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Aboard the S.S. Absurdity

On January 25, 2024

How I learned to stop worrying and love the cruise.

Let us begin with a short litany of the preposterous: there is an ice skating rink, a carousel, a park with actual trees, a bar that floats up and down across multiple decks, an English pub (not to mention a sports bar, karaoke bar, jazz bar, poolside bar, adults-only bar, wine bar, champagne bar, piano bar, Spanish bar, and fully automated robotic bar), 20 restaurants and dining areas, five swimming pools, nine monstrous jacuzzis, two separate surfing simulators, four water slides (plus a fifth “dry” slide), a zip-line experience, a pair of rock climbing walls, an arcade, a miniature golf course, a Broadway-sized theatre, a two-story music hall, and an outdoor aquatics amphitheater featuring a 60-foot high dive pool whose bottom can split into three parts that independently float all the way up to the surface to become a platform.

There is a full spa, nail salon, IV therapy area, fitness center, and massage clinic. There is an outdoor basketball court, which is retrofitted for tennis, pickleball, volleyball, soccer, and even hockey. There is a full casino. An art gallery. A promenade with shops displaying fine watches, accessories, apparel, beachwear, and jewelry. There is a vintage 1930 Auburn Boattail Speedster convertible parked just down from the full-service Starbucks.

All of this is onboard a single ship.

Wednesdays: “I am not listening.”

By James D. Hogan

On January 3, 2024

In writing

FAITH

Sometimes God listens, and sometimes he doesn’t.

Throughout Advent this past year, I’ve been reading through the Book of Isaiah. As a refresher, Isaiah was a prophet writing about 800 years before the birth of Christ. The book, which many scholars attribute to multiple authors, follows along with the fall of Israel and its occupation. Frequently, Isaiah proclaims a prophecy of a new king of Israel to come, a foreshadowing of the birth of Christ*.

Back in December we were pondering through a text in Isaiah in Bible study, and it struck me that 800 years is a long, long time. Isaiah was predicting something he would never live to see–not just him, but not even his great-great-great-great-grandchildren. That’s a lot of darkness to peer into.

Anyway, last night I flipped back to the very beginning of Isaiah. It’s poetry, but it isn’t pretty.

While He May Be Found

By James D. Hogan

On December 9, 2023

In writing

Dall-e made an image for me of someone lost in the wilderness.

God is not Time and Temperature

Episcopalians who are familiar with the Morning Prayer liturgy may remember in its Rite II form a canticle that comes from the second of Isaiah’s four servant songs.

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
ISaiah 55:6-7

Isaiah is a regular stop on the Advent cycle. During this season, in fact, the Morning Prayer liturgy opens with two different pieces of scripture from this book. They offer two ideas: that we are in the wilderness, and that God will soon reveal himself to us.

You might remember the prophet Isaiah from the token verse of his calling. God asked who he should send, and Isaiah answered, “Here am I! Send me!” I admit that as a child, whatever I assigned to Isaiah in my brain was dramatically reduced to lines like that–but it’s worth remembering that this prophet lived and wrote some 800 years before the birth of Christ. The book’s narrative essence follows a time of captivity, a time of punishing Babylonian captivity and exile, and afterward, a time of restoration.

I receive a daily Advent meditation by email, and this morning’s scripture was Isaiah 55:6-13, which begins with the passage quoted above. For some reason, the first sentence landed differently: Seek the Lord while he may be found.

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