The Languages of God

Note: I wrote very briefly to "Mike" late yesterday, in which I said "I obviously do not take the bible literally. I believe that the bible contains the words of God as interpreted in certain times and certain places by certain human men who are, as are all humans, flawed and faulted. Jesus is the only Word of God. I believe in that Word, that Logos, that Wisdom, and I try, best I can, to follow His Way.

In many ways, we are talking in two different languages. Where is the 'common ground' in those two different languages, those two very different world views? How do we communicate without talking past each other?

I'm not sure I know how to answer that. This is what I've been praying over and wrestling with before I respond to you, because I believe your questions to be honest and true. It's why I asked for help from my friends."

"Mike" wrote back to me, and ended with these words: "So, while I won't say that we will ever be enemies (I certainly hope not!), I know that I can say that we are not exactly on the same side in any arena of Christianity, and it all falls on our beliefs of the Bible. Then again, I knew that from the start. But now that I've gotten to know you a little bit, I sure wish it didn't have to be this way.

This is perhaps the most confused emotion I've ever had in my whole life.

I didn't mean to go on this long, ma'am. It's just that, even though it all SEEMS like ecumenical thinking could just bring the walls down and usher in an era of utopian sunshine and roses -- I know it can't be that way. Because I staunchly believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, and all that that entails. And, of course, you do not. This would hinder fellowship and breed contempt faster than Satan fell from heaven!

What a paradox. Because I think highly of you otherwise.

So, I guess that is what I've learned. Thanks for helping, ma'am.

Here's my "open letter" to my young friend, "Mike". Thanks to each and every one of you for helping me to write it.

Dear Mike,

I woke this morning, just before dawn, put on a pot of coffee and said my prayers while it perked. After all these many years, my morning devotions are almost in sync with the time it takes to brew a good, strong, hot pot of coffee. It's a mystery to me how that happens, but it always does.

I poured myself my first cup and took it with me out onto the deck, which faces east, overlooking the marsh directly ahead of me. To the north, Rehoboth Bay stretches out before me. To the south, I can see the beginning of Indian River, just past Highway 23 which heads down toward Massey's Landing.

As I took my seat in my old wooden chair, I heard myself sigh with deep contentment as my face was caressed by a gentle south breeze coming up from Indian River.

The sun began to rise hot in the sky - a large, round ball of red slowly emerging from the horizon line in the marsh, its heat already radiating in the pre-dawn-blue-purplish-gray sky.

Suddenly, and without warning, a large flock of snowy white egrets took off from the marsh and flew directly into the rising sun. A few fish jumped in the water, apparently as startled as I was by the unannounced flurry of wings.

A group of seagulls who were perched on my roof and that of several of my neighbors began to raise a loud, cacophonous noise which seemed to cheer on their sister and brother egrets as they flew to meet the rising sun.

To my ears, it sounded like Hosannas to the Lord of Life.

Perhaps that is because I had just read, as part of the Office of Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, "A Song of Creation" Benedicite, omnia opera Domini - from Song of the Three Young Men, 35-65.

These are the prayers attributed to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, better known by their Babylonian names - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - the three young men who praised God after they had been placed in the midst of the fiery furnace during a persecution of Jews in Babylon, as told in the Book of Daniel.

This part seemed especially appropriate:

Let the earth glorify you, O God,
praise and highly exalt you forever.
Glorify God, O mountains and hills,
and all that grows upon the earth.
praise and highly exalt God forever.

Glorify God, O springs of waters, seas and streams,
O whales and all that move in the waters.
All birds of the air, glorify God.
praise and highly exalt God forever.

Glorify God, O beasts of the wild,
and all you flocks and herds.
O men and women everywhere
praise and highly exalt God forever.

I had read prayers - ancient prayers originally written in ancient Hebrew, translated to English - which had found a home in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.

They have found a home, as well, on the lips and in the heart of this second generation Portuguese American woman for whom English is not a Mother Tongue - which may well be the genesis of my inability to embrace a 'literal' translation of scripture or anything, for that matter. My experience is quite different from yours.

I had said these ancient prayers, but then, by the grace and abundant generosity of God, saw them lived out and heard them spoken in another language, by another tribe of God's creation.

That they spoke their prayers differently, worship and and believe in God differently from me did not diminish one iota of their prayers.

Nor did their prayers diminish mine. We prayed to and praised God, each in our own way.

