Wesleyan prayer and sundry subjects

Week of 5 Easter

Psalms 24, 29, 8, 84; Wisdom 7:22–8:1; 2 Thess. 2:13–17; Matt. 7:7–14

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:3–5, NRSV)

I can’t read this line any more without hearing the melody of Tom Fettke’s beautiful choral anthem, “The Majesty and Glory of Your Name.” It’s one of the best anthems I’ve ever sung or directed, and it is an almost perfect setting of this psalm text. The NRSV, quoted above, says, “…you have made them a little lower than God…” This is a perfectly respectable translation of the Hebrew, as far as I can tell, but I prefer the Septuagint-influenced rendering, “a little lower than the angels.” (It’s this version of the phrase that Fettke uses in his anthem.) This psalm is definitely on my “top ten” list (which I’ve never compiled…maybe I will someday).

There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle. (Wisdom 7:22–23, NRSV)

This “ode to Wisdom” reminds me a bit of Paul’s famous discourse on Love in 1 Corinthians 13. A bit of a laundry list, to be sure, but very descriptive in a simple way. A couple verses later, the author writes, “For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.” I’ve read before some of the (admittedly more liberal) theologians who have postulated that the later Christian theology of the Holy Spirit may have had some of its origin in these earlier Jewish personifications of Wisdom. Wisdom in Greek is σοφια (sofia), which even we modern English speakers recognize as a feminine name. I’m inclined to think that theory has a lot to recommend it.

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught, whether by what we said or what we wrote. (2 Thess. 2:15, CSB)

This is a verse that makes me think many of my Protestant brethren and sistren are mistaken in their doctrine of sola scriptura. If Scripture, the written word, is the sole rule of faith, then why does Paul tell his congregation to “hold fast to the traditions you were taught, whether by what we said or what we wrote.” If what is written is the only valid rule of faith, that would seem to contradict what Paul is saying. Of course, my rejection of sola scriptura goes much farther than this verse. The Bible as we know it took a few centuries to be canonized, and it only makes sense to me that those first few centuries of Christians had to have oral and written teachings presented to them. And beyond that, for several more centuries, the vast majority of believers were illiterate.

I suppose I am fortunate that I serve in the Methodist Church, where theological reflection is informed by the Wesleyan Quadrilateral: (1) Scripture, (2) tradition, (3) reason, and (4) experience. In that sense, Methodists really hold to prima scriptura, rather than sola scriptura. And I can get behind that…

Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matt. 7:7–8, 12, CSB)

Some classic stuff from the Sermon on the Mount. Especially that Golden Rule…that’s some pretty good stuff. I sometimes think that, if Christians would simply concentrate on the Golden Rule, and Jesus’ Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37–40), we would be just fine. And many of these tiresome debates over exactly what kind of behavior is sinful (or not) would come to an end. After all, in both the passages I’ve mentioned (the Golden Rule and the Great Commandment), Jesus says that these statements sum up “the Law and the Prophets.” I’ve actually heard and read all kinds of things Christians have said to de-emphasize the centrality of those two passages. Usually it has something to do with making sure “nonbelievers” are aware of their “sinful lifestyles.” I could go on much longer on this topic, but I won’t…

Since I’ve talked above about the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, I’d like to close with a prayer from an excellent Methodist prayer website, which tries to reestablish the Wesleyan connection to the Book of Common Prayer. It has liturgies for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer that are based on English Daily Prayer liturgies. It’s quite good…

Almighty God,
who through your only begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.