No longer abashed

March 15, 2014 / / One comment

Once you have had the experience of God’s benevolence, you need no longer feel abashed in aspiring to a holier intimacy. Growth in grace brings expansion of confidence. You will love with greater ardor, and knock on the door with greater assurance, in order to gain what you perceive to be still wanting to you. ‘The one who knocks will always have the door opened to him’. It is my belief that to a person so disposed, God will not refuse that most intimate kiss of all, a mystery of supreme generosity and ineffable sweetness.

Bernard of Clairvaux

from On the Song of Songs 3.5; quoted in In the School of Love, Edith Scholl, ed., p. 154-155.

Category: Cistercians, love, quotations, union / Tags:

Embracing the elusive virtues

March 9, 2014 / / Comments Off on Embracing the elusive virtues

When you also have found Christ, when you have found wisdom, when you have found justice, holiness and redemption (for Christ became all these for us), when you have found all these, hold them by affection and by attention. What you have found by understanding, hold by diligence and keep hold, if I may so express it, of the elusive virtues. Clasp their slippery forms to you in a tighter embrace until, reversing their roles, they cling to you, embrace you willingly, hold you fast without the labor of your own initiative, and permit you neither to depart very far nor to be away very long. Even if at times you should turn aside to meet the claims of human need, there let them pursue you, recall you, and clutch you to themselves, so that if they cannot always have your uninterrupted attention, they may always have your dedicated affection.

 

Gilbert of Hoyland

Sermon 9.2 from Sermons on the Song of Songs. Translated by Lawrence C. Braceland and excerpted in In the School of Love: An Anthology of Early Cistercian Texts, Edith Scholl, ed., p.156.

Category: Cistercians, quotations, virtue / Tags:

My Way, my Truth, my Life

February 27, 2014 / / Comments Off on My Way, my Truth, my Life

The Call
George Herbert

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
such a way as gives us breath,
such a truth as ends all strife,
such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
such a light as shows a feast,
such a feast as mends in length,
such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
such a joy as none can move,
such a love as none can part,
such a heart as joys in love.

Inspired by Pope Francis’s call for Catholics to take to the streets in sharing the Gospel, Blackfriar Films hit New York City for this project. Scenes were filmed at the Brooklyn Bridge, Our Lady of Good Counsel parish, Grand Central Station, Columbus Circle, and the Staten Island ferry.

Featuring:
Vocals by Austin Litke, O.P.
Piano by Robert Koopmann, O.S.B.
Violin by Leah Sedlacek
Musical arrangement by Edward A. David

The video was shot by Blackfriar Films, which is the media division of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. The crew is composed of graduates of the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU: Joshua Vargas, John Fisher, and Michael Crommett.

Category: Catholic, Dominicans, feast days, gratitude, hymns / Tags: ,

Brothers and blessings

February 23, 2014 / / One comment

Smothers Brothers album

 

And James and John, the sons of Zeb′edee, came forward to him, and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:35-45
 

For many of us, our first thought on hearing this passage is “Be careful what you wish for.” James and John, thinking they will receive status and honor, declare themselves able, and receive a cup that even Jesus prayed might pass without his drinking. The disciples, hearing this exchange, become indignant–who wouldn’t? Truth is, we probably get a bit indignant too. We want to ask those sons of Zebedee, “What were you trying to do? Do you think you’re better than the rest of us?”

But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking”  then he asks them a question, “Are you able…” and grants them what he can.

Why does Jesus give them anything? Why doesn’t he just turn them away? They ask for a fish; does he give them a serpent? Is it trick? Is it a lesson? Is it a blessing?

I think again about Jacob and Esau. In that story, Isaac blesses Jacob “Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.” Esau, who asks his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” is answered with a complicated blessing that does not undo the one that was stolen. Isaac declares that Esau’s life will be one of deprivation and violence, but end in freedom.

Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be,
and away from the dew of heaven on high.
By your sword you shall live,
and you shall serve your brother;
but when you break loose
you shall break his yoke from your neck.

Gen 27:39-40

Perhaps Jesus’ answer to James and John, and his explanation to the ten can resonate for us as a mirror-like reversal of the blessings of Jacob and Esau. Perhaps that’s why he mentions the way those in power lord it over the Gentiles–Gentiles who are outsiders, not Jews and family like the twelve.

But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

We grab for Jacob’s blessing and wind up with Esau’s. We think we will be in authority over our brothers and sisters, and find we serve instead. And yet, the yoke is easy, and the burden is light, and there is much to learn.

