Forming Christian Identity in a Complex Age!

How wide is the gap between the ways of Jesus and the ways of the world?  An historian writes of the eighteen century English statesman Sir Robert Walpole:  “He was unscrupulous, and did very dirty work; but he did it to serve his country, and not for any selfish end other than that of retaining political power.  He himself said that he was ‘no saint, no Spartan, no reformer’; it was all a matter of business.”[1]  There is at least a bracing honesty in Walpole’s assessment of himself.  While that remark could stand as a motto for any number of contemporary public figures, I think I heard it originally in one of the Godfather movies. 

At the other extreme is a seemingly frivolous remark, “Encumbered with a low self-image, Bob takes a job as a speed bump.”   That reveals the depth of the problem of identity formation as it is experienced by many people.  A simple truth from Proverbs catches us up short:  “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7).  The question that should be raised immediately is, “Are we stuck with character flaws and weaknesses we now have?”

An essential element in human personality formation is understanding the basic freedom we have in effecting change within ourselves.  A principle of psychology says that if we know where in our past we learned the behavior that upsets us in the present, that knowledge frees us to decide to do things differently.  Jesus said, “If you know the truth, the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).  That includes even the truth about yourself.  Contempative Theology tells us that there is no true knowledge of God without the accompanying knowledge of one’s self; that is, in knowing Him, we begin, only begin, to see ourselves as He sees us. 

An Old Testament figure named Jabez illustrates the importance of self-knowledge and its place in our prayers.  Jabez’ name unfortunately translates as: “He Will Cause Pain.”

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez (He Will Cause Pain) saying, because I bore him in pain."           And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I might not cause pain!"  So God granted him what he requested." [I Chron. 4:9,10].

When we acknowledge to God the pains and inadequacies that spring from our families of origin He stands ready to heal.  Indeed God names Himself  “I am the God Who Heals You” (Exodus 15:26).  Jabez’ discovery of his origin and his prayer for deliverance from the terrible name he received from his mother must have caused great anguish.  A commentary on the Torah speaks of the resistance we have to transformation, “the stone does not take sides with the master, but against him; to the stone, the first stroke struck to form it, appears as a most unnatural action.”[2]  All beginnings are hard, especially the beginning of self-discovery and transformation.

This re-formation of our old identity into a new Christian identity is what the Scripture calls sanctification.  Sanctification is an old word that unfortunately has fallen out of use.  Sanctification is the process of becoming holy, which may be why it is no longer a popular idea today.  The deeper meaning of sanctification is the restoration to wholeness.  Holiness in thought and action flows from the wholeness that comes as God’s gift of grace in our lives. 

The theology of the Greek Fathers refers to this as deification following the teaching of St. Peter (2 Peter 1:3-7), “³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,  ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.  ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”  That sanctification, that deification, is in the end result a work of the Cross.

Paul shares with us two secrets about this interior transformation.  The first is that we are to be transformed by the “renewing of our minds” (Romans. 12:2).  Spiritually you are what you eat, therefore Paul says again, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things” (Phil. 4:8)  Second, transformation comes from beholding the glory of God in prayer and worship, “we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).  What you put in your mind colours and forms your identity.  Who you worship, anchors that identity in practical reality.             

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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[1] Alfred Plummer, The Church of England in the Eighteenth Century, (London: Methuen, 1910),  p. 17

[2] - Thomas Mann, in The Torah: A Modern Commentary, ed. Gunther Plaut,  (New York:Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1981), p.665

Lethe & Eunoë: Memory & Forgetfulness

     

       There are two rivers flowing from Dante’s Paradise, the River Lethe and the River Eunoë. The River Lethe is the river of memory where we remember our sins and enter into penitence and purification by the Blood of Christ. The River Eunoë is the river of forgetfulness where we remember our sins no more. 

            Do you remember the Dying Thief? “Today you shall be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). What a grievous life the man must have led; his sins had weighed heavily upon him and he rebuked the other dying thief saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40-41). The weight of his sins had nailed him to the cross and nothing could atone, not even his own death. Mercy is his only plea, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” It is surrender and hope in Jesus alone that brings him into Paradise.

