Naming the Dragons
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is celebrated, and C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series is beloved by adults and children alike, but my favorite fantasy story is Ursula Le Guin’s original Earthsea trilogy, published between 1968 and 1972.
Le Guin’s protagonist is the wizard Ged, of prodigious powers rivaling Tolkien’s Gandalf or, for that matter, J.K. Rowling’s Albus Dumbledore. But unlike those aged wizards, Ged is a boy, and in the first book he must learn not only how to harness his power but also how to mature in life.
The most captivating thing about Le Guin’s mythos is how magic works. For the most part, great spells are not cast and fire does not reign down from the heavens. In Earthsea, at the dawn of time the Creator bestowed upon each thing in creation, even those yet to exist, a true name. Over the eons, this ancient, true language was forgotten, and the true names of all things became unknown. Except, that is, by the wizards. All that magic is in the world of Earthsea is the knowledge of the ancient language, of the true names of things.
So, how does that play out? As a young wizard, Ged is contracted to save the island of Pendor from a dragon who has ravaged the countryside. When Ged finds and approaches the dragon, and after despatching her dragon children, he is cowed by her mammoth size and fearsome appearance. She is as big as a mountain with teeth like sabers. She is fearsome, and she threatens Ged, but the wizard regains his composure when he remembers his magic: Ged knows the dragon’s name. Ged pauses and stills himself to recollect the true name of what he is facing. He speaks it, “Yevaud,” and once he has named the dragon, she loses the power to hurt him. She is still huge; her teeth are still razor sharp; she still breathes fire. Indeed, her very presence still makes Ged shudder. But she cannot hurt him, because he has named her truly. He has seen her in her essence, and once he has done so he can stand.
I love Le Guin’s mythos because, like all good myths, it embodies universal truth. In our real world, Le Guin’s lesson about naming truly does, indeed, have such power that it may seem like magic. This is borne out in the Gospels as well. Again and again, the demons fear Jesus because Jesus knows their names, and they know his. Beneath the demons’ bluster and threat, both Jesus and the demons recognize the true power differential inherent in their true identities. As soon as Jesus names the demons, they flee, impotent to do more damage. And, Jesus grants his power of naming truly to his followers, first to the disciples and now even to us.
In times of stress and strain, daily anxieties and threats seem to grow from being dragonflies to mythical dragons as big as mountains. The appearance of sharp teeth and fiery breath can paralyze us in our daily living. But the Gospel is as true today as it was when Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine. The key is to pause and still ourselves, to look the dragons in the eye and to name them. And then, like Yevaud, the puffed-up dragons wilt. The demons cower when we call them out.
Our stresses and strains will not magically go away — not even Ged could cast a spell to make the dragon vanish — but to name in truth what we are facing knocks the stresses and strains down to size. It blunts their teeth to do us harm. And, it is also worth naming the greatest truth of all: That with the God incarnate in Jesus we never face the dragons alone.
Worship Schedule for Sunday, August 16
This Sunday, August 16, our worship services will be live-streamed. Please join us from your home for Holy Eucharist, Rite I, at 11 a.m.; La Santa Eucaristía, Rito II, a la 1:00 p.m.; and The Well, Celtic Eucharist, at 5 p.m. We will not worship in-person this week due to COVID-19 conditions in Houston.
We also encourage parishioners to watch together on Facebook Live, where a Cathedral priest will be available to communicate with you during the service and take prayer requests, or on our website at the links above. Our Sunday formation offerings for kids and adults continue as scheduled with “This is My Story, This is My Song” at 10 a.m. on Zoom, and “Dean’s Hour Matinee” at 2 p.m. on Facebook Live. We will monitor conditions weekly, and as soon as we are able to return to in-person worship, we will do so.
Supporting the Cathedral
Even as we worship from home, the Cathedral is engaged in ministry. Our pastoral care, outreach, worship, and program ministries of the Cathedral carry on, and supporting Cathedral ministries is as important as ever. You can make your offering in any of these ways:
· Visit the Cathedral Give page to find out the many ways you can support our church.
· Make an offering or give in other ways using PayPal.
· Text the word “Give” to 888-998-1634.
Grace and Peace,
The Very Reverend Barkley Thompson, Dean
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