Newsletter Column: Arkenstone

Two leaders of the church here asked me to write a monthly standing feature for the new church newsletter. They may have gotten more than they bargained for. Anyhow, here's the "about" blurb that will go with the first copy, then below you'll see a couple of the early efforts.

About the column:

Back in the dawn of the ages, I came to Grace Haven Farm to work with Rivendell Arts Fellowship publishing Arkenstone magazine, which was to be a meeting point between the arts and Christianity. The name was taken from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, and is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word that means "precious stone." In the book, the dwarves claim the stone as a tribal treasure, but it ends up being a bargaining-piece to end the war between elves, dwarves, and men.

We Christians tend to be very tribal too, and we are tempted to keep the "holy stones" (another meaning for the ancient word) to ourselves, not realizing the power of our treasure to be a meeting-point with other tribes.