Episode #68: Letters of Myriam Chapter 1 - Fragments

Jan,16 2026

<-#67: Clara Letter Seven - Interim#69: Letters of Myriam - Chapter 2 - to Hannah ->

Fragment A - March 1954

You ask why Christopher never quoted chapter and verse the way your pastor does. I cannot answer for him, only for what I saw.

He carried the Bible like a tool, not like a flag. When a man asked about anger, he spoke of Cain before he spoke of commandments. When a woman asked about fear, he pointed to lilies before he pointed to law.

You say this is careless. I say it is the same method as Christ, who preferred fields to footnotes.

Fragment B - July 1955

Someone wrote that Christopher's teaching on nakedness contradicts Paul. I opened my New Testament as you instructed.

Paul says the body is a temple.

Christopher said the body is a field lent by God.

Temples must be swept.

Fields must be weeded.

I do not see the conflict you insist upon. Perhaps you imagine temples with velvet curtains. I imagine a small chapel with open windows and dust on the floorboards.

Fragment C - December 1956

You asked whether Christopher believed in salvation. Of course he did. He simply believed it was closer to bread than to certificates.

When he read, "By their fruits you shall know them," he laughed and said, "That is farming language. Even the apostles could not escape soil."

If this is heresy, then the orchards around us are full of it.

Fragment D - April 1957

I am tired of defending a man who is no longer here to defend himself.

Your letter listed twelve objections. I answered only one because the others felt like quarrels wearing Sunday hats.

You wrote that Christopher weakened respect for clergy. I remember him inviting a pastor to supper and listening for two hours while the soup cooled. Respect does not always look like obedience.

Fragment E - September 1958

About marriage.

You say the second book suggests submission of wives. I lived that marriage. What you call submission looked more like two people passing a single coat back and forth when the weather changed.

Daniel listened to me about the children's schooling. I listened to him about the time to plant seeds. We both listened to Christopher when our pride grew loud.

If this confuses your categories, perhaps the categories are small.

Fragment F - January 1959

I reread the story of the Samaritan woman after receiving your complaint that Christopher spoke too freely with women.

Christ also spoke too freely, at least by the standards of His neighbors. He discussed theology beside a well with a woman who had five husbands. If Christopher followed that example, blame the Gospel, not our old friend.

Frament G - February 1960

Christopher said one autumn,

watching the younger ones work bare in thin weather,

"I admire their stubborn skins."

We thought he meant approval.

But he continued,

"Courage is a bright coat.

It keeps a person warm

even when wisdom is still learning to sew."

He paused, then added,

"Do not mistake endurance for instruction.

A man may stand in snow

and still misunderstand the season."

I asked whether they should be corrected.

He answered,

"Let them try their path.

The body teaches faster than sermons."

Later, when the wind sharpened,

He wrapped his own shoulders in a blanket

and smiled at my surprise.

"Example is a compass, not a chain."

Fragment H - May 1961

I am writing like Daniel once typed beside me. The letter e is still faint on that machine, as if humility were built into the keys, even after his passing.

He worried that the second book will be misunderstood. I told him misunderstanding is a form of weather; you can carry an umbrella, but you cannot cancel the rain.

Your message, makes me feel the rain in my old knees, but I will wear no umbrella; I will feel the rain in my skin. Perhaps you should too, for you have learned nothing from the words of my husband.

Fragment I - February 1962

Someone claimed Christopher placed nature above Scripture.

I remember him saying, "The Bible tells us how to listen; the field tells us what we heard." That is not elevation, only conversation.

When Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of God, do you accuse the sky of competing with Moses?

Fragment J - October 1962

If these letters survive me, let them not become another fence.

I loved Christopher, yes.

I loved Daniel more.

I love God most, though I understand Him least.

Do not ask the books to agree perfectly. Families do not agree perfectly either, yet they still eat at the same table.

<-#67: Clara Letter Seven - Interim#69: Letters of Myriam - Chapter 2 - to Hannah ->