Living Wittily

"Discipleship is joy."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship and Letters and Papers from Prison are two of the enduring Christian classics of the Twentieth Century. When the definitive collection of Bonhoeffer's Works were published in English the volume on discipleship was given the title he himself intended, Discipleship. 

Nevertheless, the title English readers had become used to is an inevitable sub-title; The Cost of Discipleship. What makes Bonhoeffer's book powerfully transformative for its readers is the relentless question, "What does Jesus want of us today, here and now? In this world, at this cultural moment, in these circumstances that circumscribe the life we are given to live, what does Jesus ask of us, require of us, command us? 

That urgency took on an even more astringent note in The Letters and Papers from Prison. By then Bonhoeffer probably knew his own fate, and what would be the cost of his own discipleship, his own attempts to answer the questions he had posed to his fellow Christians. Here are some of the words he wrote

"Only those whose final standards are not their reason, their principles, their conscience, their freedom, or their virtue, but who are  ready to sacrifice all this when they are called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive  allegiance to God - the responsible ones, who try to make their whole life an answer to the question and call of God." (A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. January 30, page 32.)

The disciples of Jesus, now as then, are "the responsible ones, who try to make their whole life an answer to the question and call of God." What makes Bonhoeffer such a hard read is that uncompromising interrogative mood - what is God's question to us, and what is God's call, and what is God asking of us?

In a letter to his friend on the occasion of his son's baptism Bonhoeffer described the life of the baptised disciple: "We can be christians today in only two ways, through prayer, and in doing justice among human beings. All Christian thinking, talking and organising must be born anew, out of that prayer and action." 

So following faithfully after Jesus is both responsible obedience to the question and call of God, and living that question and call as our summons from God to pray and serve the world for the sake of Christ. The call to discipleship and the cost of discipleship are inextricable, and they intersect at the cross. His closing words to the Preface of Discipleship invite us to ponder what being a follower of Jesus means for us, and what it will cost us, and this viewed in the light of the cross of Jesus, which already carries the infinite expense of divine love.

"Is it a few or many, who belong with Jesus? Jesus died on the cross alone, abandoned by his disciples. It was not two of his faithful followers who hung beside him, but two murderers. But they all stood beneath the cross: enemies and the faithful, doubters and the fearful, the scornful and the converted,  and all of them and their sin were included in this hour in Jesus' prayer for forgiveness. God's merciful love lives in the midst of its foes. It is the same Jesus Christ who by grace calls us to follow him..."

"Only Jesus Christ who bids us follow him, knows where the path will lead. But we know it will be a path full of mercy beyond measure. Discipleship is joy. May God grant us joy in all seriousness of discipleship, affirmation of the sinners in all rejection of sin, and the overpowering and winning word of the gospel in all defence against our enemies."

Whenever we begin to feel scunnered, weary of the relentless cascade of human pain and suffering, angry at the mixture of evil and complacency in the face of cruelty, impotent to change the structural and systemic sin woven through human institutions, cultures, organisations and corporate power in the service of the powerful, Bonhoeffer's no nonsense seriousness about the cost of discipleship offers us a direction of travel, a path to walk, and a reminder of the question and call of God.

Bonhoeffer finishes the Preface to Discipleship with the words of Jesus, which are, in fact, the preface to our own discipleship:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matt 11.28-9)

 

TFTD: Psalm 145, Singing and Dancing to the Music of God.

Monday

Psalm 145.1-2 “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.  Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.”

When it comes to praise the Psalm writer doesn’t do thing by halves. “For ever and ever…every day.” It’s a commonplace comment that the atheist’s worst moment is when they are grateful but don’t know who to thank. The Psalmist-poet knows perfectly well who to thank, and practises gratitude as the fuel of praise, every day and always! This psalm is a praise list. It’s not a prayer list of what we want, but a praise list of who God is and what God does.

Tuesday

Psalm 145.3-4 “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.  One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.”

Every culture has its gods, and they are not all good for us or to us. Whatever comes first in our lives, takes up our time, energy, money, and captures our heart, is well on its way to being an idol, a God who demands but never gives. Not so the Lord who is most worthy of praise. The God of Israel is a God of mighty acts of mercy and judgement, bestowing a depth of love and grace we can never fathom. The true God we know in Jesus Christ draws us to wonder, worship and witness.

