Light Surpassing Light

Greetings,

            As we consider the nature of spiritual growth, we always return to Catherine of Siena (1347-1380).  Empowered by a life of contemplative prayer and mystical experience, she devoted herself to active care for the poor and sick.  She became an advisor on political and religious matters, and in 1376 she journeyed to Avignon as an ambassador to the Pope and influenced his decision to return to Rome.  The is from her famous The Dialogue.  (Bear in mind that at that time the word “charity” was a word which meant “love.”)

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O eternal God, light surpassing all other light because all light comes forth from you!  O fire surpassing every fire because you alone are the fire that burns without consuming!  You consume whatever sin and selfishness you find in the soul.  Yet your consuming does not distress the soul but fattens her with insatiable love, for though you satisfy her she is never sated but longs for you constantly.  The more she possesses you the more she seeks you, and the more she seeks and desires you the more she finds and enjoys you, high eternal fire, abyss of charity!

            O supreme eternal Good!  What moved you, infinite God, to enlighten me, your finite creature, with the light of your truth?  You yourself, the very fire of love, you yourself are the reason.  For it always has been and always is love that constrains you to create us in your own image and likeness, and to show us mercy by giving your creatures infinite and immeasurable graces.

            O Goodness surpassing all goodness!  You alone are supremely good, yet you gave us the Word, your only-begotten Son, to keep company with us, though we are filth and darksomeness.  What was the reason for this?  Love.  For you loved us before we existed.  O good, O eternal greatness, you made yourself lowly and small to make us great!  No matter where I turn, I find nothing but your deep burning charity.

            Can I, wretch that I am, repay the graces and burning charity you have shown and continue to show, such blazing special love beyond the general love and charity you show to all your creatures?  No, only you, most gentle loving Father, only you can be my acknowledgement and my thanks.  The affection of your very own charity will offer you thanks, for I am she who is not.  And if I should claim to be anything of myself, I should be lying through my teeth!  I should be a liar and a daughter of the devil, who is the father of lies.  For you alone are who you are, and whatever being I have and every other gift of mine I have from you, and you have given it all to me for love, not because it was my due.

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            You will also note the thinking which influenced the Moravians and John Wesley. 

Yours & His,

DED

Living as a Christian

Greetings,

            Unfortunately my computer has been having problems and the connection to the internet was not working because it is being “upgraded.”  This is, no doubt, progress.  So I will try to get caught up with sending what I have written.

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            One of the most influential Christian writers today is Nicholas T. Wright, now the retired Bishop of Durham in the Church of England.  He has written over 70 books, many of them “best sellers” in the theological market.  He has spoken in Baltimore several times, and some of us were able to hear him and enjoy his insights and practical scholarly understanding of our faith. 

            However, he is not the first Bishop of Durham to bring those qualities of faith and intellect and knowledge to the public discourse.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

            Brooks Foss Westcott was Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University before his election as Anglican Bishop of Durham in 1890.  This is from a sermon entitled “On Christian Growth” preached at St. Cuthbert’s, Darlington, in 1892.  He helped lead the Church of England into a more Wesleyan understanding of faith in action, social holiness.

My friends, let us be sure of this, that the world is for us, that life is for us, as we see it, as we make it, either an ever-widening vision of God’s glory, or a narrow and pitiful spectacle of the conflicts of man’s selfishness.  We can see only that for which our eyes are opened, and the Holy Spirit alone can open the eyes of the soul.

            Have we realized our wants and our opportunities?  Have we grown with the growth of eighteen centuries?  Our faith is not for the student, or the hermit, or the prelate, but for man as man; not for the cell or the council-chamber – though it is indeed for these – but for the market and for the fireside.  It is the apprehension not of a thought, or a message, or a command, but of a fact which reveals what God is and what man is, a Father whose love is limited only by the uttermost need of his children, a child whose lasting joy must be to rest with the light upon him from his Father’s eyes.

            Have we mastered this truth in life?

            The gospel of the Word incarnate has, I believe, and alone can have, the power to answer the questions and satisfy the desires of men which the circumstances of the time are shaping to a clear expression.

            No doubt, the end – the divine end – will be reached.  The seed of the tree of life, of which the “leaves shall be for the healing of the nations,” will grow we know not how.  This confidence can never be shaken.  But oh the difference for us in that great hour of revelation if we have watched over the earliest growth of the budding germ with tender foresight, if we have cleared a free space for the spreading  branches of the rising plant with diligent care, if we have prepared men to seek their rest under its sheltering arms.