And what is Paradise? Paradise is that walled garden where in the cool of the evening the Lord God walked among the trees, and the trees of the garden lifted up their leafy arms rejoicing in His presence.

O let the Earth bless the Lord :
yea, let it praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O all ye Green Things upon the earth, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Wells, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.

There, in the midst of the paradise of God, the tree of life still stands and the dying thief with his terrible memories and guilt was the first to eat of that tree as a result of the immediate self-sacrifice of the Christ who hung on the cross beside him.

There are two rivers flowing from Paradise: One is the River Lethe, the river of memory, the remembrance of our sins and of purification through the blood of Christ. One must drink of the River Lethe first before one is prepared to drink from the River Eunoë, the river of forgetfulness and kindly thoughts. He who drinks from both of Dante’s rivers Lethe and Eunoë, remembers his sins “only as an historical fact and as the occasion of grace and blessedness” (Dorothy L. Sayers, introduction to the translation of Dante’s Purgatorio).

Teresa of Avila, like many of her contemporaries drank deeply from the River Lethe and the remembrance of sins. Do all do that today? Some drink not at all and mistakenly think that they can drink from the River Eunoë and repress and forget the realities of their sins. It doesn’t work that way. Drink from Lethe first and from Eunoë second. When one drinks from Lethe, the river of memory and purification, then one is ready to hear the words of Teresa, “He guilds my faults.”

As miserable and imperfect as my deeds were, this Lord of mine improved and perfected them and gave them value, and the evils and sins He then hid. His Majesty even permitted the eyes of those who saw these sins to be blinded, and He removed these sins from their memory. He gilds my faults; the Lord makes a virtue shine that He places in me—almost forcing me to have it.” (The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. One, The Book of Her Life, (Washington: ICS Publications) 1987, p. 69.

It is not that sin is any less sin, but sin must be seen through the eyes of grace. Never underestimate your sin, nor the work of grace in your life. God Himself almost forces us to live by grace, rather than by self-accusation.

Similarly Catherine of Genoa observes,

“I then saw others who were fighting against their evil inclinations and forcing themselves to resist them. But I saw that the more they struggled against them, the more they committed them . . . You cannot defend yourself and I cannot defend myself. The thing we must do is renounce the care of ourselves unto God who can defend our true self” (“Life and Teachings”, ed. Foster, Devotional Classics, p. 213).

            The psalmist says, “Protect my life from the fear of the enemy” (Psalm 64:1b). There is a common thread. Fear and compulsive flight from sin don’t help. Let Him gild your faults. Rely on grace, not only for the past, but also for the present. You cannot defend yourself, and I cannot defend myself. Relax into His hands. Catherine also speaks of the gradual unfolding of self-awareness. We are shown only what we need to see, and are accepted even with our imperfections and limited self-knowledge. He protects us from complete self-knowledge, which is more than we can bear. Transformation is a process.

            Drink deeply from both of the rivers that you may be cleansed, restored, and made whole. In drinking from the River Lethe know for certain that you come to the God of love who has already provided the sacrifice, who draws you to Himself, in order to restore you. “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14 KJV).

            Drink deeply from the River Eunoë. God never intended that you live with old guilts long since cleansed. “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). There is such a thing as Divine Forgetfulness, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12 ESV). He who drinks from Dante’s rivers Lethe and Eunoë, remembers his sins “only as an historical fact and as the occasion of grace and blessedness”

TEMPTATION AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

Let the high praises of God be in their throat *

and a two-edged sword in their hand. ~ Psalm 149:6

There is a centuries old story that sheds light on the true nature of the battles endured by the knights of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  We are the knights of Christ and it sheds light on our own battles.  So often we, the people of God, are immersed in a battle of one kind or another and Sir Gawain has much to teach us.

