Many of us have rugs at home, perhaps in our living room or under our dining table.  Most of us know that the best and therefore the most expensive rugs in the world come from Persia (Iran.) For example, ten years ago, a rug formerly owned by a one-time U.S. Senator and known as the Clark-Sickle carpet, earned the distinction of being the most expensive carpet in the world.  According to the BBC, the rug:

. . . sold for $33.8m (£21.8m), a sum triple the previous auction record for a carpet.”

Today, thanks to AI and other innovations, one can purchase an absolutely flawless piece of carpet.  However, what many of us may not be aware of is that the most expensive hand-made rugs in the world actually contain flaws (imperfections);

The beauty of handmade Persian rugs lies in their natural imperfections. Handmade Persian rugs are made with hand-spun wool, which is an uneven material that can cause variations in the texture and thickness of the rug. These inconsistencies create unique patterns and add to the overall visual appeal of the rug. Additionally, because they are handmade, each rug has subtle differences in colour and design that make it one-of-a-kind.”

These “imperfections” and “inconsistencies” exist for a number of reasons and they actually define the character of the carpet, confimed by experts in Oriental rugs:

. . . these irregularities give Persian rugs character but they also give them a certain charm that can’t be replicated by mass production. It is this combination of variations and craftsmanship that makes handmade Persian rugs so special. The imperfections in each piece help to reflect its authenticity as an authentic work of art and make it a truly unique item. The slight variations also add an interesting dimension to the look and feel of the rug, creating an eye-catching piece that can be enjoyed for many years (ibid.)”

Some of the reasons for the imperfections include incorrect weaving, or mistakes in the pattern alignment. Sometimes, the design does not appear consistent, or the carpets are not perfectly symmetrical.  Finally, there can be problems with the coloring of the weave, of white spots which indicate problems tying the knots of the thread incorrectly.  So, why does this happen?  And why is nothing done about it?

Look at the feature photo above.  Now, widen the loom and the rug so there are an additional three assistants or apprentices seated.  These are the people facing the “back” or the “bottom” of the rug.  Originally, on the other side of the loom facing the front of the rug was the skilled designer, the creator.  It was his job to bark out directions to the apprentices about where they should place their next stitch.  After all, he saw the finished product, while the apprentices only saw a confusing (backwards) array of threads and knots.  Everyone must be attentive, because the process moves speedily along.  However . . .

Sometimes, an apprentice does not hear an instruction because he is distracted.  Or, maybe an instruction is heard, but is misinterpreted?  Or even ignored.  This is how errors begin, and they can quickly multiply, blurring the pattern or taking the design in a completely different direction.  When this happened, the master designer did not stop the process and instruct the assistants to tear out the threads or rip apart a seam.  The designer simply worked around the imperfection as additional skeins were woven together.  This method provides for a certain personality of the finished product, which is entirely unique by itself from other reproductions.  It also raises the price of the product, making it more valuable, more desirable.

What is carpet theology?

When we sin, God does not always rip out or obliterate whatever led to our transgression or what might be a consequence of it.  Instead, He works around it as skillfully as the creator of a carpet.  That blemish or imperfection becomes part of the whole gestalt.  So, think about this for a moment.  If your life to date is represented in a sort of “life carpet” describing you, your family, the good and the bad experiences that you’ve had and so on, what would the “irregularities” or “imperfections” in your carpet be?

Take King David and Bathsheba.  Bathsheba was the wife of a soldier named Uriah in David’s army.  As far as we know, Uriah and Bathsheba were happily married, but David had his eye on Bathsheba.  There were thousands of available women in his kingdom who would gladly have married him, but the only one he wanted was already taken.  Forbidden fruit. Whether though his personal charm or the sheer power of his office, he seduced Bathsheba and she got pregnant.  While all this was happening, Uriah was loyally fighting for king and country.  David recalled Uriah from the frontline for some R ‘n R, but Uriah refused to have sex with Bathsheba.  Maybe he felt badly about being home while his brothers-in-arms were still in the trenches?  When it was time for Uriah to return to his unit at the front, David realized he now had two problems on his hands.  The first was how to explain Bathsheba’s pregnancy if he couldn’t paint Uriah as the father and secondly, what to do about Uriah?  David ordered his military commander to create a situation that would lead to Uriah’s death, which it did.  So now, David was a murderer as well as an adulterer.  This is how crimes multiply.  The law of unintended consequence.  You rob a bank, then wind up shooting someone which was not part of your original plan.

The baby Bathsheba was carrying would be called Solomon and he would one day be King of Israel.  Perhaps the greatest king of Israel.  Nor was Solomon punished for his mother’s liaison, though sometimes motherspunish their infants if they drink, smoke, do street, drugs, contract genital herpes, etc. during pregnancy.

