The Lord’s Ways

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Herrens Veje, religion, Television

Or “Herrens Veje” in Danish.  Herrens Veje is the name of a 2-season show we just finished on Netflix, which is so complex that I cannot do it justice here, but I’ll still say a few things, including: I highly recommend it.

The wall of photos in the rectory of Johannes Krogh.

An unassuming photo, perhaps, as many of us line our walls with photos (and/or paintings) of our ancestors. But, I agree with Frank that this wall of photos and paintings is extremely important as it summarizes what is going on in the show from the first episode to the last.

And that is the fact that Johannes Krogh (Lars Mikkelson, Mads older brother and currently on “The Witcher”) is being crushed beneath the weight of his history. The family of priests trace their lineage all the way back to N.F.S. Gruntvig, a Danish pastor who is one of the most influential persons in Danish history–someone that none of them have been able to live up to.

Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872)

IMDB summarizes the show this way: The story centers on a family of priests: Johannes, Elisabeth and their sons August and Christian. Johannes is God-like to his sons – he gives, loves, and punishes. His favoritism for August and his disappointment with Christian forces both into making desperate choices in order to either gain his love or break free from him.

A rare moment of family togetherness.

Obviously, it’s more complex than that, and August and Christian aren’t the only ones struggling, because Johannes and Elisabeth are struggling as well, as are many of the people closest to them. I cried a lot during this show because it was all so painfully real.

And, one of the best things about this show is how all the religions/philosophies–from atheist and agnostic to Christian to Buddhist and Muslim–are treated equally as are the characters who struggle within the bounds of their own philosophies and religions.

One of my favorite parts of each episode is the beautiful rendition of the hymn–God Moves in a Mysterious Way–which was borrowed from William Cowper’s poem, “Light Shining Out of Darkness.”

The first stanza . . .

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

. . . also sums up the show pretty well. And the English name for the show is taken from the last line–Ride Upon the Storm.

William Cowper by George Romney

Cowper, 1731-1800, has a fascinating history of his own including a friendship with John Newton that led to a number of anti-slavery poems. He also suffered from deep depressions and attempted suicide several times and was even institutionalized for insanity. And yet, he was highly respected by other poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth and is responsible, because of the above poem/hymn, for introducing the phrase, “God works in mysterious ways”, into the English language.

And after the final episode of Herrens Veje, I had to agree. God does move in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.

 

First Week of #AdventWord

Tags

Advent, AdventWord, Christmas

December 2–Advent Word: Visit

December 3–Advent Word: Time

December 4–Advent Word: Humble

December 5–Advent Word: Raise

December 6–Advent Word: House

December 7–Advent Word: Unity

December 8–Advent Word: Worthy

XI Bishop of Georgia

Tags

Bishop, Diocese of Georgia, Episcopal

It has been a busy week as we got ready for and attended the 198th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. As Canon to the Ordinary (Assistant to the Bishop), my husband, Frank, and I  had to leave early with the rest of the staff to help with preparing our convention site at Georgia Southern University (where my husband and I met as students 37 years ago).

On Thursday, I attended a Creation Care Committee workshop on tree planting at the Botanic Garden at Georgia Southern University after visiting with my mother and taking her to lunch at a local restaurant. We planted four trees, beginning the Committee’s initiative to plant 222 trees in the Diocese by 2022 (see Revelation 22:2).

That evening, we attended Evening Prayer at Trinity Episcopal Church where I was Baptized, Confirmed, and one of the Diocese’s first female acolytes. It is also the church that sent my husband to seminary and where he was ordained to the Priesthood in August of 2000.

We decided to take a trip down memory lane that night and went to Dingus Magee’s, the restaurant where we had a lot of our early dates. Then we returned to the hotel to rest before the morning’s big event: the election of the 11th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia in which Frank was one of the five nominees.

Following the opening Eucharist, we were led to an empty room to await the counting of the ballots. Imagine our surprise when the entire Standing Committee filed in and informed us that Frank had been elected on the first ballot! It is still sinking in. Frank will be consecrated by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry here in Savannah in May of 2020.

Mysticism

Tags

Flowers, Mystic, Mysticism, photography

I heard flowers that sounded, and saw notes that shone.

~~Louis Claude de Saint-Martin on Union with God.

Cloud of Unknowing

Tags

Christianity, God, Mystic, Mysticism, religion

Flying above the clouds enroute to Georgia.

BUT now thou askest me and sayest, “How shall I think on Himself, and what is He?” and to this I cannot answer thee but thus: “I wot not.” For thou hast brought me with thy question into that same darkness, and into that same cloud of unknowing, that I would thou wert in thyself. For of all other creatures and their works, yea, and of the works of God’s self, may a man through grace have fullhead of knowing, and well he can think of them: but of God Himself can no man think. And therefore I would leave all that 89 thing that I can think, and choose to my love that thing that I cannot think. For why; He may well be loved, but not thought. By love may He be gotten and holden; but by thought never. And therefore, although it be good sometime to think of the kindness and the worthiness of God in special, and although it be a light and a part of contemplation: nevertheless yet in this work it shall be cast down and covered with a cloud of forgetting. And thou shalt step above it stalwartly, but Mistily, with a devout and a pleasing stirring of love, and try for to pierce that darkness above thee. And smite upon that thick cloud of unknowing with a sharp dart of longing love; and go not thence for thing 90 that befalleth.

~~from The Cloud of Unknowing, 14th Century, Britain

A Way to the Manger

Tags

Advent, Books, Christianity, Christmas, Devotional

Now available for pre-order, my husband Frank, and I, have written a week of devotions for this book from Forward Movement:

Explore Christ’s birth as recounted in the Gospel of Luke through the lens of the Way of Love and the seven practices of turn, learn, pray, worship, bless, go, and rest. With daily devotions of personal stories, modern examples, art, and invitations to prayer and journaling, the authors challenge you to discover and incorporate these practices into your own life. During Advent and Christmas, walk with the shepherds and the angels, Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and Anna and Simeon. All of their paths—as well as yours—lead to the same destination: the humble manger where Love was born.

For more info, see here: A Way to the Manger