Civilization is a wagon train, and Jesus is the master wheelwright. A wheelwright is a person who makes or repairs wooden wheels.
I am thinking of the covered wagons that were used used in North America during the 18th and 19th centuries.
A wheelwright would use elm for the hub, oak for the spokes, bend ash to make the felloe, and use steel for the rim.
The hub: the core of Jesus’ message: the dual concept of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man (use whatever language helps you access the party going on in the kingdom of God within you).
The spokes: the teachings that grow out of that core. Examples: the greatest commandment and its side-kick: Love God wholeheartedly and your neighbor as yourself. The invitation to worship in spirit and in truth and the call to do to others as you want others to do to you . . . and more.
The felloe: the philosophy that interfaces between spiritual idealism and scientific realism. For Jesus’ philosophy, start with the beatitudes.
The steel tire: science. Jesus’ generalized observations about psychology, sociology, and other areas of science were put in vivid images: taking the beam out of your own eye before trying to take the speck out of someone else’s eye; a house divided cannot stand, etc. Science is the interface between the spiritual and philosophical core and the other aspects of civilization and its context.
The trail: reality
A wagon wheel of truth crafted by the master wheelwright is the hope of slipping and sliding civilization.
Watch the 8:43 video or listen to the podcast episode.
Image credit: Building a wagon wheel. https://www.herpetologistsleague.com/how-to-build-a-wagon-wheel.html
Covered wagon in Scotts Bluff National Park, Nebraska: By Podruznik at English Wikipedia – Own work by the original uploader, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16388088
Information on the elements used in the wheel comes from my new friend Terry Picton http://creatureandcreator.ca/?p=2409
If three spokes are the minimum number of teachings. What would those three be?
Hi, Geoff. Your comment about spokes is a clever way of keeping the ball in play. Thank you.
I disagree with the premise, but I can try to keep the ball in play, too. Hillel replied to a questioner who challenged him to summarize the Torah fast, and he gave a version of the rule of living, the golden rule. Here’s a most powerful one-liner: “Be still and know that I am God.” I summarize truth sometimes in a pair of teachings, the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. But a friend of mine told me that a jazz combo with a small number of musicians isn’t complex enough for him to enjoy.
I find that I like the rhetorical balance of three items in a list; it gives a sense of wise maturity. My favorite worship-prompting sentence: O God, you are; you are in us; and we are in you.
With a smile and a turn of the wheel,
Jeff