<html><body>Still haven't seen part 3 come through, to me, at least. I did send it!<br>
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<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I
suppose I ought to reassure Caitlynn, Connor and Phillip that they
won’t end up in similar circumstances. But, truth be told, there <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ARE</span></b> no guarantees – except that they and we are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ALL</span></b> marked as Christ’s own – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">FOR EVER</span></b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">!</span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>There <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">IS</span></b>
nothing that can separate from the love of God. Caitlynn, Connor and
Phillip are all invited, to reiterate Wendell Berry’s words, to “come
into the presence of still water”, to find company, and welcome, and
reassurance. God says to each – to them and to us – “Arise, my love, my
fair one, and come away”.</span></span></p>
<h1 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></span></span><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">We all </span></span><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">DO</span></span></span><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"> have to be realistic, though. “</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-weight:normal; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">What
happens when an artist's hand starts to shake is a lesson for us all.”
Phil Hansen is an artist who almost wasn’t an artist. He was beginning
his studies when he discovered that the intense use of his technique had
created a neurological problem. “In art school, Phil Hansen developed
an unruly tremor in his hand that kept him from creating the pointillist
drawings he loved. Hansen was devastated, floating without a sense of
purpose. Until a neurologist made a simple suggestion: embrace this
limitation ... and transcend it.” </span><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;font-weight: normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">5</span></sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"></span></h1>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“Say
it with me,” said Hansen. “Embrace the shake.” He did, and now has a
large collection of his art to show just what can be done. He sought the
source that gave him rest, and grace, and freedom – the expression of
life through art. He sought to use the blessing that God had given him,
and he worked through the obstacles placed in his way, just as Louie
Crew-Clay worked through the obstacle of misunderstanding and held fast
to the vision of that moment when he was nine when his aunt’s and
uncle’s faces were wreathed in smiles, and his young cousin responded.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Louie
ended his story with the words, “We had a gentle reunion. Neither
wanted argument. We wanted just to love one another face to face again.
She put it best: ‘Louie, niceness has become very important to me. You
were always nice to me. It is so good to be together as family again.’</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“Or
as another friend put it, ‘Be kind to one another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.’”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Where did Wendell Berry come up with his poem? He <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">WAS</span></b>
a committed Christian, but like most poetic works, I think it’s open to
many interpretations. For today, though, I see it as a reminder of the
peace, and the joy, and the strength we find in coming to the water of
Baptism. So I read again:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>When despair for the world grows in me </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>and I wake in the night at the least sound </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>I go and lie down where the wood drake </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>I come into the peace of wild things </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>who do not tax their lives with forethought </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>of grief. I come into the presence of still water. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>And I feel above me the day-blind stars </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>waiting with their light. For a time </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:2"> </span>I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.</span></p></body></html>