In the new Coen Brothers movie, True Grit, a tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer. From the beginning a haunting and beautifully orchestrated melody plays, one familiar to anyone raised on old gospel hymns ~ Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,leaning on the everlasting arms;
what a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.

Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
leaning, leaning,leaning on the everlasting arms.

O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.

The lyrics are drawn from Deuteronomy 33:27: 27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ‘Destroy him!’

The philosophical Coen brothers, raised Jewish, know their Bible and they know a great story when they see it.  Interestingly,one line appears in three versions of “True Grit” (both movies & the Charles Portis’s True Grit novel): “You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free with the exception of God’s grace.”

Combining this line of narration with the musical variations of “leaning on the everlasting arms” is both subtle and brilliant.

The story behind the hymn is interesting too.

One day in 1887, after music class had been dismissed, Professor A.J. Showalter collected his books, locked up the church house and made his way across town to the boarding house where he had put up for his brief stay in Hartselle, Alabama. When he arrived, two letters from former students in South Carolina were waiting for him.

Showalter read the first letter. It bought the sad news that this student had just recently and suddenly lost his wife. The professor left the letter aside and decided to answer it later.

Opening the second one he found that it brought news identical to that of the first. What a tragic coincidence! Two former students had each been plunged into tragedy, through the same circumstances, and on the same day.

In an effort to console his two young friends Showalter wrote: “‘The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms’.” He paused, and put down his pen. In that single line of Scripture lay the theme of a great hymn. His pupils could read music, and they could sing – for he had taught them. Then why not write them a song of comfort instead of a letter? Quickly he wrote the Chorus: Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

God’s grace is unmerited favor and each hero on True Grit is flawed yet lovable.

The Coen brothers get it and the result is an endearing set of interesting characters upheld by their true grit and the everlasting arms of grace.

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, “these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have.” (For Now).

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, “these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have.” (For Now).

KindlingsFest 2010 explored theme of Friends for the Journey with Luci Shaw, Dr. Hal Poe, Dr. Jeff Keuss, Nigel Goodwin, Dr. Jerry Root, Jeff Johnson, and artists-in-residence Kathy Hastings, Bob Bennett and Corrie Moore. Join us in 2011 on Orcas Island July 27-30, 2011.

Hi there!  As of today, my newest book, About You, Fully Human: Fully Alive, is now available online and at bookstores everywhere.  If I may be so bold as to ask this favor? If you have enjoyed my writing, speaking, broadcasting, podcasting or whatever other contact we’ve had, I hope you run right out and buy a copy or order online for your kindle!  Please read it and then post online comments at Amazon, make mentions on your Facebook or blogs, or suggest this book for your book groups ~

In About You I explore three major themes:

One answers the question: What can humans do to please God?
St. Irenaeus answers saying, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

The second answers the question: What was the mission of Jesus?
Hans Rookmaaker answers saying, Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian; Jesus came to make us fully human.”
Here I try to show Jesus as a humanizer not religionizer

The third answers the question: What does fully human look like?
The answer comes from my own understanding that regardless of nationality, ethnic origin, religion or creed, each and every person on earth is a bearer of God’s image creatively, spiritually, intelligently, morally and relationally in ways unique to them.

Here are some stellar endorsements!
“The human race, in its mass confusion and conflict, asks the existential questions to which there seem to be no solid answers. In the sweep of a mere fourteen chapters, Dick Staub offers us the coherent narrative of the Why of humanity, the How of healing, and the Who of the Creator, giving firm ground for thoughtful questioners to stand on.”
—Luci Shaw, poet and author, Breath for the Bones, Harvesting Fog

“Broadcaster, writer, lover of all things C.S. Lewis, raconteur par excellence and great friend, Dick Staub is one of the few people I’ve met who truly cares about people becoming fully human. He is a faithful and effective guide on the journey to do just that.”
— Bill Kinnon, Moving Image creator, writer, blogger

“Dick Staub’s insight into our present age and our own deep longings lead us on a “rowdy pilgrimage” to discover the riches that lay within our unique design while pointing us to the fully human life.” —Scott and Pam Nolte, theatre artists and co-founders, Taproot Theatre

