Eternal Truth & Reflections Upon Coming Home

Oregon Coast (not Whidbey Island)

Below, is a reprint from an essay which was published a few years ago by Episcopal Church News.  (For another perspective upon returning home, see On Coming Home.)

When we recently had the opportunity to spend a few days at Seattle Pacific University’s Camp Casey, situated on the Admiralty Inlet side of Whidbey Island across the choppy strait from Port Townsend, it reminded me of some experiences I had working there as a college student during the summer of 1988.

I decided to take my daughter Sarah on a walk one cool afternoon along some of the forest trails to the north of the conference center grounds. The path wound its familiar way up among the wind-swept evergreens and the occasional madrona. We paused to explore an old fort from the 1890s; its once busy walkways and concrete bunkers now quiet and much overgrown with blackberry bushes and tall weeds, and its stories and pictures slowly fading from collective memory. (Fort Casey State Park itself lies a mile or two to the south.)

We then proceeded on along the needle-lined trail, heading up a gradually leveling incline with the forest on our right and a cliff overlooking the crashing surf some twenty feet off to our left. Making certain that Sarah was safely standing on the trail, I carefully stepped towards the left, searching for the place where I recalled having devotions from time to time during the summer of 1988.

I found what appeared to be the right location, but its look was quite different now. Instead of the broad sandy cliff face with a fairly clear path to its center that I remembered, the cliff now seemed much higher and closer to the trail. Not being particularly comfortable with heights (just try to get me on the 4-mile Astoria-Megler Bridge again!), I returned to the path, and we resumed our trek to the north for a time until the trail faded and then disappeared entirely among the grass and trees. We plodded back to Camp Casey to watch and wait for the late afternoon’s arrival of the grazing deer.

It occurred to me recently that this experience was instructional in a spiritual sense. When we return to places from our past, they frequently seem smaller--not more expansive. It’s something akin to visiting your hometown for the first time after being away in college (depending on where you're from). This homecoming is reminiscent of times long gone and the community may stand smaller than recalled.

     

So, this experience of returning to a place I held close from younger days was odd in that it did not conform to the usual and comfortable perceptions. The vantage point from which I recalled reading and gazing upon the gray heaving waves below had changed a great deal over the past decade. Considering the winter storms that lash Whidbey Island, that alteration of scenery and environment should not have been so surprising.

What it does remind one of, however, is that while much concerning us personally, and the landscape surrounding us for a time, undergoes a continual "sea change" or evolution, our God "does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17). Instead, He is the same yesterday as He will be tomorrow. In a time of national crisis and an uneasy future, there is something comforting in acknowledging this simple, yet profound, attribute of our God. No matter what changes here, we hold that what is most important stands eternal, and that we need not be pulled-down by the continual disintegration and moral entropy sweeping in our lives from all sides.

(This was re-printed from the April 2003 issue of Oregon's Episcopal Church News.  Some editorial changes by the magazine's editor have been reversed, and the writer has made other slight editorial adjustments.)

Blog Happenings & Interview Update

I've really enjoyed the opportunity to bring some fresh interviews to my blog over the last six months.  From Sean Astin and Lino Rulli to Raymond Arroyo and Donna Cori Gibson, I had a blast doing these interviews, and the positive reader feedback was greatly appreciated.  Opening a dialogue with such engaging people continues to be a rich experience indeed.


For the next year, or so, I will be curtailing the frequency of featured interviews from monthly to quarterly.  This should help me concentrate more on my upcoming book, Toupee Mice, as well as the new novel I'm writing--not to mention the ol' day job for the State of Oregon.  (Yes, I'm a busy guy...)

Speaking of the novel, here's a little photographic teaser for The Blood Cries Out.  Can you guess where I took this shot?






PS.  I hope you can drop by my new author page!

Solemnity of Mary, Theotokos

Given today's special feast day in the Catholic Church, I compiled some of my past writings (both published and unpublished) concerning Mary and revised them for you into a single short essay.  It highlights some of the changes in our own thinking which began to take place after our good saviour took our hands, leading us safely across the Tiber.


I hope you enjoy today's offering, and I pray that you all have a wonderful New Year!  Special thanks to Catholic Answers' This Rock as well as Catholic apologist Dave Armstrong for recently sharing this essay's accompanying artwork, Madonna Del Granduca by Raphael, within his lovely Christmas card.

When my wife and I were studying in preparation to join the Catholic Church some years ago, the concept of Mary was one of the hardest ideas to get our minds around.  Coming from the Evangelical tradition, most of the new concepts we learned were simply a result of a more logical and consistent interpretation of Scripture—e.g. the sixth chapter of John.  Understanding Mary, however, required something beyond mere Biblical interpretation.

