Just a change of masters (no, not a political post!)

There is a certain irony, however: while the therapeutic was meant to throw off the guilt and burden of spiritual responsibility, and hence the scowl of the clergy and confessor, “now we are forced to go to new experts, therapists, doctors, who exercise the kind of control that is appropriate over blind and compulsive mechanisms” (p. 620). In the name of securing our freedom, we swap submission to the priest for submission to the therapist.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 107

<idle musing>
Always looking for freedom in the wrong places… As The Who sang, "Get down on my knees and pray that I won't get fooled again." But we do.
</idle musing>

How Happy Are Thy Servants, Lord

328 How Happy Are Thy Servants, Lord

1. How happy are Thy servants, Lord,
   Who thus remember Thee!
   What tongue can tell our sweet accord,
   Our perfect harmony?

2. Who Thy mysterious supper share,
   Here at Thy table fed,
   Many, and yet but one we are,
   One undivided bread.

3. One with the living bread divine
   Which now by faith we eat,
   Our hearts and minds and spirits join,
   And all in Jesus meet.

4. So dear the tie where souls agree
   In Jesus’ dying love!
   Then only can it closer be,
   When all are joined above.
                         Charles Wesley
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I don't think I've ever seen a lower number of occurrences for a Wesley hymn. This one occurs in a mere six hymnals. And there are no variations, either. Just four verses.
</idle musing>

The move to victimhood

Consider, for example, two very different ways to account for evil. If we’re going to affirm ordinary life, then that needs to translate into some affirmation of the goodness of embodied, material life. But if we’re going to talk about the goodness of ordinary life, we also need some account of what goes — or has gone — wrong, some account of evil and brokenness. Taylor is interested in the significant cultural shifts in how we talk about this — from talking about sin to talking about sickness. These are two very different hermeneutics, two different ways of construing our current condition: the “spiritual” versus the “therapeutic.” “What was formerly sin is often now seen as sickness” (p. 618). The moral is transferred to a therapeutic register; in doing so we move from responsibility to victimhood.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 106–7

Here, O My Lord, I See Thee

327 Here, O My Lord, I See Thee

1 Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face to face;
   Here would I touch and handle things unseen;
   Here grasp with firmer hand eternal grace,
   And all my weariness upon Thee lean.

2 This is the hour of banquet and of song;
   This is the heavenly table spread for me;
   Here let me feast, and feasting, still prolong
   The hallowed hour of fellowship with Thee.

3 Here would I feed upon the bread of God,
   Here drink with Thee the royal wine of Heaven;
   Here would I lay aside each earthly load,
   Here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven.

4 Too soon we rise; the symbols disappear;
   The feast, though not the love, is past and gone.
   The bread and wine remove; but Thou art here,
   Nearer than ever, still my Shield and Sun.

5 Feast after feast thus comes and passes by;
   Yet, passing, points to the glad feast above,
   Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy,
   The Lamb’s great bridal feast of bliss and love.
                         Horatius Bonar
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not a terribly popular hymn, only occurring in about 315 hymnals. Cyberhymnal.org inserts some verses:

4 I have no help but Thine; nor do I need
   Another arm save Thine to lean upon;
   It is enough, my Lord, enough indeed;
   My strength is in Thy might, Thy might alone.

5 I have no wisdom save in Him who is
   My wisdom and my teacher both in One;
   No wisdom can I lack while Thou art wise;
   No teaching do I crave save Thine alone.

6 Mine is the sin, but Thine the righteousness:
   Mine is the guilt, but Thine the cleansing blood;
   Here is my robe, my refuge, and my peace;
   Thy blood, Thy righteousness, O Lord my God!

</idle musing>

Self-sufficient…

We now inhabit this self-sufficient immanent order, even if we believe in transcendence. Indeed, Taylor emphasizes the ubiquity of the immanent frame: it is “common to all of us in the modern West” (p. 543). So the question isn’t whether we inhabit the immanent frame, but how. Some inhabit it as a closed frame with a brass ceiling; others inhabit it as an open frame with skylights open to transcendence.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 93 (emphasis original)

<idle musing>
I don't know about you, but I'm dwelling in one with the skylights open!
</idle musing>

Tozer for Tuesday

I think of the prophet Jeremiah. I find many men who are wandering around that are not any good, and many men who are the messengers and saints of God who are not wanted. You cannot always tell whether God is blessing a man by how many calls he gets, because many men get calls that if the truth were known about them, they would never be called anywhere, except to a court of law. Other men are God’s own saints but are not wanted.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 203

<idle musing>
He preached this sermon either in the 1950s or the early 1960s. You would think he was looking at the current state of the church (and society) in the United States. Celebrity pastor after celebrity pastor is being found out for hidden sin. One of the candidates for the US presidency is a convicted felon and a known sexual predator.

I guess Tozer was wrong about one thing: Their sins are known and they still get calls. What a sad state of affairs.
</idle musing>

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

324 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

1 Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
   and with fear and trembling stand;
   ponder nothing earthly minded,
   for, with blessing in His hand,
   Christ our God to earth descendeth,
   our full homage to demand.

2 King of kings, yet born of Mary,
   as of old on earth He stood,
   Lord of lords, in human vesture,
   in the body and the blood.
   He will give to all the faithful
   His own self for heav'nly food.

3 Rank on rank the host of heaven
   spreads its vanguard on the way,
   as the Light of light descendeth
   from the realms of endless day,
   that the pow'rs of hell may vanish
   as the darkness clears away.

