Wendell
Berry says that there are things about a farm which a farmer learns only by
living on the land over time, tending to it in season and out of season,
watching how the wind sweeps across it, observing how water flows over it,
seeing the tracks of animals that call it home, and listening to the wisdom of
those who cared for and tended to the land in times past.
Berry says that there are things about a farm which a farmer learns only by
living on the land over time, tending to it in season and out of season,
watching how the wind sweeps across it, observing how water flows over it,
seeing the tracks of animals that call it home, and listening to the wisdom of
those who cared for and tended to the land in times past.
And,
a farmer becomes a farmer by keeping company with other farmers and by doing
the hard work of farming even before one knows fully why or how to do it. Berry wrote:
a farmer becomes a farmer by keeping company with other farmers and by doing
the hard work of farming even before one knows fully why or how to do it. Berry wrote:
My grandson, who is four years old, is now following his father
and me over some of the same countryside that I followed my father and grandfather
over. When his time comes, my grandson
will choose as he must, but so far all of us have been farmers. I know from my grandfather that when he was a
child he too followed his father in this way, hearing and seeing, not knowing
yet that the most essential part of his education had begun.
and me over some of the same countryside that I followed my father and grandfather
over. When his time comes, my grandson
will choose as he must, but so far all of us have been farmers. I know from my grandfather that when he was a
child he too followed his father in this way, hearing and seeing, not knowing
yet that the most essential part of his education had begun.
And so in this familiar spectacle of a small boy tagging along
behind his father across the fields, we are part of a long procession, five
generations of which I have seen, issuing out of generations lost to memory . .
. I am in the middle now between my
grandfather and my father, who are alive in my memory, and my son and my
grandson, who are alive in my sight. If
my son, after thirty more years have passed, has the good pleasure of seeing
his own child and grandchild in that procession, then he will know something
like what I know now.
behind his father across the fields, we are part of a long procession, five
generations of which I have seen, issuing out of generations lost to memory . .
. I am in the middle now between my
grandfather and my father, who are alive in my memory, and my son and my
grandson, who are alive in my sight. If
my son, after thirty more years have passed, has the good pleasure of seeing
his own child and grandchild in that procession, then he will know something
like what I know now.
This living procession through time in a place is the
record by which such knowledge survives and is conveyed. When the procession ends, so does the
knowledge (Life is a Miracle, pp. 151-153).
record by which such knowledge survives and is conveyed. When the procession ends, so does the
knowledge (Life is a Miracle, pp. 151-153).
Learning
to be a Christian is not so different from leaning to be a farmer. We tag-along behind Jesus, hearing what he
trains us to hear, seeing what he points out to us, doing what he shows us how
to do, and, over time, becoming what he is.
Being a Christian is not mainly ideas we have or beliefs we affirm; it
is a whole way of life. Christians are
people who are learning, by experience, to do all of life in the Jesus-way.
to be a Christian is not so different from leaning to be a farmer. We tag-along behind Jesus, hearing what he
trains us to hear, seeing what he points out to us, doing what he shows us how
to do, and, over time, becoming what he is.
Being a Christian is not mainly ideas we have or beliefs we affirm; it
is a whole way of life. Christians are
people who are learning, by experience, to do all of life in the Jesus-way.
Jesus
teaches us to love, not first by having us read essays on the nature of love,
but by taking us where hurting and lonely people are and challenging us to be
their friends and helpers. He shows us
how to trust, not first by offering us arguments for the reasonableness of
faith, but by coming to our sides in situations where we have no choice but to
lean on God and to draw on strength we don’t know we have. The theories and the arguments will make
sense only in the wake of experience.
teaches us to love, not first by having us read essays on the nature of love,
but by taking us where hurting and lonely people are and challenging us to be
their friends and helpers. He shows us
how to trust, not first by offering us arguments for the reasonableness of
faith, but by coming to our sides in situations where we have no choice but to
lean on God and to draw on strength we don’t know we have. The theories and the arguments will make
sense only in the wake of experience.
Encounter
first, then interpretation. Following first, then theology. Practice first, then
philosophy. Experience first, then understanding.
first, then interpretation. Following first, then theology. Practice first, then
philosophy. Experience first, then understanding.
Just
tag-along with Jesus—everything else will come when the time is right and we
are ready.
tag-along with Jesus—everything else will come when the time is right and we
are ready.
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