"The great lesson that our blessed Lord inculcates here...is that God is in all things, and that we are to see the Creator in the glass [mirror] of every creature; that we should use and look upon nothing as separate from God, which indeed is a kind of practical atheism; but with a true magnificence of thought survey heaven and earth and all that is therein as contained by God in the hollow of his hand, who by his intimate presence holds them all in being, who pervades and activates the whole created frame, and is in a true sense the soul of the universe."
These pungent words were given to me by an overseas correspondent and come from a sermon by John Wesley (1748) on the 'Sermon on the Mount'. Part of the context for his words apparently were that Wesley originally baulked at the idea of preaching in the open air until he realised that the Lord Jesus had preached outside! But, more especially for our edification is that Wesley fixed on the truth that nothing is separate from God and that to so regard any thing as if it is separate, is to practise 'a kind of practical atheism'. What a challenging word!
Herman Dooyeweerd, a Reformed Dutch philosopher of genius, could be said to have built his life and philosophical endeavour around the revelation that creation is meaning and only God has being. And, he made the further point that because of the solidarity of all in the apostasy of primal mankind, all experience to some extent, 'the emptiness of an experience of the temporal world which seems to be shut up in itself.' Because of the inroads of 'Humanistic existentialism' he said, we all experience creation at times, as if it were disconnected from God and without meaning. However, the Christian also is made aware that such an experience is untrue.
Ronald Rolheiser (The Shattered Lantern) raised the issue of 'unbelief among believers' and argues that 'our own [Christian] consciousness borders on agnosticism'!! Christians give God a certain area within our church buildings but a confined space or even no space everywhere else. 'Business is business' it will be said, with the idea that the 'religious stuff' is just for Sunday worship. And, now even there, we have the market analysts reigning. This situation arises said Rolheiser because 'God is always partially obscure and we are always partially blind.' He argued that we need to wake out of our deadly sleep for God is present to us but we are invariably not present to him because our hearts are cluttered by trivial pursuits.
These pungent words were given to me by an overseas correspondent and come from a sermon by John Wesley (1748) on the 'Sermon on the Mount'. Part of the context for his words apparently were that Wesley originally baulked at the idea of preaching in the open air until he realised that the Lord Jesus had preached outside! But, more especially for our edification is that Wesley fixed on the truth that nothing is separate from God and that to so regard any thing as if it is separate, is to practise 'a kind of practical atheism'. What a challenging word!
Herman Dooyeweerd, a Reformed Dutch philosopher of genius, could be said to have built his life and philosophical endeavour around the revelation that creation is meaning and only God has being. And, he made the further point that because of the solidarity of all in the apostasy of primal mankind, all experience to some extent, 'the emptiness of an experience of the temporal world which seems to be shut up in itself.' Because of the inroads of 'Humanistic existentialism' he said, we all experience creation at times, as if it were disconnected from God and without meaning. However, the Christian also is made aware that such an experience is untrue.
Ronald Rolheiser (The Shattered Lantern) raised the issue of 'unbelief among believers' and argues that 'our own [Christian] consciousness borders on agnosticism'!! Christians give God a certain area within our church buildings but a confined space or even no space everywhere else. 'Business is business' it will be said, with the idea that the 'religious stuff' is just for Sunday worship. And, now even there, we have the market analysts reigning. This situation arises said Rolheiser because 'God is always partially obscure and we are always partially blind.' He argued that we need to wake out of our deadly sleep for God is present to us but we are invariably not present to him because our hearts are cluttered by trivial pursuits.
Food for thought, definitely. But the real discussion for me is "this is easier said than done".
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in some pratical outcomes that should follow from this line of thinking...
Food for thought, definitely. But the real discussion for me is "this is easier said than done".
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in some pratical outcomes that should follow from this line of thinking...
Michael,
ReplyDeleteSorry to have taken so long to get back to you. Wasn't aware that a message had been left! Well yes, practice is the core of it isn't it?
We have to learn to "practise the Presence" as that old saint Brother Lawrence suggested.
See http://www.ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice.html for links to download his simple work in various formats.