Are Codfish Sacred?

 

Overlooking Massachusetts House members as they deliberate is the Sacred Cod, hung from the ceiling as a tribute to the state’s fishing industry. The solid-pine Cod has been in position for 232 years, first at the Old State House and then on Beacon Hill.

In years past I may have written about the Sacred Cod which hovers above Massachusetts legislators as they conduct their work. Describing a fish as sacred, and an ugly one at that may seem sacrilegious but it serves as a visual reminder of how important this species was to the regional economy. Iceland is a country that still harvests a lot of cod and while the industry doesn't rival tourism it is important to the economy.

Canada is notorious for allowing what seemed to be an infinite resource be depleted through the mismanagement of the vital cod fishery in Newfoundland. This led to a total closure of the commercial fishery for 30 years from 1992 onward putting tens of thousands out of work. Gradually a limited personal fishery was allowed.

We will return this summer to the outport area of Newfoundland where I served as I began my United Church ministry in 1980. A parishioner, a fisherman, told me then that the codfish collapse was imminent and he was correct. The factory trawler ships from Portugal and the large Canadian ships were scooping up the species in an unsustainable way. The days of a solitary fisher in a punt or dorry were long gone. 

                                                               David Blackwood Cod No.1 1995

Celebrated Newfoundland artist David Blackwood grew up in a fishing community and he appreciated the dark cloud that descended over the province.

I will be asking the fishers I know questions about the decision earlier this year to increase the cod catch quota substantially, opening it to larger vessels. Some scientists and those in the industry are sounding a note of caution given what happened in the past.

We will be able to purchase cod with the resultant chowder, fish cakes, burgers... my mouth is already watering. Hallelujah!

Of course, cod deserve to exist because they are the Creator's creatures and therefore sacred. I've never described them that way when I'm there, but surely it's true. In Cod we trust. 

The Gospel of Trees

 

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” 

Jeremiah 1: 11-12 NRSVue 

Overview of The Gospel of Trees

What is it about trees? These creatures, so vital to our survival, have followed human beings since we first sprung from this earth. The Gospel of Trees is an essay about a wooded landscape where all sorts of limbs move around, a landscape that is at once well-known and wondrous. Church historian Thomas Arentzen wanders through forests, reads poetry, climbs trees, explores leaves of scripture, and revisits the boughs of his own Norwegian childhood. In this learned but also personal journey through history, he meets beings drawn to trees and trees in prayer for other beings. The understory of the book asks, "What is the religion of the more-than-human?"

A few years ago I made the difficult decision to cease posting on my Groundling blog and to continue solely with Lion Lamb. I just couldn't keep up with writing two posts on a regular basis even though I have a passion, even an evangelical zeal, for Creation and Creator. Of course, if you are a longer term reader you'll know that many of my posts reflect who we are as "groundlings" the adamahs" formed of the soil, called to celebrate the goodness of Creation and the joy of following an earthy Jesus.

I am drawn to the book by church historian Thomas Arentzen, pictured above, but I have so many not yet explored already. I love the overview of its contents and perhaps I'll have to be content with the way it has stimulated my imagination once again. In this dystopian age when vast areas of forest are consumed by fire around the planet we may need this discussion more than ever. 

I was able to read a sample of the book online and I appreciate Arentzen's reminder that the word origin for the English words "tree" and "true" and "troth" are the same, meaning faithful. I had never noticed before  that the prophet Jeremiah's first vision is tree related, a pun because the word almond means vigilant. 

Once again I'll note that trees are mentioned more often than any other creature in the bible, other than humans. If scripture and the Creator have a heart for trees, surely we can as well. I'm taking that as gospel. Of course, the Tree of Life is a powerful symbol in different religions. 

I suppose I can be vigilant in reading the trees around me as best I can and treat them with faith-full respect. 

“Rejoice, tree of leafy branches,
under which believers are sheltered …
Rejoice, O wood most blessed!”

Akathist to the Cross, Oikos 7

 

An Artificial Intelligence Pastor?

 

                                        

                                            Justin Lester preaching at a Sunday service in June.

 He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

                                            Ephesians 4: 11-16 NRSVue 

During my very busy years of ministry serving a congregation in Sudbury, Ontario, the chairperson of our Ministry and Personnel Committee advised me, wisely, that I could clone myself and still have enough work for the second person, so I needed to pace myself.  This was true, although he didn't suggest how I was supposed to develop a work/personal life balance when the pastoral needs of a large congregations were often overwhelming. 

Enter Justin Lester, a 30-something pastor in California who has been instrumental in resurrecting am older, staid congregation using technology as his BFF. According to the New York Times: 

 Now the church was using artificial intelligence to answer emails and plan Bible studies. It had doors equipped with facial recognition, podcasts with A.I.-generated biblical figures, and a robot dog named Theo who talked to children and recited sermons.

The latest frontier for this Pastor Tech is the creation of an Artificial Intelligence twin who can "chat" with parishioners and anyone else at any time of the day or night, no appointment necessary:  

Lester cloned his voice and trained his digital twin using almost two million words of his sermons, podcasts, books, text messages and emails. For the last several months, it had been publicly available on his website and Facebook page for online chats or phone calls. It had learned to mimic his bent toward optimism, his obsession with the Green Bay Packers and his casual slang, but it did more than just regurgitate what he had already said. It mapped his thinking onto new conversations to provide advice around the clock for people he’d never met who had questions he’d never been asked.

At the risk of sounding like a Luddite, this creeps me out. What is this guy's trained and accredited skill set to be doing this? Where is the follow-up and the professional accountability? 

