Margaret’s Song

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  There was a king in Thule,  True even to the grave;  To whom his dying mistress  A golden beaker gave.  At every feast he drained it,  Naught was to him so dear,  And often as he drained it,  Gush’d from his eyes the tear.  When death came, unrepining  His cities o’er he told;  All to his heir resigning,  Except his cup of gold.  With many a knightly vassal  At a royal feast sat he,  In yon proud hall ancestral,  In his castle o’er the sea.  Up stood the jovial monarch,  And quaff’d his last life’s glow,  Then hurled the hallow’d goblet  Into the flood below.  He saw it splashing, drinking,  And plunging in the sea;  His eyes meanwhile were sinking,  And never again drank he. “Margaret’s Song” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) in “Faust. Part I.”

theological impotence

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"The African theologian who has experienced the agonies of having a burning appetite but nothing to eat will surely theologize differently on the on the theme of food from the American theologian who knows the discomfort of having a plate full of steak but no appetite." (Mbiti, John. "Theological Impotence." Third World Theologies. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1976.)

I look for evening snacks because I am hungry after their third meal of the day.
I couldn't decide what shirt to wear this morning.
I have at least five Bibles within reach (close to 20 if you count the ones on my computer).
I can sit in one place and be tempted to indulge just about every physical sense imaginable--all on the same computer screen I read Bibles on.
I have an estimate of 1500 books in my personal library (e-texts included).

I know of people who will feed their guests first, followed by father and the wife and children get whatever's left--and they think it rude if the guest does not eat.
I know of people with three shirts.
I know of people with portions of the Bible.
I know of people who practice church discipline.
I know of a library made up of an armload of books that serves training pastors in Western Kenya.

God help us and our pitiful excuse for theology.

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