Can We Learn From the Secularist?

One of the great things I appreciate about the desert spirituality of the late antiquity period of Christianity is the deep humility of the Ammas/Abbas. They were sought out for their wisdom but several stories of these wise teachers show that it is they who are the ones in need of learning. Here is among one of my favorites taken from Tim Vivian’s book “Becoming Fire”:

A person of devout life who was not a monk came to see Abba Poemen. Now it happened that there were other brothers with the old man, asking to hear a word from him. The old man said to the faithful secular, ‘Say a word to the brothers’.

When he insisted, the secular said, ‘Please excuse me, abba; I myself have come to learn.”

But he was urged on by the old man and so he said, ‘I am a secular. I sell vegetables and do business; I take bundles to pieces and make smaller ones; I buy cheap and sell dear. What is more, I do not know how to speak of the Scriptures, so I will tell you a parable: A man said to his friends, “I want to go to see the emperor; come with me”. One friend said to him, “I will go with you half the way”. Then the man said to another friend, Come and go with me to the emperor”. and the friend said to him, “I will take you as far as the emperor’s palace”. The man said to a third friend, “Come with me to the emperor”. The friend said, “I will come and take you to the palace and I will stay and speak and help you have access to the emperor”’.

The brothers asked what the point of the parable was.

The secular answered them, ‘The first friend is asceticism, which leads the way; the second is chastity, which take us to heaven; the third is alms-giving, which with confidence presents us to God our King’.

The bothers withdrew, edified.

Here is Abba Poemen divesting his privilege so another, presumably one who is seen as less than the Abba, can teach. The divestment of power by Poemen is not just humble but a humility that is inspired by the Christ.

The fancy Greek word is kenosis. It means to self-empty. It is what God does in Christ by becoming human. It is what Christ does on the cross by dying. It is was the Holy Spirit does by dispersing to all people. It is what the Church is supposed to be doing when it comes to our position of power by being quite so that others can be heard.

Divestment is not something that people in power are too keen on. I know that I struggle with it. However, divestment of power is the way of leadership that is most needed today. Divestment of power, the self-emptying and kenosis of Christ is what we are called to do but we in power resist it. We are threatened by it. We presume that our ways are not only the best ways but THE WAY. We think that it is we who should be heard because we have the education and people come to us, but until we in power learn that kenosis is our call we only contribute to the cycle of violence and blame.

Poemen divested his power in this position and protected the secular one (the stranger and foreigner). Poemen made the audacious claim that the scandalous one has something to teach, has something of value. Poemen modeled to the brothers what Arsenius said that he can know “Latin and Greek, but I (we) do not know even the alphabet of the peasant (the other).”

Many Church leaders tend to think that being in but not of this world means that the culture has nothing to teach or offer the Church. That the Church should in fact learn nothing but be the teachers of culture. It is assumed that if the culture teaches or values something that is contrary to the Church then it is the culture that is wrong.

And yet, Poemen and Arsenius thought it was good to learn from the culture and peasant. Almost as though the culture and peasant have something that is closer to the heart of Christ than the Church does.

What can we learn from the secularist?

One Seeking Perfection Must...

John Cassian has a collection of writings he called The Institutes. Within these writings lay a number of precious gems for the reader. I wanted to highlight one of those gems - what might the disciple of Christ expect to go through on the path of being of the charter of Christ? Another way to think about this might be to consider Jesus when he says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” How are we to move toward being made perfect in love?

Cassian suggests a series of actions that you can take that reveal the next step to take. As you walk, being able to see only one step at a time, you will come to the Kingdom of Heaven. I have not found a more concise description of what Cassian describes than from Philip Turner’s book Christian Ethics and the Church: Ecclesial Foundations for Moral Thought and Practice. Consider what Turner writes:

The process begins with the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom. Fear drives one to conversion and the search for perfection. The search requires that one, through renunciation, develop contempt for worldly things including family and possessions. Renunciation leads in turn to the virtue of humility from which is generated the dying of desire, and when desire has died the vices are uprooted and wither away. With the expulsion of the vices, virtue begins to grow and bear fruit. When virtue is abundant, purity of heart is acquired and, with purity of heart, the kingdom of heaven.

