Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

Archives for 2012

Growing Younger Day by Day

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May Christ be rooted and grounded in our hearts through faith

Ann Voskamp writes in One Thousand Gifts

I know it in my veins, and viscerally: life is loss.
What will I lose? Health? Comfort? Eventually, I am guaranteed to lose every earthly thing I have ever possessed.
When will I lose? How much time have I got before the next loss?
Who will I lose? And that’s definite: I will lose every single person I have ever loved. Abruptly or eventually. All human relationships end in loss.
Carol Shield’s elegiac novel The Stone Diaries tracks her heroine, Daisy Goodchild, through blossoming and flourishing, wealth, marriage, a huge house and garden, to her old age in a single room.
When I lived in Williamsburg, Virginia, and attended a multi-generational church, I noticed this pattern in my older friends’ lives. They had once had large houses with swimming pools, tennis courts, but their life first shrunk to a small retirement home, and eventually, sometimes, a single room in the posh retirement communities in Williamsburg.
The way of all flesh. The inevitable arc of life unless you are lucky in your health, mental health, and bones. (A single fall, or a series of fall, with broken bones, can so hamper mobility that one can no longer live alone! As does the slow creep of Alzheimers or dementia)
             * * *
We blossom and flourish like leaves on the tree.
We wither and perish, but nought changeth thee.
The arc of life, save for the luckiest.
          * * *
And you know what? That’s okay.
We can grow old happily as Christians. While we might exercise, and eat healthily and keep mentally healthy against the dying of the light, continuous spiritual growth is possible through all the seasons of life.
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day, 2 Cor. 4:16.
While chronologically, we grow older, spiritually we can grow younger, renewed by the presence of Christ increasing in us.
·      * *
He must increase, I must decrease. (John 3:30)
How do I provide fertile soil for Christ to increase in me?
1)   Our first resort when we want to get something done in our spiritual or actual lives is actually the simplest.
We pray to. We ask Christ to spread his taproots deep and wide in our spirits.
2) Paul prays for the Ephesians, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
When faced with worries—I myself have a daughter applying to university next year, for instance–ask, What is the faith-filled way of looking at this?
3) We read the Gospels again and again, listen to them while driving in the car, listen while we sort laundry, listen while we tidy rooms until we know them pretty much by heart. (Have I practised what I am preaching? Yes, as far as I know, I do know them nearly by heart, after decades of repeated reading, listening, and study).
We do this to get to know how this very distinctive, unique, amazing and spectacular person Jesus thinks, to know what he values.
4) And then, in the hour of testing, we choose what he values.
In little decisions, in big, in matters of scheduling, of spending money, whatever, we consider Jesus. We ask him, “What would you have me do?”
(The answers may well surprise us. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and clothes the lilies better than Solomon. His will, for each of his children, takes wonderfully diverse forms.)
·      * *
He must increase, I must decrease. May Jesus so spread his tap-roots in my heart that there may be ever more of him, and less of me.
Every now and again I spend time with a really Christ-like Christian, my good friend, Paul, for instance, or my friend and mentor Lolly Dunlap, or Dick Woodward, and am startled to see Christ flame out, like shining from shook foil.
And I find these glimpses of Christ so attractive, that I want his life to live in me more largely, more hugely.
Oh wind of the spirit,
Blow away the chaff in me,
Let there be less of me, and more of Jesus
Oh Holy Spirit, tongues of fire,
Burn away the dross in me,
Let Jesus shine forth,
Oh Holy Spirit, streams of living water,
Wash away the dreary dust from my spirit,
Let the light, the radiance of Jesus shine forth.
Am I willing for this hurricane of the spirit,
this deluge, this consuming fire
these necessary acts of God to shake my soul
so that I may henceforth dwell in the high
and holy places of joy with Jesus?

I am willing.

Oh, but I am a cowardly lion, nervous
before the wild and good lion
who controls the wind and the waves.

