Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee...
John Donne's 400 year-old wisdom
From Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII.
In case you don't know much about John Donne, let's have Wikipedia educate us:
John Donne (1572–1631), English poet and cleric in the Church of England.
I ask this because I'd like to notice that our idea of Christian in present day America is very different from the historical idea. Have you read any C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton or Frederick Buechner? If so, you'll know what I mean. If not, it would likely be enlightening for you to do so. (Here are three books to consider: The Great Divorce, Orthodoxy, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale.)
The kind of faith they exhibited was refreshingly honest. And god knows, there is little of this in today's Evangelicals. Their faith was informed by their life and understanding of the divinity they experienced in it.
It makes one wonder if the reason today's evangelicals are so different from Donne - is that their understanding of divinity is different - or even nonexistent.
Perchance, he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not - it tolls for him. And perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.
Donne here wonders on his sickbed - if it is possible that his condition is worse than he realizes, and that his friends have caused the church bells to toll so that the town will pray for him.
I think many modern churches are on their deathbeds - but they don't know it yet. The culture is leaving them behind - not because there is no hunger for the divine, but only because Evangelicals have abandoned the heavenly kingdom for an earthly one.
And, just as any vice can blind us, it seems today's churches have been blinded by their obsession with earthly, political power. This was not Donne's conception of the church.
The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member.
And when she buries a man, that action concerns me; all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated;
Most spiritual traditions include some idea of community and/or oneness. Whether it is the Taoteching which states Tao and this world seem different, but in truth they are one and the same; The only difference is in what we call them - or Jesus who taught Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.
When I see "Christians" who support policies that separate the children of undocumented immigrants from their parents - or even support the parents of those children being deported - it is hard for me to see any love for God or neighbor.
But, I do believe in karma. I do believe that justice will prevail, eventually. And, in that, I do see a divine hand - just as Donne did. He saw people being changed by life.
God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another;
Now here is a hopeful thought - his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. I once thought of heaven as an eternal version of the Sunday services I endured in my childhood - dull, irrelevant and judgmental. I think Donne's idea is much more hopeful. He saw heaven as a place where all of our scattered lives and lost moments are gathered back together again - in an order, and in a way that makes sense to each of us.
Because, if you are like me, what you most desperately want is for all of this to make sense. We want the everyday troubles we endure to matter in the end. And, even more than that, we want to belong. We want to be a part of something authentic, organic, and so much bigger than ourselves. Amazingly, these feelings are not new! Donne felt it, too…
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
When we see the suffering in Puerto Rico after the hurricane, or the children in Flint, Michigan whose minds were damaged by lead in their water. Or when we see children gunned down in Sandy Hook or in Parkland, Florida - we are hurt. We are affected.
The only thing Donne can tell us is that the suffering we face is not without worth. It is not simply random harassment. As much as I hate to admit it, suffering can bring some good.
…for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath afflicion enough, that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.
Again, not my favorite thought, but I must admit that I am a much kinder person than I once was. It was not the victories and triumphs of my life that changed me from the hormone-riddled, selfish man-child I once was. No, it was a divorce. It was being fired and then unemployed. It was being diagnosed with celiac disease and hearing loss. It was all of the things that made me remember that I am fallible. I am human. I am flawed. And yet…
Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it.
However you define it - Nirvana, Heaven, or Valhalla - we all hope that there is some place for us in the end. Whether he is right or not, Donne certainly thought that all of the tribulations and trials we endure in this earthly life - are worth it in comparison. They are worth it in that they are preparing all of us for a much better place. I do hope he's right.
88° Mostly Cloudy
Knoxville, TN, United States
From Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII.
In case you don't know much about John Donne, let's have Wikipedia educate us:
John Donne (1572–1631), English poet and cleric in the Church of England.
He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. Another important theme in Donne's poetry is the idea of true religion, something that he spent much time considering and about which he often theorized. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems.
So, I'd like for you to stop a moment, and ask yourself: Can you imagine Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Joel Osteen, Pat Robertson, or any other Television Evangelist writing metaphysical love poems? I didn't think so.I ask this because I'd like to notice that our idea of Christian in present day America is very different from the historical idea. Have you read any C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton or Frederick Buechner? If so, you'll know what I mean. If not, it would likely be enlightening for you to do so. (Here are three books to consider: The Great Divorce, Orthodoxy, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale.)
The kind of faith they exhibited was refreshingly honest. And god knows, there is little of this in today's Evangelicals. Their faith was informed by their life and understanding of the divinity they experienced in it.
It makes one wonder if the reason today's evangelicals are so different from Donne - is that their understanding of divinity is different - or even nonexistent.
Perchance, he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not - it tolls for him. And perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.
Donne here wonders on his sickbed - if it is possible that his condition is worse than he realizes, and that his friends have caused the church bells to toll so that the town will pray for him.
I think many modern churches are on their deathbeds - but they don't know it yet. The culture is leaving them behind - not because there is no hunger for the divine, but only because Evangelicals have abandoned the heavenly kingdom for an earthly one.
And, just as any vice can blind us, it seems today's churches have been blinded by their obsession with earthly, political power. This was not Donne's conception of the church.
The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member.
And when she buries a man, that action concerns me; all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated;
Most spiritual traditions include some idea of community and/or oneness. Whether it is the Taoteching which states Tao and this world seem different, but in truth they are one and the same; The only difference is in what we call them - or Jesus who taught Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.
When I see "Christians" who support policies that separate the children of undocumented immigrants from their parents - or even support the parents of those children being deported - it is hard for me to see any love for God or neighbor.
But, I do believe in karma. I do believe that justice will prevail, eventually. And, in that, I do see a divine hand - just as Donne did. He saw people being changed by life.
God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another;
Now here is a hopeful thought - his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. I once thought of heaven as an eternal version of the Sunday services I endured in my childhood - dull, irrelevant and judgmental. I think Donne's idea is much more hopeful. He saw heaven as a place where all of our scattered lives and lost moments are gathered back together again - in an order, and in a way that makes sense to each of us.
Because, if you are like me, what you most desperately want is for all of this to make sense. We want the everyday troubles we endure to matter in the end. And, even more than that, we want to belong. We want to be a part of something authentic, organic, and so much bigger than ourselves. Amazingly, these feelings are not new! Donne felt it, too…
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
When we see the suffering in Puerto Rico after the hurricane, or the children in Flint, Michigan whose minds were damaged by lead in their water. Or when we see children gunned down in Sandy Hook or in Parkland, Florida - we are hurt. We are affected.
The only thing Donne can tell us is that the suffering we face is not without worth. It is not simply random harassment. As much as I hate to admit it, suffering can bring some good.
…for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath afflicion enough, that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.
Again, not my favorite thought, but I must admit that I am a much kinder person than I once was. It was not the victories and triumphs of my life that changed me from the hormone-riddled, selfish man-child I once was. No, it was a divorce. It was being fired and then unemployed. It was being diagnosed with celiac disease and hearing loss. It was all of the things that made me remember that I am fallible. I am human. I am flawed. And yet…
Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it.
However you define it - Nirvana, Heaven, or Valhalla - we all hope that there is some place for us in the end. Whether he is right or not, Donne certainly thought that all of the tribulations and trials we endure in this earthly life - are worth it in comparison. They are worth it in that they are preparing all of us for a much better place. I do hope he's right.
88° Mostly Cloudy
Knoxville, TN, United States
Sent from my iPad
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