two medieval parables

The Songbird and the Hawk by Der Stricker, 13th. c

"Early one morning a bird on a green bough was singing and was so engrossed in its song
that it forgot everything else. As it sat there, pouring forth the most lovely melody, a hawk swooped down and seized the bird with its talons. Then the singer's voice became shrill and it sang as those do who are struggling vainly for their lives.

Such is the rejoicing of the children of this world, who are so strongly attached to the world that they forsake God and fearlessly do whatever they please until death seizes and strangles them so quickly that help comes too late. Their joyful pastime thus comes to a worse end than that of the bid which sang until its singing brought death. The distress caused by its song ended with its death, but the sufferings of the world's children who die unrepentant are endless and manifold beyond measure."

The Last Judgment
Fernando Gallego, Francisco Gallego and Workshop, 1480-1488

The Salamander by Der Stricker, 13th c.

"A beast called the salamander, whose nature it is to live in fire, declared that he wanted to observe all the animals in order to see which of them pleased him most, for he wanted to lead this one into his realm as his lawful wife. After having studied every creature, he said happily that nothing could compare with the fly, for nobody in all the German lands could protect himself from her. Even the mightiest had to support her whether they liked it or not for she would eat and drink with them and sit on their clothing, quilts, and golden bowls. No lady ever pleased him more; her boldness made the fly worthy of a crown. But when the salamander married her and brought her into his fire, she was quickly consumed.

A certain monster is like the the salamander who lives in fire. This is the devil, who dwells in the fire of hell and is unwilling to let anyone escape it. He too seeks a bride of whom he will always be fond. When he has looked over the whole world, his cunning leads him to avoid other people and turn to the flies. Who are the flies? Those who think themselves very bold and fear neither God nor all the devils. They are akin to the flies. It is a great wonder that a fly should not be afraid to attack a king, but it is even more surprising, Christ knows, that anyone should be bold as to oppose God and pay no heed to His commandment, that he should live happily while striving mightily against God. That is how the devil recognizes them as flies. Of all the people in the world, he takes only the flies that he sees fight against God and thereby die unrepentant. He takes them as his bride, intending to keep them forever. So it is that, because of their fly-like spirit, the eternal Salamander leads them into the eternal fire that he tends. There he weighs and determines their reward, one so manifold that it can never be measured."

State-wide protest tomorrow

"Dear Wildcats:

The Arizona State Legislature will be making difficult final decisions on mid-year budget cuts for fiscal year 2009 in the very near future. In an effort to ensure that our students all make their voice's heard, The Associated Students of the University of Arizona, Graduate & Professional Student Council alongside the Arizona Students' Association will be providing students an opportunity to travel up to the Arizona State Capitol on Wednesday January 28th. The details are as follows:

Arizona State Capitol Trip
Wednesday January 28, 2009
Depart Campus: 9am
Return to Campus: 5pm (at the latest)
Breakfast & Lunch will be provided

25 buses will be leaving The University of Arizona on Wednesday morning, which means we only have room for 1,500 students of our 38,000 - sign up quickly to make your voice heard. If you would like to go, we need you to sign-up by Tuesday 5pm on January 27th. You can sign up by doing one of the following:

SIGN-UP:
E-Mail: asa@email.arizona.edu
Call: (520) 621 - ASUA
Go To: ASUA Office (3rd floor of the Student Union Memorial Center, directly above The University of Arizona Bookstore - open from 8am - 5pm)

Please Include The Following Information:
Full Name:
E-Mail:
Cell Phone:
Student ID:

Students who attend this trip to the capitol will receive a dean's excuse, but will be responsible for communicating with their professors about their absence and for all work that they miss prior to departing.

For more information about this opportunity please visit the ASUA website at www.asua.arizona.edu.

Bear Down!

Tommy Bruce
ASUA Student Body President"

My professor, Dr Kari Boyd McBride, from the highly socially active Women Studies department urges us to attend this protest tomorrow (how coolz). Local papers say about 2000 are estimated, Facebook has 1575 confirmed guests, 1908 may be attending, 4706 not attending and 5272 have yet to reply.

Most of the college students here work and study at the same time, so I think it's going to hit them harder than I can probably understand. Also, the U of A has been underproducing degrees in some subjects like Judaic Studies and Agricultural Economics and Management.

I thought about going, but then again...I think I'm better off reading books and hanging out with my friends.

Not that I'm apathetic!

O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

Today was the La Vita House's weekly dinner and Joanne taught LaShondra, Dean, Yeejoo and I how to sing the hymn O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Your glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Spread His praise from shore to shore
How He loveth, ever loveth,
Changeth never, nevermore;
How He watches o’er His loved ones,
Died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth,,
Watcheth o’er them from the throne.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Love of ev’ry love the best:
‘Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
‘Tis a haven sweet of rest.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
‘Tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
For it lifts me up to Thee.

Then, we talked about the Eastern/Western religious divide, Obama, and eventually campus ministries and church. So it ended with Dean (the son) and Filly offering to take me to their church, Rincon Mountain Presbyterian Church (another good church in Tucson), for the rest of the semester if I do decide to go to that church.