4 At His feet the six-winged seraph,
   cherubim with sleepless eye,
   veil their faces to the Presence,
   as with ceaseless voice they cry,
   “Alleluia, alleluia,
   alleluia, Lord Most High!”
                         Litury of St. James
                         Trans. by Gerard Moultrie
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I was surprised to find that this mainstay of my upbringing is only in 175 or so hymnals! Another reason I'm surprised is that I've heard it on at least a couple of hymn collection CDs/albums over the years. Nevertheless, a good communion hymn.
</idle musing>

Consumer culture, the new church

What draws people away from traditional, institutional religion is largely the success of consumer culture — the “stronger form of magic found in the ever-new glow of consumer products (p. 490). As a result, the expressivist revolution (1) “undermined some of the large-scale religious forms of the Age of Mobilization” and (2) “undermined the link between Christian faith and civilizational order” (p. 492). In fact, “where the link between disciplines and civilizational order is broken, but that between Christian faith and the disciplines remains unchallenged, expressivism and the conjoined sexual revolution has alienated many people from the churches” (p. 493).—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 89

Beneath the Forms of Outward Rite

321 Beneath the Forms of Outward Rite

1 Beneath the forms of outward rite
   thy supper, Lord, is spread
   in every quiet upper room
   where fainting souls are fed.

2 The bread is always consecrate
   that friend divide with friend;
   each act of true community
   repeats thy feast again.

3 The blessed cup is only passed
   true memory of thee,
   when life anew pours out its wine
   with rich sufficiency.

4 O Master, through these symbols shared,
   thine own dear self impart,
   that in our daily life may flame
   the passion of thy heart.
                         James A. Blaisdell
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I don't recall ever singing this hymn—and it only occurs in about 17 hymnals. Seems he only wrote 3–4 hymns and was the president of a small liberal arts Christian college and "developed the vision of small liberal arts colleges sharing common facilities."
</idle musing>

In memory of the Savior's love

319 In memory of the Savior's love

1 In memory of the Savior's love,
   We keep the sacred feast;
   Where every humble, contrite heart
   Is made a welcome guest.

2 One fold, one faith, one hope, one Lord,
   One God alone we know;
   Brethren we are; let every heart
   With kind affections glow.

3 By faith we take the bread of life
   With which our souls are fed,
   The cup in token of His blood
   That was for sinners shed.

4 In faith and memory thus we sing
   the wonders of his love,
   and thus anticipate by faith
   the heavenly feast above.
                         Thomas Cotterill
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Take a minute or two to read the author's bio, linked above. Seems he was a bit controversial—in a good way.
</idle musing>

Freedom from—or freedom for? There's a difference

We were in the library briefly yesterday, and I was looking over the new arrivals, as is my wont, and ran across this:

To be sure, it is tempting to think of liberty as us against the world, which the notion of negative freedom allows us to do. If the barriers are the only problem, then all must be right with us. That makes us feel good. We think that we would be free if not for a world outside that does us wrong. But is the removal of something in the world really enough to liberate us? Is it not as important, perhaps even more important, to add things?

If we want to be free, we will have to affirm, not just deny. Sometimes we will have to destroy, but more often we will need to create. Most often we will need to adapt both the world and ourselves, on the basis of what we know and value.… Virtue is an inseparable part of freedom.—Timothy Snyder, On Freedom, xiii

<idle musing>
Yep, "Virtue is an inseparable part of freedom." We seem to be forgetting that in our nation right now, where money is the be-all and end-all of value. But, as every empire has discovered, it isn't enough.
</idle musing>

Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness

318 Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness

1 Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness,
   leave the gloomy haunts of sadness;
   come into the daylight's splendour,
   there with joy thy praises render
   unto him whose grace unbounded
   hath this wondrous banquet founded:
   high o'er all the heavens he reigneth,
   yet to dwell with thee he deigneth.

2 Sun, who all my life dost brighten,
   light, who dost my soul enlighten,
   joy, the sweetest heart e'er knoweth,
   fount, whence all my being floweth,
   at thy feet I cry, my Maker,
   let me be a fit partaker
   of this blessed food from heaven,
   for our good, thy glory, given.

3 Jesus, Bread of Life, I pray thee,
   let me gladly here obey thee;
   never to my hurt invited,
   be thy love with love requited:
   from this banquet let me measure,
   Lord, how vast and deep its treasure;
   through the gifts thou here dost give me,
   as thy guest in heaven receive me.
                         Johann Franck
                         Trans. by Catherine Winkworth
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Found in only about 120 hymnals, hymnary.org inserts a verse:

2 Now I sink before thee lowly,
   filled with joy most deep and holy,
   as with trembling awe and wonder
   on thy mighty works I ponder:
   how, by mystery surrounded,
   depth no mortal ever sounded,
   none may dare to pierce unbidden
   secrets that with thee are hidden.

</idle musing>

The fences are down

Indeed, the MMO [modern moral order] is the “ethical base” for the soft relativism of the expressivist imaginary: Do your own thing, who am I to judge? The only sin is intolerance. Here is where Taylor locates the most significant shift in the post-'60s West: while ideals of tolerance have always been present in the modern social imaginary, in earlier forms (Locke, the early American republic, etc.) this value was contained and surrounded by other values that were a scaffolding of formation (e.g., the citizen ethic; p. 484). What erodes in the last half century is precisely these limits on individual fulfillment (p. 485).—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 87

Jesus, We Look to Thee

310 Jesus, We Look to Thee

1 Jesus, we look to Thee,
   Thy promised presence claim;
   Thou in the midst of us shalt be,
   Assembled in Thy Name.

2 Thy Name salvation is,
   Which here we come to prove;
   Thy Name is life, and health, and peace,
   And everlasting love.

