Relocating To Elfland

Blessed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, hear now our prayer in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ:

How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! Our souls long, yes, even faint for Your courts. We long for these moments when, in the stillness of Your presence, we are reminded that You are the Builder, the Upholder, and the Governor of all things, and we are not. We long to be reminded that though the floods have lifted up their voice, though they lift up their roaring, the Lord on high is mightier than the thundering of mighty waters, mightier than the waves of the sea. We long to hear that though the nations rage, though they set themselves against You and Your Anointed, they are but men, and You laugh at them. We long for assurance that though our sins mount up to heaven, though they prevail against us, and we stink in our iniquity, You cast all our sins into the depths of the sea, and there is forgiveness with You that You may be feared. We long to know that when we sink in deep waters where there is no standing, it is You who draw us out of the miry clay, and set our feet upon a rock, and establish our goings. We would gaze upon Your majesty; we would bow before Your righteousness; we would marvel at Your wisdom; we would revel in Your love. Your beauty and bounty are wondrous to us, our God; Your grace and glory are marvelous in our eyes. Even the sparrow finds a home in Your house, great Lord, even the swallow a place where she may nest her young; how much more we, whom You have claimed to be Your children and Your inheritance forever! Blessed are those who dwell in Your house, O Lord; blessed are those who put their trust in You! Meet with us here, as You have promised, and show us Your glory in which alone our hearts can rest. We ask in the name of our beloved Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Last winter I was shoveling snow with my neighbor, who’s from Brazil, and I asked him how he thought his country would fare in the upcoming World Cup. “Ah,” he said, “they are a team full of stars; but can they play together? That’s the question.”

Personally, I thought the Brazilians played very well as a team before their shocking elimination last week. But my neighbor put his finger on something I have observed more than once during the proceedings in South Africa: there is a huge difference between having a skill set and having “game sense.” You may have a player who handles the ball as if it’s attached by a tether. He may have more speed, power, agility, and elusiveness than anyone else on the pitch. But if he doesn’t have game sense – if he doesn’t have a “feel” for the game as a whole: the field, the movements of teammates and opponents, where he is and everyone else is, and where the play is going next – any contribution he makes to winning a tournament will be more or less accidental.

There’s a lesson here, I think for Christian discipleship. A lot of Christians I know are working hard on their “skill set” (or at least they know they ought to be working on it). They work hard at Bible reading, prayer, attending worship, being a faithful husband and father or wife and mother, being more honest, being a more diligent employee, etc. And practice makes skillful. But there is such thing as a fairly skillful Christian who hasn’t got a lick of game sense. He works hard at the things he has been told good Christians do; but he has little sense of what game he is playing. He doesn’t really grasp, for instance, what it is to be a bearer of God’s image; he doesn’t understand what humans were created to be. He doesn’t have a good feel for the story of God’s restoring His image in a new humanity, or of the part he and others are to play in this story. He doesn’t see clearly who and where his opponents are, because he hasn’t mastered the movements of God’s kingdom in history, or in his own time. He doesn’t, therefore, live with a deeply informed sense of calling, of the “goal” toward which he and his “team” are driving, of what he and they have been redeemed unto. And thus he tends not to grow much beyond the items on his holy checklist. Put him through the paces of Christian disciplines, and he may look like a star; but in the “real world” of kingdom engagement he looks disconnected from the main action, even confused.

Of course, Christians without a skill set are guaranteed disasters at game time; but soccer is far more than kicking a ball well, and Christianity in the world is so much more than making all the right moves in my practice sessions with Coach Jesus, or even on the pitch. There is a sense of what the game as a whole is about, of what’s going on in this particular moment of this particular game and how it relates to what’s happened before, what’s happening elsewhere on the field, and what’s coming next – and without this sense, we end up with a lot of individual practice sessions, while the game itself is never played. I may be going off my rocker, but then again maybe I’m on to something. You sure know the difference when you see it on the field.

