shouldering sheaves

I just harvested my test plot of flax. I haven’t winnowed the seed yet, but I expect the harvest yielded at least ten-fold!

I could feel the harvest joy as I threshed the seed from the golden pods in the warm summer sun. The pods somehow reminded me of persimmons.

those who go out weeping carrying the seed

will return again with joy shouldering their sheaves

psalm 126.6

With the harvest well upon us, and some chilly mornings heralding the approach of autumn, I’m taking pause to consider changes and the colder season. In that spirit, I’m planning out the next few months of blog posts.

So, in late summer and autumn the Boat&Table blog will welcome some guest writers. They will grow the swarm of images, ideas, reflections, encouragement and provocations we’re trying to collect here. Like in previous posts, they’ll take inspiration from seasons, feasts and saint’s days in the church calendar, and go from there.

I will also write a series of posts where I dwell for 7-8 weeks on the medieval monastic, mystic and theologian Hugh of St Victor. His work has been a guiding inspiration for me and the B&T workshop project. Hugh saw the saving work of Jesus Christ as involved in all the types of human work and knowledge. Salvation is God’s work of growing and maturing us in wisdom and love, becoming more whole beings. I’ll introduce Hugh and the Abbey of St Victor where he lived and worked. Most of the posts will dip into Hugh’s “Didascalicon”. This book shows Hugh as a contemplative mystic, an appreciator of the wide range of science, crafts, trades and arts, and as a a keen and heartful reader of scripture.