Let Earth and Heaven Combine

Charles Wesley, most prolific hymn-writer in Christian history

During the season of Advent and into the Christmas season, people sing or hear many beloved hymns that form the backbone of their celebrations during this time of year.  But for every carol or song that has become part of the familiar soundscape of the season, there are many others, like this jewel, that are all but forgotten by many of us.  

Charles Wesley was an incredibly gifted man.  Writing poetry seems to have come to him almost as easily as breathing, and he was also a compelling preacher whose sermons brought the gospel to large numbers of people who felt themselves outcast and forgotten by the established Church.

Not all of his thousands of hymns were worthy of a gold star, and even the ones that most clearly expressed his theological fervor weren't always set to music for congregational singing.  Ever critical, big brother John wielded his editing pen lavishly if he felt a line was theologically questionable or if the verse itself was what he called "namby-pambical."  

This devotional poem may not be one we often sing, especially in the US, but its words are certainly worthy of meditative reading and study.  Its subject is the Incarnation, that most incomprehensible of doctrines, that God the infinite chose to shrink to our size, taking on the helplessness of a human child in order to bring us back to God and perfect us in love.  When you hear some of the vapid lyrics of many of the contemporary "Christmas songs" of our day, you may well reflect that they have a long way to go before they can match the depth of insight and wonder, let alone the pure poetry of these words:

Let earth and heaven combine,

      Angels and men agree,

   To praise in songs Divine

      The' incarnate Deity,

Our God contracted to a span,

Incomprehensibly made man.

He laid His glory by,

      He wrapp'd Him in our clay, 

   Unmark'd by human eye 

      The latent Godhead lay; 

Infant of days He here became, 

And bore the mild Immanuel's name.

See in that Infant's face 

      The depths of Deity, 

   And labour while ye gaze 

      To sound the mystery: 

In vain; ye angels, gaze no more, 

But fall, and silently adore.

Unsearchable the love 

      That hath the Saviour brought, 

   The grace is far above 

      Or man or angel's thought; 

Suffice for us, that God we know, 

Our God is manifest below.

He deigns in flesh to' appear, 

      Widest extremes to join,

   To bring our vileness near, 

      And make us all Divine; 

And we the life of God shall know, 

For God is manifest below.

Made perfect first in love, 

      And sanctified by grace, 

   We shall from earth remove, 

      And see His glorious face; 

His love shall then be fully show'd, 

And man shall all be lost in God.

God's Banner Over You Is Love

John Wesley writing letters at his bedroom window

(New Room, Bristol)

Much of Wesleyan theology revolves around the centrality of love, not as an ephemeral emotion but as the crowning disposition of a Christian's heart.  Possessing the inward qualities of love, meekness, and gentleness are essential for holiness and for what John Wesley calls "real Christianity."  Without these, new birth/regeneration cannot exist, no matter how right one's belief.  What Gregory Clapper calls "orthokardia" --  the right disposition of the heart -- is of the utmost importance. 

As a spiritual friend and adviser, in a letter to Ann Bolton (March 28, 1785), with whom he frequently corresponded, Wesley cautions her to find a balance between seeing the hand of God in every circumstance of her life and wrongly assuming that everything is connected and therefore is the will of God. He urges her to see every difficulty as something God can use to her good, aiding her to partake in the very holiness of God.  He then frankly admits that he also sometimes jumps to conclusions about whether or not something is God's will, encouraging her with the words of St. Paul that God's grace is sufficient for her and assuring her that no matter what, "His banner over you is love."

I have often found an aptness both in myself and others to connect events that have no real relation to each other. So one says, 'I am as sure this is the will of God as that I am justified.' Another says, 'God as surely spake this to my heart as ever He spoke to me at all.' This is an exceedingly dangerous way of thinking or speaking. We know not what it may lead us to. It may sap the very foundation of our religion. It may insensibly draw us into Deism or Atheism. My dear Nancy, my sister, my friend, beware of this! The grace of God is sufficient for you! And, whatever clouds may interpose between, His banner over you is love. Look to yourself that you lose not the things that you have gained, but that you may receive a full reward.