 

Category: blessings / Tags: , , , , ,

Welcome, Delightful Morn

February 16, 2014 / / Comments Off on Welcome, Delightful Morn
Carmina Sacra Image: archive.org

Carmina Sacra by Lowell Mason, 1841
Image: archive.org

 

This morning as the sun is shining and the snow is melting, I’ll share a suite of hymns arranged for flute and harp by Kathryn Cater and Sandy Norman. They begin with “Welcome Delightful Morn,” an old hymn that’s new to me. The words are by Thomas Hayward (who also wrote “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains”). The tune is Das Lie­ben Bringt Groß Freud, by Fried­rich Sil­cher, who took it from a Swa­bi­an folk tune. Silcher’s tune was ar­ranged by Low­ell Ma­son and published in his Car­mi­na Sac­ra, (se­cond ed­i­tion, 1841). There seems to be a bit of Ellis Island-like confusion surrounding the tune. Some hymn­als name the tune “Lisch­er” (a mis­spell­ing of “Sil­cher”?), or er­ron­e­ous­ly give Sil­cher’s name as “Schnei­der.”

Dr. Mason would probably want us all to be singing instead of just listening, so I’ll include the words to this first hymn and leave it up to you. Have a blessed Sabbath.

 

Welcome, delightful morn,
Thou day of sacred rest!
I hail thy kind return;
Lord, make these moments blest;
From the low train of mortal toys,
I soar to reach immortal joys,

Now may the King descend,
And fill His throne with grace;
Thy scepter, Lord, extend,
While saints address Thy face:
Let sinners feel Thy quickening Word,
And learn to know and fear the Lord,

Descend, celestial Dove,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Disclose a Savior’s love,
And bless the sacred hours:
Then shall my soul new life obtain,
Nor Sabbaths be enjoyed in vain,

 

Category: hymns, Sabbath, worship / Tags: , , ,

Have you but one blessing?

February 13, 2014 / / 3 comments
Law and Grace, 1529 Lucas Cranach the Elder Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Law and Grace, 1529
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

My musings today are a bit tangled, but I’ll see if I can unravel them at least to the point of semi-intelligibility. Sometimes that’s as good as it gets with me and the Bible.

This morning I read again the story of Esau discovering that Jacob has stolen his blessing (Genesis 27: 30-45).  I felt Esau’s anguish and dismay so keenly today. His voice is especially strong in verses 34 – 38:

When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” But he said, “Your brother came with guile, and he has taken away your blessing.”  Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright; and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”  Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?”  Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

 That last cry “Have you but one blessing, my father?” gave me pause. In my mind “father” became “Father” and I thought about God’s blessings, and how with God there is always more–more grace, more love, more peace and joy. You will never approach the throne of grace to hear, “Sorry, all out of blessings. I gave my last one to the guy in front of you in the line.”

And that led me to another thought. From time to time I hear people express something along the lines of what they call “supersessionism” or “replacement theology,” usually meaning that the Church has replaced the Jews in God’s affection and plans. It all has to do with our trying to sort out the relationship between the Law and Grace (both of which come from God), and our wondering if God ever changes his mind or takes back a promise. These are thorny issues–wicked problems perhaps–or they seem that way whenever we try to figure out eternal mysteries in a temporal world. I’m not equipped to render judgement on such topics, but I do wonder if, while pondering how salvation works, we sometimes think God’s blessings are limited like Isaac’s.

Jacob and Esau. Neither one of them comes out looking like a saint, but they seem so very human. Two brothers, two nations, contending from their birth. Fighting over all the things we always fight over: love, attention, limited resources, power.  Scarcity brings out the worst in us it. May God’s endless love bring us to better than we can ask or imagine.

 

Category: art, blessings, covenant, Law / Tags: , , ,

Gifts of love to mind and sense

January 29, 2014 / / Comments Off on Gifts of love to mind and sense
Barn swallow Photo credit: Jason Mrachina w$nd3rl0st on Flickr

Barn swallow
Photo credit: Jason Mrachina
w$nd3rl0st on Flickr

 

When I read that the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral choir in Portland was going to sing all 720 hymns in The Hymnal 1982 to raise money for a trip to England, my first thought was, “What a great idea!” and my second, which followed soon thereafter was, “Oh! They’ll sing #585. I hope they like it.”

#585, you see, is  “Morning glory, starlit sky,” a lovely hymn I recently discovered. The words are a poem written by W. H. Vanstone; the tune, Bingham, was composed by Dorothy Howell Sheets specifically for this hymnal.  I’d never heard it until it became the Hymn of the Month at a local church, and the congregation sang it each Sunday in November until it became familiar.

New hymns can be a difficult sell and a distraction during Sunday morning worship, so most churches stick with the familiar. Someone is bound to complain if the experience is unsettling or if they just don’t like the tune, but if I can put in a plug for adding #585, please let me do so here.

I really like Sheets’ setting of Vanstone’s words, but unfortunately, I can’t find an online version to share. (Note to musician friends: could you fill this gap in the internet?)  I’ll send you to the sheet music or you can grab an Episcopal hymnal, but you’ll have to find a way to pick it out for yourself.

Meanwhile, here’s another beautiful setting by Barry Rose which I hope you’ll enjoy.

