C.J. Cherryh's Protector - SPOILER ALERT

I just finished re-reading C.J. Cherryh's entire Foreigner series.  It is the only series that has more than five books and follows the same characters that I have ever finished (I tried with the Wheel of Time series, really I did!).  The latest (as of 6 DEC 2013) and fourteenth novel, Protector, was released in April 2013.  I read it for the first time in May and just finished the second reading last night.

Cherryh's ability to build characterization and produce interesting and convoluted plots is a continual joy.  SPOILER ALERT.  My favorite part of this book came at the very end, after the action of the climax when we learn more about Bren's faithful and enigmatic bodyguard, Banichi.  We learn a little bit, a very little bit, of Banichi's backstory.  Part of the interest comes from the emotion Bren feels toward Banichi, the forbidden emotion of friendship, of liking, that drives Bren to ask questions of his most enigmatic bodyguard, Algini.  Another part of the interest comes from Bren's confession of ignorance.  Bren is remarkably astute throughout the series which makes his self-doubt and grasping after the rare emotion he allows himself all the more satisfying when manifested.  The final, and most satisfying, part of the scene, is Bren's response to Algini at the end - "Take care of Banichi, nadiin-ji.  Keep him safe." - commending Banichi's wellbeing to his fellow Atevi as the best thing for Banichi and trusting those people to both keep Banichi safe and tell Bren if there is ought he can do to achieve that very same goal.

My favorite line in the book came on page 329: "Geigi, he suspected, had sat back at his desk, scarily satisfied."

Knowing Geigi, an Ateva equally understated and powerful, with all the backstory that came before, and all the estimable strategy and knowledge brought to bear in that person, and knowing that given a problem with infinite solutions and the odds thought to be stacked against his side that Geigi made the best possible choice - Cherryh timed the emotional and intellectual impact of that revelation perfectly.  

The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns

I was thankful that Thanksgiving fell on a weekend that was also the first Sunday of the month since that is when my home church has Communion (odd numbered Sundays).  I also love to sing the 'extra' hymns that come with the Holy Supper.  Well, not so much the singing since I can't always hit the right notes, but I like the extra dose of Lutheran doctrine that comes with the hymn text.  So you can imagine my joy when one of my favorite Advent hymns was the third 'extra' hymn!  I was at the rail during the second hymn and was delighted when the opening bars of The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns started and continued and continued and... changed.  Then I was not so delighted as I realized we were not going to sing the hymn because there were not enough people left in the Communion line to warrant it, I suppose.

Sadness!  Grief!  Despair!

Okay, maybe not despair.  But I did go home and I looked it up in my Lutheran Service Book and I pulled it up on YouTube and I sang it myself.

Happiness.

As with Advent itself, the joy and scope of this song are wonderful.  The first verse tells of Christ's second Advent and the joy that will awaken for those who are His.  Verse two tells us how the second Advent will be different from the first.  The third verse says that our joy will be greater even than it is because Christ, an acceptable sacrifice, was raised, victorious.  This is echoed in verse four.  Finally, the people of God pray eagerly for that day when our present suffering will be at an end and we will be united with Christ in joy for eternity.

The King shall come when morning dawns
And light triumphant breaks,
When beauty gilds the eastern hills
And life to joy awakes.

Not as of old a little child,
To bear and fight and die,
But crowned with glory like the sun
That lights the morning sky.

Oh, brighter than the rising morn
When Christ, victorious, rose
And left the lonesome place of death
Despite the rage of foes.

Oh, brighter than that glorious morn
Shall dawn upon our race
The day when Christ in splendor comes
And we shall see His face.

The King shall come when morning dawns
And light and beauty brings.
Hail, Christ the Lord!  Your people pray:
Come quickly, King of kings!

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

It's hard to pick my favorite season of the church year.  It would likely be a cop-out to say that whatever season we are in is my favorite, but there is something wonderful about each of them.  However, my favorite just might be Advent.

Advent means 'coming'.  During Advent we anticipate the coming of our Savior - past, present, and future - and wait with joy and longing.  Yes, Christmas is nice.  In fact, it's wonderful.  At Christmas Christ became incarnate.  God's love for us is so great that he put Himself into a world corrupted by sin.  How strange and marvelous!  But as with a long-awaited vacation, the planning and anticipation are at least half of the excitement.  Advent lets us look forward with delight and gladness to the fulfillment of God's promise to us, namely a Savior, who will free us from Satan's power, make us right before God, and eventually, finally, take us to be with him forever.

The world waits only for things.  They wait for that which rust and moth may destroy.  The children of God, meanwhile, wait for the riches of the heavenly King.  The gift of God is eternal life, through the Christ for whom we now wait.

And so, with deep yearning and wonder, and confident that we possess now, and shall possess on that final day, that which was promised - a ransom who died our death, for our sins - we rejoice in anticipation.  Our certainty is in Christ, our most precious gift, even as we wait for his second Advent.