I grew up Southern Baptist, and one of the choruses we sang in youth choir was "His Banner Over Me is Love."  I must have sung that hundreds of times without realizing that the reference was from Song of Solomon 2:4 where the bride expresses her longing for her bridegroom's presence and exults in their mutual love.  Wesley was a far more astute Biblical scholar than I will ever be, so he surely knew the overtones invoked by using that particular phrase, thereby making a strong statement about the depth of love that God has for us, even when the "clouds interpose" and pain or sorrow or weariness threaten to hide that comforting truth from us.

As we approach Advent and Christmas, a time touted as the most wonderful of the year, it is important to note that it isn't necessarily a time of joy for many people.  Think of the refugees and asylum seekers; think of the survivors of hurricanes and wildfires; think of the lonely and broken and the sick and imprisoned.  Think of those whose family ties are strained to the point of breaking and of those whose loved ones are far away or already dead.  Think of those who aren't quite sure of God's love because of the way they have been treated by other people. 

Maybe the most important gift you give this year is the reminder that God's banner over them is love and that in Christ there is grace sufficient to meet every need and circumstance.  How might you express the joy and hope of the coming of Christ in the midst of the rush and bustle of shopping, parties, and sentimental music to someone who desperately needs a word of love?  Will you take time to let the Spirit lead you to move beyond a surface celebration to a deeper sharing of God's love and into a fuller sense of holiness of heart and life?  Let this Advent be a time of blessing and grace in which we are so filled with God's love that our hearts overflow with love for our sisters and brothers and back to the One who is its Source! 

The grace of God is sufficient for you! And, whatever clouds may interpose between, His banner over you is love.

That's What Made it a Holiday

John Wesley above the front entrance of Duke Chapel

On November 26, 1753 when he was so ill that he believed he was dying, John Wesley wrote out his own epitaph:  "Here lieth the body of John Wesley, a brand plucked out of the burning, who died of a consumption in the fifty-first year of his age ... praying God be merciful to me, an unprofitable servant..."(Journal, November 26, 1753).  Forbidden by his doctor to preach or ride a horse, he began to think of making his own translation of the New Testament and writing a New Testament commentary, and on January 6 embarked on the project, which was described by him as "a work which I should scarce ever have attempted had I not been so ill as not to be able to travel or preach, and yet so well as to be able to read and write" (Journal, January 6, 1754).

In typical John Wesley fashion, he did not want to be "useless" while he was recovering, so he worked to "redeem the time" by cranking out a rough draft in around four months.  One of the most beautiful passages written by him in his commentary on 1 Thessalonians comes to mind whenever anyone mentions gratitude or thanksgiving --

16 Rejoice always, 
     17 pray without ceasing, 
18 give thanks in all circumstances; 
     for this is the will of God 
in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18)

Rejoice evermore - In uninterrupted happiness in God. 
Pray without ceasing - Which is the fruit of always rejoicing in the Lord. In everything give thanks - Which is the fruit of both the former. This is Christian perfection. Farther than this we cannot go; and we need not stop short of it. Our Lord has purchased joy, as well as righteousness, for us. It is the very design of the gospel that, being saved from guilt, we should be happy in the love of Christ. Prayer may be said to be the breath of our spiritual life. [One] that lives cannot possibly cease breathing. So much as we really enjoy of the presence of God, so much prayer and praise do we offer up without ceasing; else our rejoicing is but delusion. 
Thanksgiving is inseparable from true prayer: it is almost essentially connected with it. [One] that always prays is ever giving praise, whether in ease or pain, both for prosperity and for the greatest adversity. [S/He] blesses God for all things, looks on them as coming from him, and receives them only for his sake; not choosing nor refusing, liking nor disliking, anything, but only as it is agreeable or disagreeable to [God's] perfect will.

Thanksgiving Day in the US is a weird holiday with a tangled history, but it always makes me think of my mama saying that every day ought to be Thanksgiving because we could never thank God enough for all the blessings of life.  Perhaps not surprisingly, she grew up Methodist, but I'm pretty sure she never read Wesley's Notes! 

That's beside the point, really.  Having a grateful heart, possessing a disposition of thankfulness, and praying with our every breath -- that is what makes a day a holiday -- which of course is taken from "holy day."  Being filled with praise for God, even in the most difficult of circumstances as well as in the fun times is surely a mark of holiness, and for Wesley, happiness and holiness went hand in hand.