 I see the value of AI in many settings, including the church. Son Isaac uses it for practical applications including writing minutes for meetings in this day when no one wants to be a committee secretary. He just makes sure that the chairs agree on content. He employs it for images on Sundays as well.

 I imagine that there are unscrupulous clergy who are using Chat GPT to write sermons, since there is a sorry history of pastor plagarism. 

I have the feeling that Lester may be suffering from an advanced case of Messiah Syndrome, a condition that can be fatal to ministries. There are concerns that AI therapy can either lean toward the wishes of the client or, worse, go rogue and counsel them toward self-harm. Who's to say that this can't happen with priests and pastors? How do we "build up the body of Christ", develop the authentic connective tissue of a healthy congregation through A!? What about those shifting winds of trickery and craftiness and scheming? 

I listened to a CBC Radio The Current interview with deepfake expert Hany Farid who says that if you think you can still spot AI-generated images and video, you're kidding yourself. He went so far as to say that the negatives of social media now outweigh the positives. He's convinced that it's eroding our common bonds and democracy, although he believes we can still fight back. Shouldn't the Christian community be at the forefront of that resistance, or at least of sober second thought, rather that leaping in without serious and prayerful conversation? 

The Reflecting Pool and the Peace of Wild Things

 

                   Forrest Gump and Jenny were later incarcerated for vandalizing the reflecting pool 

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

            The Peace of Wild Things -- Wendell Berry

The embarrassment around the Washington DC Reflectiing Pool debacle just won't go away. President Trump wanted the iconic pool fixed so that it was patriotic blue rather than algae green and assured the public that it could be done for a song. Many millions of dollars later it is still green and no one seems to know how to fix it. Chemicals added to kill the algae deep-sixed some resident ducks. 

Several people were arrested for vandalism that hadn't occurred and when charges were sensibly dropped this past week for lack of evidence Trump claimed that this was a travesty. The United States is drowning in stupidity. 

Someone has noted that before the pool was created a century ago this area was marshland. So, maybe it should be re-visioned as a pond with cattails and dragonflies and other aquatic critters. This is a marvelous suggestion which of course will never come to pass. I can see a smile on Abraham Lincoln's face at this prospect rather than holding his head in his hands with disbelief.  Sure, there would be mosquitoes but it would be better than the brood of vipers currently in DC. 

I've included the poem by Wendell Berry for the umpteenth time because I think we need The Peace of Wild Things in the midst of chaos. 

Waiting for the Way of the Wind

Film-maker Terrence Malik is known for creating thoughtful, challenging dramas such as The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life. Malik's A Hidden Life tells the story of Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian farmer and devout Catholic who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. 

Now we are waiting for The Way of the Wind which explores the life of Jesus through several parables rather than miracles or other supernatural occurrences. There will be a subplot of Jesus cautioning impetuous disciple from getting caught up in the political fight against the Roman occupation. 

I see that Mark Rylance, one of my favourite actors, plays Satan who gets plenty of screen time. In some scenes he has more dialogue than Jesus. In an interview Rylance speaks about his experience as the Prince of Darkness: 

There I stood, as Satan, with 28 pages of monologue running through my mind, while Jesus barely uttered a word. Most of the time, I accompanied Jesus as Satan; it’s not the situation for extensive discussions. During filming, there’s no time for rehearsals, so it’s not the moment for lengthy conversations. It’s akin to a boxer focusing solely on stepping into the ring. 

The scope of the film fascinates me because Jesus flicks tend to be disappointing. And I'm not holding my breath regarding its release. Filming concluded in 2019 but Malik, now 82,  is devilishly slow with post-production. Next year, perhaps? 

                                                        Mark Rylance looking non-Satanic 

Murders in the Monasteries

 

A recent visit to the Tamworth Bookshop, a used book treasure trove, introduced me to the DS George Cross murder mysteries by Tim Sullivan. I hadn't heard of the maddening but methodically brilliant neuro-divergent detective but I'm now hooked. 

The library has now provided me with a second from the series, The Monk. This is from the publisher's blurb: 

THE QUESTION

The body of a monk is found savagely beaten to death in a woodland near Bristol. Nothing is known about Brother Dominic’s past, which makes investigating difficult. How can Cross unpick a crime when they don’t know anything about the victim? And why would someone want to harm a monk?

This story is also cleverly developed and the setting is perfect. I realized as I read that religious communities are excellent settings for murder mysteries. They are essentially ecclesiastical versions of the game Clue -- the abbot in the sacristy with a chalice. When someone dies in or around the claustrophobic confines of a holy house, look out. 

This brought to mind Death in Holy Orders, an excellent novel by the late, great PD James which spawned two good television series. The setting isn't a monastery but it is an isolated religious community on the edge of the sea and cassocks are worn. 

Then there is one of Louise Penny's best Inspector Gamache novels, The Beautiful Mystery. The monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les Loups is in the wilds of Quebec where the two dozen monks have become famous for their recordings of ancient chants. Their cloistered lives are rocked by the murder of the choir director. 

The fun aspect of Penny's novel is that the monastery is modelled on the Abbey of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, on Lake Memphremagog, a community of about 50 Benedictine brothers in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. It is a fascinating place to visit with an excellent and very busy gift shop. We've been there a couple of times, including last summer while on a cycling vacation with friends. 

I love the peace and tranquility of monasteries and convents and have spent retreat time in a number of them in different provinces and states and even Britain. Come to think of it, it wouldn't have been all that difficult to murder me in my sleep at several of them. 

                                                        Abbey of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, Quebec