The story briefly told is this: King Arthur and his Court have met for the fifteen day Christmas Feast. It is Arthur’s custom not to dine until some unusual tale has been told, or some marvel has been presented, either in deed or in song. The Green Knight enters riding upon his charger.  He is huge, with skin and hair all green. No armor has he, but only a large and vicious axe. He presents a challenge to the court and presents his axe, saying “Take it, and keep it, my gift forever, and give me a well-aimed stroke, and agree to accept another in payment when my turn arrives, but not now; a year and a day will be time enough.”  To be clear, the offer is simple.  He says, “Cut off my head today, and I will cut off yours next year.”

After some discussion Sir Gawain, a nephew of King Arthur, rises to the challenge and cuts off the head of the Green Knight. The Green Knight does not even sway as his head rolls among the feet of the Knights of the Court who are scrambling to get out of the way.  He gets off his horse, walks over and retrieves his head and holds it up and swivels it around to behold the stunned and frightened knights.  As he does his head speaks.  Gawain is told to seek the Green Knight’s chapel and fulfill his end of the bargain in a year and a day.

In the fall of the year, Gawain prepares to ride off on his quest as the court watches. The author tells us “they watched that lovely knight riding away. And he never delayed, Rode on his way; And books say That he rode where men go astray.” Here the first note of the actual danger is sounded. Very briefly with minimal description the story of Gawain’s battles and adventures are recorded, nine lines in all.

The story is not about those kinds of battles. On Christmas Eve Gawain arrives at the castle of a “worthy knight, tall and strong and experienced, in the prime of life.” The knights of that castle give us the second clue as to the nature of Gawain’s true battles, “God has been good, Truly, to grant us a guest like Gawain, in this season when men sing and rejoice In His birth. This knight will lead us to the meaning of manners, will work miracles for us to see In the soothing of lover’s hurts.” What kind of battles does Gawain excel in?

Towards the end of the evening’s festivities his host offers a challenge, “Whatever I earn in the woods will be yours, Whatever you win will be mine in exchange. Shall we swap our day’s work, Gawain? Answer Me plain: for better or worse, an exchange?” What exactly does Gawain expect to earn as he relaxes in the castle of this worthy knight?

As the dawn of the next day breaks the lord of the castle goes out to hunt deer in the forest and Gawain lolls around in bed. The author says, “So the lord plays at the edge of the wood, and Gawain lies in a lovely bed.” By now the alarm bells should be ringing. The latch of the bedroom door is lifted and the comely wife of the lord of the castle enters and quite passionately offers herself to Gawain. She observes that the door to Gawain’s chamber could be locked with a bolt. One wonder’s why Gawain wouldn’t have locked it to start with. At his courtly best he graciously wards off her advances allowing her only a single kiss. When the lord of the castle returns they make their exchange. He gives Gawain the carcass of the deer, and Gawain gives him a single kiss.

On the second morn, once more Gawain’s door is unlocked, and once more the beautiful and apparently adulterous wife of the lord of castle enters and intensifies her temptation. Her husband in the meantime is off doing battle with a wild boar. Gawain is adept at exchanging flirtation, but yields only two kisses. When the lord of the castle returns the exchange is made, Gawain receives the boar, and the lord receives two kisses.

The third morning arrives. The lord is off chasing the wily fox. Gawain, once again with unlocked door, receives the lovely and licentious lady of the castle. Why does he leave the door unlocked a third time? Surely it would have been safer to lock it. Once again with grace and humor he manages to exchange three kisses and nothing more. All this time he has been playing with fire, and it’s obviously a game he enjoys. If nothing else the process of being tempted by a voluptuous woman, and the challenge of walking that close to the fire has awoken in him his own lust, not for her, but for life itself. As she is repelled with the three kisses, she makes Gawain another offer. She takes a green silk belt from her waste and offers it to Gawain, saying, “any man bound with this belt, This green lace locked around him Can never be killed, here under God’s Own heaven—no blow, nor trick, nothing Can hurt him.” The one condition that comes with her offer is that this gift be hidden from her husband and that “She and Gawain would share the secret forever.”

After she leaves Gawain arises, dresses and goes to Confession, and confesses all his sins, at least the one’s he knows, but fails to understand that he has, by accepting her secretive gift, lost his honor in order to preserve his life. The lord returns and they exchange what they have earned. He gives Gawain the fox, and Gawain gives him three kisses only. The green belt is secretly tucked away. Here at this point we should note that the belt is after all colored green, and that is a deliberate hint.

