Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany
February 11, 2022
Feast of Theodora, 867 AD
Invitatory
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
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.
The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
In one of her books of collected essays, the novelist Marilynne Robinson wrote extensively about the theologian Jean Cauvain. – Who was he? – She bet that very few readers would know, and it was essential, in her mind, that this ambiguity be maintained throughout her exposition of his work. For she was aware that, if she used this theologian’s common name, his reputation would override almost everything that she wanted to say about him. Such is the power and the disfiguring warp of the tradition that, over centuries, has entirely replaced the individual thinker with a woeful and damaging caricature. To retrieve his thought, she had to erase his name.
This was her statement: “I use the name Jean Cauvain in the essay to free the discussion of the almost comically negative associations of ‘John Calvin,’ which anglicizes the Latin name under which he wrote, Ioannus Calvinus… I have encountered an odd sort of social pressure as often as I have mentioned him. One does not read Calvin. One does not think of reading him. The prohibition is more absolute than it ever was against Marx… Calvin seems to be neglected on principle. This is interesting… It bears looking into.”
In the text appointed for today from Colossians there is an interesting lack of a proper name. One might ask here, too, “Who is the ‘he’ about whom Paul wrote?” – even though I’m sure that our immediate assumption of “his” identity is undoubtedly correct. Paul mentions Jesus only at the very beginning of the chapter, twelve verses before. And his seeming reluctance to use Jesus’ name again may be instructive. For too easily a name can set too defined a boundary. Jesus, as an historical figure, can be reduced to whatever he said or did in his time. He’s depicted as a prophet or a reformer or the supreme example of a human being. He was courageous in faith. He was even more brave in his love. He, above all others, is worthy of emulating: he is the G.O.A.T. This is the Jesus commonly imagined – who can, in our memory, be yet today a bright inspiration in our rather mundane world – which is the theme, in endless variations, of many a sermon.
By not using his name, however, Paul implores us to think in far larger dimensions. Jesus’ story is not that of one person who, in the idiosyncrasy of his own time, lived and died and was raised from the dead. After all, we fairly blithely assume that the same will simply be true about ourselves. This three-fold process is the story we’ve come to believe holds for all of us. Anyone’s name can be inserted: your own, your neighbor’s, the bus driver for local elementary school students, Queen Elizabeth – anyone. And this trust has been so internalized that we rarely feel existentially dependent on God anymore; nor do we feel the need to ascribe to God a proper name. This bears looking into.
But there is a different majesty ascribed to “him.” I don’t know anyone whose name I could insert in place of the pronouns Paul used – living or dead. Try it yourself. Anyone’s name would make Paul’s declarations nonsensical. Except one. And only one – out of all the billions of human beings who have ever been named. To quote Marilynne Robinson, “This is interesting… It bears looking into.” Which is the work and delight of the church.
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.
