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What a Nathaniel Hawthorne Story Teaches us About our Art

December 30, 2021 //  by Mary DeMuth//  24 Comments

Recently, I remembered a piece I dissected in college, a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne entitled, “The Celestial Railroad.” It’s a parody, of serious sorts, about Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress, where in enlightened modern times, folks have taken to bypass such nonsense as a walking journey to the Celestial City in favor of a new railroad. Problem was, it let everyone off at Vanity Fair, where people would exchange their celestial properties (heavenly acreage) for a tenement there. Though the Celestial City was not far away, people sufficed themselves in Vanity Fair, buying, selling, contenting themselves in things and pleasure.

Sounds a lot like our world, doesn’t it?

This paragraph caught my eye:

“It would fill a volume, in an age of pamphlets, were I to record all my observations in this great capital of human business and pleasure. There was an unlimited range of society–the powerful, the wise, the witty, and the famous in every walk of life; princes, presidents, poets, generals, artists, actors, and philanthropists,–all making their own market at the fair, and deeming no price too exorbitant for such commodities as hit their fancy. It was well worth one’s while, even if he had no idea of buying or selling, to loiter through the bazaars and observe the various sorts of traffic that were going forward.”

This is entirely convicting to me as an author who makes money with her words. It causes me to pause, to reflect. Hawthorne goes on…

“The Christian reader, if he have had no accounts of the city later than Bunyan’s time, will be surprised to hear that almost every street has its church, and that the reverend clergy are nowhere held in higher respect than at Vanity Fair. And well do they deserve such honorable estimation; for the maxims of wisdom and virtue which fall from their lips come from as deep a spiritual source, and tend to as lofty a religious aim, as those of the sagest philosophers of old. In justification of this high praise I need only mention the names of the Rev. Mr. Shallow-deep, the Rev. Mr. Stumble-at-truth, that fine old clerical character the Rev. Mr. This-today, who expects shortly to resign his pulpit to the Rev. Mr. That-tomorrow; together with the Rev. Mr. Bewilderment, the Rev. Mr. Clog-the-spirit, and, last and greatest, the Rev. Dr. Wind-of-doctrine.”

Reading this makes me wonder if Hawthorne had celestial eyes to see into our society today. Could it be that the church, even then, struggled with concocting sermons to tickle the ears? That Hawthorne’s Vanity Fair is alive and well today too? I cannot criticize the industry of Christianity without first looking to myself, asking myself the hard questions. Maybe you need to reflect on these as well:

  • How much has compensation determined the viability of something I’m creating?
  • Are my words shallow, tickling the ears of those who hear or read them?
  • Am I embracing relativism as if it’s gospel?
  • Do I spend most of my days in the marketplace, while the Celestial City looms on the horizon?

I can’t help but think of Jesus. His tanned sinewy arms raking across tables set up in the Temple of God, tables of merchandise. How the One I know as Gentle Jesus lets holy anger overturn tables. As an honest, needy pilgrim, world-enticed and prone to wander, I have to let Him come into my own tabernacle, see my table of wares, and let Him do with them as He wills. It’s a frightening thing to fall into the hands of a holy God, isn’t it? It gives pause to the sometimes-trite question, “What would Jesus do?”

Indeed, what would He do? Would He be pleased at our words? Our character? Our bent toward materialism? Would He turn our tables over? What does Jesus see when His holy gaze falls upon the American church? Is it more American than Gospel? Have we created our own rules of happiness and passion that conveniently shove things like sacrifice and selflessness into a shabby back closet?

The picture of Jesus reading my books gives me enough pause to slow down and re-evaluate what I’m doing. The truth is: I like success. But success is a slippery enticement. If it woos me to water down, or to catch myself up in hawking my wares to the exclusion of the Kingdom of God, I have succumbed to the powers of Vanity Fair. May it never be. Oh Lord, may it never be.

And my prayer is that Jesus’ church would leave the enticements of Vanity Fair for greater goals–kingdom pursuits–things that satisfy in eternity but get us overlooked in the here and now. This world is not all there is, but the ad campaigns thrown our way at mind-numbing speeds desperately try to lie to us. The things we cannot see are eternal, but the things we see are temporal.

Let’s be living for the other side.