Wednesday

Psalm 145.5-6 “They speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds.”

What God is - “the glorious splendour of your majesty” – and what God does - “your wonderful works.” God is what he does, and what he has done in creation and redemption is seen most fully in Jesus Christ. The generations proclaim and live and embody the glory of Christ as the good news of God. Mission is not the Church’s burden or strategy, it is the natural outflow of a community renewed in Christ. We speak as visible saints, and live by God's grace as signs of the glorious splendour of the majesty of God in Christ.

Thursday

Psalm 145.7-8 “They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.”

Whatever else the Christian community is, if it reflects the New Testament church it sings and dances to the music of God, it celebrates joyfully the  reality of who God has revealed himself to be in Christ – “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.” It may be that the church best reflects the good news of Jesus if we are also known as those who are slow to anger and rich in love, and shown to be less about condemnation and more about mercy, gracious and compassionate and slow to anger!

Friday

Psalm 145.9-10a “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All your works praise you, Lord…”

Three times the poet uses the all-encompassing word "all". For people of faith in this God who is good to all and has compassion on all he has made, this is argument enough for environmental concern, love of creation, conservation of the natural world, resistance to the wasting and laying waste of God’s creation, from the rain-forests to the oceans, the snow leopard to the honey bee. If all God’s works praise him, we have no right to silence that praise by our greed, neglect or indifference.

Saturday

Psalm 145.10b-12 “Your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.”

This is called bearing witness, giving testimony, with patient and persistent faithfulness to the Gospel we believe and the Saviour whose love we celebrate. The kingdom of which we tell is the Kingdom of God, the reign and rule of God which Jesus demonstrated and proclaimed. Luke 4.18-19 describes what Jesus is about, and what his faithful people are about. Read it again, this is the good news of God’s Kingdom. It was demonstrated and established on Calvary, confirmed let loose at the resurrection, and became our commission at Pentecost to tell of the glory of God's kingdom.

Sunday

Psalm 145.13 “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”

This verse is about faith taking the long view. The purposes of God are seldom short term. But however long it takes in our human time frame, the Lord is trustworthy and faithful. Isaiah said much the same: “My word shall not return to me empty, but will accomplish the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55.11) In all the changing circumstances of our lives, despite the flux and turmoil of the world we live in, it is God’s Kingdom that will come, and God’s purposes that will eventually be fulfilled. For that we pray; meantime we live obediently towards God’s will being done on earth as in heaven. And remembering, “The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”

A J Heschel and the ancient traditions of 'hesed' and 'shalom'.

What brings me back to reading Heschel is not that his writing is 'accessible', 'practical', 'devotional', or even always understandable. In Heschel's writing I hear the voice of a prophet, someone for whom God is the living centre of human existence, and who tries to see and show the creative love and purposeful mercy that frames each life.

 

For Heschel, God is not our back-up position in case our own life plans and hopes get into trouble. God is the one who calls us to live into the gift that is our life by being a hopeful, life-giving presence in a world of despair. For example, here are the words I read this morning, going through a book I bought in 1993, of all places, in the huge Hanover Book Store in Hanover, New Hampshire, while staying with our good friends Bob and Becky.

 

"There is a loneliness in us that hears. When the soul parts from the company of the ego and its retinue of petty conceits; when we cease to exploit all things but instead pray the world's cry, the world's sigh, our loneliness may hear the living grace beyond all power.

 

We must first peer into the darkness, feel strangled and entombed in the hopelessness of living without God, before we are ready to feel the presence of His living light."

 

This is Jewish wisdom, rooted in ancient traditions of 'hesed' and 'shalom', mercy and flourishing, faithfulness and peace, love for the world because made by and sustained by the steadfast love of God which endures forever. Heschel's concern for compassion and justice, human security through humane behaviour draws from deep wells of that Jewish tradition. They are traditions without which our modern world has become a much more dangerous place.

What it means to live in the sheltering hospitality of God.

