![](https://www.trinitychurchboston.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_content_wide_header_image_1024_x_286/public/Going_Deeper_Banner.jpg?itok=hKMlpr7r)
- Education Forums
Chop Wood, Carry Water
![Hailey Robison, Assistant Director of Stewardship--mug](https://www.trinitychurchboston.org/sites/default/files/styles/featured_image_578_x_423/public/Hailey_Robison.jpg?itok=NCgEloGq)
“Practice resurrection.”
– Wendell Berry
“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”
One of my favorite proverbs comes from our Buddhist siblings in the Zen tradition: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” I wonder if this is what resurrection is like?
A couple of Sundays ago, our Gospel proclaimed an intimate story of resurrected Jesus standing among his disciples again. “Look at my hands and feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see.” (Luke 24:39). Quite impossibly and perhaps unimaginably, resurrection is beyond neither our sight nor our touch. It is literally at hand, if we only foster the perception to witness it. We do not have to be different, more “perfect, spiritual, [fill-in-the-blank]” people. God beholds us – and loves us, as we currently are (including all the parts we’d like to hide!) just as Jesus beheld and loved his friends “while in their joy… disbelieving and still wondering” (29:41).
Jesus assures His friends after His resurrection, ‘It’s still me, the body you know.’ We do not have to fill our time with loftier tasks or higher thoughts. We do not have to abandon or detest ourselves, others, or our world (violent and wounded as we can be) in longing for some more perfect form. Perhaps a modern, Christian version of “chop wood, carry water” might be: before resurrection, pay bills, brush teeth. After resurrection, pay bills, brush teeth.
What a relief! What a challenge. It is hard work to live in the present while becoming all that we hope.
I have enjoyed our Stewardship work together these past almost-three years in a deep part because it is a very concrete way that we chop wood and carry water together. Directly after His invitation to “touch me and see” as Jesus waits for His companions to catch up emotionally with His big news, He asks the ultimate friend question: ‘Got anything to eat?’ Our physical needs matter. They deserve our attention and care. Having a clean, warm, and well-lit church in which to gather and welcome others is important. Sharing in bread, wine, bagels, pizza, and other food is significant. Our physical and spiritual needs are interwoven. Our God is incarnate.
This is why one of the times in which I feel most connected during our communal worship is the collection of gifts. The money that we offer up to God to care for our community represents numerous facets of how we inhabit our time. Each of us brings our loves and struggles: our client meetings, scheduling, child caring, paper grading, volunteering, saving, and so much more. We have the chance to offer up all of this – even retroactively. Everything we are and do right now can be a living prayer of resurrection. Praise the Lord!
With thanks for you and our shared life,
Hailey Robison
Assistant Director of Stewardship
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- October 2013
- September 2013
At "Educational Forums," enrich your spiritual journey by exploring our resources including videos of lectures, essays by priests, and other pieces about our faith, our church, and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in the 21st century.
Comments