I do believe The Lord of All Life was greatly pleased.

And, here's the thing, Mike: Life - all of life - is a gift, a sacred mystery.

Over and over and over again, the various voices in Scripture tell us that no one can know the mind of God. The Psalmists are pretty clear about that in all their magnificent poetic prayers and songs of praise.

The Book of Job contains these words from Elihu: "The voice of God thunders wondrously and does great things which we cannot comprehend." (37:5)

The Wisdom of Ecclesiastes writes: "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things." (11:4-6)

The prophet Isaiah asks: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." (40:27-29)

Jesus asked of Nicodemus, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (Jn 3:12)

And Jesus comforts his disciples before his betrayal and crucifixion with these words, "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." (16:12)

There are many languages of God, Mike. Many ways to understand God and what God did in Christ Jesus. There are many things God has yet to say to us, but we cannot bear them now. They will be revealed.

All in good time. All in God's time.

Here's my best advice: If you want to be an effective minister of God and a good pastor to the people of God - as I know you want most in your heart - try to learn as many of those languages as you can.

It will not diminish by one iota your literal understanding of what scripture tells you about God, but it will enable you to be a better pastor to all of God's people.

Instead of seeing a "long chain link fence with no gate" - as you have seen in your mind's eye - try to imagine a large, luscious green field, filled with beautiful flowers and creatures of all kind, which has a picket fence and a gate that has a latch on your side.

You have control over when you go out and when you come back in. You have control over the ones you will let in and the ones you keep out.

Do not be concerned about your confusion. Indeed, rejoice and be glad in it, for the Psalmist tells us that "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (51:16-18).

The question marks in your mind and in your heart are the stirring of God within your soul, calling you to stretch out your arms, as Jesus did on the hard wood of the cross, to embrace all of God's people.

You are not being called to change what is authentically you and what it is you believe in your heart. This is not a challenge to compromise your integrity. You are being called to be more of who God created you to be - the image of you which God had in mind when you were called into being - to grow into what St. Paul says is "the full stature of Christ".

Indeed, I believe you are being called to serve all of God's people with deeper authenticity and even greater integrity - which may or may not require a transformation of what you now believe.

The bible is full of the stories of these kinds of transformations - from Moses to David to every one of the disciples, including St. Paul - as well as those like Jonah, who resisted and was left to sulk under a withering plant.

That journey always calls us to what Martin Smith writes are the 'crucifyingly obscure boundaries of faith." Confusion is often the beginning of that journey.

I pray you have the courage of those snowy white egrets and fly through your confusion and directly into the Son.

When you find yourself, like those three young men, in the midst of that fiery furnace - "heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated" - know that the "fourth figure" with you is the God of your understanding (Daniel 3).

All who see and know these things will join you in your praises of God - each in their own way.

And, I believe the Lord of All Life will be well pleased.

I will leave you with this blessing, which is one of my favorites, frequently used by the Rt. Rev'd Stacy Sauls, a bishop in The Episcopal Church.

Be careful as you go into God’s creation, for it does not belong to you.

Be gentle with yourself and with others, for we are the dwelling place of the Most High.

Be alert and be silent, for God is a whisper.

And the blessing of the eternally loving Triune God be with you and remain with you always.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For those of you who wish, here is the entirety of "Mike's" letter to me:

Well, I suppose that it comes down to something that I never really anticipated (you see, I did learn something after all! Amen!) -- it comes down to the issue of taking the Bible literally.

Hmm.

Well, it's like we've heard -- we're basically speaking two different languages. It's fascinating. I feel something like I've never felt before, like I'm looking at a chain-link fence that separates us, and I'm looking far down both sides, but I don't see an opening, you know? I believe in a literal, infallible Bible, preserved in English through God's providence upon those human translators (that would have indeed been erroneous were it not for said providence). You believe in a allegorical/figurative, imperfect Bible, translated with some loss of power and inspiration through the process of translation.

Hmm... It's almost frustrating. Sometimes, when I am talking with people about Christ, they say, "I don't believe the Bible." It's then that I am stopped dead in my tracks with whatever I was speaking about, and I have nothing to say only because we have no common ground -- they don't believe the Bible. It's almost like that with you, ma'am... except that you DO believe the Bible, just not the way I do.

...Most interesting. I'm taking a few seconds to compile all this in my head.

