Excuse to talk about Gary Snyder

Deuteronomy 30:1-10
2 Corinthians 10:1-18

Here's one of those "oh-oh" passages, Deut. 30:8-9: "Then you shall again obey the LORD, observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and the LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors..." It's disappointing to see churches "sell" Christianity as a path to prosperity. Jesus really doesn't offer that--He was more into sell all your possessions and that camel through the eye of a needle business. Then you run across something like this and you say, OK they're looking at different parts. This really cries out for putting God's messages to the people in some sort of social and political context. The chosen people, who have been wandering through the desert, are coming in for their time of wealth, ease, and power in God's scheme.

But my favorite lines from today's lectionary was this from Corinthians:

"Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ."

The rhythms of these lines remind me of Gary Snyder's Smokey the Bear Sutra, and the metaphorical transferences to a realm of spiritual transformation. Here's a few lines:

• Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances; cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;
• His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display — indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma;
• Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the countless men oppressed by a civilization that claims to save but often destroys;
• Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the West, symbolic of the forces that guard the Wilderness, which is the Natural State of the Dharma and the True Path of man on earth: all true paths lead through mountains—

I adore this poem, so I look for any excuse to talk about it. Probably stretching things to compare it to Paul's letter, and I'm not sure Gary Snyder would dig it.