The coming of the next morn heralds the fateful promised encounter. Gawain arises, girds on his armor, wraps the green silken belt around his waist, and rides off to seek the chapel of the Green Knight which he has been told is nearby. A guide leads him to the edge of a vale and warns him of pending doom. He makes an offer which is essentially, “Run away, and I won’t tell anyone.” Gawain descends into the vale and finds an ugly, gruesome chapel, all overgrown, a place “where the devils of hell Could say their prayers quite well.” He hears the sound of a great grindstone sharpening the axe with a whirring roar.

The Green Knight comes professing to be impressed that Gawain has come. He swings his axe, and Gawain flinches and he stops the stroke to chide Gawain for his cowardice. Gawain screws up his courage. Again the Green Knight wields his axe. Gawain stands fast. The Green Knight holds it back before he strikes the blow. The third time the Green Knight swings his axe but only nips the skin of Gawain’s neck.

Now comes the interpretation from the Green Knight. He is the knight, the lord of the castle, that has played host to Gawain. The strokes that missed were for the kisses Gawain received from his wife, but passed on to the Green Knight in his guise as the lord of the castle. But, ah, the nick on the neck that drew blood. Says the Green Knight, “That belt you’re wearing: it’s mine, my wife Gave it to you—I know it all, knight. . . . You failed a little, lost good faith—Not for a beautiful belt, or in lust, But for love of your life. I can hardly blame you.” Gawain is shamed. His cowardice is uncovered. Gawain laments the fate of Adam, Solomon, Samson, and David, “These were the noblest knights of their time, the best, the very best, who walked The World In those days—and women tied them In knots, whirled them In circles. I’ve been beguiled, As they were: this excuse should be heard.”

Gawain has played the courting game and entertained lusts where he never intended surrender. What was quickened him was the love of life, perhaps the love of the chase, and the vicarious entertainment of titillating lusts, but that was not the real temptation. Receiving the green belt begins a process of self-discovery. He would sell his honor to preserve his life. He returns to Arthur’s court wearing the green belt and confesses his weakness with grief and sorrow, but the court relieved that Gawain yet lives, laughs, and each of the knights of the Round Table resolve to wear a green belt around their waist to keep company with Gawain. The belt becomes the glory of Arthur’s Round Table.

The story uncovers a truth that temptation is many layered, and the surface temptation may not be the most important. Remember that the devil is a liar, an evil charmer, a master of half-truths and intrigues, of wiles and subtlety. He doesn’t care how he destroys you, only that in some way or other, on some level or other, he can fulfill his fondest desire for you, your death; the death of your joy, the death of your peace, the death of your love, the death of your relationships, your very own death, physical and spiritual, now and forever, amen.

A Randy Stonehill song gives the proper perspective:

oh, satan is an evil charmer
(shut de dó, keep out the debil)
he's hungry for a soul to hurt
(shut de dó, keep the debil in de ni-eet)
and without your holy armor
(shut de dó, keep out the debil)
he will eat you for dessert
(shut de dó, keep the debil in de ni-eet)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yuBgu_Vxuw&feature=related

Just because the devil is an evil charmer who wants to eat you for desert doesn’t at all mean that you have to just sit back and allow it to happen. Gawain may not be an enviable character, but we have to admit that he was quite willing to enter into the fray and face the challenges that the Green Knight offered to him. Part of Gawain’s problem is that he attempted to meet the challenges alone, or often in the company of those as corrupted as he. We however belong to the militant and glorious Body of Christ and none of these battles are either new or unique. The Preacher speaks the truth, “There is nothing new under the sun.” We do not go forth to battle alone, but in company with others. More than that we do not go forth into battle unaccompanied by a Commander, the Lord of Hosts manifest in human flesh, crucified, risen, glorified, riding on a white horse wearing the banner, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty.” And Almighty He surely is. We go forth armed in holy armour, with the high praises of God in our throats and the two-edged sword of the word of God in our hands.