Monday

Psalm 84.1-2 “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

Homesickness is that deep longing for the people and the places we love. As someone said, “Those away from home love and long for it; those who stay there criticise it.” But to the human heart, God is the true home, and there is in us a deep longing, an inner ache for God that gives edge to our prayers and devotions. “Thou has made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”

Tuesday

Psalm 84.2 “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God.”

There are reasons some of us are birdwatchers. Their life is often fragile, filled with risk, and, lived day to day. And yet. For Jesus birds were an everyday parable of the providence of God. Not a sparrow falls to the ground but the Creator God sees it. And the Psalmist has noticed every time he journeys to the Temple, there are birds. The swallow nest in the eaves, he sparrow at home near the altar – such is the hospitality of God. And if God welcomes the birds home, how much more…

Wednesday

 Psalm 84.3 “Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.

‘Blessed’, means ‘to be congratulated’ or considered well off in life. This Psalm writer knows from experience that to give God his place and time in our lives is the sure way to blessing. More than that, to regularly praise God is to concentrate on blessing rather than misfortune, to be grateful instead of complaining. ‘Blessed’ is an important word because it changes the way we look at the world. That’s why Jesus spoke the Beatitudes – because to know our blessedness is to change our attitudes!

Thursday

Psalm 84. 5-7 “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.”

Life is a journey for all of us. Much of it seems straightforward. But there are steep braes, tight corners, barren places and even dangers to be faced. Like those long ago pilgrims to Jerusalem, in the strength of God we do what we can to stay faithfully travelling towards God – we dig for water in Baka! But also like them, autumn rains come from God who provides when our own resources run dry. Following faithfully after Jesus is a journey, at times hard, other times a joy. Either way we go from strength to strength, and are blessed because our strength is in the Lord.

Friday

Psalm 84.8-9 “Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. Look on our shield, O God; look with favour on your anointed one.”

It’s one of the most common petitions in the Psalms, “Hear my prayer.” And just to be sure, the more urgent plea, “Listen to me!” The One to whom he prays is Almighty, that means power. But also the God of Jacob, that means plan, purpose, and promise. Jacob is one of the names used for the people of God, all those whose trust and dependence is on God. Prayer, urgent, believing and persistent, is how we express our trust and our dependence on the God who gives hospitality to birds!

Saturday

Psalm 84.10 “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”

It’s about what we want from life, and how we judge what is good, and what is best. One day in worship in the presence of God is better than a thousand doing our own thing with no thought of God. Many a time those who are on the welcome rota either quote, or have quoted to them, about being a doorkeeper. To be at the entrance of God’s house, welcoming others in fellowship, prayer and worship is better than being at the very centre of things elsewhere, where God is either unwelcome or rendered anonymous and obscured in the busy grasping that often passes for a successful life.

Sunday

Psalm 84.11-12 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

The sun gives light and life, and the Lord is like that. A shield protects from harm, and the Lord is like that too. But the condition is clear and demanding, ‘those whose walk is blameless’. This is about integrity, that honesty of heart and mind that is made obvious by our behaviour and character; for Christians, being conformed to Christ. Other Psalms ask the question about who is worthy to stand before God.  “He that  hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” (Psalm 24.4) Our Psalm finishes with another Beatitude: “Blessed is the one who trusts in you.” Praying ourselves inside this psalm helps us understand what it means to live in the sheltering hospitality of God.

Canvas and Thread, and Contemplative Prayer through Weaving the Ways of God.

I have spent hundreds of hours in the company of George Herbert, Charles Wesley and Julian of Norwich. I read widely, so there are plenty of others well up the frequent and regular reading list. But these three have a special place for several reasons. 

Each of them has shaped my theology and spirituality, and have helped build in my mind a durable and symbiotic connection between the two. Theology is an exercise of the intellect which shapes spirituality, and spirituality as the experience of, and personal response to, the love of God in Christ, so that the two coalesce in a theological understanding best expressed in prayer. 

Three years ago I completed a tapestry based on Julian's parable of the hazelnut - I've added the text below, at the end of this post. The tapestry, as shown here, was designed and worked over four months. A fuller explanation of what I was seeking to explore can be found over on this page.

