Young, "Zoo Sounds"
OC - Orson Scott Card, "Christmas at Helaman's House"
PB - Phyllis Barber, "Bread for Gunnar"
PR - Paul Rawlins, "The Garden"
ST - Stephen Tuttle, "The Weather Here"
TP - Todd Robert Petersen, "Quietly"

Two-letter codes alphabetically by author's last name:

LA - Lee Allred, "Hymnal"
MB - Matthew James Babcock, "The Walker"
PB - Phyllis Barber, "Bread for Gunnar"
OC - Orson Scott Card, "Christmas at Helaman's House"
MC - Mary Clyde, "Jumping"
AC - Arianne Cope, "White Shell"
DC - Darin Cozzens, "Light of the New Day"
LD - Lisa Torcasso Downing, "Clothing Esther"
BE - Brian Evenson, "The Care of the State"
AH - Angela Hallstrom, "Thanksgiving"
JH - Jack Harrell, "Calling and Election"
LH - Lewis Horne, "Healthy Partners"
HJ - Helen Walker Jones, "Voluptuous"
BJ - Bruce Jorgensen, "Measures of Music"
LP - Laura McCune-Poplin, "Salvation"
LM - Larry Menlove, "Who Brought Forth This Christmas Demon"
CN - Coke Newell, "Trusting Lilly"
TP - Todd Robert Petersen, "Quietly"
LV - Levi Peterson, "Brothers"
PR - Paul Rawlins, "The Garden"
KR - Karen Rosenbaum, "Out of the Woods"
LR - Lisa Madsen Rubilar, "Obbligato"
ES - Eric Samuelsen, "Miracle"
DS - Darrell Spencer, "Blood Work"
DT - Douglas Thayer, "Wolves"
ST - Stephen Tuttle, "The Weather Here"
BU - Brady Udall, "Buckeye the Elder"
MY - Margaret Blair Young, "Zoo Sounds"

Two-letter codes by order of appearance in book:

PR - Paul Rawlins, "The Garden"
LR - Lisa Madsen Rubilar, "Obbligato"
LV - Levi Peterson, "Brothers"
MC - Mary Clyde, "Jumping"
OC - Orson Scott Card, "Christmas at Helaman's House"
ST - Stephen Tuttle, "The Weather Here"
JH - Jack Harrell, "Calling and Election"
LP - Laura McCune-Poplin, "Salvation"
LH - Lewis Horne, "Healthy Partners"
HJ - Helen Walker Jones, "Voluptuous"
BJ - Bruce Jorgensen, "Measures of Music"
MB - Matthew James Babcock, "The Walker"
CN - Coke Newell, "Trusting Lilly"
MY - Margaret Blair Young, "Zoo Sounds"
LM - Larry Menlove, "Who Brought Forth This Christmas Demon"
KR - Karen Rosenbaum, "Out of the Woods"
DS - Darrell Spencer, "Blood Work"
LD - Lisa Torcasso Downing, "Clothing Esther"
ES - Eric Samuelsen, "Miracle"
PB - Phyllis Barber, "Bread for Gunnar"
BE - Brian Evenson, "The Care of the State"
AC - Arianne Cope, "White Shell"
DC - Darin Cozzens, "Light of the New Day"
LA - Lee Allred, "Hymnal"
TP - Todd Robert Petersen, "Quietly"
AH - Angela Hallstrom, "Thanksgiving"
DT - Douglas Thayer, "Wolves"
BU - Brady Udall, "Buckeye the Elder"

Sure I'm qualified. I'm married to a graphic designer.

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I ranked the quality of Zarahemla and Parables bookcovers over time. Time runs left to right, quality of covers top to bottom. Note that I have not taken disparity of quality into account. If I had, there would be some big gaps between the better covers and the worse. But I've been accused of snobbery too many times to risk anything other than putting them in order from best to worst. I'll let you decide for yourself how many are good and how many are terrible.

Of course, this is just my opinion. If you click on the charts, you'll be taken to the pubs' catalogue pages where you can see them larger. Do so, then return and tell me which ones you like most and least.

Body By Fob

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Special edition available only at Rediff? (Special thanks to Tolkers for discovering this.)