Come As You Are

 

Ho! Everyone who thirsts,

      Come to the waters:

And you who have no money,

      Come buy and eat.

Yes, come, buy wine and milk

      Without money and without price.   - Isaiah 55:1

            The only requisite for drinking at the wellspring of salvation is thirst.  We have no coin of our own, no works, no penitence, no disciplines, no righteousness, no attributes, and no credits of any kind that will purchase the deep draught of the water of Life.  Come as you are, come in your poverty, come in your grief, come in your abject helplessness and drink freely of the living water.  He did not come for the spiritually affluent but for those who are thirsty.

            Ah!  There lies the rub.  Have you discovered your need?  Do you think you can buy this lively water with your own coin?  He has said that, “No one is justified by the law in the sight of God” (Gal. 3:11).  The only coin you need is deep thirst.  Come as you are to the banquet table of the Presence of God.  Bow humbly and drink.

            Our human condition is such that too often our need, our very thirst itself, is so sharp that it becomes all consuming and drives out the very the thing we need most.  We are filled with grief, filled with self-pity, filled with a sense of inadequacy, filled with helplessness and instead of turning outward to Him we turn inward and become focused on the causes of our thirst. 

The antidote is to surrender our human pain and frustration and begin to acknowledge that He who became one of us, did so because He loves us even when we cannot love ourselves.  This has less to do with emotion than with decision.  The simple acknowledgement that I am loved by the lover of my soul, whether or not I feel it, is the beginning of a step through our difficulties into His Presence.  The decision to accept that love is prior to the feeling that comes from living within that decision.  That decision to accept Divine love is a hinge that swings the door of our soul outward from introspective preoccupation with the causes of our thirst and outward into the light.  Drinking at the well is not a passive experience, but an active and ongoing reception of the love that is offered. It is an old mystical perception that in the desire is the fulfillment.  We must first allow ourselves to desire in order that we may be filled.

            It is not that we should avoid the knowledge of our pain.  What I said was that the acknowledgement that we are loved is a step “through” our difficulties.  We are to come as we are.  We can come no other way.  That acknowledgement of our realities makes possible the surrender of our pain to Him who alone can heal and deliver.  You cannot surrender what you do not acknowledge.  You cannot surrender that which you will not release.  Once you have acknowledged that you are loved, once you have acknowledged your pains and lifted them up in surrender you are already beginning to drink.   

Ho! Everyone who thirsts,

            Come to the waters:

And you who have no money,

            Come buy and eat.

Yes, come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without price.     - Isaiah 55:1

The Devilish Art of Distraction

One of our most common experiences in prayer is the periodic stream of distraction that removes our focus from God and places it on ourselves, on our own worries and concerns, and sometimes on nothing really relevant at all, just the usual rambling nonsense of the unfocused human mind. 

Two things lie at the cause.  First, most human beings would rather be distracted than deal with realities; after all how much time do we spend in everything from television, to movies, to sporting events, to computer games, to thinking about food and a whole host of other things?   Second, there is an Enemy.  Listen to what Screwtape, the Senior Devil, writes to the junior devil Wormwood in the Screwtape letters.

One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the wrong way.  The Enemy was at his elbow in a moment. . . . I struck instantly at the part of the man which I best under my control and suggested that it was just about time that he had some lunch.^[i]

The simple distraction in this case is nothing more mundane than lunch.  The Enemy is Satan, or in Greek, satanas (satanas) which means Adversary.  While you may not be saintly enough to rate his direct and immediate intention, you surely will be tempted at the point of your weaknesses by one of the lesser devils.  That is the point of The Screwtape Letters.  When you start to pray a host of minor distractions will spring into action.  While they may find their root in your weaknesses, the role of the tempters is to use them to distract you from prayer.

St. Benedict also is aware of this temptation to distraction and in his Rule, he writes:

Let us consider then, how we ought to behave in the presence of God and his angels, and let us stand to sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices.^[ii] 

It takes decision and constant attention for us to sing psalms or pray in such a way as our minds are in harmony with our voices.  To put it another way; mind, heart, and voice all need to be aligned in singing psalms or praying. 