Daddy and I celebrated Thanksgiving together this year, just the two of us.  Scott had to work, and my kids were elsewhere.  I told him we'd have "Thanksgiving surprise" because neither of us is a cook, yet we managed to cobble together a veritable feast for the eyes and the stomach!  And in our time together, we gave thanks.

Citizens of the Kingdom

carved crucifix, Rodel Church, Isle of Harris

This Sunday is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, and it is usually known as Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday.  The scriptures designated for it provide the perfect context for understanding that his reign and rule are far different from what we usually mean when we talk about monarchs and leaders.  Here we find no despot who is bent on getting his way by hook or by crook; here we see no bully-boy who threatens with weapons of mass destruction; here we discover no tyrant who subdues with intimidation and ridicule.  Instead, here we encounter a beaten, bleeding prisoner whose brow is crowned with thorns.  Here we meet a leader whose ammunition is Love, whose missiles are tears, and whose Reign is peace, and his mission is to bring to us true life, true love, true happiness, and true holiness.  His kingdom is not of this world, yet it has far-reaching implications for how we ought to live in this world as we work and wait for his kingdom to come here on earth as in heaven.

In a sermon entitled "The Unity of the Divine Being," John Wesley addresses the issue of what it looks like to be citizens of this different king's realm and rule.  Those who call themselves subjects of King Jesus will be both happy and holy as they grow in love of God and neighbor --

It is in consequence of our knowing God loves us, that we love him, and love our neighbour as ourselves. Gratitude towards our Creator cannot but produce benevolence to our fellow creatures. The love of Christ constrains us, not only to be harmless, to do no ill to our neighbour, but to be useful, to be "zealous of good works;" "as we have time, to do good unto all men;" and to be patterns to all of true, genuine morality; of justice, mercy, and truth. This is religion, and this is happiness; the happiness for which we were made. 

This begins when we begin to know God, by the teaching of his own Spirit. As soon as the Father of spirits reveals his Son in our hearts, and the Son reveals his Father, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts; then, and not till then, we are happy. We are happy, first, in the consciousness of his favour, which indeed is better than life itself; next, in the constant communion with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ; then, in all the heavenly tempers which he hath wrought in us by his Spirit; again, in the testimony of his Spirit, that all our works please him; and, lastly, in the testimony of our own spirits, that "in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world." Standing fast in this liberty from sin and sorrow, wherewith Christ hath made them free, real Christians "rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks." And their happiness still increases as they "grow up into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." 

And so, as we approach this Reign of Christ Sunday, I pray that we will indeed live into the liberty for which Christ has made us free by cultivating joy and gratitude and above all, love, in our hearts.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, let us be model citizens of Jesus' kingdom, now and forever!

Tiffany window in Trinity UMC chapel, Charleston, SC

Almost Advent

Icon at Portsmouth Cathedral, Portsmouth, UK

It's almost Advent.  That strange preparatory season that frequently gets short shrift by a world -- and a Church -- intent on rushing headlong into Christmas.  It was not always thus.  Advent used to be a bit more prominent, a bit less like a warm-up to the "most wonderful time of the year."  Advent used to be more meditative, more focused on Christ's coming, not simply as a baby but on his second coming in glory and majesty. 

Advent is a gift, if we but recognize and accept it. Advent offers us a space for living into the yearning we all feel between the world as it is and the world as it should be, between the deep desire we have for Christ's reign to really take hold here on earth as in heaven and the reality of a world that is rife with all sorts of upheaval:  mass migration of refugees, distrust and rage within our national life, hatred and even violence against "the other."

Advent offers us the opportunity to identify with Israel's longing for Messiah when the iron yoke of Rome chafed and oppressed them for so many years and with their sense of wonder and hope as John the Baptist and Mary and Joseph began to prepare the way for him, as they began to make room in their lives and in their hearts for the one "born a child and yet a King."           
Charles Wesley beautifully captures that Advent hunger for deliverance and deep need for strength, for relief, for the "gracious kingdom" to come, with a lovely hymn usually sung to the tune "Hyfrydol" --

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

What are you hoping for this Advent 2018?  What are your deep desires not only for yourself but for your country, your planet, for all of God's vast and intricate creation?  How might you stop and look and listen for the arrival of the One in whom all things will find rest and completion?  And what can you do to de-clutter the path for him as he comes to "rule in all our hearts alone?" 

