Street Sweeping

Matt Gray's recent blog post, "Here Lived a Great Street Sweeper", offers some important thoughts for those considering vocation. I especially appreciate the quote from Martin Luther King Jr.:

And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures… like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.

I personally do not feel called to sweep streets all my life, at least not literal streets; though doing so even temporarily welcomes a few worhty lessons. Rather, I wish to churn the dust of the ways of our culture, to remind what lies underneath the layers; and even below that—beneath the pavement that thought to quell Nature's advance; or to forget it, even replace it, with civilized institutions—recall what is true: that we are not in ultimate control. To recall that there is “being” beyond the self. To also remember that dust need not be associated with damage or collapse; that it was once associated with life: Adam. Hope. To remember that “in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King).

Soli deo gloria.

I was fortunate to work for Cleansweep Services Inc. for 2 months

Where does evil come from?

“Bad crops are from God, hunger is from man.” (Chaim Potok, Old Men at Midnight)

Though I do not universally agree with the aforementioned quote, it does say something true. (It need not be fully true to bear truth. It need not be called violence to be destructive.) It is a small thought: a prelude to a larger dialogue; one that has at least three facets, possibly four depending on perspective definitions.

Where does evil come from?

In part, it comes from man, from within each soul. For some it has become a fallen shadow that lingers for a breadth of time. For others it is an unfettered daemon, a curse that leads to madness. That the evil within man is real is difficult to counter. Where it comes from . . . well that is another perplexing topic.

For now the more pressing question, perhaps, is whether that presence within man—whether discovered, inherent, or given—is the end of the matter. Are we to accept it and survive? Are we to strive for fitness against it? Are we to ignore it?

In faith, I believe not.

It does not end there. It lingers, true, but that is all that it can do. It is a doomed spirit, a passing age. Yet how are we to begin to respond to it? To begin, a prelude: one of the greatest challenges that was once overcome. The task still remains, but the light illuminating the way to freedom has shifted. It has become more real. The shadows are not what they once were. They linger, yes, but they are weaker. Still, what are we to do? We are to begin. In each of our lives we must choose to begin what has already begun. We are to continue the beginning.

We are to live.

“At any minute it is what we are and are doing, not what we plan to be and do that counts.”
(J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien)

We are to love.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)

We are to confess.

“As we begin to acknowledge our own inner shadow, we become more tolerant of the shadow in others.” (Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers).

Soli deo Gloria. Amen.