I do not know what I ask.
Still, possess my heart completely, Lord Jesus,
and burn, blow, wash away the dross in me
with as tame
a hurricane, flood, and fire as possible,
so that you may increase, and I may decrease.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God

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The world is charged with the grandeur of God
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward springs–
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Coming up for air. Hello Blog and Blogpologies

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Well, I am slowly coming up for air after 17 days working on a project: sorting through 240 boxes, several thousand of books from a second-hand Amazon business I ran for a couple of years, deciding what to keep, and what to get rid of.
Sadly, I landed up keeping nearly 100 loosely packed boxes of books—books I might read, or browse, or refer to, and dozens of novels my children (or grandchildren, when they come) may enjoy.  A well-stocked library at home does lead to more impulse reading. But have got rid of 5000 books, and good riddance!!
So that’s done, and now back to blogging. I have been struggling to keep up with my blog, for over a month—retreat in Wales, Christmas, a week in London, and then big clear out, but now I am back for good. Hopefully, it won’t take long to reconnect with an inner and spiritual life.
I learned several things from the 17 days of sorting through books. The importance of praying and seeking God before you write so that your books don’t end up with the world’s detritus.
Another thing I learned was how much happier I was if I balanced work (sorting through books) with prayer, and exercise. I did 45 minutes of sorting, and then 45 minutes of prayer or blogging, or walking, and that kept me sane.  Perhaps, I’ll sign off now and write a separate post on this enforced introduction to the Benedictine ideal of ora et labora, prayer and workJ

A Memorable Audio-visual Sermon

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 Simon Ponsonby’s Butcher Sermon

(An archive post)
Gustav Caillebotte

Simon Ponsonby’s Butcher Sermon

Sunday 6th June, 2010

Here was the text, James 3. 1Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.11Can both fresh water and salt[a] water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Just before the reading, a young woman came up to describe an image she said she saw. It was odd, a lion with a heart in its mouth. Embarrassed, she guessed at an interpretation (but no interpretation can match the power of an image or metaphor.)

Simon Ponsonby was so overcome by this that he felt unable to preach his sermon, which, ominously for anyone foolhardy enough to pick the passage, began with “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

He preached with authority, sincerity, rhetorical power–and wow! (to go with the above)–brevity. He was a butcher, he said, and went on to prove it.

Leaning over, he pulled out a massive ox’s tongue, which he lovingly handled, caressing its cartilage, fat and gristle. An unbeautiful thing, black-streaked. Eee-ooh, the congregation gasped.

Ponsonby said, “You think this is ugly. But this is tongue that has never lied, never cut someone else down, never puffed itself up, never exaggerated, never praised God and then slagged off the vicar!!, never abused, never cursed, never deeply wounded another.”

“From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Salt springs cannot bring forth fresh water.”  Dentists, he said, can assess an individual’s health by looking at the tongue.

He then went on to the lovely injunction in Col. 4:6 “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt.”

Grace, in koine Greek was Charis–gifts, benefits, favours. So, let your speech be full of gifts, benefits, and favours. And seasoned with salt, savoury.

“Jesus was generous,” Ponsonby said, “when he opened his mouth, gifts came forth.”

He went on to say that we ourselves would be healed and blessed if our tongue spoke blessings.

The whole thing was over in 5 minutes max.

Visibly overcome, he sat down and asked us to use the 40 minutes to reflect and repent in silence on our speech and our hearts.

God willing, Simon Ponsonby’s multi-sensory sermon will stay with us for a while.

May it be so, Lord.
 

“The Holy Spirit is always positive. Satan is always negative” John Arnott (Toronto Airport Fellowship)

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Here are some interesting quotes from the book Grace and Forgiveness by John and Carol Arnott. I am mulling them over


“Every negative thing and thought is always of the Enemy, and every positive, life-giving, up-lifting thought is always of the Holy Spirit.”


” When we judge others, it almost always comes out as an accusation. We judge and accuse others and unwittingly find ourselves in agreement with the “accuser of the brethren.”


“Instead we need to take our speech in the opposite direction. Instead of judging and accusing others, we need to build others up, encourage and edify them. We must bless and not curse, forgive and not accuse.”


“Settle this issue in your heart. The Holy Spirit is always positive, and Satan is always negative.”


“Even when God brings discipline and correction to our lives, He does so to save us from ruin. His intent is always life-giving and redemptive.”