So far, I have attended U of A's Christian Challenge, First Southern Baptist Church of Tucson and Christ Community Church Tucson (akin to Brooklyn Tabernacle Church for its heavy burden on Tucson, where only 6% are Christians and where most people are illiterate about Christ).

The only consistent fellowship I've been going to is the International Student Fellowship, where it's been a humbling and strange experience - because I see God not granting me my wish to gain even more knowledge on the Bible, but teaching me to practise my knowledge with His love and wisdom by putting me around equally vulnerable and lonely people, and by letting me observe how Christians here teach or talk about Christ; and strange because God is reversing the hopes I brought here to Tucson..wanting to be discipled turned to possibly spending time reading God's Word with non-believers instead, (in Jon Heine's words) helping to prepare the soil for sowing.

Also, I have been enrolled into the Tucson Memory System. I'm only on to my second out of thirty, forty over verses, but here is my favourite-r verse.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life that I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

Galatians 2:20

Let's dance!

I'm taking a independent research and study course, "Dance and Culture", with Visiting Professor Dr James Clouser at one of the top dance schools in the United States and England. Strange secrets and treasures about the U of A that I never knew (important medieval artist Maestro Bartolomé's retablos are all here too).

Anyway, this was last Thursday! Coolness.

Life-saving wisdom from old

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion."
Psalm 84: 5-6

I never knew that 'Baca' is Hebrew for 'tears'. It's counter-intuitive to group images of fertility and abundance with sadness and suffering, and to use these images to describe the blessed people of God. It's very uplifting for me to know that even if this very beautiful and passionate psalm, it recognises the not-as-palatable parts of reality and renders it beautiful all the same, because the more we are changed by Him, the stronger we are. And through these experiences, we see God and 'faint' all the more for worship and His presence (v2).

My Refuge and My Fortress, Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge —
no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

I see reference to the ark ('cover you with pinions', 'under his wings'), bird imagery ('dwells in the shelter of the Most High', 'the snare of the fowler') and a supernatural, almost mythical sense of God's protection. While the protected one stands behind God in His shadow in war, God protects. He cannot see directly what God is doing, but he witnesses the consequences - he sees thousands of the wicked dead, not by God's direct killing (God holds a shield and buckler), but by the pestilence and destruction that He allows ('ten thousand at your right hand'). God is far bigger than a protector, He controls that which is humanly impossible.

I think our lives are like what the psalm says: only within the boundaries of God's shadow can we live, can we be protected from death. It's like M. Night Shyamalan's film, Lady in the Water, the monster that cannot touch Story as long as she's in water. We also play an active role - abiding within God's grace by loving Him passionately and calling Him in times of trouble. Then He graciously and gratuitously helps us, totally independent of what our acts are worth. And so I think if we take things into our own hands, it's like stepping out of God's grace deliberately into rotting sin.

Like the person in the psalm, I want God, and I need Him, because life and grace is found only in Him. I sin every day, and I was filthy and abominable, but not anymore because Christ sacrificed Himself to suffer God's wrath for me. So I can be confident that I am righteous and pleasing as I enter the Most Holy Place to meet and see God in my heart, to be intimate with Him. Just as the psalmist invites the Israelites to depend on Him, I know this grace overflows to all His children. And as God has commanded, our love to Christ is shown through our love to His bride: ourselves and other believers.

--------------------------------

I had wanted to write about my mixed feelings being here in Tucson, as I have shared with closer friends. There are some really terribly selfish, condemning or socially awkward Asians (it's way too obvious if I name that nationality which is close to my heart). There are also God-fearing, Christ-loving friends and strangers who have blessed me in many ways. I'm also very thankful that I can share my troubles with Caleb, who understands and empathizes, because he went through the same things.

I see the answer in God's Word, so preciously pure and sweet...old enough to be revered, yet never too old to touch the crevices of the heart and soul. Father, help me live the life of Christ by Your grace, beyond which is sin, trepidation and foul death.

this probably tells you how bored I am

I tell you three things:

1.
Dear American Beauty,
I think you should either change your brand name or stop selling Angel Hair. It's just gross when I tell people I'm eating American Beauty Angel Hair. And this is America! Non-blonde people are people too.

2.
Dear Arizona Green Tea,
I love you!!! My life's been completely changed ever since you came. You are totally the new water. One thing though, some people I've talked to here in Arizona don't get it when I say I love Arizona Green Tea. I suppose they think my English is poor, like "New York Statue of Liberty", "California Hollywood" or worse, "Pennsylvania Penn". They think you are just a normal teabag. Tell them the truth. That you are from BROOKLYN.

3.
Dear crustal plates in Tucson,
Can you please subduct within the next five months? My government says more land is fantastic, but I think too much land is doing your people, like yours truly, harm. My feet hurt from walking. We always learn to cherish something only when they're gone. Do your people a favour to appreciate you.

4.
Dear Sun Tran,
Can you make bus stop benches out of something else? Anything else besides metal. I get static electricity attacks from your chairs and they're just too cold for my butt. I don't think it's healthy for a major muscle of the body to freeze off metal benches and reheat on bus seats, then freeze off... Such irregular temperatures can create stress, and when stress comes, cancer follows. Surely you don't want passengers to get cancer because of your benches. Please do something about it, spankss.