Raven-fed

  The word of the Lord came to [Elijah], saying,  
 “Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, 
which is east of the Jordan.
  You shall drink from the wadi, 
and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”  
 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; 
he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.  
 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, 
and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the wadi.  
 But after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

1 Kings 17:2-7


Today's blog is rather random, a response to an intriguing image in the Christian Century magazine chosen by Lil Copan  and created by an artist I didn't know,  Cody F Miller. Miller is an artist who is a Christian, or a Christian who is an artist -- I'm never sure how to describe such folk. I've long been partial to the story of the prophet Elijah who, exhausted from doing battle with the "powers that be" flees to the wilderness where he is fed by ravens on God's orders -- hey, it could happen! As unlikely as this story may be, it speaks to us of renewal in the natural world when it seems that there is no way forward in the midst of the demands and expectations of our lives.

The blurb accompanying the above image says: 

 “Most important is to take risks,” says Cody F. Miller in describing his artistic process—“to let go of the familiar and the usual and consent to the new and unknown.” This approach is evident in his series on biblical figures such as Moses and Elijah, who dare to trust God. Using papercuts, paint, texture, and patterns, Miller builds designs that weave portrait and story. In this image of Elijah, we meet the prophet at perhaps his weakest moment, hiding in the Kerith Ravine east of the Jordan River. Even in his despondency he is sustained by God, who had commanded the ravens to provide him with food.

I like this notion of begin sustained or fed by God in even our bleakest moments. And as someone who had found great solace in wild landscapes the ravens as agents of renewal are an improbable, quixotic, powerful touch.