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus!

Madonna and Child, Mepkin Abbey, Moncks Corner, SC

Are You Earnestly Striving After it?

Traditionally, only ordained elders/presbyters/priests wear a stole shaped like a yoke around the neck, while deacons traditionally wear a sash-style stole to indicate their ordination.  In this picture I am wearing a stole bearing the distinctive cross and flame of the United Methodist Church, the branch of the Christian family into which I was ordained an elder in 1999.  Despite having been ordained in 1992 in the Southern Baptist tradition, it was necessary for me to go through the same paperwork and interviews required of all candidates for ministry in the UMC, which meant that my ordination was in some sense recognized but that I was also in some sense re-ordained.  I'll let someone else figure out the tangled theology involved with that -- that is not the point of this particular post!

Once our papers and/or videos were submitted to the Board of Ordained Ministry and we were interviewed at length and passed by each committee, we then came to the Clergy Session of Annual Conference to be asked certain historic questions that date back to John Wesley himself.  The first four are these:

Have you faith in Christ?
Are you going on to perfection?
Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?
Are you earnestly striving after it?

First and most obviously, we declare our faith in Christ, and then the next three questions address what Wesley called "the grand depositum of Methodism, that for which we were chiefly raised up," in a letter written close to the end of his life to Robert Carr Brackenbury on September 15, 1790.  This distinctively Methodist doctrine is referred to variously as Christian perfection, full/entire sanctification, holiness, and being made perfect in love, and it never fails to raise a few eyebrows or to provoke a nervous giggle or two.

You can understand why, of course.  The very idea of perfection in this life seems like a pipe dream conceived of by someone with an over-inflated ego.  Just look at the world around us.  The level of incivility in public discourse, the acceptance of overt rudeness and lying, and the frequency of vicious ad hominem attacks in political advertisements are enough to reinforce the idea that we live in a fallen and broken world. 

Or consider this. Over a dozen young people in Thousand Oaks, California died by gun violence yesterday, close on the heels of a massacre of Jewish worshipers in Pittsburgh, and the nation reels in shock and disbelief, but it happens so often in so many ordinary places that we've somehow come to accept it as "just the way things are."

That would not have made much sense to John Wesley.  Wesley had a very clear understanding of the depth to which the human heart can descend.  He adamantly proclaimed the reality of sin and the fierce grip it has on us all.  But he also understood that God is always at work with and in us and that the justifying grace that saves us is followed by the sanctifying grace that can and will make us holy.  The Holy Spirit woos and leads us as we attend to the "means of grace," the practices of prayer and worship, of receiving the sacrament and studying scripture, of caring for the physical and spiritual needs of the least, the last, and the lost among us.

Wesley knew and taught that our response to God's grace is enormously important, writing that "God does not, will not give that faith unless we seek it with all diligence in the way which he hath ordained" (Thoughts on Christian Perfection, in John Wesley, edited by Albert Outler, page 294).  That says to me that we cannot give in to hopelessness or fear; we must live out the faith in Christ which we proclaim, trusting in the sovereignty of God's grace.  As Wesley puts it, quoting Scripture, "ye have not because ye ask not," so why not ask?

When God reaches out and we take hold of the grace offered, we begin to become different people.  We are changed, as Charles Wesley wrote, "from glory into glory,"as we begin to love God more and more AND as we love our neighbors as ourselves.  It is not something we are capable of on our own -- that goes without saying -- but our cooperation with God enables us to grow in grace and in holiness, indeed, to grow towards perfection in love.

It is that goal to which we give our assent, not just on the day we stand before the Annual Conference to be ordained and set apart but every single day, and it is not a goal reserved for the clergy.  Wesley firmly insisted that seeking perfection in love in this lifetime was a gift meant for every Christian to yearn for, not because we are so good (for we are not), but because God is so great.

