Love Alone (Monday Morning in the Desert)

Churches that are descended from the Reformation like to use the word "alone" a lot - "faith alone", "grace alone", "Scripture alone", "Christ alone", and "glory to God alone".  During online discussions about the Reformation, I've seen these five "solas" (Latin word for "alone") critiqued in a sarcastic, yet perceptive fashion: If these things are supposed to be "alone", why are there five of them? 

Well, I'm going to muddy the water further through this morning's quote from a modern day Desert Father, Elder George of Mount Athos, by adding another "alone" - "Love alone".  Elder George said:

"Love all your fellow men, even your enemies.  This is the most basic thing.  Always love not only those who love us, but also those who hate us.  Let us forgive them and love them all even if they have done us the greatest evil; then we are truly children of God.  Then our own sins are also forgiven.... Always preach love.  This is the most basic law of God: love and love alone."

(From p. 189 of "Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives and Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece" by Herman Middleton).

Elder George's words are directly related to the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:43-44).  And, of course, Jesus directly invoked love when he answered the lawyer's question regarding which commandment was the greatest: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’" (Matthew 22:37-39).

Those words seem so simple, but are so hard to follow.  Pray for our enemies? It is much easier to curse them.  Love our enemies? It is much easier to retaliate against them.  Love our neighbor? It is much easier to love ourselves. 

Which message sells better in politics? It is much easier for politicians to stand up in front of a cheering crowd and preach hatred of our enemies rather than love of our enemies.  Sometimes, the language and sacraments of Christianity are distorted in order to do so (http://thefederalist.com/2014/04/27/no-sarah-palin-baptism-isnt-a-good-punchline-for-a-terrorist-joke/).  In what is perhaps the most famous attack ad in history, the word "love" was distorted through its use in a message implying "vote for me, because the other candidate will start a nuclear war" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTBnsqxZ3k).

"Love alone" may not be one of the slogans of the Reformation, and it will probably never be a popular political slogan.  But if I were to be given the task of describing the message of Jesus in two words, those might be the two words I would select. 

A Mystical Renewal

One year ago this month, I started this blog, not knowing if anyone would read it.  While the number of people reading this blog isn't huge, I think there has been enough traffic to this site, and corresponding positive feedback, to verify something that I have suspected for awhile now: There is a desire among Lutherans, and members of similar traditions which arose at the time of the Reformation, to explore spiritual practices that have been minimized in our churches, even though they are a good and helpful part of our Catholic heritage.

In short, I will describe that desire as a hunger for mysticism.

Mysticism has become a dirty word in certain Protestant and Lutheran circles because there are uses of the word which are contrary to our beliefs, including some uses which are contrary to Christianity altogether. 

Mysticism can mean spiritual beliefs which blur the lines between the Creator and the created, and spiritual practices which lead to a belief that the best place to find God is by looking into yourself.  I'm not talking about that kind of mysticism.

Mysticism can also lead to a mindset which focuses on what we do for God, instead of what God has done for us.  I'm not talking about that kind of mysticism, either.

When I am talking about mysticism, I simply mean an awareness, through faith, of God's presence in our lives.  I believe that kind of mysticism is fully compatible with Christianity, as well as Lutheranism.  In fact, I would say that not only is that kind of mysticism compatible with our faith - it is necessary for our faith to be sustained.

The beliefs and practices I have written about on this blog have been related to that form of mysticism.  For example, the Jesus Prayer, lectio divina, and the daily rhythm of prayers and readings (found in the Rule of St. Benedict, and included in the lectionaries and daily prayer services in our Lutheran worship books as well as the Book of Common Prayer) help us to give thanks to God our Father, focus our attention on Christ and him crucified, and enhance our awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in and around us.

After all, Martin Luther himself had a profound mystical experience (commonly referred to as the "tower experience") after engaging in a period of meditation on Scripture, akin to lectio divina: 


“The words ‘righteous’ and ‘righteousness of God’ struck my conscience like lightning. When I heard them I was exceedingly terrified. If God is righteous [I thought], he must punish. But when by God’s grace I pondered, in the tower and heated room of this building, over the words, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live’ [Rom. 1:17] and ‘the righteousness of God’ [Rom. 3:21], I soon came to the conclusion that if we, as righteous men, ought to live from faith and if the righteousness of God contribute to the salvation of all who believe, then salvation won’t be our merit but God’s mercy. My spirit was thereby cheered. For it’s by the righteousness of God that we’re justified and saved through Christ. These words [which had before terrified me] now became more pleasing to me. The Holy Spirit unveiled the Scriptures for me in this tower.”

(From Luther's Works Volume 54: Table Talk).