3 We meet, the grace to take
   Which Thou hast freely given;
   We meet on earth for Thy dear sake
   That we may meet in heaven.

4 Present we know Thou art;
   But, O, Thyself reveal!
   Now Lord, let every bounding heart
   Thy mighty comfort feel.

5 O may Thy quickening voice
   The death of sin remove;
   And bid our inmost souls rejoice
   In hope of perfect love.
                         Charles Wesley
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not a terribly popular hymn for one by Wesley; it occurs in fewer than 200 hymnals. Hymnary.org inserts a verse:

3 Not in the name of pride
   Or selfishness we meet;
   From nature's paths we turn aside,
   And worldly thoughts forget.

</idle musing>

It's the storyline!

Taylor suggests that those who convert to unbelief “because of science” are less convinced by data and more moved by the form of the story that science tells and the self-image that comes with it (rationality = maturity). Moreover, the faith that they left was often worth leaving. If Taylor is right, it seems to suggest that the Christian response to such converts to unbelief is not to have an argument about the data or “evidences” but rather to offer an alternative story that offers a more robust, complex understanding of the Christian faith. The goal of such witness would not be the minimal establishment of some vague theism but the invitation to historic, sacramental Christianity.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 77 (emphasis original)

Jesus, Lord, We Look to Thee

309 Jesus, Lord, We Look to Thee

1 Jesus, Lord, we look to thee,
   Let us in thy name agree;
   Show thyself the Prince of Peace:
   Bid our jars for ever cease.

2 By thy reconciling love,
   Ev'ry stumbling-block remove:
   Each to each unite, endear,
   Come and spread thy banner here!

3 Make us of one heart and mind,
   Courteous, pitiful, and kind;
   Lowly, meek, in thought and word,
   Altogether like our Lord.

4 Let us for each other care,
   Each the other's burden bear;
   To thy church the pattern give,
   Shew how true believers live.

5 Free from anger and from pride,
   Let us thus in God abide;
   All the depths of love express,
   All the heights of holiness!

6 Let us then with joy remove
   To the family above:
   On the wings of angels fly;
   Shew how true believers die.
                         Charles Wesley
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

Getting significance

The music moves us very strongly, because it is moved, as it were; it captures, expresses, incarnates being profoundly moved. (Think of Beethoven quartets.) But what at? What is the object? Is there an object?” (p. 355). Nevertheless, we can't quite shake our feeling that “there must be an object.” And so, Taylor suggests, even this disembedded art “trades on resonances of the cosmic in us” (p. 356). And conveniently, art is never going to ask of you anything you wouldn’t want to do. So we get significance without any ascetic moral burden.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 75

O Where Are Kings and Empires Now

308 O Where Are Kings and Empires Now

1 O where are kings and empires now
   Of old that went and came?
   But, Lord, your Church is praying yet,
   A thousand years the same.

2 We mark her goodly battlements
   And her foundations strong;
   We hear within the solemn voice
   Of her unending song.

3 For not like kingdoms of the world
   Your holy Church, O God,
   Though earthquake shocks are threatening her,
   And tempests are abroad,

4 Unshaken as eternal hills,
   Immovable she stands,
   A mountain that shall fill the earth,
   A house not made by hands.
                         A. Cleveland Coxe
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
A healthy reminder a couple of weeks before the United States heads to the voting booth. As strong as the United States seems, it's just an earthly empire that will eventually crumble and fall. As I read the other day, "the most powerful leaders in this world have an expiration date."
</idle musing>

Two sides of the same battle

Even believers end up defending a theistic universe rather than the biblical cosmos. Eliminating mystery as a consequence of Protestant critiques of allegorization (p. 330),“ even believers end up reading the Bible as if it were a treatise on such a universe; in short, you get the emergence of young earth creationism (p. 330). Indeed, we only get the so-called war between science and religion once the modern cosmic imaginary has seeped into both believers and unbelievers; at that point, “these defenders of the faith share a temper with its most implacable enemies” (p. 331). In other words, no one is more modern than a fundamentalist. This is why the “face-off between ‘religion’ and ‘science’ ” has a “strangely intra-mural quality” (p. 331). But this supposed “pure face-off between ‘religion’ and ‘science’ is a chimaera, or rather, an ideological construct. In reality, there is a struggle between thinkers with complex, many-levelled agendas” (p. 332).—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 72

Tozer for Tuesday

I am quite astonished how we sing one way and believe another. I think we ought to go over our hymns, and the ones we have determined not to believe we should throw out and save ink and trouble. But if they are true, we ought to hold them to be true and if they are not we ought to say so.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 199

Father, we thank Thee who hast planted (Didache)

307 Father, we thank Thee who hast planted

1 Father, we thank Thee who hast planted
   Thy holy Name within our hearts.
   Knowledge and faith and life immortal
   Jesus Thy Son to us imparts.

2 Thou, Lord, didst make all for Thy pleasure,
   didst give man food for all his days,
   giving in Christ the Bread eternal;
   Thine is the pow'r, be Thine the praise.

3 Watch o'er Thy church, O Lord, in mercy,
   save it from evil, guard it still.
   Perfect it in Thy love, unite it,
   cleansed and conformed unto Thy will.

4 As grain, once scattered on the hillsides,
   was in this broken bread made one,
   so from all lands Thy church be gathered
   into Thy kingdom by Thy Son.
                         Didache (c. 110)
                         Trans. by F. Bland Tucker
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I had never seen this hymn before. It's a loose translation of the Didache, an early church document full of Christian teachings (didache in Greek means "teaching") dating from somewhere between the late first century to around 120 CE. It is an important source for early Christian practices.