Because of our fallen human nature, we are prone to being distracted instead of dealing attentively with the realities that face us; even when that is the ultimate Reality, God Himself.  That is echoed in the very first temptation.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"  And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"  But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ^[iii]

Note that in this first temptation, as in every temptation, there is a Tempter. That Tempter is the Father of Lies.^[iv]  We do not live in a spiritual vacuum. Nothing he says can be assumed to be true, and when a blatant deception won’t do he loves to resort to half-truths warped and twisted for his own ends. When he questions Eve the very question he poses is a lie.  The only safe thing that Eve could have done is refuse to dialogue with the devil.  Instead of answering the lie she should have said, “Get out! Satan.”

Implicit in the temptation is the simple fact that the temptation woos Eve away from Reality by playing on the points of her weaknesses, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  For Eve the temptation is threefold; the still contemporary temptation of good food, of things that delight the eyes, and the temptation to be like God, which if you think about it is a terrifying appeal to pride.  Taken together the underlying fundamental temptation is to put oneself first before God.   This is the classic summary of the three major sources of temptation and of distraction in prayer, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.”[v]

For us the temptation may be any one of a number of distractions that draw us away from the task at hand.  Those distractions range from the lazy habits of the disordered mind, to our perpetual worrying over things we should have left in the hands to God, to that kaleidoscopic range of fears that afflict most of us at one time or another, and to the old hurts and resentments that should have been covered with the Blood of Christ and buried in the Tomb with Him. Of these latter things one of the Western Desert Fathers said, “If you have a snake or a scorpion, put it in a box and put the lid on it, and sooner or later it will die.”  All of these things put the self before God and His grace.  The remedy for dealing with most of these distractions is awareness and a renewed surrender to God and a rebirth of faith in His ability to control the things that we cannot control.

There are times when the things that come to mind are indeed things that need to be done; they just don’t need to be done in the midst of your time of prayer.  A simple way of setting them aside is to keep an index card by your Prayer Book and jot down in one, or two words only, the thing that has come to mind; having done that, set the card and that concern aside and return to your prayers.

St. Benedict instructs us to focus our conscious attention on God who is the ultimate Reality with renewed effort and deliberation. He says,

When we wish to suggest our wants to persons of high station, we do not presume to do so except with humility and reverence. How much the more, then, are complete humility and pure devotion necessary in supplication of the Lord who is God of the universe! ^[vi]

            If you are going to borrow a lawn mower from your neighbour it best to go across the street, knock on his door, and get his attention before you humbly start asking for his lawn mower.  Humility is an essential.  If your neighbour is not present to you, you are not going to get much success following through on your request.  Yet, Christians all too often just launch into prayer without focusing on Whom they are talking with; all their focus is on their cares and concerns. 

Awareness of Whom we are praying to is a decision, and we often need to remind ourselves of that simple reality.  It is not that God is not always present.  Of course He is; it’s just that we are not always present.  That brings to mind the cocktail party syndrome.  Two people are talking at each other, but neither is listening to what the other has to say; instead each person is only attentive to what brilliant and witty thing he might say next after the other person has finished chattering.  Prayer is not a monologue directed at God, but a dialogue in which He, through the Holy Spirit, and through His written Word, has a lot to say to us; and if we are not listening He might just wait until we are.  Those who pray best are those who listen best and are clearly aware of just Whom they are talking with.

Remember the structure of Lectio Divina?  Read, Reflect, Respond, Rest.  Read the Word of God.  Reflect on its meaning and what He is saying to you in the passage.  Respond to His Word in Prayer.  Rest in His Presence.

Don’t ramble in your prayers or expect to pray for too long a time. Benedict instructs us that,

Prayer should be therefore short and pure, unless perhaps it is prolonged under the inspiration of divine grace.[vii]

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[i] C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, (New York: Harper-Collins, 1996), p. 3

[ii] The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 19: The Discipline of Psalmody

[iii] Genesis 3:1-6 

[iv] John 8:44

[v] I John 2:16

[vi]  The Rule, Chapter 20: On Reverence in Prayer

[vii] The Rule, Chapter 20: On Reverence in Prayer

Be Radiant

Scandrett Park, New Zealand

“Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.” (Psalm 34:5 RSV)

One of the fruits of Lectio Divina is deification.  In the Western Church we use the pale term “sanctification,” but deification glows with an inner light.  If you look to Him you will become radiant. 