Svithing the Quadrennial

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Four years and two days ago, I posted my first svithe (thutopia, weekly svithe. Four weeks later I explained what my svithing was all about (thutopia, weekly svithe):

I did not make up this idea; I took it from the Sabbath--the one day in seven dedicated to God. . . .

I maybe might just maybe be addicted to blogging.

Part of my redemption is this svithing. Every Sunday I write a post that is intended to be godly.

Lately I've been observing a shift in the blogosphere. I think we can blame the lessened audiences on Facebook and Twitter. It's about impossible for me to get conversations going in the comments section anymore --- if a conversation about one of my posts happens, it happens on, wait for it, Twitter. What do you know.

What's the implication for svithery? Is it still needful? Should I just try to be, I don't know, a holy tweeter?

Who knows. It may be broke, but that diagnosis isn't certain yet.

So I'm going to keep svithing. Shall we not go forward in so great a cause, etc.

It's not like I'm doing anything more important.

Ah, the littleness of a person.

There's religion in here somewhere. We don't have to look hard.


last week's svithe

Three animated gifs for three games of skill and knowledge

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1. Can you recognize which story in this contest is mine (click to read)?

2. What was this an advertisement for?

3. Sam would never say that. What is he really saying?

Happy Valentine's Day, Abraham! Have some virtue! (a svithe)

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1. The sociologist suggested today that perhaps we call it the Abrahamic Covenant for similar reasons to why we call it the Melchizedek Priesthood. I find this a very striking possibility and I will leave you to ponder it.


2. From Ben Crowder:

D&C 121:45 says to “let virtue garnish your thoughts unceasingly.” You know, I looked at that verse and thought, “What in the heck does that even mean?” In today’s English, “garnish” means “to decorate (a dish) for the table.” As in parsley. Okay, I’m thinking, we’re supposed to let virtue decorate our thoughts, adorning them with beauty and loveliness.

But “unceasingly”? Unceasingly means not letting up — it means urgent, important. I don’t know about you, but decorating doesn’t seem to fit with urgency. It doesn’t make much sense.

So I went back to the OED and found that “garnish” originally came from the Old French garnir and meant “to fortify, defend (oneself), provide, prepare.” It’s also directly related to our English word “warn”/”warning.”

Okay, that makes a whole a lot more sense. We need to let virtue fortify our thoughts unceasingly, defending them with the strength that comes from godliness.

3. Happy Valentine's Day. Though not even Pope Gelasius I has the foggiest idea who he was.



xoxoxoxoxoxoxprevious svithexoxoxoxoxoxox

The Lapwagon July 14, 1998 – February 11, 2010

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Dearly have we loved thee.

The Lapper will always be my car.

Doppelgänger Month

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I understand on Facebook this month people are swapping out their own photos for celebrity doppelgängers. I've been getting comparisons to two celebrities with some frequency lately. Those of you who know me can certainly weigh in. If you don't know me IRL, feel free to peruse online images of me (* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *)

Matthew Gray Gubler

I have a pheasant quillow, natural black eyes; I wear mismatched socks, carry a notebook (for writing yes, but also the drawing of faces), grew out my fingernails (till Lady Steed made me stop), dress like his Criminal Minds character to work, wear old suit coats, and need a haircut.

Thomas Dolby

If I could afford to throw out everything I own and start my wardrobe anew, I would totally go all steampunk all the time. I even know where I would shop.

I'll tell you what though. Neither of them can rock an accessory like I can a baby.

The First Five Books of Twentyten

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005) Missile Mouse 2 by Jake Parker (MS POLICY), finished February 5

All the wonderful things I've said about Missile Mouse and that should be appearing on the Fantasy Magazine site any second now (or so I hear....) will be true of this book too. I had the privilege to read the pencils and I have to say, the zest and energy of the pencils are so much fun. Look forward to this one.

And, I'm sure, many more to come. I read these books and I see a dozen volumes, easy.

one evening

004) Heroes of the Fallen by David J. West, finished February 4

I've been in contact with the author of this book for a while now so when he offered to send me an ARC I agreed. I received a kinkoed copy a couple weeks ago and I have to tell you: coil binding is awesome. You don't need a bookmark. You don't need to hold it open. And, while you could also say those things about an ereader, it's much cheaper to accidentally drop in the toilet than a Kindle would be. (Not to suggest I dropped it in the toilet.) (Because I didn't.)