The hymn itself isn't terribly popular, only occurring in about 62 hymnals. No wonder I don't recall ever seeing it!
</idle musing>

No place to hide!

The new epistemic expectation that comes with enclosure in lmmanence — namely, that whatever is within the sphere of immanence should be understandable to us — means we expect an answer to such matters. Inscrutability is no longer an option; so if believers have no rationally demonstrative answer, but can only appeal to something like the “hidden” will of God, then the scales tip in favor of what we know and understand.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular,—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 65–66

<idle musing>
I realize that without a context this doesn't make a lot of sense, but this book is trying to distill a huge book and I'm trying distill it even more. But, I think you get the gist of what's going on here. At least I hope you do!
</idle musing>

Children of the Heavenly King

300 Children of the Heavenly King

1 Children of the heavenly King,
   As we journey let us sing;
   Sing our Savior’s worthy praise,
   Glorious in His works and ways,

2 We are traveling home to God,
   In the way our fathers trod;
   They are happy now, and we
   Soon their happiness shall see,

3 Fear not, brethren; joyful stand
   On the borders of our land;
   Jesus Christ, our Father’s Son,
   Bids us undismayed go on,

4 Lord, obediently we'll go,
   Gladly leaving all below;
   Only Thou our leader be,
   And we still will follow Thee,

5. Lift your eyes, ye sons of light,
   Zion’s city is in sight:
   There our endless home shall be,
   There our Lord we soon shall see.
                         John Cennick
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I don't recall ever singing this hymn, but it occurs in over 1100 hymnals. Cyberhymnal.org inserts a couple of verses:

3. O, ye banished seed, be glad!
   Christ our advocate is made;
   Us to save, our flesh assumes—
   Brother to our souls becomes.

4. Shout, ye little flock, and blest,
   You on Jesus’ throne shall rest:
   There your seat is now prepared—
   There your kingdom and reward

</idle musing>

Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

298 Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

1 Christ is made the sure foundation,
   Christ the head and cornerstone,
   chosen of the Lord, and precious,
   binding all the church in one,
   holy Zion's help forever,
   and her confidence alone.

2 To this temple, where we call You,
   come, O Lord of Hosts, today;
   with accustomed lovingkindness,
   hear Your servants as they pray;
   and Your fullest benediction
   shed within its walls alway.

3 Lord, here grant to all Your servants
   what they ask of You to gain,
   what they gain from You, forever
   with the blessed to retain,
   and hereafter in Your glory
   evermore with You to reign.

4 Praise and honor to the Father,
   praise and honor to the Son,
   praise and honor to the Spirit,
   ever Three, and ever One,
   one in might, and one in glory,
   while unending ages run.
                         Latin c. 7th century
                         Trans. by John M. Neale
                         Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not a terribly popular hymn, occurring in about 290 hymnals. Hymnary.org inserts a verse:

2 All that dedicated city,
   dearly loved of God on high,
   in exultant jubilation
   pours perpetual melody,
   God the One in Three adoring
   in glad hymns eternally.

</idle musing>

Shrinking, shrinking, shrinking

Whereas historically the doctrine of providence assured a benign ultimate plan for the cosmos, with Locke and Smith we see a new emphasis: providence is primarily about ordering this world for mutual benefit, particularly economic benefit. Humans are seen as fundamentally engaged in an “exchange of services,” so the entire cosmos is seen anthropocentrically as the arena for this economy (Secular Age, p. 177). What happens in the “new Providence,” then, is a “shrinking” of God’s purposes, an “economizing” of God’s own interests: “God’s goals for us shrink to the single end of our encompassing this order of mutual benefit he has designed for us” (p. 221). So even our theism becomes humanized, immanentized, and the telos of God’s providential concern is circumscribed within immanence.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 49

An alternate imaginary

How, in a relatively short period of time, did we go from a world where belief in God was the default assumption to our secular age in which belief in God seems, to many, unbelievable? This brave new world is not just the old world with the God-supplement lopped off; it’s not just the world that is left when we subtract the supernatural. A secular world where we have permission, even encouragement, to not believe in God is an accomplishment, not merely a remainder. Our secular age is the product of creative new options, an entire reconfiguration of meaning.

So it’s not enough to ask how we got permission to stop believing in God; we need to also inquire about what emerged to replace such belief. Because it’s not that our secular age is an age of disbelief; it’s an age of believing otherwise. We can’t tolerate living in a world without meaning. So if the transcendence that previously gave significance to the world is lost, we need a new account of meaning — a new “imaginary” that enables us to imagine a meaningful life within this now self-sufficient universe of gas and fire. 47 (emphasis original)

<idle musing>
I found this statement to be so true: "We can’t tolerate living in a world without meaning." So we create new meanings, new imaginaries—just like the ancient world did.

Think about that for a minute and then look at the new rituals we've created. How are they different from bowing down to Anu, Marduk, or Baal?