Paul speaks of the same thing when he says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV).  The words “are being transformed” translate the Greek word for metamorphosis. 

The transformation is in process now as we behold the glory of the Lord in Lectio.  As we gaze upon the Lord in his self-revelation in Holy Scripture we receive into ourselves His likeness.  The four steps of Lectio Divina; Read, Reflect, Respond and Rest, bring us into the Presence of the God who loves us.  Read the text over meditatively several times.  Reflect on the meaning of the text.  Respond in prayer on the basis of the text.  Rest in the Presence of God.

Like Moses on Mount Sinai we look to Him and become radiant (Exodus 34:29-35).

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. ³⁰ Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them.

³² Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. ³³ And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, ³⁵ the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

St. Gregory Palamas made a distinction between essence and divine energies, the former in immutable transcendence, the latter incarnate in humanity.  From Isaiah 45:19 “I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the Lord, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.”  

It is clear that You did not intend us to seek Your face in vain.  A reductionist interpretation, that would avoid the obvious surface meaning in favor of a spiritualized application, is not adequate. 

With Moses (Exodus 33:18) I cry, “Show me Your Glory.”  My Lord, show me Your face.  If it is not possible to see Your essence, the cry of my heart is at least let me see the “effulgence” of Your glory, the outraying of Your Essence in the face of Jesus Christ.¹  

May I see Your glory as the eye sees.  Let me see You with a ‘spiritual sensing’ even as Paul was caught up to heaven, whether in the body or out of the body he did not know.  Let me see You as John saw You walking among the golden menorah of the Churches. 

Why? Because I love You?  Not a shadow of how You love me!  No.  Because You command it, and say “Seek My face,” and my seeking, which is commanded, will make Your heart glad even as it leaves me “rapt” in Your love.²

St. Gregory Palamas would remind us that in beholding not the essence of God, but the radiance of God we ourselves enter into deification and take on that same radiance.  It is the radiance of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration.  “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. ² And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:1,2). 

In Lectio we kneel at the feet of the radiant Christ whom we adore.   St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “We receive into ourselves the likeness of whatever we look upon.”  This is true both of evil and good.  In the present context, as we gaze in Lectio at the radiance of Christ, we receive that radiance into ourselves and are transformed.  “Look to him and be radiant.  So your faces shall never be ashamed.”

In all of this one thing must be carefully identified.  Do not seek the radiance for the sake of being radiant.  Seek rather the radiance for His own sake, He who is the express image, the outraying, the effulgence of the Father’s glory.  He alone is to be worshipped and adored, for own His sake, and for no other reason.  “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36 ESV).                                                                           

Read   Reflect   Respond   Rest

¹(John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews 1:1-3)

²(Richard Rolle, The Fire of Love)

“What Is Impossible With Men Is Possible With God.”

Is your dog pessimistic or optimistic?  The following article from the Guardian, Monday 11 October 2012 is illuminating.

      Optimistic dogs seem less prone to anxiety when left alone.

      Scientists have confirmed what many pet owners have long suspected: some dogs have a more gloomy outlook on life than others.

      The unusual insight into canine psychology emerged from a study by Bristol University researchers into how dogs behave when separated from their owners.

      Dogs that were generally calm when left alone were also found to have a "dog bowl half full" attitude to life, while those that barked, relieved themselves and destroyed furniture appeared to be more pessimistic, the study concluded.

      Michael Mendl, head of animal welfare and behaviour at the university, said the more anxiously a dog behaved on being parted from its owner, the more gloomy its outlook appeared to be.

      We know that people's emotional states affect their judgements and that happy people are more likely to judge an ambiguous situation positively," Mendl said. "What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs – that a 'glass half full' dog is less likely to be anxious when left alone than one with a more 'pessimistic' nature."

