The Carving Element

We spent the last several days in the mountains of Western North Carolina. A few thunderstorms danced their way through the Blue Ridge as we drove up Grandfather Mountain on Tuesday and Wednesday. While Laura read and took more advantage of the mountain top (such as her excursions across the Mile-High Swinging Bridge), I spent time with Tom Wolfe, a nationally acclaimed caricature wood carver.

This was one of my dreams to be lived-out during this sabbatical. Wood carving has long been opportunity for me to relax, move my mental process from the left brain (where I tend usually to live) to my right brain, where I can simply become creative. We spent the day carving, with Tom expounding his lessons, interspersed by down-home, practical observations and opinions on politics, religion, and other matters of the world. A few jokes happened, also, to be bantered back-and-forth.

On the practical side, as it pertains to carving, I learned some valuable lessons. There is need for good tools; and though I have upgraded my supply by purchase and inheritance, I need to acquire some much better knives and gouges, as well as a quality power sharpening wheel. Second, good carving require good, well-researched plans. Third, listen well to the masters, then practice lots and find out what works best for you. Finally, make clean cuts and end up with a carving that isn’t busy with too much detail, but is clean and not raggedy. The carving, especially if it is caricature carving, does not have to be absolutely accurate. It only needs to look believable. Like Tom, I hope my carvings are able to bring about a smile.

The title of this sabbatical is “Carving Out Beloved Community.” Laura has been figuring out how I came up with this title. When you think about carving, it’s easy to picture the shavings that are left on the floor. But as Tom points out, putting a knife to the wood merely to make the shavings; carving is making something. When you wind up with a figure, “What do you call it?” he asks; “You don’t call it a whittling, you call it a carving.” So carving out beloved community is a matter of making something of our relationships. John de Gruchy says in his book, Reconciliation: Restoring Justice, that restorative justice is “…the justice that rebuilds God’s intended network of relationships.” That is what I believe we, as God’s reconciled children, are called to carve into a masterpiece reflective of God’s perfected Holy City.

There is a relation between the art of carving and the art of restorative justice. You live with a vision; you can even draw it out. Then, in hope of the finished product you proceed with the creative work. As you go along your way there will be unforeseen difficulties. In carving, it would be a missed stroke of a knife, a knot in the wood, a time you carve away too much wood. In the work of restorative justice the unexpected turn could be an incident of unexpected violence, an unforeseen economic downturn, an accident that interrupts the momentum of the work. With each surprise, it is important not to give up the work, for that would amount to giving up the vision and giving up hope. You just know that you remain, as a creator, in relationship with the wood or the relationships that need healing; these are the stuff of the finished product. Then, you adjust – you amend the vision a bit. You reposition an arm of the wooden figure; you engage in an act of public apology or forgiveness – and then you “see where you go from there.”