O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God Appear
Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel,
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who ord'rest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel,
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai's height
In ancient times didst give the Law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel,
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Branch of Jesse's tree,
Free them from Satan's tyranny
That trust Thy mighty pow'r to save,
And give them vict'ry o'er the grave.
Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel,
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel,
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Sun and Shadow

By: Oliver Wendell Holmes

As I look from the isle, o'er its billows of green,
To the billows of foam-crested blue,
Yon bark, that afar in the distance is seen,
Half dreaming, my eyes will pursue:
Now dark in the shadow, she scatters the spray
As the chaff in the stroke of the flail;
Now white as the sea-gull, she flies on her way,
The sun gleaming bright on her sail.

Yet her pilot is thinking of dangers to shun --
Of breakers that whiten and roar;
How little he cares, if in shadow or sun
They see him who gaze from the shore!
He looks to the beacon that looms from the reef,
To the rock that is under his lee,
As he drifts on the blast, like a wind-wafted leaf,
O'er the gulfs of the desolate sea.

Thus drifting afar to the dim-vaulted caves
Where life and its ventures are laid,
The dreamers who gaze while we battle the waves
May see us in sunshine or shade;
Yet true to our course, though the shadows grow dark,
We'll trim our broad sail as before,
And stand by the rudder that governs the bark,
Nor ask how we look from the shore!



Some things are important and it's vital to pay attention to them.  Some things are inconsequential and can safely be ignored.  Some things, whether life is easy or life is troubled, must always remain a focus.  The consequences should a person do otherwise...

From the Frontier of Writing

The tightness and the nilness round that space

when the car stops in the road, the troops inspect

its make and number and, as one bends his face

towards your window, you catch sight of more

on a hill beyond, eyeing with intent

down cradled guns that hold you under cover

and everything is pure interrogation

until a rifle motions and you move

with guarded unconcerned acceleration-

a little emptier, a little spent

as always by that quiver in the self,

subjugated, yes, and obedient.

So you drive on to the frontier of writing

where it happens again.  The guns on tripods;

the sergeant with his on-off mike repeating

data about you, waiting for the squawk

of clearance; the marksman training down

out of the sun upon you like a hawk

And suddenly you're through, arraigned yet freed,

as if you'd passed from behind a waterfall

on the black current of a tarmac road

past armor-plated vehicles, out between

the posted soldiers flowing and receding

like tree shadows into the polished windscreen.

Seamus Heaney uses perspective in a way that centers on one person but shows a panorama.  I like the broad view of this singular scene and the narrative he uses to achieve it.  I particularly like the third stanza, its rhythm and resonance.  To me, it is the emotional heart of the poem.

From Guinevere

Today's offering is from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Idylls of Arthur - Guinevere:

And courtliness, and the desire of fame,

And love of truth, and all that makes a man.

And all this throve before I wedded thee,

Believing, "lo mine helpmate, one to feel

My purpose and rejoicing in my joy."

Then came thy shameful sin with Lancelot;

Then came the sin of Tristan and Iseult;

Then others, following these my mightiest knights,

And drawing foul example from fair names,

Sinned also, till the loathsome opposite

Of all my heart had destined did obtain,

And all through thee! so that this life of mine

I guard as God's high gift from scathe and wrong,

Not greatly care to lose; but rather think

How sad it were for Arthur, should he live,

What draws me to this is not the casting of blame, though it is present.  (We do so love to justify ourselves.)  Rather, it is the tremendous impact one sin can have.  Here, Guinevere's sin has caused the destruction of everything important to Arthur, including their relationship.  He no longer cares whether he lives or dies.  What he had, what he thought he had, has shattered.  His closest personal relationships - that with his wife, that with his friend Lancelot - are broken.  

Furthermore, he is the king.  One sin's destruction makes wide waves throughout his kingdom, rippling out to affect everyone within it.  We see Arthur's sorrow.  He sees his people's sorrow.  Heartbroken for his marriage, heartbroken for his people, living now seems a burdensome task.  What once he held as highest gift, he is not bothered now to lose.

What we define as love is no such thing.

The Most Important Decision

Is your heart an ocean so strong and deep,
I may launch my all on its tide?
A loving woman finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.

From A Woman's Question by Lena Lathrop


The most important decision a person will make is who they choose to marry.  This poem is written from the woman's perspective but change a few nouns and pronouns to the masculine in the last two lines and it holds just as true.

One way to find marriage like heaven is through three words - the three most important words in a marriage.  What are they?

I forgive you.

And why do we forgive?

Because.  Because we are all sinners in need of grace.  We have all sinned and will sin again, and again, and again, and again, and Christ has won for us forgiveness, freely given.  He has declared us righteous and we are.  That is joy-bringing knowledge.  Knowing what joy it brings us to be forgiven, doesn't it make sense that we would extend forgiveness to the person with whom we have been made one?