Just an
</idle musing>

Not necessarily the real world—definitely not the only option

Taylor’s point is that this is an imaginary — not that this is all just a fiction, but rather that this is a “take” on the world. While we have come to assume that this is just “the way things are,” in fact what we take for granted is contingent and contestable.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 46 (emphasis original)

Functionally disenchanted

Once we learned to distinguish transcendent from immanent, “it eventually became possible to see the immediate surroundings of our lives as existing on this ‘natural’ plane, however much we might believe that they indicated something beyond” (p. 143). Even Christians, we might say, became functionally disenchanted.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 44 (emphasis original)

But will it last? (Tozer for Tuesday)

God is working through His people, and what God works lasts. What God does not work will not last; and I do not care how much personality a man has, he cannot do immortal work, because he is a mortal man. He cannot think immortal thoughts, because he has a mortal mind. But if the Holy Ghost works in him and through him, He giveth to every man severally as He will. And it is the same Father working in us and through us.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 188

<idle musing>
A good word for our time. Back about 15–20 years ago there was a YouTube guy who was selling a blender. His tag line was "But, will it blend?" And he would proceed to show the robustness of his blender. It was quite popular among geeks. He would blend things like a new iPhone. Anything to get attention.

That's where the title to today's post comes from, "But will it last?" We build these huge artifices. God comes along and asks, "But will it last?," examining the foundation. If it isn't Christ, well, you know what a blender does to stuff…

Just an
<idle musing>

Two roads—not what you think

This version of Reform “levels” two—tiered religion by actually expecting everyone to live up to the high expectations of disciplined, monastlc life. But Taylor hints that another sort of leveling is possible: you could also solve the two-tiered problem by lifting the weight of virtue, disburdening a society of the expectations of transcendence, and thus lop off the upper tier or the eternal horizon. In fact, he seems to suggest that it was the first strategy of higher expectations that might have driven some to the latter strategy of lowered expectations. By railing against vice and “crank[ing] up the terrifying visions of damnation,” Protestant preachers effectively prepared “the desertion of a goodly part of their flock to humanism” (p. 75). One strategy of leveling the two-tier problem might occasion a very different strategy that would ultimately become exclusive humanism.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 38

O Love Divine, How Sweet Thou Art

285 O Love Divine, How Sweet Thou Art

1 O love divine, how sweet thou art!
   When shall I find my longing heart
   all taken up by thee?
   I thirst, I faint, I die to prove
   the greatness of redeeming love,
   the love of Christ to me.

2 Stronger his love than death or hell;
   its riches are unsearchable:
   the first-born sons of light
   desire in vain its depth to see;
   they cannot reach the mystery,
   the length and breadth and height.

3 God only knows the love of God;
   O that it now were shed abroad
   in this poor stony heart!
   For love I sigh, for love I pine;
   this only portion, Lord, be mine,
   be mine this better part.

4 Thy only love do I require,
   nothing on earth beneath desire,
   nothing in heaven above:
   let earth and heaven, and all things go,
   give me thine only love to know,
   give me thine only love.
                         Charles Wesley
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not one of Wesley's better known hymns, only occurring in about 375 hymnals. I can't say that I recall ever singing it. Hymnary.org inserts a verse:

4 For ever would I take my seat
   with Mary at the Master's feet:
   be this my happy choice;
   my only care, delight, and bliss,
   my joy, my heaven on earth, be this,
   to hear the Bridegroom's voice!

</idle musing>

Lord Jesus, Think on Me

284 Lord Jesus, Think on Me

1. Lord Jesus, think on me
   And purge away my sin;
   From earthborn passions set me free
   And make me pure within.

2. Lord Jesus, think on me,
   With care and woe oppressed;
   Let me Thy loving servant be
   And taste Thy promised rest.

3. Lord Jesus, think on me
   Amid the battle’s strife;
   In all my pain and misery
   Be Thou my Health and Life.

4. Lord Jesus, think on me
   Nor let me go astray;
   Through darkness and perplexity
   Point out your chosen way.

5. Lord Jesus, think on me
   That, when the flood is past,
   I may th’eternal brightness see
   And share Thy joy at last.

6. Lord Jesus, think on me
   That I may sing above
   To Father, Spirit, and to Thee
   The strains of praise and love.
                         Synesius of Cyrene c. 375–430
                         Trans. by Allen W. Chatfield
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not a very popular hymn, only occurring in a little over 100 hymnals. I don't recall ever singing it. Cyberhymnal inserts a verse:

5. Lord Jesus, think on me
   When floods the tempest high;
   When on doth rush the enemy,
   O Savior, be Thou nigh!

</idle musing>

Everyday holiness

The result [of the Reformation abolition of monasteries, etc.] is that “for the ordinary householder” this will require something paradoxical: living in all the practices and institutions of [‘this-worldly’] flourishing, but at the same time not fully in them. Belng in them but not of them; being in them, but yet at a distance, ready to lose them. Augustine put it: use the things of this world, but don’t enjoy them; uti, not frui. Or do it all for the glory of God, in the Loyola-Calvin formulation” (p. 81). Religious devotion — and hence expectations of holiness and virtue — is not sequestered to the monastery or the convent; rather, the high expectations of sanctification now spill beyond the walls of the monastery.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 37

God of All Power and Truth and Grace

281 God of All Power and Truth and Grace

1 God of all power, and truth, and grace,
   which shall from age to age endure,
   whose word, when heaven and earth shall pass,
   remains and stands for ever sure;

2 That I thy mercy may proclaim,
   that all mankind thy truth may see,
   hallow thy great and glorious name,
   and perfect holiness in me.

3 Thy sanctifying Spirit pour
   to quench my thirst and make me clean;
   now, Father, let the gracious shower
   descend, and make me pure from sin.

4 Give me a new, a perfect heart,
   from doubt, and fear, and sorrow free;
   the mind which was in Christ impart,
   and let my spirit cleave to thee.