I'm very glad I wrote you, though perhaps not for the same reasons that many people would be.

I am glad that I know more about what you believe, and I now know that there is a whole other side, or, world-view, to approaching the Bible.

You know, one of the comments on your blog said that I was just trying to get things that I could use against you. That was, well... kind of ignorant, to put it frankly. I am not trying to get data or info to use against Elizabeth Kaeton. I am trying to learn more about other people's beliefs for more than one obtuse or cabalistic reason; I'm not just trying to gather "ammo." I just want to be informed about what other people believe.

In my mind, the most important impact of our communication is that I now know more about someone else's bibliology, and its impact upon what I believe are important moral and familial spheres of life. For this, I thank you.

You know, as I go about my ministry, I will encounter some people that may not be willing to accept the free gift of salvation because they are shrouded with doubt about the Bible. They may have heard some people say, "Well, I don't believe the Bible," or perhaps, "Well, I believe part of it," and even, "Now, this part is literal and this part is not," or, "The Bible is not to be taken literally." And now I can say, "Yes, I have actually spoken with a person that believes in a non-literal translation of the Bible. Maybe we could talk about that." I would rather be able to say that instead of, "I have no idea what you're talking about," and then watch them die without Christ to suffer eternally because of my ignorance.

As you have known all along, I believe in a literal translation. I believe that Jesus died to pay for our sins, was buried, and then He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures to be our One and Only Mediator between God and man. I believe that this is what the Scripture teaches. I could not embrace this without a literal translation (remember when one commentator asked, "Would this destroy your faith?" At first I didn't know what it would do. Now I know it would.), nor do I expect others that I share Christ with to be able to, either. Therefore, it is so important that I understand where everyone is coming from.

Finally, I say this. As I read your site a couple of days ago (specifically about how you had been in a same-sex relationship for such a long time while performing the office of rector), I was filled with indignation, confusion, compassion, and love all at the same time.

BUT --

Now, all those feelings are mingled and woven together with a certain tapestry of respect that was not there before. It is not respect for your paths of life (i.e. homosexuality, women clergy), as I have been transparent about my beliefs of the Bible's teachings and how I embrace the literal translation, thus believing that those things are wrong and abominable before God. However, I do respect your affable and courteous way of addressing my questions, even in the midst of many of your readers proclaiming nothing less than anathema on me. And I do respect that you seek the counsel of others. And I do respect that you just come right out there and say it: "I believe what I believe because I do not believe in a literal translation of the Bible." You don't hide behind creeds and confessions, nor do you seek shelter behind some other man's sayings or quotes. You didn't try to impress me theologically nor slam me into the ground bibliologically.

You respected me, despite our vast and vital differences in belief about the Bible. For that, I respect you.

Have you ever seen a show or movie where the protagonist and antagonist meet up at a certain point and just...talk? No fighting? This is usually the result of at least SOME common ground or a unity against a common enemy; or perhaps they just don't have the strength to fight, since they're tired from all the OTHER fighting. They usually say something like, "Today, we're friends; but tomorrow, we have to be enemies again." You know what I'm talking about? In a certain sense, that's how I feel. Let me explain:

You know that I believe SO STRONGLY that the Bible is to be taken literally. I believe that the Bible must be taken literally to at least a certain extent in order for us to be saved -- after all, if Christ's death and subsitutionary atonement was not literal, then we are in big trouble! I believe so strongly that God meant every literal word. Thus, I know that, if we were ever called to debate each other in some college somewhere, we'd probably go at each other tooth and nail (cordially, of course!).

So, while I won't say that we will ever be enemies (I certainly hope not!), I know that I can say that we are not exactly on the same side in any arena of Christianity, and it all falls on our beliefs of the Bible. Then again, I knew that from the start. But now that I've gotten to know you a little bit, I sure wish it didn't have to be this way.

This is perhaps the most confused emotion I've ever had in my whole life.

I didn't mean to go on this long, ma'am. It's just that, even though it all SEEMS like ecumenical thinking could just bring the walls down and usher in an era of utopian sunshine and roses -- I know it can't be that way. Because I staunchly believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, and all that that entails. And, of course, you do not. This would hinder fellowship and breed contempt faster than Satan fell from heaven!

What a paradox. Because I think highly of you otherwise.

So, I guess that is what I've learned. Thanks for helping, ma'am.

For His sake,