Morning Devotion for the season after Pentecost
Wednesday November 3, 2021
RICHARD HOOKER
PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN (3 NOV 1600)
The Invitatory
O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon his Name; tell the people what things he hath done.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's Name be praised.
Reading: John 17:18-23
As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Meditation – Michael Palmisano
When a Church claims absolute authority over matters of doctrine, seizes the concept of infallibility, or persuades its peoples that certain praxes are necessary for salvation then we ought to become quite wary of said Church, suggests Anglican mystic, Richard Hooker. Preaching, teaching, and writing within the context of Reformation England, Hooker tirelessly sought to tease out an Anglican theology of being the Church in contradistinction to Roman Catholicism and Puritanism. Hooker surmised that both traditions had recklessly laid their claims upon eternal salvation. Rome had demanded submission to papal authority and sacramental communication with the Church while Puritans demanded ecclesial reordering and narrow doctrinal affirmations. In so doing, both traditions had tripped a theological wire.
Contrastingly, regarding the limits of human knowledge of God and salvation, Hooker suggests the following: “Although to know God be life, and joy to make mention of his name yet our soundest knowledge is to know that we know him not as indeed he is, neither can know: and our safest eloquence concerning him is our silence” (Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, I.2.2). God is the unknowable source of all things, and the idea that we can foreclose upon any aspect of His Being, His revelation, or His gift of salvation is both heretical and a gross misuse of power. At best, we ought to remain confidently agnostic about God’s freedom and will to do as God so chooses.
We are never fully faithful or entirely righteous, and no ideology of human doctrine can adequately express God’s mercy. Instead, we must engage in an ongoing process of revisiting our history as a Church, as a people, and as individuals so we might discern God’s ongoing work in the world. As soon as we find this process has halted, we must set ourselves at the task of listening and discerning once again. To hear even the faintest echo of what God is up to in the world, we need to listen intensely and at times remain silent (a novel concept obviously).
Despite all of Hookers suspicion and frustration with the Roman Church and the Puritans, he took a highly controversial (and generous) position on matters of eternal salvation. It is precisely because Hooker understood that God is unknowable in His fullness that he remained utterly hopeful about his fellow Christians. It is God’s prerogative alone to pardon what He will pardon and redeem what He will redeem. And, as far as we can tell from Scripture, the scope of God’s pardoning and redeeming is infinitely more surprising and absolute than what we might want to believe. It is the Anglican way to hold onto this revelation of divine mercy despite all the other denominational static and ire. Hooker prioritized this Truth above all unknowing: it is indeed the Father’s eternal good pleasure that we all be one in Him.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
O God of truth and peace, who raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