5 O that I now, from sin released,
   thy word may to the utmost prove,
   enter into the promised rest,
   the Canaan of thy perfect love!
                         Charles Wesley
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not one of Wesley's more popular hymns, occurring in less than 100 hymnals. Cyberhymnal adds some verses:

2 Calmly to Thee my soul looks up,
   And waits Thy promises to prove,
   The object of my steadfast hope,
   The seal of Thine eternal love.

4 Chose from the world if now I stand
   Adorned in righteousness divine;
   If brought unto the promised land,
   I justly call the Savior mine.

5 Perform the work Thou hast begun
   My inmost soul to Thee, convert;
   Love me, for ever love Thine own,
   And sprinkle with Thy blood my heart.

7 Purge me from every sinful blot,
   My idols all be cast aside,
   Cleanse me from every evil thought,
   From all the filth of self and pride.

9 O take this heart of stone away!
   Thy sway it doth not, cannot own;
   In me no longer let it stay;
   O take away this heart of stone.

10 The hatred of the carnal mind
   Out of my flesh at once remove;
   Give me a tender heart, resigned
   And pure, and. full of faith and love.

11 Within me Thy good Spirit place,
   Spirit of health, and love, and power;
   Plant in me Thy victorious grace,
   And sin shall never enter more.

12 Cause me to walk in Christ my way;
   And I Thy statutes shall fulfill,
   In every point Thy law obey,
   And perfectly perform Thy will.

13 Hast Thou not said, who cannot lie,
   That I Thy law shall keep and do?
   Lord, I believe; though men deny:
   They are all false, but Thou art true.

15 There let me ever, ever dwell,
   Be Thou my God, and I will be
   Thy servant; O set to Thy seal,
   Give me eternal life in Thee.

16 From all remaining filth within,
   Let me in Thee salvation have,
   From actual, and from inbred sin,
   My ransomed soul persist to save.

17 Wash out my deep original stain,
   Tell me no more, it cannot be,
   Demons, or men! The Lamb was slain,
   His blood was all poured out for me.

18 Sprinkle it, Jesu, on my heart!
   One drop of Thy all cleansing blood
   Shall make my sinfulness depart,
   And fill me with the life of God.

19 Father, supply my every need;
   Sustain the life Thyself has giv’n:
   Call for the never failing Bread,
   The Manna that comes down from Heav’n.

20 The gracious fruits of righteousness,
   Thy blessings’ unexhausted store
   In me abundantly increase
   Nor let me ever hunger more.

21 Let me no more in deep complaint
   My leanness, O my leanness, cry,
   Alone consumed with pining want
   Of all my Father’s children I!

22 The painful thirst, the fond desire,
   Thy joyous presence shall remove,
   While my full soul doth still require
   Thy whole eternity of love.

23 Holy, and true, and righteous Lord,
   I wait to prove Thy perfect will,
   Be mindful of Thy gracious word,
   And stamp me with Thy Spirit’s seal.

24 Thy faithful mercies let me find,
   In which Thou causest me to trust;
   Give me the meek and lowly mind,
   And lay my spirit in the dust.

25 Show me how foul my heart hath been,
   When all renewed by grace I am,
   When Thou hast emptied me of sin,
   Show me the fullness of my shame.

26 Open my faith’s interior eye:
   Display Thy glory from above,
   And all I am shall sink, and die,
   Lost in astonishment and love.

27 Confound, o’erpower me with Thy grace!
   I would be by myself abhorred;
   All might, all majesty, all praise,
   All glory be to Christ my Lord!

28 Now let me gain perfection’s height;
   Now let me into nothing fall!
   Be less than nothing in Thy sight,
   And feel that Christ is all in all.

Did a say a few? OK, a bunch! Charles always wanted to pack his hymns full of theology. Sometimes he took longer than other times : )
</idle musing>

A Division of Labor

First, the social body makes room for a certain division of labor. By making room for entirely “religious” vocations such as monks and nuns, the church creates a sort of vicarious class who ascetically devote themselves to transcendence/ eternity for the wider social body who have to deal with the nitty-gritty of creaturely life, from kings to peasant mothers (which is why patronage of monasteries and abbeys is an important expression of religious devotion for those otherwise consumed by “worldly” concerns). We miss this if we retroactively impose our “privatized” picture of faith upon abbeys and monasteries and imagine that the monks are devoting themselves to personal pursuits of salvation. The monks pray for the world, in the world’s stead. So the social body lives this tension between transcendence and the mundane by a kind of division of labor.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 32

Blest are the pure in heart

276 Blest are the pure in heart

1 Blest are the pure in heart,
   For they shall see our God;
   The secret of the Lord is theirs,
   Their soul is His abode.

2 The Lord, who left the heavens
   His life and peace to bring,
   Who dwelt in lowliness with men,
   Their Pattern and their King;

3 He to the lowly soul
   Doth still Himself impart,
   And for His temple and His throne
   Selects the pure in heart.

4 Lord, we Thy presence seek;
   May ours this blessing be;
   O give the pure and lowly heart,
   A temple meet for Thee.
                         John Keble
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
You might have noticed that there is no link on the Methodist hymnal. That's because the Internet Archive is down. I received an email last night from a notification site I subscribe to that let's me know when one of my accounts anywhere on the internet has been hacked. I don't reuse passwords (neither should you!), but it's always nice to know when a site you used has been hacked and credentials leaked. Anyway, it stated that the Internet Archive had been hacked and all the hashed passwords and account credentials had been leaked. So, I suspect that's why the site is down today.

If I were a conspiracy person, I would say that it is because the publishers don't like the site. But I'm not. I suspect it was a group looking to extort cash. (I'm leaving unsaid what some of you are thinking...)
</idle musing>

Cosmos? Who needs it, we have the universe!