This reminds me of my uncle Harvey who was a self-confessed pessimist.  He told the following story.  “There were two brothers.  One was an optimist and the other was a pessimist.  At Christmas the boy’s parents decided to try to bring some balance to both of the boy’s outlook on life.  When the boys came downstairs on Christmas morning the pessimist found a live pony under the tree with his name on it, and the optimist found a basket of horse manure.  The pessimist said, ‘Oh, no!  The poor pony is going to die.’  The optimist looked at his basket of horse manure and said, ‘Oh boy!  Where’s my pony?”  What makes the story personally funny to me is that it was my pessimistic uncle who told it.

The question is, ‘How do you face life?’

We are faced with a variety of issues on three levels.  There is stress on the national political scene; there is stress, division, and uncertainty in the national church, and there is an assault on many areas of people’s personal lives. One of my brother clergy said, “My people are getting absolutely hammered.  Health issues, jobs, family problems, personal problems.”  Life always has had its ups and downs, but it is very hard for the pessimist to recognize that there are ups as well as downs.

Let me remind you of four basic sets of presuppositions that ultimately point us in the direction of being pessimists or optimists.

We either believe that:

God is, or He isn’t

That God communicates, or that He doesn’t

That Jesus is the Communication of God, or He isn’t

Miracles happen, or they don’t

Those four presuppositions will govern not only our understanding of Christian faith and theology, but also our view of whether or not human life is viable and has meaning.

When Christians believe that God is, they believe that He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. If you really believe that God is almighty, that He is all knowing, and everywhere, you are already pointed in the direction of optimism, for the one who believes that knows that there is nothing that can happen that God can’t redeem.

That is the underlying issue in the following story.  What do you think?  Were the disciples pessimistic or optimistic, and what does that have to do with Jesus question, “Why are you so afraid?”

“On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."  And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"  And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"  And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?" (Mark 4:35-41)  

How were the disciples looking at life?  Pessimistically or Optimistically?  If we are to live the life of faith we will need to see each of the challenges we face through Holy Eyes.  That is, we will want to see things from the perspective of our Lord, rather than see them through the fears of the world.  Let me warn you, there is such a thing as naïve Optimism; not everything is right with the world.

There is an interesting text that warns us about the nature of fear:

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹² "Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread (Isaiah 8:11).

Did you know that fear and the accompanying pessimism is like a flu bug.  It’s viral.  It’s catching and it can spread from person to person in a family, in a parish, and even through a diocese or a national church.

            In part the antidote for pessimism lies in our understanding of the nature of God:

Do you believe that God is Omnipotent?

Hear the words of the prophet

kheh-qat-tsar ruach adonai

“Is the Spirit of the Lord short?” (Micah 2:7).

Can your God deal with the things that confront you?

Hear what the Lord says to Moses:

kheh-yad adonai kheh-qat-tsar

“Is the hand of Lord short?” (Numbers 11:23)

Let your hearts cry out:

“Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you!” (Jeremiah 32:17).

Jesus Himself says to you:

“What is impossible with men is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)

The key to power is the indwelling of Christ: Jesus gives us a direct promise of His power.  He says:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Dame Julian Norwich in the 14^th C gives that great confession: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”  Then she hears her Lord say: “What is impossible to you is not impossible to me . . .. I shall make all things well.”

There is nothing facing you that God in His power can’t deal with.

There is nothing facing a parish church that God in His power can’t deal with.

There is nothing facing this nation that God in His power can’t deal with.

There is nothing in the way of challenges facing the national church that God in His power can’t deal with:

 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

We are called to step forth in faith.  We are called to walk on the water with Jesus:

There is one quote that for years has guided much of my thinking about acts of initiative:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” [i]

No matter what the issue is that confronts you, one truth abides:  God is, and He is Omnipotent!

Is it a matter of Optimism or Pessimism, or is it a matter of faith?  In the words of Peter:

 “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68, 69).

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[i] William Hutchinson Murray, http://thinkexist.com/quotes/william_hutchinson_murray/

Copyright © 2013 Robin P. Smith