(The tower of the Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg where Luther was a monk).

So, thank you for accompanying me on my journey into blogging this past year.  With God's grace and help, I look forward to further exploration of the kind of Christian spiritual practices and beliefs which might help our awareness of God's presence in our lives. 

Monday Morning in the Desert - Easter Edition

Christ is Risen! Alleluia! I hope you had a blessed Easter Sunday - remember that in the life of the Church, Easter is not just one day, but a season which lasts for the next several weeks.

 Before today's quote, I will note the slight change in direction that I'm going to take in the "Monday Morning in the Desert" series.

For the past six months, each Monday morning, I have posted a quote from one of the ancient Desert Mothers and Fathers, the original Christian monks who inhabited the deserts of Egypt a few centuries after Christ. I am going to continue the "Monday Morning in the Desert" series, but consistent with what I have learned about the "desert" over the past few months, I'm going to expand the source material to those from other times and places - even modern times - who who have practiced contemplative spirituality.  After all, contemplative spirituality is about developing interior silence, not just getting away to a place of exterior silence.  In other words, the "desert" can exist at any time and place where one's heart and mind is focused on God, and is not distracted by the internal noise of thoughts, impulses, and memories which can distract us from God.  As a modern day desert father (Father Lazarus of St. Anthony's Monastery, Egypt) said: "[E]xterior silence... is transient; it will not last....[I]nterior silence... is much harder to find, but it is long-lasting... If I don't have interior silence, I can be as busy as if I were in New York."  (From pp. 34-35 of "Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer" by Norris Chumley).

So, with that in mind, today's quote is from Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh.  I've quoted him in other recent blog posts, and he is an example of someone who sought interior silence in modern times.  His book, "Beginning to Pray" is a classic of modern spirituality that has been read by Christians of many traditions. Since it is Easter, today's quote is from one of his Easter sermons:

"Christ is life and the victory of life.  In the world in which he came, death was prevalent and seemed to be all-powerful over men; when he came, he defeated death by his Resurrection.  And nowadays we live in a world full of torment, of pain, of fear, of murder, of death, and we may say: but where is the victory? The victory is in each of us, the victory is in all those of us who believe that death cannot separate us from God, that death is no longer a victory of evil over us, but a triumph of us through our faith, because death is no longer separation.....  However frightening and dark the world is nowadays, we know that victory has already been won, that God has won and that we who believe in him partake together with him in his victory."

(From p. 186 of "Metropolitan Anthony: Essential Writings").

An Act of Supreme Love

"Let us go to Good Friday, the day when Christ died upon the cross so that we may live. A Russian hymn says:

O Life Eternal, how is it that Thou art brought to the grave,
O Light, how is it that Thou art quenched.

Indeed it is life eternal that seems to go down to the grave. It is life eternal, the glory of God revealed to us in his Son that seems to be quenched, to be removed from us forever....

His death has a quality, a weight, that belongs to him alone.  We are not saved by the death of Christ because it was particularly cruel.  Countless men, women, and children throughout the ages have suffered as cruelly..... The death of Christ is unique because Jesus of Nazareth could not die.... It is not his Resurrection that is the incredible miracle.  It is his death..... Christ himself is God incarnate. United to his Godhead, his very humanity, his true humanity, is beyond death.  The incarnate Son of God makes his very flesh, his very human nature incorruptible and beyond dying.  And yet he dies....

This makes the death of Christ beyond our imagining, far beyond any suffering that we can humanly picture or experience. Christ's death is an act of supreme love.  It was true when he said, 'No one takes my life from me; I give it freely myself.'  No one could kill him - the Immortal; no one could quench this Light that is the shining of the splendor of God. He gave his life, he accepted the impossible death to share with us all the tragedy of our human condition."

(From pp. 179-182 of "Metropolitan Anthony: Essential Writings").

(Anglo-Saxon crucifixion scene, Romsey Abbey, 10th Century. Picture from the Twitter account @ClerkofOxford).

Holy Week - A Participation, Not an Observance

I'm going to take a temporary break from my "Monday Morning in the Desert" series and offer a meditation  about Holy Week from a modern-day spiritual master: Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh (1914-2003).  He was not only the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Great Britain and Ireland, but a noted author of several books on prayer and the spiritual life.

Regarding Holy Week, Metropolitan Anthony wrote:

"[W]e are entering Holy Week.  How can we face these events?  I think we must enter into Holy Week not as observers, not reading the passages of Gospel that are relevant.  We must enter Holy Week as though we were participants in the events, indeed read of them but then mix in the crowd that surrounds Christ and ask ourselves, Where am I in this crowd? Am I one of those who said 'Hosanna to the Son of David!'? And am I now on the fringe of saying, 'Crucify him'? Am I one of the disciples who were faithful until the moments of ultimate danger came upon them? ....... And then we will be able to meet the day of the Resurrection together with those to whom it was life and resurrection indeed, when despair had gone, new hope had come, God had conquered."