Carol Arnott, same book
” A man reaps what he sows.” In the natural realm, if we plant one seed in the ground, we expect to reap a multiplied harvest. If we plant a single seed of corn, and only reap back one or two seeds, that is a terrible harvest. We expect lots of kernels to grow from that single seed. That is God’s law of increase.


 “Similarly, in the spiritual realm, if you sow seeds of love, joy, generosity, kindness, goodness, forgiveness and mercy, we will reap an abundance of those things back. But if we sow seeds of anger, judgment, bitterness, gossip and violence, we will reap those things, but in increasing intensity, like a crop of weeds.”

Equal Opportunity Blessings which Persist when all else is Lost

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The Letter to the Ephesians opens with rapturous praise to God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Who has lavished the riches of God’s grace on us.
Reading it in a modern paraphrase like The Message or The New Living Bible captures Paul’s ecstatic gratitude and thanksgiving–for what remains when everything is lost
Astonishingly, Paul wrote the Letter to the Ephesians from prison.
Let’s imagine ourselves in a primitive prison, bereft of everything all material and tangible blessings, save life.
* We have lost all the money we ever had.
* Own no home
* Have lost the possessions of a lifetime
* Are separated from all our friends and family
* Our books are taken away; we have little mental stimulation.
* Not only do we have no power or influence over others, but our life and comfort is totally in other people’s power.
* Even our health is no longer under our control—we eat what, and how much we are given; cannot control the temperature, our bedding, sleep, routine, or the cleanliness of our surroundings or even our access to fresh air and pure water or food. We probably have no access to exercise
We have nothing.
Or to read the Letter to the Ephesians: We have everything. Every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3). The riches of God’s grace which he lavishes on us (Eph 1:7).
What are these riches lavished on the one who had nothing?
The “every spiritual blessing” given to the one who had few visible earthly blessings?
What might we find to be grateful about if we were in prison, like Paul, bereft of all earthly goods?
1) We would have the presence of the Holy Spirit, the joy-giver, who gives us joy better than corn or new wine. (Ps 4:7). We would have his comfort.
2) Christ shed his blood, sacrificially, to redeem us; we are now the adopted children of the Most High God.
And so we would have hope. Hope that our present sufferings might end, but we would also know that he has put eternity in our hearts, and that we will be with him in eternity
3) As he is with us here. We would know that Christ was intimately present with us, in prison. In fact, we would have a best friend with us in solitary confinement.
4) We would have someone to talk to and we would have the gift of prayer. The Spirit himself would help us in our weakness, and we would be able to talk to Christ in tongues, if we were Paul. When we were bored, or sleepless, we would pray, and we would know our prayers are heard. We would be comforted.
4B) We would have the great gift of worshipping God even in prison.
5) And what would we pray about?
We would thank God for his past goodness to us, his present presence with us; we would thank him for all that was good in our present straitened circumstances, and for the character he was forging in us.
6)We would have faith and trust, that God would give us the grace we needed in our hour of need, and that we could trust him for our future.
7) We would have the gift of the teaching of the Lord Jesus, statements like
·      * Do not worry about anything at all. God will care for me like he cares for the lilies
·      * Do not let your hearts be troubled
·      * Forgive, and do not resist evil.
·      * Do not fear him who destroys the body, but cannot touch the soul.
·      These teachings would be an antidote against anxiety
8 ) We should have the spirit-enabled gift of forgiveness and the deep relief it brings. This would help safe-guard our souls against bitterness.
9) We would have the peace of God, which transcends understanding guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
These spiritual gifts were enough for Paul to write, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say Rejoice.” (Phil 4:4)
Is all this theological? Yes. Abstract, yes
As Christians down the ages have found, when you have little else, when all other idols fail, theology becomes exceedingly real.
Spiritual life and real life merge and become one, as in fact they always are. Our spiritual blessings are the realest blessings.
Let me never forget to pray for earthly temporal blessings, and to thank you for them, Lord, but let me not forget the realest blessings are those which endure when the music fades, and all is stripped away.
Then we return to the heart of worship, in a mansion or a dungeon. And it’s all about you Jesus.
 
And since, in fact, I am not in prison, but am surrounded by the goodness and mercy of God, oh Lord help me to be as joyful, as peaceful, and as grateful as Paul was in the Mamertine Dungeon.