So. Is it a good book?

It is good. But it is not a book. I'll cover both these, but let's start with the first.

The thing David J. West is best at is world-building. The world of this novel is so specifically realized that you could drop me into any corner of it today and I would know just where I am and how I should act and to whom the natives are apt to pray. For a writer like myself who generally prefers to sin on the side of too few details, I'm impressed by both the accomplishment and the economy with which it was managed. Well done.

His character devlopment is not a whit behind. He's juggling a slew of p-o-v characters here. Off the top of my head, you have Zelph and Qof-Ayin, Amaron and Onandagus, Xoltec and Aaron, Bethia and Mormon the Younger --- forget it. I'm stopping there. The point is, the book is loaded with characters that have been successfully individuated. We're talking story on a grand scale here, across many lands and peoples and persons.

Now, proper setting- and character-development matter in any story, but particularly in Heroes of the Fallen where individuals' stories build up into a larger story of nations on the verge of war and, ultimately, destruction. (Sort of like Voltron.) (Think about it.) So understanding the characters and their culture and their history and their etceteras is vital if you're going to manage to know a) what the heck is going on and b) why it matters.

So bully so far.

A couple more compliments before we get to my beef:

He handles action well --- never any question about whose spear is piercing whose chest --- he handles moral complexity well --- characters are put into horrible dilemmas but because of the development of character and world their decisions are always understood.

I can't say for sure, but I don't think a reader requires any knowledge of the Book of Mormon to follow the story. When you consider that this story takes place between verses 5 and 8 of Mormon chapter one, it's not like anyone knows precisely what was going on then. The Book of Mormon is rather famously lousy as a "history" book but that lack of details is a boon for Mr West.

Nor do I think that the author's ambitious imaginings of that ancient world will stop reg'lar Saints from entering its world. The more learn I about history, the less preposterous I find the suggestion that Phoenicians and Nephites may have engaged in trade.

So yes: Heroes of the Fallen is good.

What it is not is a book.

How is a 306-page volume not a book?

Well, let's switch genres for a second. Think of Pride and Prejudice. Think of the end of volume one. How would you feel if, upon finishing this thing you purchased called Pride and Prejudice, it suddenly ended with Mr. Collins engaged to Charlotte, Bingley disappeared by his sisters, nothing having come of the whole Lizzy/Darcy thing, the entailment hanging over everyone --- What the blanketyblank kind of ending would that be?

The people behind Heroes apparently decided the book was too long and it's been split in two. And I want to be on record as wholly opposed to that plan. Because basically it turned all the great story of Heroes into a wheel-spinning prologue for book two. Every event in Heroes clearly matters, but the way the book ends just before what-we-have-been-told-will-be-the-story is finally set to begin is an act of literary coitus interruptus and frankly left me pretty irritated.

Now I don't generally read books of this genre so maybe endings of this type are de rigueur, but page 306 left me feeling cheated. If I had payed for it, I would feel like a sucker. "I paid fifteen bucks for a @#$^%$ preface???"

So no, it's not a book. It's half a book. And I find that disingenuous.

But at least it's a hugely entertaining half a book. It's got that going for it. Really, truly: one of the most entertaining half-a-books I've ever read. And I read over 200 halves of books every year. So I should know.*

couple weeks

003) Still Life in Milford by Thomas Lynch, finished January 19

I first read Thomas Lynch in his brilliant essay collection The Undertaking (and shortly thereafter in his second essay collection, Bodies in Motion and at Rest), but he thinks of himself first as a poet. So I bought this book and have now read it. And it's okay. Some good moments. Interesting as a collection. Not that great. But here are some great lines:

Late April now and now the number One
assumes its upright stance --- the walking would
that pauses among monuments to count
another season's emblements of loss:
one grave, one stone, one name on it, one rose,
one fist to sake in the face of God then go.

