Jayber Crow Metaphors

Stories have the power to shape us in ways that we neither expect nor fully understand. They disarm us and open our minds to the possibilities of the way things may have been, may be or will be. Wendell Berry in Jayber Crow uses the power of the narrative of the life of Jayber Crow to tell powerful stories full of images and metaphors that disarm the reader and form the reader in unexpected ways. Out of these many images and metaphors, one of the most prominate is the land, the farm and the farmer. A large part of Jayber Crow's story is dominated by his observations of Athey Keith and Troy Chatham and they way the farm the same land at different times and from their outcomes important lessons can be applied to the different approaches to the church and ministry. Jayber Crow contrast the trajectory of two farmers Athey Keith and his son-in-law Troy Chatham. The approaches of these two farmers and their results were polar opposites. Athey Keith grew up in a time where the land was something that was respected, lived in and with in symbiotic relationship. The farmer
When we consider the land as the parish, the farm as the church and the farmer as the pastor it becomes clear which leader is which. Athey Keith is the ideal missional leader. He lives with and attends to the parish, carefully listening to and responding to the needs of the land. Athey is more about the process, the how of ministry, and being faithful to that than to a desired outcome. Therefore, he works with patience as he develops the church, his farm, out of response to the land. The farm is faithful to the process and respect the land and honors the land. In the same way the missional leader and by extension the missional church seek to be faithful to the Bible, the source of life for Christians, and out of that faithfulness respond to the needs of the