            In Christ born, crucified, ascended is the unity, the redemption, the life of humanity.  His promise cannot fail: “I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me.”  In the strength of that promise let us hasten his coming, each bringing his own service for the consummation fo the one life.  The learning of the scholar, now as in every age, needs the chastening sense of its due relation to the whole.  The devotion of the saint needs the invigorating discipline of active ministry.  The exercise of authority needs the sympathetic grace of sacrifice.  The routine of little cares, which forms for most of us the simple record of our days of labour, needs the ennobling influence of a divine companionship.  And Christ is waiting to crown each need with blessing.

            The work to which we offer ourselves is not ours: it is the work of God.

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      It is interesting that it is two bishops of the Church of England, of which John Wesley was always a priest, even it the leaders of that church rejected him and his followers left that church to form Methodist churches, are leaders among those calling for the same reformation of the Church and Christian life which Wesley sought.  And though a century apart, both Westcott and Wright challenge us to lead a life of scriptural holiness in the world.. 

Yours & His,

DED  

Bastille Day 2

Greetings,

      Thinking of things French on Bastille Day led to the French writer from the era of the Revolution, Père Jean Nicholas Grou.  While his comments are from over 200 years ago, they seem to me to be very pertinent to our condition today.  In The School of Jesus Christ he wrote:

      If we look into our hearts, we shall be filled with confusion when we see there the mean, mercenary ideas that form the bond of our intercourse with God. 

      Are we not of the number of those who, like [those of other religions], have no object in their prayers but temporal benefits, those who pray earnestly for the fatness of the earth, but never ask for the dew of heaven?  Are not our churches full [1795] whenever public calamities overtake us, and quite deserted in times of prosperity?  When our domestic affairs are disturbed, or we are involved in a vexatious lawsuit, or are in danger of some serious loss we become very devout, we resort to prayer, and ask our priests and pious friends to help us.  When our life, or the life of our husband or a beloved child is in danger, we have Masses said [refers to an offering to the priest with the understanding that the Mass [worship/communion service] will be celebrated for the donor’s intention - the offering considered a gift toward the priest’s salary], we begin Novenas [nine successive days of public or private prayer for a special intention, accompanied by an offering - the offering considered a gift toward the priest’s salary] and invoke the Saints [asking a deceased person whom the Church has recognized as being in heaven to intercede with God in prayer for a personal concern, such asking often accompanied by lighting a candle in the church and making an offering to the church to pay for the cost of the candle].  Events and circumstances awaken our religion, as though there were no need to pray to God except in illness and sorrow.  As soon as affairs take a turn for the better and the danger is past, our devotion vanishes; the most we think of doing is to thank God for the successful end of our troubles; after a short act of gratitude we forget Him, and think of nothing but our pleasures.  Speaking generally, it is true to say that the necessities and accidents of life form the main subject and the actuating motive of the prayers of the ordinary Christian.

      Do you blame us, they may ask, for thus appealing to God in times of temporal need?  I am very far from doing so, since it is God’s own intention to call us back to Himself by such needs, and we can do nothing better than appeal to Him on these occasions.  What I blame is that he is never invoked except for these needs, as though there were no other blessings and no other evils than those of the present life.  What I blame is that God is forgotten as soon as these needs are supplied, as soon as these evils are averted and these blessings secured.  Truly it is altogether too material, too carnal, to make piety a matter of such aims and events as these.

      Just a reminder for those who might wonder about the [un-needed] explanations, that these notes go to several younger people for whom certain terms and/or historical information are not familiar.  

Yours & His,

DED

Bastille Day

Greetings,

      Tomorrow is Bastille Day, the French national holiday, which, like the American Independence Day, commemorates the beginning of a national revolution. 

      For our young people, a little history.  On 5 May 1789, France’s King Louis XVI (who, by the way, had supported the American Revolutionary government against the King of England) convened the Estates General to hear their complaints: but the assembly of the Third Estate, representing the citizens of the town of Paris, soon broke away and formed the Constituent National Assembly. On 20 June, 1789, the deputies of the Third Estate took the oath of the Jeu de Paume "to not separate until the Constitution had been established." The Deputies opposition was echoed by public opinion. The people of Paris rose up and decided to march on the Bastille, a state prison that symbolized the absolutism and arbitrariness of the Ancient Regime.

      On 14 July 1789, the storming of the Bastille immediately became a symbol of historical dimension; it was proof that power no longer resided in the King as God's representative, but in the people, in accordance with the theories developed by their philosophers of the eighteenth century. On July 16th, the Revolution had succeeded. The storming of the Bastille symbolizes, for all citizens of France, liberty, democracy and the struggle against all forms of oppression. 