“We give thanks unto thee, O Lord God of our salvation; for thou doest all things which are for the welfare of our life, that we may ever look upward unto thee, our Saviour and the Benefactor of our souls. For thou hast refreshed us in that part of the night which is past, and hast raised us up from our beds, and hast led us to stand here in adoration of thy precious Name. Wherefore we entreat thee, O Lord, vouchsafe unto us grace and power, that we may be enabled with understanding to sing praises unto thee, and to pray without ceasing, in fear and trembling working out our own salvation, through the succour of thy Christ. Call to remembrance, O Lord, those who cry aloud unto thee in the night season; hearken unto them and have mercy, and crush under their feet invisible and warring enemies.

“For thou art the King of Peace and the Saviour of our souls, and unto thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.”

(Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, ed. Isabel Florence Hapgood)

A few posts ago, I mentioned the “atmosphere” created in a home or individual life by a “eucharistic” way of living. I have so much more I want to say about this, it’s hard to know where to begin, but I’ll start with these ruminations from Psalm 63:

David is in the wilderness of Judah, in one of his periods of exile, running from either Saul or Absalom. Here in this dry, exhausted land without water (v. 1), he seeks with longing for his God. His search does not disappoint: he discovers afresh the lovingkindness (hesed) of Yahweh that is better than life, and the “atmosphere” of his life changes from dryness and exhaustion to singing (v. 3), uplifted hands (v. 4), and satisfaction as in the fatness of a joyful feast (v. 5).

But what is the point of encounter? Does David enter a cave and have a prayer-closet epiphany of some kind? Does he see a vision (a burning bush, perhaps)? Does he experience a moment of ecstasy while reading his private copy of the Torah? What we are told is that he remembers the worship in which he participated when he visited the “holy place,” the dwelling-place of Yahweh. What he longs to see in the wilderness he has seen in the sanctuary (v. 2): there he beheld God’s power and glory, the majestic loveliness of Yahweh’s strength on behalf of His people.

So what went on at the sanctuary? The simple answer is liturgy, the lively rituals of worship. Worship didn’t center on didactic communication of ideas (though there may have been some pretty exciting retellings of history); nor did it center on images (visual aids intended to evoke sentiment and serenity). One didn’t go to the sanctuary to learn new information, or to sit and watch a spectacle. One went to participate in liturgical rituals: to present offerings and see them consumed in the fire of God, to fulfill vows and contribute tithes, to eat a meal with God and His people, to pray and sing and rejoice (Deut 12:5–7). And in all these things, the unseen God made known from behind the veil His superabounding power and grace toward His chosen ones.

The worshipper carried away with him from the sanctuary this abundance of God, and feasted on it from afar with mingled longing and satisfaction. This, it seems to me, is the “atmosphere” of Psalm 63: David yearns to be in the sanctuary again, even as the power and glory he beheld there transform his wilderness into a banquet house.

How much more ought this to be the case for participants in New Covenant worship! Our ears should echo every morning with our Lord’s salutation, His faithful “grace to you and peace.” We should live out our days in the confidence that He means these words. We should sing daily the praises we have sung, and pray again our petitions for mercy and help. We should remember His pronouncement of pardon, His receiving our offerings, His Word from His heavenly throne to us and all the host assembled before Him, His feasting with us in grace, and His commission to go out into the world under His benediction of peace. We should reenact the rituals of the sanctuary at our family tables and altars, and bless one another in His name. This is “eucharistic” living, it is liturgical living, it is living that can turn the world upside down. It is public enactment in the world of our confession, “Jesus is Lord.”

O Lord our God, blessed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our hearts rejoice this morning in the grace that invites us to know Your name and to call upon Your name, and in the grace that has called us by Your own name. We thank You, our God, for Your outgoing love, for Your insistence on making Yourself known to us in all of Your majesty, beauty, and goodness; we thank You as well for Your ingathering love, for Your insistence on adopting us as sons and daughters, and giving us royal privileges in Your household. We bless You that in all You are as God – and how can we begin to take that in? – You are our God, and You command us to believe it is so. We rejoice, our Lord, in revealing grace, saving grace, and enlivening grace; we rejoice in baptizing grace and nourishing grace; we rejoice in justifying, adopting, sanctifying, and preserving grace.

