{"id":4163,"date":"2021-11-29T02:34:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=4163"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:34:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:34:37","slug":"blackberry-pickers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=4163","title":{"rendered":"BLACKBERRY PICKERS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today’s blog post is meant to do double duty \u2013 it will give me something to post here AND it will help me sort through aspects of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>a paper I have to write by Wednesday, comparing two books:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>You<\/span>\u00a0are What You Love\u00a0<\/span><\/span>by James K. A. Smith and\u00a0<\/span>For the Life of the World<\/span>\u00a0by Alexander\u00a0<\/span>Schmemann<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Smith\u2019s book contends that humans are shaped by their pursuit of what they most love. And even though we believers say we love God,\u00a0we are living in a culture which is<\/span>\u00a0caught up in the pursuit of material pleasures and entertainment.\u00a0<\/span>Our characters<\/span>\u00a0and spirits<\/span>\u00a0are shaped by our habits \u2013 holy habits\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>such as worship and the\u00a0<\/span>liturgies<\/span>\u00a0of the church<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0form us<\/span>\u00a0as disciples while worldly habits\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>like consumerism<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and bing<\/span>e-watch<\/span>ing Netflix\u00a0<\/span>slowly\u00a0<\/span>de-form\u00a0<\/span>us.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Schmemann\u2019s\u00a0book is interesting \u2013 and challenging \u2013 because he writes from an Eastern Orthodox perspective<\/span>, a tradition which\u00a0<\/span>closely<\/span>\u00a0embraces ritual and liturgy and sees them as\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0gateway to the great mysteries of life and faith.\u00a0<\/span>Schmemann wants his readers to get beyond\u00a0<\/span>the idea of sacraments as mere symbols of reality and to get beyond\u00a0<\/span>the arguments over the mechanics of\u00a0<\/span>various sacraments (questions like \u201cWhen and in what way does the bread become the body of Christ?\u201d) and i<\/span>nstead experience\u00a0<\/span>sacraments<\/span>\u00a0as a window into deeper realities<\/span>, God\u2019s very present holiness embedded in our physical experiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

My paper is meant to explore what the books have in common, and I think it is this:\u00a0a warning against\u00a0<\/span>making a false division between the spiritual and the physical.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

It put me in mind of a famous line by poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cEarth\u2019s crammed with heaven, \/And every common bush afire with God; \/But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, \/The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

When I looked up the poem containing this line, I was excited to see my instinct was right: Browning,<\/span>\u00a0as Smith and Schmemann<\/span>\u00a0after her<\/span>, warned against dividing the spiritual and the physical:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cNatural things,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

And\u00a0spiritual,\u2014<\/span>who separates those two<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

In art, in morals, or the social drift, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Tears up the bond of nature and brings\u00a0death,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Paints futile pictures, writes unreal verse,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Leads vulgar days, deals ignorantly with\u00a0men,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Is wrong, in short, at all points.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

The result of not seeing the spiritual reality embedded in the physical is that\u00a0humans\u00a0<\/span>sit around picking blackberries, unaware of the glory of God around us. Furthermore, according to Browning<\/span>, humans then \u201c<\/span>daub their natural faces unaware,\u00a0<\/span>\/<\/span>More and more from the first similitude.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Her image is this: the blackberry pickers also\u00a0apply more and more makeup to their own faces, all the while getting further and further<\/span>\u00a0from\u00a0<\/span>the image of who they<\/span>\u00a0were created to be in the first place!\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

I don’t want to be a blackberry picker, do you?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s blog post is meant to do double duty \u2013 it will give me something to post here AND it will help me sort through aspects of\u00a0a paper I have to write by Wednesday, comparing two books:\u00a0You\u00a0are What You Love\u00a0by James K. A. Smith and\u00a0For the Life of the World\u00a0by Alexander\u00a0Schmemann.\u00a0\u00a0 Smith\u2019s book contends that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4164,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4163\/revisions\/4164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}