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Category: Authors, Authors, Writing Craft, Writing LifeTag: Nathaniel Hawthorne

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  1. Kristen Joy Wilks

    December 30, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    It is so important to be living for that other place, the one where our souls truly belong. Thank you, Mary, for reminding me to picture my Jesus reading every word!

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      December 31, 2021 at 7:08 am

      You are so welcome, Kristen!

      Reply
  2. Janet McHenry

    December 31, 2021 at 4:25 am

    Powerful, Mary. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      December 31, 2021 at 7:09 am

      You are welcome, Janet. May 2022 be fruitful!

      Reply
  3. Shirlee Abbott

    December 31, 2021 at 5:22 am

    “The picture of Jesus reading my books.” My blog. My comments. My texts.

    Thank you, Mary, for a new measure for my words!

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      December 31, 2021 at 7:09 am

      I’m glad it encouraged you, Shirlee.

      Reply
  4. Andrew Budek-Schmeisser

    December 31, 2021 at 5:30 am

    Success would not mean much to me,
    not in this twist of now,
    and so it’s easier to be
    the heart that steers the plow
    to leave a long straight furrow
    that others yet may fill
    if I will just be thorough
    in doing my Lord’s will.
    I shall not see the harvest,
    but trust still in its worth
    as I go past the farthest
    endings of the earth
    and leave, you friends, a fond farewell
    at ringing of my closing bell.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      December 31, 2021 at 7:09 am

      Love: “the heart that steers the plow”

      Reply
  5. Karen Ingle

    December 31, 2021 at 5:45 am

    Thank you, Mary, for these words to ponder. May we all sit with Jesus as He reads our words and aspire to see a smile of approval on His face before we seek it on others’.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      December 31, 2021 at 7:10 am

      Amen, Karen!

      Reply
  6. Karen Schubert

    December 31, 2021 at 6:50 am

    The heart is always torn between wooing the world to Christ and our own hearts being wooed to Vanity Fair. Thank you for the powerful reminder that we walk a fine line.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      December 31, 2021 at 7:10 am

      I think about this very struggle a lot!

      Reply
  7. Deb Gorman

    December 31, 2021 at 7:16 am

    “The picture of Jesus reading my books gives me enough pause to slow down and re-evaluate what I’m doing.”

    Or reading my SM posts, or my blog posts, or my emails . . .

    Ouch, Mary!

    This post makes me think I need a reset today, on this last day of 2021. Thanks for saying something hard to me. Someone once said that we don’t grow without hard. Easy keeps me where I am. Hard pushes me out of those nasty ruts.

    Yes.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      December 31, 2021 at 7:20 am

      I’m glad it helped reframe what’s next, Deb.

      Reply
  8. Patti

    December 31, 2021 at 11:25 am

    This is so excellent. A very truthful perspective we all need to sow into our hearts and writing life. Thank you. I’m going to re-read Hawthorn’s story.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      January 2, 2022 at 9:36 am

      It’s a great story, Patti!

      Reply
  9. Susan Sage

    December 31, 2021 at 12:16 pm

    Wow! Powerful thoughts. Thank you for the reminder. This phrase especially gave me pause. “The picture of Jesus reading my books gives me enough pause to slow down and re-evaluate what I’m doing.” Thank you, Mary. Great contemplation to begin the new year!

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      January 2, 2022 at 9:36 am

      I’m glad it was helpful, Susan.

      Reply
  10. Gayle Veitenheimer

    January 1, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    Wow, Mary. What a post! Great things to be praying over as the year begins.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      January 2, 2022 at 9:37 am

      Happy New Writerly Year, Gayle!

      Reply
  11. Rachel Britton

    January 2, 2022 at 6:20 am

    May I always correct my path and come humbly to the feet of Jesus. Thank you, Mary, for providing the hard questions to reflect on and reevaluate at the beginning of a New Year.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      January 2, 2022 at 9:37 am

      Amen to that, Rachel.

      Reply
  12. Debra Celovsky

    January 17, 2022 at 11:32 am

    Thank you, Mary, for a post (I’ve read and reread) that has caused me to pause and honestly examine my own aspirations. And not just aspirations, but perspective on this calling. Beautifully expressed.

    Reply
    • Mary DeMuth

      January 17, 2022 at 11:34 am

      I’m so glad it was helpful, Debra.

      Reply

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