We start with a fear of the Lord. When we compare ourselves to the Lord we are brought to our knees and we desire conversion. The desire for conversion admits that the current course we are on is not sufficient to the standard of God’s heart, so we renounce our current way of living. But renouncing our current way of living we become a novice to life again and we are humbled. And when we are humbled to this new way of living that we know little about, our past desires atrophy. If we are able to arrive to this point where we renounce our past lives and desires then the vices of our past also die. In this way we are born again, made new. The death of desires and vices is the very fertile ground God uses to plant virtue. When lives around the world are full for good fruit (Matthew 7:17) we discover we all live in a new garden called the Kingdom of God.

And so, take the first step and see what is revealed. Ask yourself, “Do I feel like I am God’s equal?”

Not Wanting to Know that We Know

The brothers came to Antony and said to him, “Tell us: How are we to be saved?” The old man said to them, “You have heard the Scriptures. That should teach you how.” But they said, “We want to hear from you, too, Father.” Then the old man said to them, “The Gospel says: If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also” (Matthew 5:39). They said, “We cannot do that.” The old man said, “If you cannot offer the other cheek, at least allow one cheek to be struck.” “We cannot do that, either,” they said. So he said, “If you are not able to do that, do not return evil for evil,” and they said, “We cannot do that, either.” Then the old man said to his disciple, “Prepare a little brew of corn for these invalids. If you cannot do this, or that, what can I do for you? What you need is prayers.”

This translation of this desert story is found in The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, There is a lot going on in this story, however what stands out to me is the line “we want to hear from you, too, Father.” These seekers ask a question but Antony says these seekers know the answer. The seekers seem to pretend they do not like or understand the answer they know from the scriptures, so they ask Antony for an answer.

Antony tells them that they know the answer - it is in the scriptures. He goes on to share with them the things they already know (turn the cheek, forgive, do not repay evil for evil). But they feign an inability to do such things.

The seekers know the answer, but they do not want to know that they know. As long as they can pretend to not know the answer, the longer they can hold out hope that there is some other, more palatable, answer out there.

So Antony says what the seekers really need is prayer. Not prayer for salvation, but prayer that they may come to accept what they already but refuse to know.

This is a function of prayer. Prayer helps us come to terms with what we know but we don’t want to know that we know. It is the tool God gives for us to face the truths we know but pretend to not know, in the hope that there is some other, more palatable, answer out there.

We often know what we seek. We often do not want to know that we know it.

Prayer changes us because it revels to us what we know. We no longer pray for that which we know that we know.

No wonder so many of us resist prayer. We are not unlike the seekers. We do not want to know that we know.

Expect Peace After Only Eight Years

Benedicta Ward translates this story:

A hermit who was anxious went to Theodore of Pherme and told him all about it. He said to him, ‘Humble yourself, put yourself in subjection, go and live with others.’ So he went to a mountain, and there lived with a community. Later he returned to Theodore and said, ‘Not even when I lived with other men did I find rest.’ He said to him, ‘If you’re not at rest as a hermit, nor when you’re in a community, why did you want to be a monk? Wasn’t it in order to suffer? Tell me, how many years have you been a monk?’ He said, ‘Eight.’ Theodore said, ‘Believe me, I’ve been a monk for seventy years, and I’ve not been able to get a single day’s peace. Do you expect to have peace after only eight years?’

We have an anxious church that is seeking peace. It is a church that asks how long must we wait for the peace we say we all desire. If a single monk, Theodore, did not have peace after seventy years, then what makes a denomination of 3 million think that we can have peace after just fifty years?

We can split the denomination, I understand it has happened before. I understand that growing by dividing is possible. I understand there is harm being done. However, what makes us think that the split that the UMC is facing will be THE split that brings us to the peace we long for? What makes us think that any denomination or church could ever be at peace?

Maybe the peace we say we long for is just the excuse we cling to in order to divorce ourselves from one another.

How long must we wait for the peace we desire? Longer than we have tried - if we have ever started. A split will not bring us the peace we think we will get. Fights will continue, just read the Bible. Do we think that this is the generation that will arrive at the peace the church says it desires?