That exercise in close reading of a text through imaginative and creative work with threads, colour and canvas, deepened further my appreciation of the spiritual courage, theological urgency and literary brilliance of Julian and her Revelations of Divine Love. In May 2023 the tapestry, titled 'Benedicite Domine', was included in an art exhibition at the University of St Andrews. I was understandably chuffed, but also pleased that a piece of art inspired by a 14th Century anchoress, whose writings broke the male dominance of theological discourse and constructive thought, was on display in an exhibition titled "Enfolding: a Study of Margins and Centres."

However, having completed a work on the visionary theology of Julian, that left Charles Wesley and George Herbert, and the question of whether I might attempt a visual exposition of their lyrical poetry. Of course they are very different in Christian experience, historical context, theological emphasis, personality, and ecclesial commitments and convictions. Yet over the years of immersion in their hymns and poetry I was aware of an underlying affinity in their verse, a shared emphasis on the religious affections and the synergy between theological understanding and the spiritual experience of the writer.

Both George Herbert and Charles Wesley were profoundly serious in their quest for personal holiness, and in their poetry deeply confessional about their struggles with sin, their failures of love, their self-diminishing sense of unworthiness. Yet alongside such self-disqualification there are whole poems, verses and even single lines, that flame with faith and trust in the eternal love of God, revealed in Christ crucified and risen, and in which Christians live and move, and quite literally, have their being. 

At the start of Advent 2023 I started a tapestry I had been planning in my head for some time. 'Planning' is perhaps too rigid as a term, because I begin any tapestry aiming at visual exposition of a text with a broad and unresolved sense of what I want to do. Ideas evolve in the process of working it, and there are times when some part of the design doesn't work, and unexpected decisions about stitch, colour, pattern turn out surprisingly to be right.

However this tapestry was an attempt to explore two particular poems which I had in mind, one by Herbert, one by Wesley. The Herbert one I know by heart, the Wesley one is one of my favourite hymns and is also known by heart. Incidentally, that phrase 'known by heart', captures very well the intended impact of Wesley's hymns, and the spiritual longings of Herbert's poems. 

In any case, the two poems were already pretty thoroughly woven into my own inner spiritual patterns, which I trust have slowly been taking shape under the loving wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate tapestry worker! I already knew what would fill the central panel, the key image in Herbert's poem and Wesley's hymn. However, creating the right context in both the image and the background theological reflection - that needed working out.

The result is a tapestry that has taken less time than I imagined. Of course, one reason for that is the less than congenial weather over the past few weeks, and therefore more time indoors to move the work along. Once the tapestry has been framed I'll do another post and try to explain what on earth I was trying to do! 

Meantime, here is the parable of the hazelnut from the brilliant Julian, which inspired 'Benedicite Domine:

“And in this he showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, ‘What may this be?’ And it was answered generally thus, ‘It is all that is made.’

I marvelled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.

In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it.”

  ..................

The statue of George Herbert is on Westminster Abbey, one of a series on notable Christians.

The Wesley picture shows my well used Oxford Ed. of The Hymn Book for the People Called Methodists, a souvenir mug from Gwnap Pit, and a Victorian cockle plate showing Charles Wesley, a gift from Sheila who knows exactly the right kind of gift. 

Why Going to a Thanksgiving Service is an Essential Gesture of Gratitude

Yesterday I braved the snow and ice to honour a good man whose name will always be associated with the Kirk of St Nicholas in Aberdeen

Rev James Charles Stewart's entire working life was spent in fulfilling a deep commitment to the parish ministry of the Church of Scotland. He died on Hogmanay at the age of 90, full of years and decades of faithful ministry which continued for years beyond his retirement.

I met Jim in 1984 and though very different in personality, church tradition and life story, we became friends in that way that doesn't need frequent meeting and talking to sustain. The times our paths crossed there was nearly always time for a blether about anything from politics to ministry matters to whatever we were reading. For those on this page who will have known Jim, I wanted to mention several reasons I made my way to the 'Mither Kirk' yesterday.

I wanted to honour a good man, whose service to the City was one of the joys of his ministry. The high point was the year when Mikael Gorbachev was given the freedom of the City of Aberdeen, and Jim shared the Civic carriage with him as they processed the length of Union Street.

