Parable of the Talents

And then, 'Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.'

Then, he spoke of peace, rebuilding and healing. 'A strong Christian America,' he said, 'needs strong Christian American soldiers to reunite, rebuild, and defend it.' In almost the same breath, he spoke of both 'the generosity and the love that we must show to one another, to all of our fel­low Christian Americans,' and 'the destruction we must visit upon traitors and sinners, those destroyers in our midst.'

I'd call it a fire-and-brimstone speech, but what happens now?

sunday, february 6, 2033

Yesterday Marc told Bankole that he intended to hold ser­vices of his own on Gathering Day. He would, he said, speak just before our regular gathering. It seemed that he was remembering his time with the Durans in Robledo, remem­bering his carport church, and wanting to recapture that image of himself.

Bankole sent him to me. 'Don't go out of your way to make trouble,' Bankole told him. 'Your sister has been good to you. Tell her what you intend to do.'

'She can't stop me!' my brother said.

'Do what's right,' Bankole told him. 'You have a con­science. Don't go behind your sister's back.'

So later in the day, Marc found me sitting with Channa Ryan, sorting and cataloging books. We're always behind in that, and it needs to be done. All of our kids work on projects as part of their education. Each kid does at least one group project and one individual project per year. Most kids find the two unrelated projects influencing one another in unexpected ways. This helps the kids begin to learn how the world works, how all sorts of things interact and influence one another. The kids begin to teach themselves and one an­other. They begin to learn how to learn. With their mentors' help, they each choose some aspect of history, science, math, art, or whatever and learn it well enough to teach it. Then they do just that. They teach it. To do a good job, they need to be able to find out what information we have avail­able here and what they're going to have to go to the nets for. Since we aren't rich yet, the more we can offer them from our own library, the better.

Still, cataloging is tedious. I was almost glad when Marc came and interrupted my work. He and I went outside to talk.

'I want to get back to what I really care about,' he said as we sat together on a handsome bench that Allie Gilchrist had made. Allie's discovered a real liking for building furniture, and she's worked as hard to learn to do it well as she has to learn to assist Bankole well.

'What?' I asked Marc, hoping that what he wanted was something that we could accommodate. No one wanted more than I did for him to find his own interests and get into work that he cared about.

'I want to start my church again,' he said. 'I want to preach. I'm not asking your permission. I'm just letting you know. With Jarret in office, you need someone like me any­way so that you'll be able to say you're not a Satanist cult.'

I sighed. All of a sudden I could feel myself all but sagging with weariness and dread. But I only said, 'If Jarret noticed us and wanted to call us a Satanic cult, your preach­ing wouldn't stop him. Would you be willing to speak at Gathering?'

That surprised him. 'You mean while you're having your services?'

'Yes.'

'I won't talk about Earthseed. I want to preach.'

'Preach, then.'

'What's the catch?'

'You should know. You've been to our services. You choose the topic. You say what you want. But afterward there will be questions and discussion.'

'I'm not out to teach a class. I want to preach a sermon.'

'That's not our way, Marc. If you speak, you have to face questions and discussion. You need to be ready for that. Be­sides, no matter what you call it, a good sermon is just a les­son that you're trying to teach.'

'But... you won't try to get in the way of my preaching at the Gathering if I take questions afterward?'