Social Darwinism

In fact, sometimes even fathers attempt to harm their significant other’s unborn baby.  There is a theory in sociology that when a male, father or not, strikes a pregnant female in the abdomen, he is, in fact, acting out a prenatal form of child abuse.  The assumption is that the adults are in a domestic relationship.  In these instances, a nonbiological male would have more incentive to injure the baby or cause a miscarriage, because the baby represents the gene pool of a different male and he would want the woman to nurture his own offspring.  This is known as Social Darwinism.

Royal lineages are very important.  They document the pedigree of rulers and their claim to govern.  The royal lineage of Charles III, the current ruler in England is documented back to 802 AD.  In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter One, we see the lineage of Jesus.  In verses 6 & 7 we read:

 

Jesse the father of King David.  David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife. . .”

God could have avoided future references to this “mess” by keeping Bathsheba (and Solomon) out of the lineage in favor of one of David’s other wives.  But he did not.  He also had plans for Solomon, the illegitimate son of Bathsheba, someone who would be called a “bastard” by someone uncouth today.

Women have played pivotal roles in the Judeo-Christian tradition.  There were the Old Testament heroines such as Eve, our common mother, Ruth, Esther, and more.  In the New Testament we had, of course, Mary the Mother of Jesus, Martha, as well as many others.  Saint Augustine was influenced greatly by his mother Monica and almost as much as by the girl he slept with (Una), for many years before his conversion.  Augustine pined that she was the only woman he ever loved.  Augustine, like David, had an illegitimate childwith Una.  His name was Adeodatus

In the year 390 Adeodatus died before reaching his eighteenth birthday. He died at the very same age Augustine had been when Adeodatus was born. The early and untimely death of Adeodatus was a number of close deaths that caused Augustine great sadness.”

Why did God call Solomon to greatness and Adeodatus to an early grave.  I just don’t know the answer to that.  I do known that Augustine and Una were what Shakespeare might call “star-crossed lovers.”  They came from different classes in Roman society.  Monica certainly had other prospects for her son than Una.  Una came from the wrong side of the tracks.  But Augustine’s heart was ripped out when he was forced to say farewell to his lover and the mother of his son.

Augustine is one of my three favorite heroes.  As I meditated on him last night, I thought of the famous quote by Oscar Wilde “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”  Now, I am not in the habit of quoting Oscar Wilde and I doubt he is often mentioned in other Christian blogs, but his words seem somehow appropriate here.  As Wilde’s quote is explained elsewhere on the Web:

The meaning is simple and edifying: No one is so good that he hasn’t failed at some point, and no one is so bad that he cannot be saved. All have sinned, and all is grace. The only distinction is between those who have already received it and those to whom it is still available.”

How edifying is that!  On the one hand, Christians should remember their often, sordid pasts as they evaluate others at different points in their journey that these people are on, and on the other hand, that there is hope for people in a state of despair, ruin, guilt and moral depravity.  It doesn’t matter what it is that condemns you, whether your family, your friends, the State, or you own heart, God is greater than that (I John 3:20.)

What’s more, in Isaiah 43:25, God says to Isaiah:

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone say “I forgive you, but I won’t forget.”  What does that mean, exactly?  Why keep score if you’ve forgiven someone (unless you really haven’t?)  If the grievous transgression against you now no longer has any life left in it, then why drag it around with you?

I taught a fairly free-wheeling adult Sunday School class in a Lutheran church once.  Talking about the omnipotence about God, I would teasingly question the term.  Pointing to Titus 1:2 or elsewhere in Scripture I would say God cannot lie.    Or, that God cannot break His promises to us (Hebrews 6:18.)  And, according to Isaiah He does not remember our sins when we come to Him for forgiveness.  So, in what way then is God omnipotent on omniscience?  Well, of course He is, else He wouldn’t be God.  So, perhaps a bit of hyperbole is present in these verses, though we can and should take them literally whenever possible.  The Bible was not written in some hidden code as Dan Brown might suggest, or beyond the understanding of the common people as the Gnostics insisted.  It was written so that ordinary people might understand it and benefit from it.

There are all sorts of life applications possible.  When I sit in our back yard, I sometimes pick up a fallen leaf, and examine the intricate network of veins and the different layers of a leaf.  Then, I think of the many hundreds or thousands of other leaves on the same tree, and the millions of trees in New England, and the hundreds of millions in the U.S.  Each of these estimated three trillion trees are living organisms and none escape the notice of the Caretaker.  Psalm 147 says that God has names for each of the stars, and we’ve only named or cataloged barely one million of the billions of stars in the heavens.  If he can keep track of the stars, then certainly he knows the leaves.

This, then, has been a taste of what I call carper theology. Enjoy your carpet.