We were spending the week at the Laity Lodge Family Camp, which sits right at the headwaters of the Frio. This is the location of the fabled “Blue Hole,” a place known for an icy plunge. All I had to do was just place the tip of my foot into that river to register its extreme cold temperature. No plunge necessary, thank you.
I write this about the Frio to highlight a kind of paradox. On the west side of those headwaters is a cliff that towers over the little river; its pocks, notches, and caves starkly etched by the morning sun, and all but invisible when the sun slips behind its edge at end of day. And it is that cliff which is the site of the paradox.
There are hawks above the Frio.
It you’ve ever watched hawks, you know they do a lot of gliding. They catch the lift of rising thermals. These warm thrusts of air allow them to gently spiral up, up, up ... until they finally tilt over and either glide or dive. Hawks are hunters. They repeat this process, with only a little change each time, to help them spot and then claim their prey. This is how they get their food.
Above the Frio, the hawks perform as expected. They corkscrew up alongside the face of that cliff, and then, when they reach the end of that thermal, they either glide along the cliff face in a long, slow decent, or they dive hard and fast toward their target. Eventually, as they near the bottom of their passage, those hawks catch another thermal and start a new ascent.
I sat and watched them do this for hours.
Oh, not all at once. That’s a cumulative number. There are some rockers which face the cliff and afford a perfect view of this beautiful dance. I love to sit there and just watch. But you can see this spectacle from almost anywhere in the central part of the camp. I sat one morning on the back porch of our casita and watched them glide across our length of the Frio as they swooped back toward the headwaters, searching for that next thermal.
The paradox, of course, is how there are thermals, at all.
The air above that river should not even be warm, much less hot enough to lift hawks above the lip of the cliff ... and yet, there they are. Somehow, God has contrived to place extreme Texas heat and extreme cold adjacent to one another and make them both do wonderful things. Neither appears limited by the other in any observable way.
God does some amazing things, and we can observe them —even participate in them— if we are open to what appear to be paradoxes. In this week’s Lectionary scriptures are some great examples of that. I love how the Psalmist in 138 praises God because "you increased my strength of soul," and how in 130 the Psalmist describes God's "great power to redeem." There's that stunning (and often skipped over) statement by Jesus in Mark 3:28 ("Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter").
I could spend hours reflecting on those passages. What is “strength of soul” and how is it increased? God knows. And then, of course, there is the great paradox of redemption: God redeems us even though we don’t deserve it. Why? God knows. And it pairs perfectly with the forgiveness of blasphemies ... not something we humans are very good about doing. Thank God for that forgiveness.
This brings to mind the 2 Corinthians passage: "Everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God." Do you see the formula in there? Expansion of Grace = Increase in Thanksgiving (to the glory of God). And, as each person receives that extension of grace, it doesn't result in only the addition of thanksgiving; rather, the thanksgiving increases exponentially. Like those hawks above the Frio, grace increases thanksgiving in ever-rising spirals. Mysterious. Beautiful. And God is glorified.
How? God knows.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 5 (10) (June 10, 2018)
1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
Psalm 138
Genesis 3:8-15
Psalm 130
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35
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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets every Friday morning at 8:00. We gather at the Waco "Egg and I" for food, fellowship, Bible discussion, prayer, and laughter. All are welcome.
Blessings,
Steve
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