Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Good Letters

Home
Catholic
Roots Trip to the Castles in My Bloodline, Part 2

Roots Trip to the Castles in My Bloodline, Part 2

Last updated on: September 26, 2013 at 11:51 am by Bradford Winters

Roots Trip to the Castles in My Bloodline, Part 2 2013-09-26T11:51:19-07:00 Bradford Winters

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Continued from yesterday.

A tempest of Winters temper—mine—had blown through the Highlands of Scotland on our harried, hurried itinerary, and I pondered that now in Ireland. My working notion of a “roots” trip up until that point pertained only in the genealogical sense: Scotland and Ireland being, respectively, my maternal and paternal ancestral stomping grounds.

But in my review of the course on spiritual hearing I’d begun the month prior, a most delicious linguistic epiphany was about to present itself like low-hanging fruit.

As opposed to those cerebral terms for some ugly manifestations in me—weaknesses, patterns, compulsions, dysfunctions—which lacked the texture and energy of the issues I needed to confront, I revisited in the course manual the notion of spiritual fruit.

As explicated by St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians, the nine fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

If you want to take an honest accounting of your produce in this department, take a road trip with your spouse and kids in another country. You might find yourself in many a moment, as I did, not much stronger than the dollar in the face of all that taxes you.

You might find yourself, as I did, thinking of another quote from St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it…. Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Admittedly, it isn’t fair or accurate of me to slight, linguistically speaking, the therapeutic terminology of weaknesses, patterns, compulsions, and dysfunctions in favor of a spiritual term like fruits, since the former are related more precisely to the roots that yield all the opposite fruits of the Spirit.

It isn’t accurate in another sense as well, in that I myself have benefitted greatly from therapy—but fortunately with someone who has equal footing in things spiritual as in those analytical.

As the course manual states with axiomatic effect, “Unholy roots produce unholy fruit.” I tend to rephrase this as “dark roots yield dark fruits” for monosyllabic impact, and the visual note that augments the sensory engagement already in play. But either way, the meaning is the same.

All of that said, the lesson on spiritual fruit was hardly low-hanging compared to the lesson on strongholds that grabbed hold of me body, soul, and spirit in my review*.*

Again, St. Paul, who uses the term in his Second Letter to the Corinthians:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

Casting down arguments? Nope, I was more inclined to raise them up at certain moments in the car with my wife and kids—like when we got lost and missed the last ferry from mainland Scotland to the Isle of Mull, thus forced to eat the cost of our first night at the B&B on Mull. But I was driving, not navigating, so it wasn’t my effing fault. At All! (Other details to the contrary.)

Self-exaltation? Yup. See above.

Every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? In the fracas above and its aftermath? Let’s not go there.

This verse from Second Corinthians was a familiar enough bit of scripture, even if I had never fully grasped it as I then did with two exegetical points in the course notes:

The first one being that the original Greek indicates that to pull down strongholds means to demolish them with violence.

The second one being the delicious epiphany waiting for me to pluck it from the vine—in the original Greek, the word for stronghold means a castle or fortress from which one argues over one’s possessions.

Wait. What? Castles?

Possessions in the spiritual sense meaning things like opinions and vain imaginations. Like self-exaltations and rebellious thoughts.

Suddenly there seemed to be a deeper meaning behind this “roots” trip first to Scotland and now Ireland, vis-à-vis the chance to see as if for the first time those old strongholds, those castles deep within me, and orchards that have for too long yielded an overabundance of unhealthy fruit.

Looking back at From Kittery to Kansas in light of these revelations, their vernacular truth was right there on the page, having escaped me over the course of previous reads:

“One of the principal strongholds of the Grants was Urquhart Castle located on the shores of Loch Ness.”

“Castle Grant was built on the site of an ancient Scottish stronghold. (Today, sadly, it is near ruin and decay.)”

So there were, and here are, the true castles of my inheritance, opposed to the ones that had escaped me in the historical sense and which I bemoaned on that imaginary T-shirt:

My Ancestors Lived in Castles in Scotland and All I Got Was a Cul-de-Sac in Scottsdale.

To the contrary, I got a host of strongholds; and it would do me well to do away with them in the manner that St. Paul exhorted.

This will be a roots trip, alright, as long as I am up to the task, and the battle, and the knowledge that the battle is already won for the peace that passes all understanding.

To that point, I should get myself a T-shirt perhaps only visible in the invisible realm:

My King Went to Calvary on My Behalf and I Got All Nine Fruits of The Spirit Plus a Kingdom That Lasts Forever.

In the meantime, I’ll wear in spirit the Clan Grant motto that I wore on a pin fastened to the kilt at my wedding:

Stand Fast.

Bradford Winters is a screenwriter/producer in television whose work has included such series as Oz, Kings, Boss, and The Americans. His poems have appeared in Sewanee Theological Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, and Georgetown Review, among other journals. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.

Previous Post

September 19, 2013

Roots Trip To the Castles in My Bloodline, Part 1

Next Post

September 23, 2013 The Image Top 50 Contemporary Writers of Faith

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle?

Select your answer to see how you score.

An incense altar A bronze door A stone wall A curtain (veil)