Readings:
Isaiah 50, 4-9, I gave my back to those who beat me.
Psalm 116, I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living.
James 2, 1-5, 14-18, What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Mark 8, 27-35, Take up your cross.
Genevieve and her mom, Mary, say, "Welcome in, Everybody."
Isaiah: observations
What is it about: 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Isaiah?
1st Isaiah, Chapters 1-39: predict doom for the Hebrews because they have not been faithful to their one god.
2nd Isaiah, Chapters 40-55: this & the remaining chapters are called The Book of Consolation. They try to assure the people who are now in exile that God will restore them to their former glory & peace. In fact, in chapter 45 the composer even mentions the name of Cyrus, the king of the Persians who defeats Babylon & sends the Hebrews back to Jerusalem. So the composer knew of Cyrus and a date can be narrowed down.
Sienna, too, and her dolly, welcome everybody.
This 2nd Isaiah section presents 4 suffering servant songs, #3 being our selection today. Jews see the servant to be the Hebrew people/nation. Christians see the servant to be Christ.
Isaiah 2 is considered maybe the most influential O.T. book. On Isaiah 2 Mark built much of his gospel, especially the story of the crucifixion.
Handel's Messiah uses 2nd Isaiah for its lyrics.
3rd Isaiah, Chapter 56-66: more assurances of a return to peace & glory.
Victoria would like everyone to know that she and her pet frog are also happy to see everybody.
Mark: observation
I do not like the line in Mark where he says we have to take up our cross. I have seen the negative result of this. Which is not to imply that we do not have to struggle to reach goals, like, say, 175 lbs.
Happiness is Victoria and her frog.
The 3 Beauties
This morning I would like to talk with you about 3 beauties I encountered the past ten days in Yosemite.
The first beauty has to do with the spectacular scenery we walk through, up, and down. We are ranging from, say, 7 thousand feet up to and beyond tree line, which is 10 thousand feet. The Lodgepole Pines, the grassy meadows, the streams, the vistas from three 10 thousand foot passes, all take my breath away.
Zoe says, "How about this Sigler, pretty nice."
This beauty is what brings me back time and again to the mountains, and especially to the Matterhorn Canyon trail that I discovered with the Jesuits maybe 20 years ago.
The second beauty is the memories I have of camping in the same places six, eight, or ten times in my life. At two places I was actually moved to tears.
Emma and Sienna are experts at nurturing little critters.
At the foot of Matterhorn Canyon there is a gorgeous campsite. You cross a shallow stream and on the left of the trail there is a pretty grove of trees and a grassy meadow in front of the grove.
I probably camped here 3-4 times, until we realized we wanted to get higher up the Canyon so we had less climbing to cross over Burrow Pass. I walked through the campsite with Mike and I could remember where I had put my tent one below freezing night. I could remember our fire ring and a tussle the group had once over one guy eating all the group’s peanut butter.
"Harper, it does not get prettier than this."
I remembered a night the first time I camped there with a Jesuit friend who taught at Berkeley. We had eaten dinner and were sitting around a campfire when a female deer came up behind me and put her head on my right shoulder. I was stunned, but not scared. Don Gelpi, my friend, had watched it all without saying a word. Don Gelpi is now dead and I missed him there.
Another campsite, my most favorite of all my campsites in the world, Piute Creek, just after coming over the Burrow Pass. It has the required creek. But it is spacious and off the trail enough so that people cannot even see the spot. It is grassy and shady.
Brandon and Leo at serious attention.
I camped in the same place where 6 years ago Tom & Lynda Fleming put up their tent, with Daniel’s tent just in front. I remembered all sorts of people there, Poncik, Gene Cooley, Larry Pigeon, Beth & Rob, Ryan Malphurs, Paul Fulce, and Ron Kovatis, as well as the Jesuits. I could see Fulce and Kovatis smoking cigars in a natural pool in the stream. These memories touch me to tears.
Music at Sigler Elementary, beautiful as ever.
The third beauty: the people I was with. You may find it hard to see beauty in people like Ray and Mike, but Beth was there. The beauty was the consideration each person showed for others. Ray was always up first in the morning ca. 6:00. He would fire up our little camp stove and heat water for coffee and oat meal. Many a morning I got up, got my cup, my Starbuck’s instant coffee, and my MooMoo milks, and had my first cup of coffee of the day. Ray also called the time for happy hour and cooked the evening meal prepared ahead of time by Rose Banzhaf.
Genevieve, "Is that old geezer finished talking yet?"
As an aside, we ate exceptionally well. Rose fixes casseroles and cobblers, freeze dries them, puts them in sealed packages, and we break out one set each evening. Plus, I must confess, we have a half pound of cheese, maybe a piece of dark chocolate, and a pint of Jack Daniels.
Mike & Andy, because they both have nimble feet, often helped me across slippery streams. No way do I want to fall and mess up one of my special hips.
"Emma, please tell me that you too are not sleeping when I talk."
Three priceless beauties, nature, memories, and companions.
Your priceless beauties?