Leavening

My name is Lauren Smelser (this is a picture of me and my mom), and here are my stats: I have an M.A. in English and currently teach freshman writing and grammar classes at Harding University. I am from Alabama...the land of cotton, four wheelers, big hair, and outhouses. Just kidding about the outhouses.

Our dear old pal Henry David Thoreau, in Resistance to Civil Government, says that "It is not so important that many should be as good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump." I love the idea that humanity is a "lump;" it seems strangely fitting...after all, don't we all feel "deferential, glad to be of use; politic, cautious, and meticulous; full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; at times, indeed, almost ridiculous—-almost, at times, the Fool"? (Aah, bask in the glory of T.S. Eliot). The point is, if we could somehow all get together, I mean ALL of us, we wouldn't be more than just one big lump of humanity: obtuse, ridiculous, and the "best" of us only full of high sentence.

But then there's Jesus Christ, the only one of us who seems to really stand out. There's something about his words, his Galileean accent, his hands that touch the untouchables...that makes real sense to all of us Fools when we finally notice. And then, subtlely, there is a rising up---not only of souls, but also of personalities and conversations and hopes. Christ, the Bread of Life and absolute goodness somewhere, leavens the whole lump.

I am excited to go on this trip because this God of ours is at work, and I wonder what His face will show itself to be in Vancouver---what has risen and will rise there as a result of his irreplaceable personality.