And yet we cannot think of all Your grace, our Lord, without knowing in our inmost hearts how terribly we sin against it. We do not begin to love You as Your love deserves. We do not begin to serve You as the King You are. We are often so muddled, Lord, that compared to various created things we find the Creator barely interesting. You call us Your sons and daughters, but we surely don’t behave like it; we carry about Your name in this world and disgrace it by living with little more zeal for Your glory than our pagan neighbors. And yet, our God, while sins against grace are the worst sins, we know also that precisely here is our hope: that if Your grace abounded to us while we were enemies, it will be still more abundant to us now that we are children – and we beseech You, our Father, not only that You would pardon our dullness, waywardness, and neglectfulness before You, but also that You would make this hour of worship a turning point in our lives; that You would grant us to go forth from here a more faithful and affectionate people, just because we have feasted here afresh on Your glory and grace. We ask these things in the name of Your dear Son, Jesus Christ.

In our distracted world the pursuit of Christian piety (beyond reading one’s Bible, praying, and attending church) tends to be a rather ill defined and haphazard affair. What is offered below is a tool for self-analysis in this regard. A word of explanation is called for.

I have found it helpful in recent years to think of Christian piety in terms of maturing as prophets, priests, and kings to the Lord our God. I will not defend that model here, but what I mean is this: God made man to function as a prophet in the world; this means (at least) that we are to be listeners, learners, knowers, and communicators. God also made man to function as a priest; this means we are to be worshippers, managers, preservers, and protectors. God also made man to function as a king; this means we are to be planners, builders, cultivators, and rulers. These three offices are very active; one does not mature in them by drifting along, letting life happen to oneself. Conscious effort and constant self-evaluation are necessary. One must be intentional about one’s growth and progress. I have suggested, then, some questions to help us know how we are doing: these may not be very well crafted, and certainly others could be proposed, but I hope they may at least point in the right direction.

Questions to aid maturing as a “prophet”:

1. What am I currently trying to learn?
2. How am I currently pursuing knowledge of God? Is my love for God growing with my knowledge? To what extent am I still ignorant about God?
3. How am I currently pursuing knowledge of other people? Is my love for them growing with my knowledge? To what extent am I still ignorant about my fellow humans?
4. How am I currently pursuing knowledge of creation? Is my love for creation (and the Creator) growing with my knowledge? To what extent am I still ignorant about the created order?
5. What have I read in the last year? What am I reading now? What is the quality of the books I read?
6. Am I currently communicating truth and affirming goodness in my speech? Am I currently communicating falsehood and affirming evil in my speech? Is my speech always “seasoned with grace”? In what ways is my speech “rotten”?

Questions to aid maturing as a “priest”:

1. What space (or place) has the Lord entrusted to me? Over what has He given me jurisdiction?
2. What is the general state of affairs in this jurisdiction? Is it well ordered? Is it pure? Is it beautiful?
3. Am I setting apart times for worship, especially those God has appointed? Does my life revolve around such times of worship? How are these times of worship influencing the rest of my life?
4. What habits am I consciously cultivating? What disciplines am I cultivating? What are the routines of my daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly life? What rituals do I (and my household) regularly observe?
5. What work has God given me to do? How am I seeking His pleasure in my work? How am I enjoying His goodness in it? How am I exhibiting in my work His beauty, goodness, grace, truth, and righteousness?
6. In what ways is my life infected with lawlessness, darkness, lies, rebellion, unbelief, and idolatry? In what ways am I currently defiling my body, my soul, or the “space” God has entrusted to me?