*

I've heard the prayers said over open graves
and heard the pleas of birth and lovemaking.
"O God! O God! we always seem to say.
And God, God help us, answers "Wait and see."

*

What makes this aching in the soul? he thought,
for distant islands where the silence hordes
the voices of our dead among the stones?
And though no answer was forthcoming, he went forth.

*

Is not the grave's first utterance, "enough, enough"?

*

They've done the roof this year. Your tower stands.
Ruin is a slow business. Your characters remain.

*

He gave his wife the scent that woman wore
he'd met once in the lounge-bar of the Gresham
and later took up to the suite of rooms
that overlooked the Pro-Cathedral dome
and traded mouths and hands and wetness with
then held well into the next mid-morning.

*

All that's there still. You may go see it.

*

Here's another thing you will appreciate.
I know you'll like this. Listen up:
That scream, if you ever hear it,
won't rhyme with anything.

*

So poems about a sexy nun from his childhood, some folkheroish fellow named Angus, his Irish homeland, his Michigan home, a poem that became doublegood when I realized the Jack of the title was Kevorkian, etc.

Good stuff. Looking forward to reading Apparition & Late Fictions, a book of fictions out next month (which, by a wholly unexpected coincidence, I received an advance copy of in the mail but one hour after typing this paragraph).

few months

002) Rapunzel's Revenge by Hales Shannon Dean and Nathan, finished January 16

Read the review at Fob Comics. One thing that I didn't mention because I hadn't thought of it when I wrote the review, is that this is a flipping of the traditional orphan narrative. Instead of being, secretly, the child of the queen, that is where Rapunzel starts. Interesting.

three days or something

001) Mormoniana by Mormon Artists Group, finished January 13

I hear about people who like to sit down, put on a nice recording and follow along on their copy of the score. This is not something I'm apt to do --- and not just because I don't have many scores lying around. But as most of this book was score, I decided to give it a go.

Now, circumstances were not ideal --- I was holding a squirming baby part of the time (Little Lord Steed shows no obvious predilection for a career in conducting or even sitting in an armchair following along to scores), I had to wash some dishes, etc. But as a whole I was surprised by how well I could follow along. Sure, I lost my place sometimes, but hey --- it's not like I've spent any time in the last ten years reading complicated scores.

(Well. Given these pieces are for solo piano, they weren't that complicated, but still. You take my point.)

Famed pianist Grant Johanneson arranged these pieces to place the most discordant in the middle and the most pleasantly traditional at the end. Number 12 of 16 by Crawford Gates is pleasant by any reasonable measure, Royce Campbell Twitchell's number 14 of 15 lived up to its name ("In Old Nauvoo") adeptly, number 15 of 16 by Lisa DeSpain was pure fun and delight, and the final number included motifs from popular hymns.

That said, as I've been listening to the music this past week, the more discordant numbers such as Christian Asplund's "Vision" have been revealing their inner beauty, and the clash behind the outer simplicity of "In Old Nauvoo" has been seeping out.

Anyway. What is Mormoniana?

Glad you asked.

Sixteen LDS composers were asked to pick a work of visual art by a Mormon artist and compose a piece for solo piano based on that work. Then all sixteen compositions were combined and ordered by Johannesen and MAG-lead Glen Nelson into a one suite and recorded at the Assembly Hall. (Note that two pieces were performed by their composers rather than Johannesen.)

Some of the pieces (especially those based on more abstract art) so clearly represent their source as to be unmistakable. When the music takes a series of sudden turns, or gradually becomes clear --- well, I generally only associate this kind of highly visual music with Stravinsky. Which, believe me, is high praise.

The book was released in a couple hella expensive editions as well as the paperback I picked up.

