Tuesday in the Second Week of Advent
From Isaiah, chapter 1 (again!): Therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "I will...smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy...Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness...Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city."
I was speaking with a friend today and our conversation turned to the mystery of God's grace -- and the ways in which mainline Protestant culture has confused salvation with self-esteem, and in doing so has forgotten that judgment is, in and of itself, a fundamental characteristic of grace. Certainly, many would read the above words from the prophet and be offended.
"How could a God of mercy, a God of forgiveness, a God of grace, be so angry as to promise to smelt away sins in a consuming fire?" we might ask.
In a permissive society, to confront a God who clearly will not abide unrighteousness, who judges injustice, is both unsettling and disturbing. Why not simply invent a deity that is always accepting, always assuring, alway attentive to our imperfections? In our attempts at remodeling the God of Isaiah and Jesus into something less offensive to our "enlightened" sensibilities, we have only succeeded in creating an ideological idol that engenders neither awe nor passion in its devotees.
And yet, the God Isaiah knows is a God who loves the covenant people to such an extent that abandonment is not an option. This God refuses to forsake the people who have clearly forsaken their God. This is a God who will not let the relationship die. The only option to preserve the relationship is loving judgment. In the consuming fire of judgment the broken relationship is forged and refined. The gift of God's grace comes packaged in the heat of God's judgment.
The grace of God has very little to do with God simply erasing our sins with the wave of the (metaphorical) Divine Hand. To stand honestly before the Holy One is to know in the depths of our being that we need more than an infusion of self-esteem. We require more than simply an amendment of our behavior. We need the strong medicine of repentance -- and we are unwilling to repent until we see ourselves clearly in the light of God's righteousness. Salvation is about more than "turning over a new life". Salvation is God's invasion of our rebellious wills. Salvation is God turning our lives inside out and upside down.
And the way that Christians believe God turns our world upside down is through the mystery of the Incarnation in the person of Jesus -- Son of Mary, Son of God, Prince of Peace -- the One who will "come again in glory, to judge the living and the dead."
posted by FrGaryB | 4:16 PM
7 Comments:
Oddly enough, the first thing to pop into my head as I read your post was the "real" third verse of "Come Down, O Love Divine." For those who might not be familiar, here 'tis:
"Let holy charity
mine outward vesture be,
and lowliness become mine inner clothing;
true lowliness of heart,
which takes the humbler part,
and o'er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing."
Now, this verse is of course not in the current Hymnal because of the very unfashionable last line. (It is not in the Hymnal 1940 either actually, I just looked...) God forbid! If our shortcomings are so awful, then we might actually need a Savior. But we are all respectable people, so there is no need to suggest such a thing, and we can all "achieve" grace through some awful combination of fluffy sentimentality and "free will."
I get what you're saying. But I am beginning to wonder how it is that God changes his mind about you and me because we repent. If God is simply in love with us, then what God does is change our mind about him. Perhaps forgiveness is not an activity within God, but God's activity within us. We are not forgiven because we confess our sins, but that we confess our sins, that is, recognize ourselves for what we are, because we are forgiven.
Something i read yesterday got me going down this road. Herb McCabe wrote that, "being contrite, self-aware, about your sin is the same as believing in the love of God, smashing the punitive satanic god and having faith in the real God who is sheer unconditional love for you." Hmmm.
(this directed to Lyndon)
"God changes his mind about us"
Can you elaborate? I've been pondering themes of salvation/repentance, persistence of God's will and how it intersects with (and/or contradicts with!) the exercise of our free will...knowing where you're coming from would help me better digest and ponder your comment? Something Fr. Gary wrote? A theme in general Christian culture? My ponderings might be related, or might be unrelated...interested all the same!
Interested in the idea of forgiveness, and who's most affected by it that you pen down here...interesting...
Hello All:
I've been so busy trying to write a new post every day, I haven't had much of a chance to respond to comments (which is the fun part of this project!)...
In my original post, my comment about the "strong medicine of repentance" has more to do with what such action evokes within us -- the heightening of our sensitivity to all the ways in which we "miss the mark" as well as deepening our awareness of the true gift of God's salvation through Jesus Christ.
But, I'll be the first to admit that it has taken me a fair number of years to reimagine repentance from an incarnational viewpoint (as opposed to the transactional view espoused by the church of my childhood). In my former tradition God's forgiveness was utterly dependent upon the human activity of "repenting" (usually accompanied by significant emotional displays to indicate the measure of one's true sorrow). This sort of behavior, as Lyndon's post aptly critiques is aimed at "changing God's mind" about us (we once were lost, but now, through our own actions we've "found God"). Also, in this mindset a "public profession" is a once-in-a-lifetime event. One repents. God forgives. One is saved. Simple.
The only problem is we know from our own experience that "curing" our waywardness, willfulness and (dare I say it?) sinfulness isn't a one time affair. Even as we become aware of the gift of God's grace,live in that grace, reflect upon that grace and hear the Divine "Yes!", at the same time we remember we are dust...and that whatever "righteousness" we can muster up through our own efforts remains under the resounding judgment of the Divine "No!"
Redeemed Sinners. Simultaneously judged "righteous" and under judgment. How can we not find ourselves constantly turning to God with a humble and contrite spirit -- a spirit of repentance?
Hi again! Are there some good books or websites you could recommend that flesh out a bit more this incarnational viewpoint of repentance? I have a reasonably good cerebral wrap-around the transactional idea - even as I strenuously object to its meanings and implications of it when reconciled with my observations and experiences and beliefs. I think I have a vague, difficult-to-express notion of this incarnational viewpoint buried in my soul/psyche, and miles away from my conscious, head-based ability to share and express it with others. I think improving that ability would be valuable! Suggestions? Many thanks!
Karla:
I think the best place to begin is the liturgy for Holy Baptism in the BCP -- particularly the Baptismal Covenant and the Thanksgiving over the Water. If we read this liturgy carefully, we discover that every bit of it begins in God -- our responses -- the things we vow "to do and not do" -- are not aimed at procuring God's favor. Baptism already signifies God's grace. The Covenant offers a framework for the ways in which we live in response to the gift.
I think a book that doesn't speak about "incarnational repentance" per se, but did point me in the direction of this idea is "Resident Aliens" by Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon.
"Tokens of Trust", a book about The Nicene Creed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan williams, could prove helpful.
Finally, you might enjoy reading, Alan Jones' (the Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Franciso) book, "Seasons of Grace".
What I think you'll find in these texts is not so much a deductive treatise on this idea, but inductive, improvisations on it. Lyndon may have a more classical list of sources, but these are the ones that come to my mind today.
Many thanks! I've added them to my reading wish list. One of these days... {smile}
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