      There are several contributing factors that led to this Revolution. France had the largest population in Europe and not enough food to fed it. The wealthy and growing bourgeoisie (the middle-class, merchants and businessmen) was allowed no political input or power. The poor were in a bad situation and it was getting worse. By the late 1780s the people of France were fed up and began speaking out. When King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette tried to quiet the unrest, the people rebelled. On 14 July 1789 the masses banned together and stormed the Bastille prison, a symbol of the corrupt political system. This was the start of the Revolution.

      The King's vacillation, his flight to Varennes and the appeal to foreign forces to intervene against the nation led to the downfall of the constitutional monarchy and, after the attack on the Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792, the First Republic was proclaimed on 22 September 1792.

However, after Louis XVI's execution on 21 January 1793 the Republic did not break completely with its monarchic heritage. It rejected the idea of federalism and never applied the egalitarian principles of the 1793 Constitution. Instead, in keeping with the Jacobin spirit, a highly centralized and dictatorial policy was enforced during the Reign of Terror under the authority of the Committee of Public Safety, dominated by Maximilien Robespierre.  The leaders of this republic held mass executions by guillotine, closed churches, and repressed religious freedoms among other things. In the end, in an ironic twist of fate the leaders found themselves under the blade of the guillotine.  Supporters claimed the policy was justified by the aggression of the coalition of European monarchies outside France's borders and by the uprisings within. The coup d'état of 18 Brumaire VIII (9 November 1799) put an end to the period of instability which had persisted under the Directory after Robespierre's assassination.

      Once freedom was won it had to be codified. Jurists, inspired both by the philosophy of the Enlightenment and by a long-standing French legalist tradition, dominated the Estates-General. This body, which became the National Constituent Assembly after the Tennis Court Oath of 20 June 1789, gave France its first constitution in 1791. Fifteen other constitutions were to follow, leading to the 1958 Constitution which is in effect today.

      Another outgrowth of this concept of a nation open to all who define themselves as free men was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (26 August 1789), which claimed to be eternal and universal in application.

      So much for history.

      I would make just a few observations.  First, I found it interesting to learn that there were only a few political prisoners in the Bastille at the time of its overthrow, I seem to remember the number eight, and that they were of the upper class rather than the Third Estate, or the common people who led the charge against the fortress.

      Second, while it is certainly a simplification, I think the difference in outcome of the American and French revolutions is in the persons who assumed positions of power in the respective governments.  The U. S. had George Washington, the French had Maximilien Robespierre.  The U. S. had George Washington, the French had the Committee of Public Safety.  The U. S. had George Washington, the French had Napoléon Bonaparte.  The U. S. had John Adams, the French had Louis XVIII.  The U. S. had Thomas Jefferson, the French had King Louis-Philippe.  The U. S. had James Madison, the French had Napoléon III.  And overall, the U. S. had Benjamin Franklin.

      Finally, the entrenched religious leadership of France was completely out of touch with the people, and their self-interest support of the King reflected their greed and lack of understanding of and commitment to the principles of Jesus Christ.  The U. S., on the other hand, while moving away from the establishment Church of England, was really empowered by the faith of people as demonstrated in various Christian movements such as the Methodists.

      Anyway, today we share with the French in their celebration of Bastille Day.  Unfortunately, I am no longer able to celebrate in our traditional method of going with my parents and Toots and Bernie to have steamed crabs at Pope's Creek.  So I will content myself with La Maxim's French Tea, and a Napoléon libation.

Yours & His,

DED

Wesley Covenant Service

Greetings,

      The following is a reading from the Covenant Service: Directions for Renewing our Covenant with God, by John Wesley, written in 1780.  We traditionally use the Wesley Covenant Service at the New Year.  However, I thought that part of Wesley’s commentary on the service would be useful for us to read in July, as we need to be reminded of our commitment more than just in January.

     

      Yield yourselves to the Lord, that is, as his servants, give up the dominion and government of yourselves to Christ.  Pray that he put you to whatsoever work he pleaseth.  Servants, as they must do their master’s work, so they must be for any work their master has for them to do; they must not say this is too hard, or this is to mean, or this may be well enough, let alone.  Good servants, when they have chosen their master, will let their master choose their work, and will not dispute his will, but do it.

      Christ has many services to be done, some are more easy and honourable, others more difficult and disgraceful; some are suitable to our inclinations and interests, others are contrary to both; in some we may please Christ and please ourselves, as when he requires us to feed and clothe ourselves, to provide things honest for our maintenance, yes, and there are some spiritual duties that are more pleasing than others; as to rejoice in the Lord, to be blessing and praising of God, to be feeding ourselves with the delights and comforts of religion: these are sweet works of a Christian.  But then there are other works wherein we cannot please Christ but by denying ourselves, as giving and lending, bearing and forbearing, reproving men for their sins, withdrawing from their company, witnessing against wickedness, when it will cost us shame and reproach; sailing against the wind; parting with our ease, our liberties, and accommodations for the name of our Lord Jesus.