It required trust, and it all felt very foreign to us at first.  Once it finally made sense and the pieces began to fit together, I was profoundly grateful for the opportunity to see Mary for who she was and is today.  This Catholic understanding of Mary hinges on an acceptance of her as the new Eve.  Where Eve disobeyed God’s call, Mary listened wholeheartedly and obeyed in a spirit of selfless love.  

While Protestants usually declare that many of our Marian beliefs represent meaningless and extra-biblical concepts which have no value when applied to our faith, there are core beliefs we share which are likewise not clearly defined or articulated in the Bible.  The Trinity, for instance, is never spelled out in so many words, but its truth is made abundantly clear through a careful reading of the Bible and the wisdom of the saints who came before us (tradition).  

In conversations with skeptical Protestants, I often explain the Catholic perspective this way.  The Protestant tradition is like an artist's canvas which contains all the necessary artistic elements in the foreground. The background, however, lies bare of color or shape, simply white canvas awaiting the painter's brush.  The Catholic Church, on the other hand, is represented by a canvas of rich and vibrant colors which seem to leap forth from the painting. Every inch of the canvas is used and it is filled seemingly to the point of bursting with color, textures, motion, and deep meaning.  It’s one of those pictures from which you can actually imagine catching the scent of roses or pine.  

The mainline Evangelical, for example, arguably has access to the minimum elements necessary for salvation in Christ, but he's missing that bigger picture. His understanding could be so enriched if he caught sight of the second picture and drank in its rich meaning.  Sadly, he's content to limit his understanding of the nature of God and man to an unfinished painting reflecting an essentially identical truth.  It is by God’s grace that Catholics have access to this larger picture, a perfect dovetailing of faith and reason.

As we are reminded in Romans 14:21, we should avoid creating roadblocks to Protestants who desire to come home to the Catholic Church—such as the author, who arrived from the Episcopal and Lutheran traditions. Some accuse the Catholic Church as being lukewarm to evangelization and prone to following politically correct issues while ignoring some of the more weighty social problems. Are we doing all that we can to obey the Great Commission, or are we making it harder to convert new believers? Pope John Paul II reminded all of us that a "constant awareness of Christ’s will to offer salvation to all cannot fail to inspire us with fresh missionary fervor" (This Rock, Holy Thursday letter to priests, March 13, 2005).


If we truly understand who Mary is, she will become the most powerful aid in our evangelical efforts, but that understanding is critical.  The Catholic Church has not always done a good job in educating new and young Catholics as to their faith. Knowledge without understanding creates more problems than it solves—from witnessing to addressing the moral tragedies of the day.  If we have a sure foundation of knowledge and understanding, though, I wholeheartedly agree that understanding Mary as both the Mediatrix and as the New Eve will be the spiritual meat that will nourish and sustain our walk with Christ. 

     

The Politicization of Scholarship at NYU

James Franco is an actor whose performances I used to really enjoy.  Maybe not quite so much anymore, though.  I read today that his New York University professor, Jose Angel Santana, lost his job after he dared to give the celebrity a D grade.  (Apparently, there was a puzzling expectation that students would actually attend the class.)  Now, Dr. Santana is suing NYU over his termination.


This issue dovetails remarkably well with my last blog offering.  While no one is being accused of plagiarism, the expectation of a higher grade because of "who one is" smells like it came from the same malodorous source.  This politicization of scholarship is a dangerous thing indeed, because it cheapens the educational commodity itself, diminishing the objective value of the degree for all the students.


Just as many professors and administrators apparently look the other way when it comes to cheating and plagiarizing students, now there's a high profile example of university administration being more than willing to look the other way in order to retain their celebrity student--and his smug satisfaction.  One doesn't need "spidey senses" to get an unpleasant tingling sensation at this state of affairs. 


NYU, you must be so proud.

Plagiarism...and Ravens

As you've read here in past postings like "What I Learned From Meeting Brian Jacques," one thing that really bothers me is when authors fail to strive for honest originality, stealing instead from the hard work and creative genius of others.  (Brian Jacques being an author who was so concerned about originality that he avoided reading similar books to his masterful Redwall series.)  It makes no difference to me whether, or not, the original author is living or dead.  Whether a student or author, using the unattributed writings of others, is both a form of theft as well as a blatant lie.  Perhaps in times like these when moral relativism seems the moral compass of so many, we shouldn't be so surprised.