And I like it. I neither regret buying nor would I do it again, but in addition to the art (most of which I was unfamiliar with) and music (which I am growing to like enough that I might indeed buy it again given a few more listens), I am perhaps most enamored of an essay by Michael Hicks --- particularly this bit at the end:

. . . Joseph Smith . . . argued against creeds because they could have the effect of quasi-damnation: the tendency of creeds is to "set up stakes, and say, 'Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further.'" Smith explained that, while sectarians are "all circumscribed by some particular creed . . . the Latter-day Saints have no creed, but are ready to believe all true principles that exist, as they are made manifest from time to time." . . . Mormonism's intrinsic reluctance to draw lines, to carve up thought into orthodoxies or even categories, suggests that 'Mormon music" is --- or ought to be --- something of a phantom. That is because any set of traits that one would say characterize Mormon-ness smacks of creedism, which in itself smacks of an inauthentic brand of Mormonism.. Whatever features one can adduce as Mormonistic, one must concede that it is arguably just as Mormonistic to refuse to share a set of boundaries --- including the boundaries that would define the adjective. If the Mormon creed is not to have a creed, the Mormon aesthetic is not to have an aesthetic. . . .

Wow. Could we or could we not discuss that for a month?

about two weeks

*(i cant decide whether to pluralize properly or hyphenate or what, so i kept it loose and silly ↑)

Super Bowl Svithe (a metaphor)

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So I just learned why football is so boring: on television, you only see about 11 minutes of the actual game (this is supposed to make it more interesting --- by adding a story --- but if that's so then the NFL would be fatally boring and lose fans one stadium-full at a time and I can't accept that).

On the theory that professional football is actually interesting in person, I'm going to make a metaphor about life.

Life = football in this metaphor and watching it on tv is sitting around watching life pass you by. Actually attending a game and being part of the cheering crowd makes you more involved and less bored and, one presumes, actually putting on a helmet and getting concussions will be less boring of all.

To svithify this, may I suggest that God put us on earth to play a game and not sit around and watch others play.

That is all.

00:00

last week's svithe

Summer Tentpole 2011 (be excited)

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My AMV interview with the Queen of Eldritch Horror

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As a teaser, here's dear Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire's response when I asked him if he had seen New York Doll:

I loved NEW YORK DOLL. The gent who made it gave a fireside at our stake, and I was asked to give the closing prayer. I was wearing my Mormon punk jacket with Joseph Smith safety-pinned to the back, and the film's director asked me about being an LDS punk, so that was cool. I had no idea that Killer Kane had joined the church. Watching that dvd was just one of several instances where the spirit seemed to say to me, "It's rad to have you back, just be yourself." I know that if the First Presidency ever sees my vlogs with me in punk drag I'll probably get excommunicated again -- I mean, if they're gonna ex someone for making those mild RM calenders..... -- but I'm just gonna take what's coming and stay active in whatever form is allowed.

Interview here.

Images borrowed from this interview.

Thmazing's Preseason Oscar Game Results

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It was close this year but, well, I won. I had 11.5 with Satsuki right behind with 10. You can view the full results here. It was close and I think if she hadn't repeated any guesses, she may have won. So it was a close one.

I do have a serious question though, viz. should I keep doing the Preseason Oscar Game? This year we had four participants which I think is as many as I've ever had which suggests that, really, most people just aren't interested. (Plus, I've never lost so I never get to give away my fabulous prizes.)

So please leave a comment either way. Should it stay? Should it die? And even if you don't care --- tell me that too.

Thanks.

A comment on my brain that I cannot explain

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I just put 13 thumbtacks on the wall in no particular order.

Twenty minutes later, from the other side of the room, I noticed the final result had been straight diagonal lines, top left the down right. This was not intentional nor does it reflect the order in which I put them on the wall.

I went closer to check it out and realized they were in even straighter lines when viewed top right to down left.

But back now at the other side of the room, I cannot see those lines. I can only see the others.

Enoch's eyes (a svithe)

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Yesterday I taught Sunday School and this is something we did not get to:

35 And the Lord spake unto Enoch, and said unto him: Anoint thine eyes with clay, and wash them, and thou shalt see. And he did so.
36 And he beheld the spirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye; and from thenceforth came the saying abroad in the land: A seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people.

We were talking about opposites, good and evil, in the world and within ourselves. What I love about Enoch is how he demonstrates that weaknesses can become strengths, etc. (1,, 2, 3)

The scene above is particularly interesting. Clearly we are meant to read this as symbolic of Christ, but Enoch is playing both roles, Messiah and blind man. Because, being a fallen man, being a child of God, he is both.

And so are we.

What a beautiful message.

last week's svithe