Lectio Divina

I ~ Lectio: Read

      Gently read the scriptures, slowly savoring and repeating the parts of the text that speak to the depths of your heart.  Listen to the Word “with the ear of your heart’, and be willing to linger on portions of the text that seem to speak to you in a special way.

      Through repetition, gently allow the text to percolate into your memory.  Be willing to set the printed text aside and to listen quietly to the Word that you have taken into your heart.

II ~ Meditatio: Reflect

      Lovingly and slowly repeat the text you have internalized.  Allow this interior “mulling over” to help the text “yield its savor”.  Allow the text to interact with your memories, your hopes, your concerns.  Don’t be afraid of “distractions”; simply acknowledge them and let go of them, always returning to the portion of Scriptures you have taken into your heart.

III ~ Oratio: Respond

      Let the text summon you to a place before the Lord all of yourself.  Make the Word you have taken into yourself be a real word of consecration – a Word of blessing and a means of offering to the Lord your deepest hopes and concerns.  Let the gentle repetition of the Word lead you into dialogue with the God Who originally inspired the text, and Who has now used the Scriptures as a way of drawing you into His presence.

IV ~ Contemplatio: Rest

      As you feel called to do so, simply rest silently in the presence of the Lord.  Be willing to let go of the text that has let you into God’s presence.  Enjoy the sweetness of silent communion with the God Who stands behind the Scriptures.

Conclusion

      Recognize that these steps are not stages in an orderly process: they are a way of allowing the inner rhythms of our spiritual lives to become more and more charged with the presence of God.  We are not to judge the quality of our Lectio by how much or little time we spend in any of the above activities.  The rhythm of the Lectio Divina reflects the rhythm of our lives: we may move from one step to another without realizing it; and we may find several steps coexisting at the same time.  Lectio Divina is simply a way of experiencing in our reading of the Scriptures what God intends our whole lives to become – a continuous experience of His Presence, a continual and unending prayer.

These Directions for Lectio Divina came from St. Benedict's Abbey in Bartonville to whom I owe a debt of grace and blessing.  http://www.sbabbey.com

“Then”

“Then I will be joyful in the Lord; *

      I will glory in his victory.”  Psalm 35:9

      In a 1984 interview, Paul Tournier, a Christian psychologist and author, spoke of his lifelong habit of silent meditation. I personally don’t care for Tournier’s method of meditation which is textless and silent; waiting on God with pencil in hand for the voice of God to speak in the midst of one’s realities. His method is very close to a pop-psychology exercise in deepening self-knowledge, which while it has some values, does not answer my own need for the voice of God in my life.

      The inimitable devil Screwtape, according to C. S. Lewis, prefers this type of prayer,

One of their poets, Coleridge, has recorded that he did not pray ‘with moving lips and bended knees’ but merely ‘composed his spirit to love’ and indulged ‘a sense of supplication’. That is exactly the sort of prayer we want; and since it bears a superficial resemblance to the prayer of silence as practiced by those who are very far advanced in the Enemy’s service, clever and lazy patients can be taken in by it for quite long time.[i]

      On a practical basis, I have found that my own mind is not good company when left to itself.  It is better that I should start with a text and let the Spirit lead where He will on the basis of the text. That probably is the tacit principle lying behind classic Lectio Divina. However, given the initial objective text, or perhaps a spiritual scene, waiting with pencil in hand often does help to focus personal Lectio Divina.

      The text in Psalm 35:9 starts with the word “then.” The context of the verse in the Psalm is conflictual, but so is much of our life experience. The psalmist began in the first verse by praying, “Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, "I am your salvation! [Psalm 35:1-3].  The psalmist wanted to see the victory, and “then” glory in it. So do I.

      How much of our conflict is circumstantial? How much is exterior? How much is interior? One needs to take the pants off fear and parade it around naked in order to see that it needn’t be overwhelming after all. Fear casts a much larger shadow than the reality it envelops. Generally, when you think you see a dragon, it usually turns out to just be a toad.

      I don’t intend to ignore reality. Some realities can be pretty painful. Humankind endures some pretty horrendous things; then they are over. Jacob said, “Few and evil are the days of my life; then they were over and Jacob was gathered to his fathers. I have often thought that Jacob, who created much of his pain for himself, was too negative, and in the very moment of speaking he was creating and reaping more pain. Our words have the power to create.