The final aspect of the shift involves our view of the natural world; in the premodern imaginary, we live in a cosmos, an ordered whole where the “natural” world hangs within its beyond (p. 60). It's as if the universe has layers, and we are always folded into the middle. If the premodern self is “porous,” so too is the premodem cosmos.

In contrast to this, the modern imaginary finds us in a “universe” that has its own kind of order, but it is an immanent order of natural laws rather than any sort of hierarchy of being (p. 60).… At this point, we simply recognize that the shift from cosmos to universe — from “creation” to “nature” — makes it possible to now imagine meaning and significance as contained within the universe itself, an autonomous, independent “meaning” that is unhooked from any sort of transcendent dependence.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 34–35

Lead, Kindly Light

272 Lead, Kindly Light

1 Lead, kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom,
   Lead Thou me on!
   The night is dark, and I am far from home;
   Lead Thou me on!
   Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
   The distant scene; one step enough for me.

2 I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
   Shouldst lead me on;
   I loved to choose and see my path; but now
   Lead Thou me on!
   I loved the garish day, and spite of fears,
   Pride ruled my will; remember not past years.

3 So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
   Will lead me on
   O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
   The night is gone;
   And with the morn those angel faces smile,
   Which I have loved long since and lost awhile!
                         John Henry Newman
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

What's left?

If God were to strip the churches from all that man is doing and leave only what He has done or is doing, we would trim the average Church back down to a nubbin. There would not be enough left to have a decent service.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 184

O Love divine, that stooped to share

270 O Love divine, that stooped to share

1 O Love divine, that stooped to share
   Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear!
   On Thee we cast each earth-born care;
   We smile at pain while Thou art near.

2 Though long the weary way we tread,
   And sorrow crown each lingering year,
   No path we shun, no darkness dread,
   Our hearts still whispering, "Thou art near!"

3 When drooping pleasure turns to grief,
   And trembling faith is turned to fear,
   The murmuring wind, the quivering leaf,
   Shall softly tell us Thou art near!

4 On Thee we fling our burdening woe,
   O Love divine, for ever dear!
   Content to suffer, while we know,
   Living and dying, Thou art near!
                         Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
As I've said before, not that Oliver Wendell Holmes!
</idle musing>

But isn't it a private matter?

Not only were things invested with significance in the premodem imaginary, but the social bond itself was enchanted, sacred. “Living in the enchanted, porous world of our ancestors was inherently living socially” (p. 42). The good of a common weal is a collective good, dependent upon the social rituals of the community. “So we’re all in this together.” As a result, a premium is placed on consensus, and “turning ‘heretic’ ” is “not just a personal matter.” That is, there is no room for these matters to be ones of “private” preference. “This is something we constantly tend to forget,” Taylor notes, “when we look back condescendingly on the intolerance of earlier ages. As long as the common weal is bound up in collectives rites, devotions, allegiances, it couldn’t be seen just as an individual’s own business that he break ranks, even less that he blaspheme or try to desecrate the rite. There was immense common motivation to bring him back into line” (p. 42). Individual disbelief is not a private option we can grant to heretics to pursue on weekends; to the contrary, disbelief has communal repercuss—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 30 (emphasis original)

<idle musing>
Are they wrong? (Honest question.)

Over the weekend I was reading a book published in 2006, and they were decrying the loneliness epidemic in the United States. Mind you, this is before the ascendence of social media and the plague we call smart phones!

I'm not saying I want to go back to the days before all that (and Smith/Taylor assure us that such a thing is impossible), but a bit less individualism (like maybe 90 percent less!) would be a good thing...

Just an
</idle musing>

Open My Eyes That I May See

267 Open My Eyes That I May See

1 Open my eyes, that I may see
   Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
   Place in my hands the wonderful key
   That shall unclasp and set me free. Silently now I wait for Thee,
   Ready, my God, Thy will to see;
   Open my eyes, illumine me,Spirit divine!

2 Open my ears, that I may hear
   Voices of truth Thou sendest clear;
   And while the wave-notes fall on my ear,
   Everything false will disappear.
   Silently now I wait for Thee,
   Ready, my God, Thy will to see;
   Open my ears, illumine me,Spirit divine!

3 Open my mouth, and let me bear
   Gladly the warm truth everywhere;
   Open my heart, and let me prepare
   Love with Thy children thus to share.
   Silently now I wait for Thee,
   Ready, my God, Thy will to see;
   Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!
                         Clara H. Scott
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I was surprised at how few hymnals have this—less than 250. The author of the hymn, Clara Scott, also wrote the tune. According to hymnary.org, there is a fourth verse, which I had never heard before:

4 Open my mind, that I may read
   More of thy love in word and deed;
   What shall I fear while yet thou dost lead?
   Only the light from thee I plead.
   Silently now I wait for thee,
   Ready, my God, thy will to see;
   Open my mind, illumine me, Spirit divine!

</idle musing>

Still, Still with Thee

264 Still, Still with Thee

1 Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,
   When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;
   Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight,
   Dawns the sweet consciousness I am with Thee.

2 Alone with Thee amid the mystic shadows,
   The solemn hush of nature newly born;
   Alone with Thee in breathless adoration,
   In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.

3 Still, still with Thee! as to each newborn morning
   A fresh and solemn splendor still is given,
   So does this blessed consciousness, awaking,
   Breathe each day nearness unto Thee and heaven.

4 When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber,
   Its closing eyes look up to Thee in prayer;
   Sweet the repose beneath Thy wings o'ershading,
   But sweeter still, to wake and find Thee there.

