fashioning a Christian ethic of clothing
Make no mistake: if he rose at all It was as His body; If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit, The amino acids rekindle, The Church will fall. It was not as the flowers, Each soft spring recurrent; It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the… Continue reading Texts & Textiles: John Updike
Before this year becomes too cluttered with daily tasks and joys and sorrows, it's important to remember the Story that gives these days their meaning
The work of our heads, hearts, and hands can become lamps we hold aloft for Christ, lighting our way to the feast He will call--at any moment--for us to join.
Blessed are the timid hearts that evil hate that quail in its shadow, and yet shut the gate; that seek no parley, and in guarded room, though small and bate, upon a clumsy loom weave tissues gilded by the far-off day hoped and believed in under Shadow's sway. Blessed are the men of Noah's race… Continue reading Texts & Textiles: JRR Tolkien
She who reconciles the ill-matched threads of her life, and weaves them gratefully into a single cloth— it's she who drives the loudmouths from the hall and clears it for a different celebration where the one guest is you. In the softness of evening it's You she receives. You are the partner of her loneliness,… Continue reading Texts & Textiles: Rainer Maria Rilke
Who then devised the torment? Love. Love is the unfamiliar Name Behind the hands that wove The intolerable shirt of flame Which human power cannot remove. We only live, only suspire Consumed by either fire or fire. Eliot, T.S. "Little Gidding." Four Quartets. London: Faber & Faber, 1943. IV.
Make me, O Lord, thy Spining Wheele compleate. Thy Holy Worde my Distaff make for mee. Make mine Affections thy Swift Flyers neate And make my Soule thy holy Spoole to bee. My Conversation make to be thy Reele And reele the yarn thereon spun of thy Wheele. Make me thy Loome then, knit therein… Continue reading Texts & Textiles: Edward Taylor
The merchants that came from all lands, bringing their wares at the bidding of the Queen, found the people eager and willing to buy. […] ‘But why,’ asked the Queen, 'should we buy foreign wares? Why not weave these softer fairer stuffs ourselves?’ 'The people know not the art of weaving such stuffs,’ replied her… Continue reading Texts & Textiles: Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland
I've seen weavers tackle all kinds of interesting materials. Beyond the traditional linen, wool, silk, or cotton, you can find weavers creating fabrics from paper, wood, metal, and more. But what in the world does it mean when someone claims to "weave truth"? The injunction to "weave truth with trust," however, stands as the motto… Continue reading Weave Truth with Trust
Wonder. Curiosity. Courage. All these are signs that a craft has overcome my fear, and is leading me into something larger than myself. Learning tablet weaving has reminded me that without hope and without risk, we cheat ourselves from disciple of virtue, from gifts essential to human flourishing.
