Psalter Peregrinus II
Saturday, November 4, A.D. 2023, Octave of All Saints
1. Why do the heathen so furiously rage together? and why do the people imagine a vain thing?
What does the Wayfarer see, when she looks on the World-City? She sees an armed camp, a babel raised in revolt against the heavens, a churning storm of passions and ambitions. And she feels afraid, for she is no longer at home there. Rejecting the chaotic powers of the World-City, she has become an outsider, an enemy; the eyes that follow her are suspicious, and hungry.
2. The kings of the earth stand up and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against his Anointed:
3. Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us.
Driven by self-aggrandizing fantasies, the principalities of the World-City stamp in mad rebellion against the gentle Shepherd King. Heeding the commands of the brazen head they have devised, they measure the distances to the stars to abolish them. They hoard ingredients for ambrosia to eradicate bodily mortality. They map their profane order onto every wood and hill, damming every sacred river and cutting down every forest to build monuments to their pride. The castles of their imagination weigh more to them than the living earth.
4. He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision.
5. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure:
6. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion.
The Wayfarer hears a bell beyond the smoke-gray dome, and she understands. The World-City is but pale foam on the surface of the ocean, a passing corruption that seethes in vain. Unseen, the Shepherd is present in the very midst of her and cannot be removed, a mountain whose skirts the unsettled clouds will chaff in vain. His throne is set in the heart of all things, and with him is peace.
7. I will rehearse the decree; the LORD hath said unto me Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
The Wayfarer, listening, flies like a turtle-dove into the uncreated stillness at the center of her inward depths. There is her Shepherd, extending his crucified arms. In the face of her Shepherd, she finds her Father. Finding herself with them, she knows herself the Beloved Child.
8. Desire of me and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9. Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron and break them in pieces like potter’s vessel.
Love grants courage and remakes her vision. All things are her Father’s, and all things have been given to her, in the Shepherd of her heart, that she may delight in her Father’s presence with the everlasting delight of Lady Wisdom. Her royal Shepherd’s victory over the World-City is her victory. Its towers and ramparts are brittle husks, its hosts shadows, its authorities trembling ghouls. They are powerless against the triumph of Love.
10. Be wise now therefore O ye kings; be instructed ye that are judges of the earth.
11. Serve the LORD in fear and rejoice unto him with reverence.
12. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the right way if his wrath be kindled yea but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
On behalf of the World-City, the pilgrim Wayfarer repents. She offers up her every passion and ambition to be slain. She understands that in this sacrificial act she becomes the seat of the Shepherd in the midst of his enemies. When the ambitions of the World-City have become desolation, his star will yet shine in the east, and all powers in heaven and earth and under the earth will bring their tribute of ashes and kneel before him.
Read
Cassandra Nelson’s “Who’s Afraid of the Still, Small Voice? The Case for Faithful Presence in Schools” is a lovely articulation of a part of the dilemma Christian teachers face and how they can respond.
Peter Wei’s “The Confucian Cure For Tiger Parenting” at Palladium takes on the corruption of higher education and makes the case for the development of an alternative educational ecosystem, one focused on character, excellence in virtue, and humanistic learning rather than performance on institutional metrics.
Peco and Ruth Gaskovski have begun their Unmachining Toolbox with an essay on choosing family.
Eve Tushnet reviews Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life in “What Do Fungi Have to Do With Athens?” and muses in passing (as ought we all) on what it can teach us about resurrection and the Trinity.
Listen
Watch
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris was the first “art film” I ever watched. Still a great entry point to the probably greatest filmmaker in history.
Recordings of the Front Porch Republic Conference, including speeches from Paul Kingsnorth, are now online.