5 So shall it be at last, in that bright morning,
   When the soul waketh, and life's shadows flee;
   O in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning,
   Shall rise the glorious thought, I am with Thee.
                         Harriet B. Stowe
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Yes, that Harriett (Beecher) Stowe, the one who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. According to the biography linked above, she wrote about 30 books, plus numerous pamphlets and more than a few hymns.

That being said, I don't recall ever singing this one. And it isn't a terribly common hymn, only occurring in around 350 hymnals. It is her most popular hymn.
</idle musing>

Things and power

In this premodern, enchanted universe, it was also assumed that power resided in things, which is precisely why things like relics or the Host could be invested with spiritual power. As a result, “in the enchanted world, the line between personal agency and impersonal force was not at all clearly drawn” (p. 32). There is a kind of blurring of boundaries so that it is not only personal agents that have causal power (p. 35). Things can do stuff.—James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular, 29 (emphasis original)

<idle musing>
And what makes you think that they don't? It's a widespread belief, rearing its head in the Bible and throughout the ancient world. There's a marvelous book on it, sadly now out of print, that I've excerpted from in the past: Barbara Nevling Porter, ed., What Is a God?

The world is an enchanted place, if only we would take off our materialistic glasses (I mean philosophically materialistic—that the physically visible world is all there is). The mystics know that, and the two-thirds world knows it. But we've lost touch with it. And that's what this book is all about…

Just an
</idle musing>

It's the story

Taylor seems to recognize that we are “narrative animals”: we define who we are, and what we ought to do, on the basis of what story we see ourselves in.—James K. A. SmithHow (Not) to Be Secular, 25

<idle musing>
Today we begin a new book. For years I've been meaning to read Charles Taylor's A Secular Age, but the shear size of it was offputting to me. So, I decided I would do a no-no: I'm reading a distillation of it.

The goal is to learn enough about the book to motivate me to finally pick it up and read it. But at almost 900 pages—well that's a major time commitment!
</idle musing>

Complete collapse

Broadly speaking, the collapse of the Assyrian Empire was one of the most sudden and absolute in history: some provinces were already in a state of profound crisis while others retained a measure of vitality, but Assyria itself suffered a vertical crash. The most densely urbanized and populated region, the great cities, and the infrastructure of irrigation were all transformed into a desert. The process common to other empires, which after their collapse survive as “commonwealths”— that is, as cultural, linguistic and religious communities—does not apply to Assyria.—Mario Liverani, Assyria: The Imperial Mission, 258

<idle musing>
That's it for this book. It really is a great book, but it didn't lend itself well to extractions. I highly recommend it for understanding how empires, not just the Assyrian one, work.

Not sure what I'll be excerpting from next. I've been reading Smith's How (Not) to Be Secular as well as Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah. Oh, and at the local bookstore, I picked up a used copy of Malcolm Gladwell, What the Dog Saw, but that doesn't lend itself well to excerpting, so it probably won't show up here.

As if that weren't enough, I checked out of the library the third book of the Wingfeather Saga. I read the first two way back in 2020 during Covid on the recommendation of a friend. Delightful books, but I got sidetracked and am only now coming back to finish the series. And, I'm editing a few books. Most of the summer was spent editing the forthcoming Eerdmans NICOT volume on Daniel 1–6. It's a monster at around 400K words! Between that and the garden, it's been a pretty busy summer. But, with the garden winding down, I'm looking forward to more reading time. We'll see how that works out : )
</idle musing>

The word games we play to look good…

In the imagination of the western world, there is now a tidy distinction between the “Asiatic” empires—still definable as such, because they remain territorial, compact, bellicose, aggressive, despotic, and fundamentalist—and the western ones, which are not considered true empires because they are flexible, delocalized, peaceful, secular, progressive, enlightened, commercial, and now financial. The term “empire” is reserved for those we do not like, our adversaries, and nobody would apply it to themselves or take pride in such a label. While empires in the first category can be described as “empires of evil,” there is no corresponding expression denoting “good empires” to describe those in the second category. The “holy war,” the jihad, is a threat to humanity, but a Crusade is merely a figure of speech. Perhaps nothing expresses this duality better than the original “Star Wars” trilogy (produced between 1977 and 1983, during the Cold War), in which the empire is evil, aggressive, and impenetrable, and its soldiers are faceless and armored like ancient warriors—while “we” are a confederation, a flexible and vibrant international alliance that fights for good and for the salvation of humanity. Moreover, post-imperialistic historiography stresses intercultural phenomena such as assimilation and emulation, rather than those associated with conquest pure and simple.—Mario Liverani, Assyria: The Imperial Mission, 253

Tozer for Tuesday

People do not like the word “mystery,” but it is a good Bible word, and it is a word we ought to learn to live with. For the world—everything round about us—is shrouded in mystery.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 180

Be Thou My Vision

256 Be Thou My Vision

1. Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
   Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
   Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
   Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

2. Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
   I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
   Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
   Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

3. Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
   Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
   Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
   High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

4. High King of Heaven, my victory won,
   May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
   Heart of my own heart, whate’er befall,
   Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
                         Ancient Irish
                         Trans. by Mary E. Byrne
                         Versed by Eleanor H. Hull
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
This is one of my favorite hymns, so I was very surprised to see that it only occurs in a little more than 150 hymnals. The Methodist hymnal also excised the third verse:

3. Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
   Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
   Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tow’r:
   Raise Thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.

We know nothing about the versifier, sadly, and precious little about the translator. Apparently, this is the only thing she translated.
</idle musing>