Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Skåne
Emil shared with me his notions of Christian baptism. As he explains it, Christians have a strange and lovely greeting for their Norsemen visitors. It seems Christians have three gods and the churches are castles of great wealth. “When you arrive at the Christian castle they anoint you with oil, as though you are also a king. Then they let you bath while they chant magic spells.”
So, in these chests that are rower’s seats here, these men have their own personal collections of chism – a symbol for them of Christian wealth, and they share the Pagen secret for collecting them.
As a Christian, the anointing and the chism are symbols of contrition and forgiveness of sin. This whole thing would be surprising to Jesus, I’m sure. But as I consider my friend, teacher of God’s relentless love, this game of heathens collecting chism, with the anointing, simply offers a metaphor for grace – gifts freely given. Some of the priests offering this ritual are surely aware of grace, but probably some think there is a payback here – great numbers of heathen rescued from Hell is a score for the imperialistic inheritance of Christianity.
To me, it seems a little miss-understanding of the grace of God but apparently it pleases everyone. The only real worry is about the miss-understandings that please no one – the confusions that lead us into hate and hurts with our loved ones and into wars with strangers. And when the talk is all about arming men, building sleek, fast ships and all that is happening at these harbors, there is a tangle in the love thread, a misunderstanding that will lead to many deaths.
I ask Emil, “What enemy are we arming ourselves for?”
“Enemy? It isn’t like a war where the enemy is another king’s men.”
“That’s good to hear, because I’m really not favorable to wars.”
“If you had traveled to all the far places, you would see the world is rich with treasures. Kings in their castles, Christians in their golden towers said to honor un-seeable gods, rising up from amid the hovels and houses. All these riches – silks and linens in purples and blues – chests of gold – they have great halls just for artists in the inks – and in those halls the soldiers are only armed with quills and they never prepare for battle — they don’t forge spears or carve ships — they just paint their little designs on parchment. I’ve seen it myself.”
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 