I wanted to give thanks for Jim, a thoughtful, traditional, and theologically precise preacher, loved of his congregation, respected by the City Councillors, and held in esteem throughout the Church of Scotland. For half a century he was a member of the Aberdeenshire Theological Club and every few years delivered a paper on various hidden corners of Scottish Church history. As current President of the ATC, I wanted to be there in memory of Jim the scholar and repository of the ecclesial traditions of the Kirk.

I was glad to hear again the back-story of Jim Stewart. Precise and meticulous and deeply informed in liturgical theology and practice, he was made for a ministry requiring the public face of the Kirk in city and nation. He brought thoughtful dignity to civic occasions and pastoral encounters alike. And yet. His first full charge was in Drumchapel, one of the most challenging of the Glasgow housing estates. He loved and never undersold the resilience and humanity of the folk in his Glasgow parish. In conversation his humanity and compassion came through in the words and responses of an essentially shy and reserved man, who loved both his vocation, and the people who were on the receiving end of both his gifts and his time.

True to his love of Scottish Reformed liturgy, Jim chose a Hymn, a Psalm and a Scottish paraphrase for the Thanksgiving Service. There was no photo on the Order of Service, the simplicity even sparseness of the design, the hallmark of a man who resisted drawing attention to himself; instead the plain single line cross, front and centre. As it was in the final hymn chosen by Jim, and printed below.

One last thought. As the life and faith of the Church in Scotland goes through rapid and disorienting change, Jim represented the high point of post-war transformation of the role and calling of parish ministry. He was a man of his time, and was puzzled and sad to see the relentless and accelerating decline of Christian cultural influence in Scotland. What remains though, from the ministry of Jim Stewart, is the lingering influence of a life dedicated to God, to his parish and city, in which gift and discipline, prayer and scholarship, brought the joy of service and the friendship of many.

Coming out the West Door, an elderly lady was struggling with her walking stick on the slippy cobblestones. I took her arm, and escorted her down to the taxi rank in Little Belmont Street. I learned she was one of the Elders of St Nicholas, and she had her own thoughts of the Rev James C Stewart. Mostly they coincided with mine! Rest in peace and rise in glory, good and faithful servant.

1 The Saviour died, but rose again
triumphant from the grave;
and pleads our cause at God's right hand,
omnipotent to save.

2 Who then can e'er divide us more
from Jesus and his love,
or break the sacred chain that binds
the earth to heaven above?

3 Let troubles rise, and terrors frown,
and days of darkness fall;
through him all dangers we'll defy,
and more than conquer all.

4 Nor death nor life, nor earth nor hell,
nor time's destroying sway,
can e'er efface us from his heart,
or make his love decay.

5 Each future period that will bless,
as it has blessed the past;
he loved us from the first of time,
he loves us to the last.

Rescuing a New Testament.

A few years ago I bought this New Testament in a used bookshop in Huntly. I don't collect Bible translations, but this copy was a reminder of the excitement in the late 1960's when the first instalment of the Good News Bible was published.

 

It was called Today's English Version in its first printings. From the start this translation has featured the brilliant line drawings of Annie Vollotton, some of which are exegetical sketches without words.

Over my years of ministry I've moved from RSV, to NIV in its various updatings, then on my desk and most often used, the NRSV and the REB.

The choice of a Bible translation is quite personal, though our subjective liking or disliking should at least be qualified by the question of whether translational decisions are made on the evidence from the text, or at times shaped by theological presuppositions.

 

I still remember R E O White, our College Principal saying of the blurb about the NIV claiming it was the translation for evangelicals. I paraphrase, but he said it often enough for there to be a strong oral tradition about it! "I'm not sure we do the text, or its authors any favours by describing it as an 'evangelical' translation. Accurate, yes, faithful to the text, certainly. But that's a different matter."

 

Anyway, this small NT has its own story. It was presented in 1972 to the Newtongrange Gala Day Queen. I've no idea how it made its way through time and landscape to a wee book shop in Huntly. But here it is, in near fine condition, the original TEV dustcover, and one of my favourite Vallotton drawings.

