Penguins and Golden Calves

The title to this post is also the title of a book I cam currently reading. It was written by Madeline L'Engle and is rooted in a trip to Antarctica that she took in 1992 (at the age of seventy-four). She is probably best known for new Newbery award winning children's book A Wrinkle in Time. Like George MacDonald and Hannah Hurnard, she departed from orthodoxy into Universalism, and you should read her work with an awareness of that fact, I still greatly enjoy her writing, and I am particularly enjoying this book.

Given the Antarctic inspiration for the book, I suppose the penguins in the title make sense, but the book is primarily about "icons" (as opposed to "idols" - thus the Golden Calf reference). Here is a quote from the book that will hopefully elucidate what she means when she uses the term "icon":

"If it's impossible for me to describe the wild wonderfulness of Antarctica, it is equally impossible for me to describe what I, personally, mean by an icon. I am not thinking of the icons so familiar in the orthodox church, icons of Christ, the Theotokos, saints, painted on wood and often partially covered with silver. My personal definition is much wider, and the simplest way I can put it into words is to affirm that an icon, for me, is an open window to God. An icon is something I can look through and get a wider glimpse of God and God's demands on us, el's mortal children, than I would otherwise. It is not flippant for me to say that a penguin is an icon for me, because the penguin invited me to look through its odd little self and on to a God who demands that we eb vulnerable as we open ourselves to intimacy which leads not only to love of creature, but to love of God."

I really like the thought that God can use the things of this world to break through and reveal some aspect of Himself to us in a sudden, unexpected and poignant way, and that subsequently, so long as we are careful not to stray into idolatry, we can hold on to some of these as meaningful representations of divine reality and we can revisit them in order to gain a measure of perspective and insight.

I am reading through this book, albeit a bit slowly -- amidst the busyness of life one never has as much time to read as one would wish -- but perhaps that is for the best. I find that I read a bit more slowly not than I did when I was younger. Reading used to be almost a race. The more I liked a book, the faster I would read it. I would devour books, greedy to get through them. I am sure that I got a lot out of them, but I think I missed a lot as well. I continue to learn to slow down and enjoy the journey as I read, especially the book I read for pleasure, relaxation, and rejuvenation. I find that a more measured pace allows me to be a bit more contemplative, meditative, and reflective as I read. I get through less in a sitting, but I get more out of what I do read. Who knows, if I continue this way, maybe by the time I am 50 I will be able to read poetry properly.

I will probably write a bit more about this book in future posts, but I'd better sign off for now.