Worship Resources for February

Where God is Present

The lectionary readings for this month are suggestive of the varied ways people experience the

numinous, a sense of divine presence.

2^nd February; Luke 2.22–40; The Presentation of the Lord

For arrogance and hatred are the wares

Peddled in the thoroughfares.

How but in custom and in ceremony

Are innocence and beauty born?

Ceremony is a name for the rich horn

And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

—W. B. Yeats ¹

These words were written by Yeats in 1921, a time of civil war in Ireland. Amidst horrific community strife, the poet longs for the civilizing graces of ceremony and custom. Mary and Joseph also lived in an environment scarred by war and they, too, found grace in the observance of custom. The presentation of their first-born son in the Temple has resonance of primitive sacrifice; but, by the time of Mary and Joseph, it symbolized gratitude for life and dedication to service. The traditional piety of Simeon and Anna breaks into the narrative; they perceive this to be a revelatory moment. A lifetime of prayer and devotion has nurtured openness, expectancy, and visions. It is a pity the prophet Anna’s words are not recorded. In this Temple ceremony, God is present both in the sacred old and the prophetic new.

3^rd February; Luke 4.21–30; 4^th Sunday of Epiphany

A God of love must be self-revealing in all His intercourse, at all times and in all ways, and not alone in special actions. The love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit are always and everywhere revealing themselves, and to restrict themselves to special channels would merely prove the love imperfect and the fellowship narrow hearted.

—John Oman ²

In his hometown, Jesus was at first idolized; his charismatic presence won many hearts. But, on closer examination, people found his words and deeds more alienating than reassuring. His God was too big. A disconnect was perceived between his fanciful teaching and his local, family origins. Jesus seems to have been unsparing in his assault on parochial thinking. In footnotes to tradition, he draws attention to the widow of Zarephath and to Naaman the Syrian; these, though outside heartland religion, stand as examples of response to God, of trust and obedience. To quote Oman again, the way of faith is not to hug the coast but to take to the open sea.

10^th February; Luke 6.1–11; 5^th Sunday of Epiphany

Surely my God is feminine, for Heaven

Is the generous impulse….

While men the poet’s tragic light resented, The spirit that is in Woman caressed his soul.

—Patrick Kavanagh ³

In this poem, Kavanagh reflects on the cold reception he received from men. How different was the look of recognition ‘in well-bred convent girls’ eyes’ and the warm reception ‘wrapped in middle class felicities / among women in a coffee shop’. In the gospels, Jesus’ conflict is exclusively with men while his most devoted, caring, friends are women.

The scribes and Pharisees appear at the extreme end of hard-hearted opposition. Sadly, the compassion shown by Jesus in the healing of the man with the withered hand touches no tender spirit in the religious leaders.

17^th February; Luke 6.17–26; 6^th Sunday after Epiphany

Hope is not always coupled with the doctrine of progress. In fact, Judeo- Christianity is one creed that breaks the link between them. There may indeed be progress in history from time to time, but it is not to be confused with redemption.

Grace may be implicit in human nature, but it is not the product of it. Instead it is a divine gift bestowed from beyond the frontiers of secular history.

—Terry Eagleton ⁴

In Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, the introduction of woes gives a sense of apocalyptic urgency. Often viewed askance, apocalyptic spirituality has much to teach in times of decadence. It is rough-hewn, both worldly and otherworldly; a spirituality of protest, of defiance, of hope. In Jesus’ apocalyptic teaching foreboding is real; but more real is hope in the triumph of God.

Hope is a form of divine presence in times of absence. Eagleton argues that, in the death of culture, there is opportunity for faith to receive the future as a gift. Intellectual paralysis, marauding populism and a wasteland of spent ideologies cannot disenfranchise the artist in humanity. The angels of hope beckon. ‘If a thing does not seem absurd at first, there is no hope’ —Albert Einstein.

24^th February; Luke 6.27–38; 7^th Sunday after Epiphany

I’ve had my fun and that’s all that matters.

—Fr Fintan Stack in the TV Series Father Ted.

I am in the hands of the unknown God,

he is breaking me down to his oblivion

to send me forth on a new morning, a new man.

—D. H. Lawrence ⁵

Jesus gives his disciples a method which will strip away illusions from life and reveal reality. The way is love, forgiveness, non-retaliation, self-forgetfulness and self-knowledge. Obstacles to seeing and engaging with the real lie in ourselves. We approach life as though we are the centre, and re-orientation does not come easy. Jesus’ method disorientates and confuses the ego. The ways of love challenge our very existence. However, oblivion is the mother of new birth.