      It is necessary, beloved, to sit down and consider what it will cost you to be the servants of Christ, and to take a thorough survey of the whole business of Christianity and not engage hand over head, to you know not what.

      First, see what it is that Christ expects, and then yield yourselves to his whole will: do not think of compounding, or making your own terms with Christ, that will never be allowed you.

      Go in Christ, and tell him, Lord Jesus, if you will receive me into your house, if you will but own me as your servant, I will not stand upon terms; impose upon me what conditions you will please, write down your own articles, command me what you will, put me  to anything you see as good; let me come under your roof, let me be your servant, and spare not to command me; I will be no longer my own, but give up myself to your will in all things.

Yours & His,

DED

Coleridge Lesson # 2

Greetings,

      Yesterday’s letter by Coleridge naturally led to re-reading The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the last portion of which ties in with the consideration of the last couple of days about true and lasting values.  As the poem comes to a close the ancient Mariner has been saved from the sinking ship, the penance of life has fallen on him, and he has undertaken his journey from land to land to teach by his own example his message:

                  Forthwith this frame of mine was wrench’d

                  With a woeful agony,

                  Which forced me to begin my tale;

                  And then it left me free.

                  Since then, at an uncertain hour,

                  That agony returns;

                  And till my gastly tale is told,

                  This heart within me burns.

     

                  I pass like night, from land to land;

                  I have strange power of speech;

                  That moment that his face I see,

                  I know the man that must hear me:

                  To him my tale I teach.

                  What loud uproar bursts from that door!

                  The wedding-guests are there:

                  But in the garden-bower the bride

                  And bride-maids singing are:

                  And hark, the little vesper bell,

                  Which biddeth me to prayer!

                  O Wedding-Guest!  this soul hath been

                  Alone on a wide, wide sea:

                  So lonely ‘twas, that God Himself

                  Scarce seemèd there to be.

                  O sweeter than the marriage-feast,

                  ‘Tis sweeter far to me,

                  To walk together to the kirk

                  With a goodly company!—

                  To walk together to the kirk,

                  And all together pray,

                  While each to his great Father bends,

                  Old men, and babes, and loving friends,

                  And youths and maidens gay!

                  Farewell, farewell!  but this I tell

                  To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!

                  He prayeth well, who loveth well

                  Both man and bird and beast.

                  He prayeth best, who loveth best

                  All things both great and small;

                  For the dear God who loveth us,

                  He made and loveth all.”

                  The Mariner, whose eye is bright,

                  Whose beard with age is hoar,

                  Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest

                  Turn’d from the bridegroom’s door.

           

                  He went like one that hath been stunn’d,

                  And is of sense forlorn:

                  A sadder and a wiser man

                  He rose the morrow morn.

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      What is our message?  Are we committed to sharing/teaching it?

Yours & His,

DED

The Great Coleridge’s Advice

Greetings,

      We have been dealing with several births and pending births, and I looked up again this letter from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to his Godchild written on July 13, 1834, twelve days before his death.

     

My dear Godchild,

      Years must pass before you will be able to read, with an understanding heart, what I now write.  But I trust that the all-gracious God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Mercies, who by His only-begotten Son (all mercies in one sovereign mercy!) has redeemed you from the evil ground, and willed you to be born out of darkness, but into light, out of death, but into life, out of sin, but into righteousness, even into the “Lord our Righteousness”; I trust that He will graciously hear the prayers of your dear parents, and be with you as the Spirit of health and growth in body and mind!…

      I have know what the enjoyments and advantages of this life are, and what the more refined pleasures which learning and intellectual power can bestow; and with all the experience that more than threescore years can give I now, on the eve of my departure, declare to you…that health is a great blessing, competence obtained by honourable industry a great blessing, and a great blessing it is to have kind, faithful, and loving friends and relatives; but that the greatest of all blessings, as it is the most ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Christian.  But I have been likewise through a large portion of my later life a sufferer sorely afflicted with bodily pains, languors, and manifold infirmities; and for the last three or four years have, with few and brief intervals, been confined to a sickroom, and at this moment in great weakness and heaviness write from a sick-bed, hopeless of a recovery, yet without prospect of a speedy removal; and I, thus on the very brink of the grave, solemnly bear witness to you that the Almighty Redeemer, most gracious in His promises to them that truly seek Him, is faithful to perform what He hath promised, and has preserved under all my pains and infirmities, the inward peace that passeth all understanding, with the supporting assurance of a reconciled God, who will not withdraw His Spirit from me in the conflict, and in His own time will deliver me from the Evil One!

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      And where is my faith?

Yours & His,

DED