I wonder how many of us are indeed earnestly striving after it.  How many of us order our days so that we are attending to the ordinances of God, those means of grace that not only draw us closer to God but closer to others?  Do we live in that same hope that Wesley had, no matter how grim the news or circumstances?  If you feel despair when you look at the sickness of the world and the sinfulness within yourself, sit with these questions for a little while and listen to the whispers of the Spirit, and ask for the grace that can and will fill you with nothing but love of God and neighbor. 

Have you faith in Christ?
Are you going on to perfection?
Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?
Are you earnestly striving after it?

Yes!

"Our all in all is love"

Gravestone of Susanna Fowler, possibly a relative?!

(Theddlethorpe St. Helen's, Lincolnshire, July 2017)

Today is All Souls' Day, also known as the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed by Roman Catholics, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and some Lutherans.  It comes one day after All Saints' Day, a day the Church has historically set aside to honor all saints, known and unknown.  Since I grew up Baptist, I was only vaguely aware of these two observances, and even now, after being United Methodist for over 2 decades, I honestly can't tell much of a difference between the two.  For Methodists, "saints" covers all the "faithful departed," not just those who were formally canonized, so we have more or less conflated All Saints' and All Souls' into one.  In fact, in our understanding, every person living or dead who bears witness faithfully to Christ is considered a saint.

Because of that, Methodist churches observe All Saints' Day as a way of honoring Christians of all times and places who exemplified Christian love and holiness in their daily lives. Because we have no method of electing or canonizing, this remembrance includes not only those who were formally designated saints by the Church but also local exemplars of the faith.  Many congregations mark this feast of the Christian year with a solemn reading out of the names of their local saints who have died in the preceding year, often accompanied by the tolling of a bell.

John Wesley found the observance of All Saints' to be comforting, and he seems to have had a special fondness for that day, but he was wary of putting too much emphasis on saints, warning that while Christians should honor the saints, they should not worship them.  For that reason, when he crafted a worship book for American Methodists, he omitted most of the feast days listed in the Book of Common Prayer, remarking that "most of the holy days were at present answering no valuable end."

It therefore should come as no surprise that the great poet of the Methodist revival, Charles Wesley, speaks eloquently of the communion of the saints and the great gathering in the life to come, expressing in verse the deep yearning felt by those Christians still on earth as they await their entrance into paradise.

Charles Wesley describes our being drawn to Jesus by the "lodestone" or "magnet" of his love, pointing out that as we move ever closer to Christ, we also move closer to each other until we are united by his grace and bound together in perfect love.  He asks that God would bestow the gift of "the mind that was in Christ" as a present reality for Christians still on earth so that they will hardly notice a change at all once their earthly life is done and they glide into paradise.  He concludes this lovely hymn-prayer by extolling love above all other virtues or gifts, proclaiming:

In earth, in paradise, in Heav’n,
Our all in all is love.

Marker of the graves of a Fowler preacher

buried at Wesley's Chapel, City Road, London 

(photo taken June 2017)

The entire text of his hymn is printed below so that you may pray or sing it as you reflect and remember the saints who have blessed you in your Christian journey.  As you read the words, may you be drawn closer to God by the "lodestone" of divine love that binds us all together, the "threefold cord" that is unbreakable, as we are being made perfect in love through the Spirit, until the time we ride on angels' wings triumphant into the skies, singing that "our all in all is love."

Jesu, united by Thy grace,
And each to each endeared,
With confidence we seek Thy grace,
And know our prayer is heard.

Still let us own our common Lord,
And bear Thy easy yoke,
A band of love, a threefold cord,
Which never can be broke.

Make us into one Spirit drink;
Baptize into Thy name;
And let us always kindly think,
And sweetly speak, the same.

Touched by the lodestone of Thy love,
Let all our hearts agree,
And ever toward each other move,
And ever move towards Thee.

To Thee, inseparably joined,
Let all our spirits cleave;
O may we all the loving mind
That was in Thee receive.

This is the bond of perfectness,
Thy spotless charity;
O let us, still we pray, possess
The mind that was in Thee.

Grant this, and then from all below
Insensibly remove:
Our souls their change shall scarcely know,
Made perfect first in love.

With ease our souls through death shall glide
Into their paradise,
And thence, on wings of angels, ride
Triumphant through the skies.

Yet, when the fullest joy is given,
The same delight we prove,
In earth, in paradise, in Heav’n,
Our all in all is love.