Morning glory, starlit sky,
Soaring music, scholar’s truth,
Flight of swallows, autumn leaves,
Memory’s treasure, grace of youth:

Open are the gifts of God,
Gifts of love to mind and sense;
Hidden is love’s agony,
Love’s endeavour, love’s expense

Love that gives, gives evermore,
Gives with zeal, with eager hands,
Spares not, keeps not, all outpours,
Ventures all, its all expends.

Drained is love in making full,
Bound in setting others free,
Poor in making many rich,
Weak in giving power to be.

Therefore he who shows us God
Helpless hangs upon the tree;
And the nails and crown of thorns
Tell of what God’s love must be.

Here is God, no monarch he,
Throned in easy state to reign;
Here is God, whose arms of love,
Aching, spent, the world sustain.
 

Category: hymns, music / Tags: , , ,

Bless us, everyone!

January 17, 2014 / / 2 comments
Christ giving his blessing Hans Memling, 1481 Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Christ giving his blessing
Hans Memling, 1481
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

 

“I think it is a big mistake to perpetuate the illusion that only certain people can bless things.  Not everyone is vulnerable to this illusion, I know. Plenty of people say grace over meals in their own homes, asking God to bless the food they are about to receive from the divine bounty. A number more bless their children at bedtime, asking God to bring those children safely through the night. Where I live, you can sneeze in line at the post office and receive half a dozen blessings from people you do not even know.

… a blessing does not confer holiness. The holiness is already there, embedded in the very givenness of the thing….Because God made these beings, they share in God’s own holiness, whether or not they meet your minimum requirements for a blessing.

…That we are able to bless one another at all is evidence that we have been blessed, whether we can remember when or not. That we are willing to bless one another is miracle enough to stagger the very stars.”

 

Excerpts from “The Practice of Pronouncing Blessings” in An Altar in the World. A Geography of Faith, by Barbara Brown Taylor.

Category: blessings, quotations /

Jubal’s lyre

January 16, 2014 / / Comments Off on Jubal’s lyre
From the Standard of Ur British Museum Photo: Wikimedia

From the Standard of Ur
British Museum
Photo: Wikimedia

 

And Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.  Zillah bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.

Genesis 4:19-21

In my world, people fall generally into the categories of “Math and Science” and “Humanities.” In Genesis 4 people were differentiated too, though the categories are not academic. There is Abel, a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In subsequent generations came Jabal, the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle, Tubal-cain, the forger of instruments of bronze and iron, and Jubal, the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.

I’m thankful that God’s people were thinking about music from early days, so this morning I’ll share this air from George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Joshua (1748).

 

Oh, had I Jubal’s lyre,
Or Miriam’s tuneful voice!
To sounds like his I would aspire,
In songs like hers rejoice.
My humble strains but faintly show,
How much to Heav’n and thee I owe.

Category: music / Tags:

Mercy without justice is not mercy

January 11, 2014 / / Comments Off on Mercy without justice is not mercy

StCathApse-MosesLaw400h (1)

 

I learned something about God the other day because of Vladimir Putin. Maria Lipman of the Carnegie Moscow Center was talking about Putin’s promise to grant amnesty to about 2,000 people arrested for anti-government protest, including some very high profile political prisoners. Pretty much everyone in the world realizes that this was a cynical, calculating, theatrical gesture, but Lipman pointed out that the problem with Putin’s magnanimity goes much deeper than feigned emotion. The problem is that what looks like mercy on the surface is really something else entirely.

Lipman said, “Mercy is maybe complementary to justice, but mercy cannot replace justice, and this only emphasizes the fact that in Russia if you fall victim to injustice and unfair treatment, it can only be the will from above that can rescue you.”

Mercy cannot replace justice.

Why not?

Most Christians I know struggle a bit with the idea of sin and obedience.  We are much more comfortable with verses like “all things are lawful” and “God is Love” than something like “the wages of sin is death.”  We acknowledge human sinfulness, we confess plenty of sins ourselves, but in our heart of hearts, a lot of us have trouble coming to a comfortable place with the idea of God punishing people.

Why can’t we just have God is Love? Why can’t we go straight to Forgiveness without wandering around for years in the wilderness of Justice?

I think it’s because mercy without justice is arbitrary. It’s whim. It restores nothing. It’s an exercise of power. And how can you have a loving relationship with someone whose actions are always only about power?

I suspect that justice–which is a smaller thing than God–is another one of those instances of God’s restraint: a pathway to understanding, in a small way, something about God that would overwhelm us if revealed in its entirety. Justice is a cleft of the rock where we are put for our protection while God’s glory passes by. Justice is about boundaries, while Love has no end.

Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly. Maybe, if we can get our heads around earthly justice, then we can tackle mercy, and perhaps someday move on to divine justice and mercy, and maybe even Love.

 

Category: forgiveness, justice, mercy, sin / Tags:
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