TFTD: Prayer Matters

Monday

Luke 11.1 “Lord, teach us to pray…”

Behind that request there is a lot of honesty, even humility. We all recognise prayer is vital, that is, life-giving. How do we speak to God? What do we ask for? Is there a right way and a wrong way to pray? To the first question, we speak as children to a loving parent. To the second, we ask whatever we need and whenever we need it. The third is best answered by remembering God knows our heart, and our world. The only wrong way to pray may well be not bothering to pray at all!

Tuesday

Luke 11.9 “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Promises, promises. If I ask for grace in time of need God says, my grace is sufficient for you. If I seek God’s guidance about a big decision, God says you will look and you will find me when you seek with your whole heart. If life seems to be a closed door, remember at Easter Jesus came and stood amongst them “though the doors were closed”. No, life doesn’t always turn out the way we thought, or the way we want. So we trust God’s promises, because all God’s promises are ‘Yes’ in Christ! (2 Cor.1.20)   

Wednesday

John 17.20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.”

It’s well worth remembering that before we utter a word of prayer, we have already been prayed for by the One to whom we pray. What’s more, the crucified and risen Lord “is at the right hand of God and ever lives to make intercession for us.” Every day, every breath and heartbeat, we are held in the heart of Eternal Love, drawn into the inner life of the Triune God. The Spirit prays within us, and Christ intercedes for us, at the right hand of the Father. We pray as those continually prayed for.

Thursday

Romans 12.12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

These three things are connected in the spiritual life. Joy isn’t an occasional emotional high, it’s the underlying confidence of faith, trustfulness in God who is the God of hope. Patience in affliction is easier said than done, but it’s often in the hard times, even the hardest times, that strength comes to us from beyond us, from God. Faithfulness in prayer is that persistent leaning on God, in whose hands we are held, and in whose loving purposes our daily lives are woven in mercy and grace.

Friday

1 Timothy 2.1 “I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone…”

Paul is writing about prayer in worship – and insisting that the worshipping community should pray urgently, widely, generously, faithfully and inclusively. For everyone. The church is not entitled as a first priority to pray for itself and its own success. The Christian community at prayer is putting into words the love of God for a broken world, and for people to be loved and prayed for wherever we might find them and wherever they have ended up in life. We should pray in a church with glass walls, and with our eyes open and with hearts pre-set to compassion as default.

Saturday

1 Timothy 2.1-2 “I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone…for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

The idea that the church shouldn’t get involved in politics is one that Paul’s whole life refutes. From his speech on the Areopagus, his meetings with Agrippa, his detention in Philippi, his insistence against every claim of the Emperor that there is one Lord and his name is Jesus –  political. Faithful discipleship requires of us an awareness of power, how it is used and abused. One way we confront and critique power is in prayers for justice to the One whose is the kingdom, the power and the glory.

Sunday

2 Corinthians 1.10-11a “God has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.”

This verse is one good reason we pray for each other, and for those going through difficult times and valleys of darkness. We have no idea what difference our prayers make to how people’s lives turn out. We do know that people are helped by knowing they are being prayed for. What we don’t know is how God answers not only our prayers, but the deepest needs of those he loves. God uses our faithful prayers in ways we can’t begin to imagine in bringing blessing to others. You know you’re doing this prayer thing right when someone says, “you help us by your prayers.”

We are pilgrims on a journey. We are brothers on the road.

We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night time of your fear.

I will hold my hand out to you; speak the peace you long to hear.

When Prayer Matters More Than our Theological Curiosity about How Prayer Works.

Some news of a friend who is very ill, and who asks for prayer. All our theologising about what we think we are doing when we pray is silenced by the reality of someone's suffering and their request for our prayers.

 

The words of a favourite hymn say much of what I think we are doing when we pray in response to someone who is 'standing in the need of prayer.'

 

They also describe the nature of the pastoral relationship, and the deep ties of fellowship in Christ, the conduits of love through which passes the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.

 

We are pilgrims on a journey.

We are brothers on the road.

We are here to help each other

Walk the mile and bear the load.

 

I will hold the Christ-light for you

In the night time of your fear.

I will hold my hand out to you;

Speak the peace you long to hear.

 

I will weep when you are weeping.

When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.

I will share your joy and sorrow

Till we’ve seen this journey through.

"Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine, / And the configurations of their glory!"

This is not a book review; more an appreciation of a book that is so informative, engaging and downright interesting that I'm deliberately reading it slowly, with pencil in hand, and entirely at ease about re-reading a paragraph or page or two. 

I'm now half way through my Christmas present to myself. The Johannine Renaissance brings together two of my places of intellectual contentment and reward; the Gospel of John and Seventeenth Century poetry and theology. What has been refreshing in reading Cefalu's study of Johannine theology and early modern English literature and theology, is an early established confidence that the author has 'read, learned and inwardly digested' the significant primary sources and secondary studies pertinent to his overall thesis. 

His main contention is that scholarly discussions of soteriology have concentrated on Pauline atonement theology, and justification as the core experimental doctrine. The result has been an eclipse of the equally significant influence of Johannine theology in seeking to understand both the doctrine and experience of salvation in the lives and minds of 17th Century Christians. By contrast to the Pauline emphasis on atonement, Cefalu argues that the Johannine focus is on revelation, what is heard and seen of the Word of Life. The book aims to demonstrate John's revelatory Christology as of equal significance for understanding the theology and experience of many mainstream Christian voices in 17th Century England. Cefalu is well aware of the complexities of theology, political expediencies and agendas, ecclesial and liturgical controversies, that created so much turbulence throughout the 17th Century.

He is also well appraised of the history of biblical interpretation, especially Augustine's pervasive influence throughout the medieval and into the Reformation and early modern periods. When you find Marianne Thompson, Paul Anderson, Raymond Brown and Craig Koester amongst the key conversation partners, and from an earlier era, Rudolf Bultmann, C. H. Dodd, and Ernst Kasemann are given their due as classic voices in the history of Johannine interpretation, the ingredients are there for rich fare. 

Add to this Cefalu's obvious familiarity with current and past scholarship on Herbert, Milton, Donne, Vaughan, Crashaw and Quarles, and a host of less celebrated poets, preachers and expositors, and the result is a book like this; richly textured, thoroughly documented, lucidly written eschewing scholarly jargon, theologically informed and avoiding overstating his argument or overplaying the evidence. The chapters focus on specific Johannine texts:

Chapter 2. John 6 and the Bread of Life discourse, which Cefalu demonstrates was interpreted by Herbert, Vaughan, Crashaw and Taylor variously, but in each case avoiding the suggestions of sacramental import and claims of the real presence validated by the I am saying. Herbert for example, is shown to interpret the key texts in the light of Christ's ascension and Christ's presence as manifested through the Spirit in the communion elements. The Eucharist is a pneumatological event, and is celebrated by acknowledging the location of Christ in heaven, made real by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 3. The John 20 encounter between the risen Jesus and Mary Magdalene, leads to various artistic depictions of  the Noli Me Tangere pericope. There is fascinating discussion on Johannine intertextuality, and comment on the nature of devotion, failed discipleship and the Catholic poets' later glorification of Mary Magdalene. 

Chapter 4. The Farewell Discourse and the role of the Paraclete / Comforter takes up an entire chapter exploring Reformed pneumatology, Donne's sermons and Holy Sonnets. A highlight of the book so far, is Cefalu's insistence that Donne's "Batter my heart" is an exposition of regeneration by the Spirit, who is the primary agent throughout the sonnet. There is considerable persuasiveness in the examinations of  the experience of the Holy Spirit, Paraclete and Comforter, and the analyses of the religious affections, experimental devotion and lyrical rapture in the writings of Donne and others, Joseph Hall being chosen as exemplar.  The portrayal of Donne in his own sonnet as impatient for the fullness of grace, to the point of being discontent with grace already received, is very well done, and deserves serious consideration as an interpretation of a sonnet many find troublesome in its intensity. Beyond Donne, there is consideration of John Milton's concern about false spirits, and the dangers of pneumatological distortions, excesses and subversions of ecclesial order and political stability.  

That's as far as I've reached. Three chapters remain on God is love, Johannine dualism and radical dissent, and on Irony in John and in the two poets, Herbert and Vaughan. Only half way through this six course banquet, and like any attempt on such a meal, it's wise to take your time and have space and time between the courses / chapters.