Blessed is he who comes... (Part One)

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest."

(The Benedictus from the Holy Communion Service)

 

Once I'd made the connection that the Benedictus at the end of the Sanctus was a quotation from the crowds on 'Palm Sunday', and then made the connection that those crowds were quoting from Psalm 118, I found it quite enriching to have Psalm 118 in the back of my mind while saying or singing the Benedictus in church. Presumably the crowds who quoted from this Psalm saw Jesus as the fulfilment of the Psalm. And presumably if they saw him as the fulfilment of the Psalm, they were saying they recognised him as the long awaited Messiah.

 

The Benedictus is such a brief couple of sentences but when you have the whole of Psalm 118 in the back of your mind, for me at least, it really enriches what I'm saying or singing at this point of the Eucharist. I guess one of the things I'm doing at this part of the service is acknowledging my belief that Jesus was / is the Messiah, and praising God for Jesus' role in the salvation of the world. (I understand that 'Hosanna' literally originally meant "Save, we pray" which in Christian usage came to mean something more like "Praise God who saves!")

 

 

Psalm 118 (NRSV)

¹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! ²Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” ³Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” ⁴Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” ⁵Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. ⁶With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me? ⁷The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. ⁸It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals. ⁹It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. ¹⁰All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! ¹¹They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! ¹²They surrounded me like bees; they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! ¹³I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. ¹⁴The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. ¹⁵There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly; ¹⁶the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” ¹⁷I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. ¹⁸The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death. ¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. ²⁰This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. ²¹I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. ²²The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. ²³This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. ²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. ²⁵Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! ²⁶Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. ²⁷The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar. ²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you. ²⁹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Lectio Divina Group

 

This evening some friends are coming round to my flat for our weekly group Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is different from a Bible study. It involves a lot of silence and it's about 'sinking into' a short Bible passage, letting the Holy Spirit work as we 'sit' with the passage or with a word or phrase in the passage that stood out to us. It's about engaging with the Bible at a much deeper level than our heads. We're not trying to understand the Bible passage with our intellect. We're trying to let it enter into us deeply and change us. I'll do a post on individual Lectio Divina some other time but here's how we do it as a group:

 

We choose a short passage, usually the day's Gospel passage (see post entitled 'The Day's Gospel Reading' if you're not sure what this is). 

 

We begin by praying that we will encounter the living Christ through what we read, and that the Holy Spirit will be at work in us as we sit in silence with the passage.

 

The Bible passage is read out loud, slowly, twice.  We then go round in a circle, each saying which word or phrase stood out most for us. We don't explain why it stood out for us and we don't enter into any discussion. We're here to listen to the Holy Spirit rather than each other's comments or opinions.

 

The Bible passage is read out loud again and then we sit in silence for some time - around 10mins. During the silence we pay attention to the part of the passage that stood out to us. We pay attention to our emotions, and we pay attention to any questions or thoughts or pictures that arise. Sometimes we use our imaginations to put ourselves in the story as if we were really there... At the end of the silence, we take it in turns (if we want to) to share our experiences of what happened when we sat prayerfully with the passage. We don't discuss each other's experiences and there is no 'right or wrong' experience. We try to keep talking to a minimum.

 

The Bible passage is read out loud again. We have a short time of silence to respond to God individually in whatever ways we feel led to.  Then those who want to, pray out loud. Our prayers are in response to the passage we've been sitting with.

 

The steps up until now are more the 'Lectio Divina' part of what we do, but we combine this with something a bit more similar to a evangelical cell group. We therefore add two more 'steps'. We read the Bible passage out loud one final time then sit in silence asking God how He wants us to respond to the passage and how it relates to how we should see and treat others. We then share anything we want to share on that subject and perhaps have a very brief discussion about 'living out' the passage.

 

Finally, we ask each other what we would like prayer for and we pray for each other, whether out loud or in our hearts.

 

With four people taking part most weeks, the whole pattern takes around one hour, with the majority of that hour being prayer rather than discussion.

How to Survive Desolation (Ignatian advice)

 

I made these notes for myself but don't mind sharing them. They're based on the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola who wrote a lot about spiritual discernment and prayerfully paying attention to our emotions. He used the language of 'consolation' and 'desolation'.

 

In times of desolation:

 

 

1. Don't make big changes or rash decisions. Keep to your usual routines and duties (especially your pattern of prayer).

 

2. Remember God is really there. Remember His promise to help us endure every desolation.

 

3. Patience is a virtue. Strive to persevere in patience even though it's the opposite of how you're feeling right now.

 

4. Think long-term. Strive against the desolation. Be assured that consolation will return in a while.

 

5. Starve the desolation with increased spirituality. Intensify prayer, do more examens, spend more time in meditation, praise God, think about the positive things God is doing in your life and in the world to help kick the desolation off.

 

6. Use times of consolation wisely to prepare for enduring the next desolation. Remember the many times God brought you out of previous desolations, and how He gave you something far better than the negative outcome you were expecting.

 

7. Know the enemy and don't give the enemy a foothold just because you're feeling down. (Revert to point 5)

 

8. Consider the reason for your desolation.

 

a) Have I neglected my prayer life? Have I let go of Jesus' hand?

 

b) Is God behind this desolation, seeing how I respond to trusting Him without feeling any consolation?

 

c) Is God wanting me to feel this weak so that He can show me the extent of my smallness and the extent of His power and grace and wisdom? 

 

9. Meditate on this verse: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

[PS I personally also find praying in tongues very helpful, especially if you believe (as I do) that when you're praying in tongues you're always praying in line with God's will, or praying God's will into being somehow...]



 

 

Holy, Holy, Holy

 

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,

God of power and might.

Heaven and Earth are full of  your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

 

(The Sanctus from the Holy Communion service)

This 'song' is an important part of the Eucharist and we're invited to sing it along with all the angels. Just before we sing or say the Sanctus, the priest says, "Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name, for ever praising you and saying..."

 

In Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah records how he saw the Lord sitting on a throne, and around Him he saw angels. The angels cried to each other, "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory." Isaiah immediately becomes very aware of his smallness and uncleanness. An angel touches a burning coal to Isaiah's lips and reassures him that he will be cleansed from his sin, and the passage ends with Isaiah offering to go wherever God sends him.

At the Sanctus, I see an invitation to us to enter something of Isaiah's experience - to be humbled by God's greatness and purity, a God so great and pure that one "holy" isn't enough to describe Him. Just like a burning coal is put to Isaiah's lips in order to purify him, we're about to receive Jesus in the Holy Communion on our lips and this has a healing and cleansing effect in us. Then, just like Isaiah offers himself to be sent out by God for His purposes, the Eucharist ends with us being sent out to live and work to His praise and glory. At an even deeper level, the way we join in with the angels' song at this moment in the service lifts us out of time and space, and somehow puts us in place where Heaven and Earth and all time are overlapping. It's not just the visible congregation singing this song and celebrating this Eucharist. Something deeply mystical is happening. Maybe that's why I sometimes get goosebumps when singing the Sanctus!

Be Still

 

 

 

 

Be still and know that I am God.

 

Be still and know that I AM.

 

Be still and know.

 

Be still.

 

Be.

         
(Based on Psalm 46:10)

Prayer of Preparation

 

 

Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

 

(Prayer of Preparation, Common Worship)