(From pp. 172-73, 175 of "Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh: Essential Writings"). 

A Morning Prayer for Holy Week

O God,

early in the morning I cry to you.

Help me to pray,

and to concentrate my thoughts on you,

I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,

but with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace.

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience.

I do not understand your ways, 

but you know the way for me.

Restore me to liberty,

and enable me so to live now

that I may answer before you and before me.

Lord, whatever this day may bring,

Your name be praised. 

Amen.

 (By Dietrich Bonhoeffer - found at p. 1002 of Volume III of "For All the Saints: A Prayer Book For and By the Church").

 

A New Advertising Campaign for the Church

Church advertising campaigns often contain catchy or cute slogans, combined with pictures of smiling families.


Maybe instead of smiling families, the next picture that churches should use in a campaign to attract new worshipers should look something like this:

The person at the center of the picture is St. Benjamin of Petrograd.  He was consecrated a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1910, only a few years before the Russian Revolution.  When the communists took over and formed what would become known as the Soviet Union, Russian clergy became prime targets of persecution - in the coming years, nearly all of them were either executed or sent to forced labor camps.

St. Benjamin was arrested in 1922 because of his status as a bishop, and the picture is from his trial. The beliefs of the common people remained strong, and as he entered the courtroom for his trial, people stood up for him while he blessed them.  When offered a chance to speak, he told the court that it saddened him to be called an enemy of the people, when he had always loved the people because of his love for God. Nevertheless, he was found guilty and condemned to death.  In August, 1922, he was taken out to the firing squad, dressed in rags and clean-shaven, so that those carrying out the execution would not know he was a member of the clergy.  


Also, today, April 9, is the 69th anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, so today is the day that we remember him in the Lutheran church.  Bonhoeffer, of course, was the German Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis in the closing days of World War II.    A slogan that could accompany the picture in this new marketing campaign would use Bonhoeffer's words: "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."

A congregation using this picture and slogan would probably not attract casual worshipers who are looking for a place to make them happy and satisfied.  But, the marketing campaign would perhaps send a message - a message that the Church exists to welcome people into the Body of Christ, and to nourish their faith through Word and Sacrament.  What kind of faith?  A kind of faith that does not expect God to shower us with happiness and contentment, but a faith in God that can survive the trials and ordeals of our lives. A kind of faith that can even be sustained under extreme circumstances, like the circumstances dealt to St. Benjamin and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  A kind of faith, given and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that allows a person to stand in front of the face of evil and proclaim the Gospel.       

Forgiveness (Monday Morning in the Desert)

Christians talk a lot about forgiveness. For example, every time we pray the Lord's Prayer, we ask God to "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us".  In my everyday life, talk about forgiveness doesn't really seem to be that hard or unrealistic.  People offend me periodically in a minor way with their words or actions, but nothing  has required me to go to great lengths to forgive.

In a recent article in the New York Times Magazine, though, there is an article containing several almost unimaginable stories of forgiveness.  It was twenty years ago that one million people were killed in the Rwandan genocide.  Understandably, in the aftermath of such a senseless slaughter, there has been much grief and anger.  But, as the article (and in particular, the pictures that go along with it) demonstrates, there has also been forgiveness - mothers have forgiven those who killed their sons, people who had their homes burned and looted have forgiven the perpetrators, and so on.

(The man on the left killed the father and three brothers of the woman on the right).  For more pictures and stories, you can find the article here:
  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/06/magazine/06-pieter-hugo-rwanda-portraits.html?_r=0

 The Desert Fathers and Mothers were not victims of such a genocide, but in living lives of complete obedience to the will of God, they knew the importance of forgiveness, and entrusting matters of judgment to God, as this story demonstrates:

"One day Abba Isaac went to a monastery.  He saw a brother committing a sin
and  he condemned him.  When he returned to the desert, an angel of the Lord came and stood in front of the door of his cell, and said, 'I will not let you
enter.'  But he persisted saying, 'What is the matter?'  And the angel
replied, 'God has sent me to ask you where you want to throw the guilty
brother whom you have condemned.'  Immediately he repented and said, 'I have
sinned, forgive me.'  Then the angel said, 'Get up, God has forgiven you.
But from now on, be careful not to judge someone before God has done so.'" 

(From this online compilation of the sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers - http://www29.homepage.villanova.edu/christopher.haas/saying%20of%20the%20desert%20fathers.html).