Still, I consider it important to make a sufficient stink about plagiarism when it raises its ugly end.  The most recent case-in-point is Lenore Hart's The Raven's Bride.  While Saint Martin's Press is defending its author from the charges concerning her novel on the life of Edgar Allan Poe and his young wife, Virginia Clemm Poe, the mounting evidence against Lenore Hart seems quite convincing indeed.  

Writers such as Jeremy Duns  have already done a great job documenting the plagiarism, so it's not my intention to rebuild the case they have already presented so convincingly.  (Interesting exchange here via Google cached content.)  I was a little dismayed earlier today, however, when I tried to add a comment to Saint Martin's Press' Facebook page.  It appears that my comment has been blocked, effectively preventing some users from reading it.  To the end of addressing this case of censorship, here are the thoughts I shared online earlier today.

Any writer is familiar with the disappointment and annoyance of finding a particular phrase of theirs to have been used many times before. When we google our own favorite turns of phrase, the results remind us of the inherent difficulties of stringing a few words together which are entirely new and original to the language--"moral entropy," for instance. There is never a question of plagiarism in our minds, since we were entirely unaware of the other uses of the phrase in question, but what Mr. Duns is highlighting is entirely different and goes straight to the heart of the author's integrity--as well as the publisher's. There is a world of difference between coincidental similarities in short passages or phrases--due to inherent mathematical limits concerning the order of words, conceptual similarities, as well as other limitations of the English language--and wholesale plagiarism of another author's content. Mr. Dunn has clearly demonstrated that too many "coincidences" exist for any reasonable person to believe that plagiarism has not taken place here. As a mainline publisher, you have a responsibility to your readers to do the right thing. In an age when everyone from authors to students seem to think nothing of plagiarism, it's time we all put down our collective foot on this issue, declaring "Enough!"

Bring Tristan Home for Christmas!

In case you missed all the excitement, I hope you'll take a moment to check out my children's book, Tristan's Travels!  With the current special on priority shipping, it couldn't be a better time to bring this book home for Christmas.


What are they saying about Tristan's Travels?  Here is a short sampling of reviews and feedback...




"With a Disney-like quality of imagination, adventure, and insight, Karl Erickson weaves his allegory on friendship and faith in this delightful tale..."

Fr. Tim Mockaits


"It reminds me of the work of A.A. Milne in its delightfully simple humor, of Beatrix Potter in its simply delightful depiction of anthropomorphous beasts, of Kenneth Grahame in its debt to literary tradition..."

Joseph Pearce




"For anyone who has lived in Astoria, Oregon--for anyone who has watched animals read--for anyone who has or hasn't wanted an adventure, Karl Erickson's beautifully illustrated, lovingly written fable about the life and particularity of a seagull named Tristan is a worthwhile journey."

Sean Astin


"Inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi and the writings of C.S. Lewis Erickson's narrative is one of pure delight. It's imaginative, action-packed adventure of faith and friendship will enchant readers of all ages."

Gail Welborn



"Tristan’s Travels weaves a theme of grace into a tale of animals trying to surmount an impossible distance to help someone they love. It is a tale that has deeper themes and Catholic undertones without shoving them down the reader’s throat. This is the sort of book I imagine myself — and my children — rereading many times, enjoying some new pearl and all the old laughs again each time."

Sarah Reinhard




Links:


Video Trailer


Tristan's Travels at Rafka Press  (discounted priority shipping currently available)*

* The customer will need to change the shipping method from Standard Domestic to Priority.  

After they “Add to cart” and

“Check out” and select

“Don’t have a PayPal account” (or they can “Check out with PayPal”) and

“Review and Continue”

Then they’ll be able to change the shipping method to Priority. 

Breaking Book News... for a sneak peek at the artwork for our upcoming book Toupee Mice, please visit my new author page on Facebook!

Etiquette at Mass Revisited

I remember attending a Free Methodist church service as a child where the "mother cat" in front of us repeatedly licked her hands and patted down her young son's hair.  This went on for a long time--and it really got distracting after the first 30 seconds, or so.  (One has to wonder if the child is a hairstylist now...)  


Earlier in the year I shared some thoughts on Etiquette at Mass, and now I would like to address one additional area.  Like the "mother cat" description above, church is not really the appropriate place to attend to one's personal grooming for an extended period of time.  After all, we're not there to learn about your hair.  These thoughts came to mind at a recent service where the teenage-girls sitting in front of us seemed to discover their respective heads-of-hair for the first time.  The fiddling, styling, and snickering lasted throughout the entire service.   Enough with the hair...please!