“Staub’s refreshingly honest book doesn’t flinch at the reality of our fallenness, but offers fresh insight into a profound mystery: Why does God love us? What is wrong with the current picture of our lives? How can it be painted more beautifully and truly to match the vision of the Artist?” —Bruce Herman, artist and Lothlorien Distinguished Chair in Fine Arts, Gordon College

“Dick Staub offers a cup of cold, clear water for all of those who thirst for something significant beyond the oft-superficial and bankrupt materialism of the prevailing culture.” —Jeff Johnson, singer and songwriter, Windham Hill/Ark Music

“About You  is a profound, capacious research into what we humans might both be and become as we find, focus and follow the intentionality of The Great Artist.”
—Nigel Goodwin, United Kingdom based actor and international arts advocate

“Dick Staub is a thoughtful, creative and insightful thinker, who journey’s into the deep questions of life.  About You is a treasure map, where Dick serves as both sage and guide, gently leading us to a broader understanding of our own humanity, it’s source and the fullness therein. A must read for fellow sojourners on the road to becoming fully human.” —John Priddy, CEO, Priddy Brothers

Hope to hear your feedback when you read About You!

• Order one of Dick’s books for Christmas! Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters OR

The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite:

Dear Friend of Staublog & The Kindlings

“In a poem every word must pull its own weight,” so said Irish poet Micheal O’Siadhail, as he and I talked over coffee about the cheapening of words in today’s culture.

It strikes me that the words that matter most, the Christmas words, are being robbed of their rich meaning in our casual gift card use these days.

Peace. Joy. Love. Thanksgiving. For these words to carry their own weight in the Holiday Season and year around, this is my prayer. The spiritual substance of these hoped for not yet fully seen gifts from God are ours when we allow God’s spirit to carry the weight of our lives, the burdens of our souls and all our heartaches and fears.

The lush lyrics of Christmas warm me this winter. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” “Oh come to my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for you.” “Jesus did come for to die for orn’ry people like you and like I.” “Son of God, loves pure light.” “Long lay the world in sin and error pining.” “Word of the Father now in flesh appearing.” These are words that carry their own weight.

But the need for a spiritual, creative intellectual renaissance has never been clearer. Poet T.S Eliot observed, “No culture has appeared or developed except together with a religion: according to the point of view of the observer, the culture will appear to be the product of the religion, or the religion the product of the culture.” American’s cultural and spiritual lives are spiraling downward together precisely because our religious and cultural lives reflect a symbiotic superficiality.

How do culture’s lose their way? In his later years Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” Since then I have spend well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”

Weighing heavy on my heart this Season are the financial challenges we are all facing in America, and The Kindlings is affected like everybody else. I share our situation with you so you might pray for us and please make a generous year-end-donation to help us if you can.

The unraveling economy has hit many of our donors and it is showing in a 40% drop in giving this year. We’ve trimmed back an already bare bones budget and are trusting God for guidance as this fiscal year comes to a close and the new year begins.

The 2010 plans for Staublog, The Kindlings Muse shows, Kindlings Hearth Retreats and Kindlings Fest are directly tied to donations friends like you send us this month.  In that sense your giving will determine whether or not we can proceed with our 2010 plans. We really need a huge boost this December ~ it will take $50,000 dollars  this month to allow us to continue full steam in the first quarter of 2010.

The Kindlings are working to fan a small glowing spark; to illuminate the path back to God in whose image we are created; to enrich the culture through our enriched and transformed lives, and to do it together, each of us doing our part to the glory of God.

With peace, joy, love and thanksgiving for your friendship and support, yours fort the pursuit of God in the company of friends,

For the benefit of the world,

Dick Staub

Please send as generous a donation as you can, if you can. All donations are tax deductible: CFC TAX 94-3329592

TO DONATE:

1) PAYPAL: Click the “make a donation” button on the upper right column The Kindlings home page

2) WRITE A CHECK TO: CFC/The Kindlings and mail it to:

The Kindlings

PO Box 729

Eastsound, WA 98245

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends for the benefit of the world,

Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, “these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have.” (For Now).