Questions to aid maturing as a “king”:

1. What is the “kingdom” for the coming of which our Lord taught us to pray? How am I actively contributing to the expansion of this kingdom in the world?
2. Who are my superiors, my equals, and my inferiors? How am I honoring each of these in their station? Am I currently discipling anyone?
3. How am I currently cultivating manners that befit a member of God’s royal household?
4. How am I currently cultivating fruitfulness of soul (mind, affections, motives, choices)? How am I currently cultivating fruitfulness in bodily deeds (charity, hospitality, witness, homebuilding, education, skill, creativity and innovation, etc.)? Am I simply maintaining the status quo in my life?
5. How am I currently interacting with the “stuff” of creation? How am I cultivating this “stuff” for the joy of God and to exhibit His excellence, wisdom, goodness, and beauty?
6. How am I currently wasting time? Am I working too much? Too little? Why do I work?
7. Am I currently building anything? What am I aiming to accomplish, achieve, or obtain through my work? What are my goals and objectives for the next month, the next year, the next five years, and before I die?
8. Is the atmosphere of my life one of peace? Of joy? Of gratitude and contentment? How am I enjoying my God, my family, my friends, and God’s creation? How am I paying attention to the goodness of the Lord?

“O Treasury of good things, Fountain eternal, O Father all-holy who workest wonders, all-powerful and almighty: We all adore thee and entreat thee, calling thy mercies and thy compassion to the aid and defence of our lowliness. Call to remembrance thy servants, O Lord; accept the morning prayers of us all as incense before thee; and let none of us be found reprobate, but encompass us with thy bounties. Call to remembrance, O Lord, those who watch and sing praises to thy glory, and to the glory of thine Only-begotten Son who is our God, and of thy Holy Spirit. Be thou their helper and their support. Receive thou their supplications upon thy most heavenly and spiritually discerning altar.

“For thou art our God, and unto thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.”

(Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, ed. Isabel Florence Hapgood)

“O Lord God, holy and unsearchable, who didst command the light to shine forth from the darkness; who hast refreshed us by the slumber of the night, and hast raised us up to glorify and supplicate thy goodness: Being implored of thine own tender loving-kindness, accept us also now who bow down in adoration before thee, and render thanks unto thee according to the measure of our strength; and grant us all our petitions which are unto salvation. Make us children of the light, and of the day, and heirs of thine everlasting good things. Call to remembrance, O Lord, in the multitude of thy bounties, all thy people here present with us who make their supplications unto thee, and all our brethren on land, on the sea, and in every place of thy dominion, who are in need of thy loving-kindness and of thy succour, and vouchsafe unto them all thy great mercy, that being always preserved in safety of soul and body, we may with boldness magnify thy wondrous and blessed Name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

“For thou art the God of bounties and of loving-kindness, and unto thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.”

(Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, ed. Isabel Florence Hapgood)

“If the Church is truly the ‘newness of life’ – the world and nature as restored in Christ – it is not, or rather ought not be, a purely religious institution in which to be ‘pious,’ to be a member in ‘good standing,’ means leaving one’s own personality at the entrance – in the ‘check room’ – and replacing it with a worn-out, impersonal, neutral ‘good Christian’ type personality. Piety in fact may be a very dangerous thing, a real opposition to the Holy Spirit who is the Giver of Life – of joy, movement and creativity – and not of the ‘good conscience’ which looks at everything with suspicion, fear and moral indignation.” (Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World)

“In the night season our soul awaketh early unto thee, O God, for thy precepts are light. Teach us thy righteousness, they commandments and thy statutes, O God. Enlighten the eyes of our understanding, lest at any time we sleep unto death in sins. Dispel all darkness from our hearts. Graciously give unto us the Sun of Righteousness, and preserve our life unassailed, by the seal of thy Holy Spirit. Guide our steps into the way of peace. Grant us to behold the dawn and the day with joy, that we may raise our morning prayers unto thee.

“For thine is the dominion, and thine are the majesty and the power and the glory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.”

(Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, ed. Isabel Florence Hapgood)