      It is better not to stop with the word “then,” but to go on to the affirmation “I will be joyful in the Lord,” and take the words “I will” not as a simple future, but as a declaration of intent. It is a decision, an act of the will that flows from the present into the future sharing in the very creation of that future. Why should I not rejoice? My hope is in Him, not in myself, not in the “then,” in the sense of something past, but in the “now”. I am in His hands. “All is well. All is well. All manner of things shall be well.”[ii]

      Lectio does not start in silence. It ends in silence. Silence begins after the words, spoken or written. Silence is wayless. It is waiting on God with the mind stilled, receptive; receptive beyond words, images, ideas and the usual cacophony of the mind.  In silence, after all the words are over, one receives God Himself. More accurately one receives the Shekinah Kabod, the Abiding Glory, the mystic cloud of glory that at once both cloaks and conveys the presence of God. Even the word “presence” is a shield as well as a realization. Further in. In silence. Further in. The Eternal Word is not always talking. He just is.

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[i] C. S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters, (New York: Harper, 1996), p. 16

ⁱⁱ Dame Julian of Norwich

Beautiful Saviour

Have you ever wondered what Jesus looked like? Throughout the centuries devout iconographers and artists have depicted Jesus as man of their own culture; each Icon or Holy Picture testifying to the principle of the Incarnation; that the Living God, Jesus Christ, has been born in our flesh, in the likeness of men. Yet Isaiah says, “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” [Isaiah 53:1-2].

Saint Peter, who saw Him and loved Him knew that we also would love Him, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” 1 Peter 1:8]. Those who have not yet met Him can hardly understand that the love of Jesus in Christian hearts is based on a spiritual encounter with Him so real that overwhelms the heart.

It can all start with a prayer, “Are You real Lord?” and it ends in Heaven. “O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of ev’ry love the best! ‘Tis an ocean vast of blessing, ‘tis a haven sweet of rest! O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ‘tis a heaven of heav’ns to me. And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXjksN-Fn18

The Golden Lion

In my dream, I dreamed that a track ahead led through a swampy area over the submerged ruins on an ancient road toward the opposite bank.  Several slimed steps emerged from below the surface of the dark waters up to the top of the bank.  Climbing up the steps I stood for a moment pondering the parting of the ways that were before me.  To the right lay an old rutted cart path that wove its way into a damp, dark, and murky forest.  Another smaller path, single, simple, went up the hill before me. 

Thinking that the cart path looked the most likely to lead somewhere I struck off down the road.  Only a dim and grey light filtered down through the over-arching branches.  I felt an inner caution; several pathways branching off one side or the other would offer themselves.  An inner voice old me not to worry, I would know where the danger lay.  As I travelled on several avenues beckoned me, but at once a sense of antipathy, almost dread, warned me away.  Going on a little further a grotesque birdlike spectre loomed over me bidding me enter a branch leading further off beneath the shadows of the trees. From that offered pathway a faint, subtle, stench of death drifted on the air.  The sense of dread deepened and I backed away.  The old rutted cart path and all its branches led nowhere that I wanted to go. 

I returned to the river bank and looked again at the small path leading up over the hill before me.  The path itself was narrow, but on either side was a broad margin dotted with tiny meadow flowers, pink, white, perfectly formed, presenting a cheerful alternative to the old cart path that I had abandoned.

The path led up over the crest of a small rise and emerged from the forest into bright light.  Before me a broad slope led gently down to the sea.  The sky was blue, the air freshly warm, the scene serene, the horizon infinite.  As soon as I set forth down the slope to the sea I saw before me an immense Golden Lion standing on the sandy shore.  Love and awe, desire, awoke in my breast and I hastened forward and lost myself in His embrace.  It was Love Himself that met me, embraced me, filled me with a deep and reverent joy.  With great gladness I lost myself in Him.

Thus I awoke from sleep, but the numinous Presence of the Lion enveloped me with a warm radiance that endured throughout the next hour, despite the distractions of my morning ablutions.  He who loved me most of all said to me, “You are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you” (Isaiah 43:4), and I knew the truth that He dwelt in me, and I in him, twined together in the harmony of love.

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.