A New Plan and A New Commandment

Last week I wrote about how God’s plan seemed to be much more specific and detailed in the Old Testament than the New Testament.  The instructions from God given to Moses on how to build the tabernacle were detailed down to the last jot and title.  Indeed, all the instructions in and around the law and how God was to be worshiped were extremely detailed.  However, the plan that we were given in the New Testament was, in comparison, a big picture approach which was built around the Great Commandment i.e. it all comes down to love.  That is all well and good, but how in God’s name are we supposed to manage that?  I find that to be a challenge; there are many people including me who find it a challenge to love as we are commanded despite our best efforts.

I received a comment on what I had written and I am always grateful for feedback.  I will quote the comment as I found it to be thoughtful and thought provoking, “I disagree that God is not a detail-oriented today. I think God is. God sent many prophets, gave us the law and the commandments, and then sent Jesus Christ, who established a church, filled with many saints and holy people. How much more detail do we want?”

I must agree, however, it seems that God does is working more indirectly in the New Testament and today, if I understand what the commenter is saying. Indeed, God does seem to be giving us a plan in different ways today than in the Old Testament.  That, of course, is what the new covenant in Jesus Christ is proclaiming and fulfilling.  Rather than a law which is incredibly detailed as in the Mosaic code, we have a law which can be summarized in the Great Commandment to love.  That does give us freedom.  We don’t have to worry about putting a step which is not in exact correct place.  However, with the freedom comes responsibility.  It is a responsibility which leaves a great deal up to us try and figure out what it means to love our neighbour and how we go about doing that.  Needless to say, this is not easy.  We need to discern on an ongoing basis if what we are doing is fulfilling that commandment and if not, how can we repent i.e. to turn around and get back on the correct path. 

I agree with the comment that God has also given us holy people to guide us in finding the path God intends for us.  Indeed, I recently attended a retreat which offered such help.  The retreat was offered by the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine in Toronto.  It was entitled Praying With Evelyn Underhill.  Evelyn Underhill was one of those holy people who God sent us to give a guidance.  She was an Anglican mystic and spiritual guide who lived and practiced in England in the first part of the 20^th Century.

The retreat was different than many I had attended as it focussed on the practice of prayer rather than on transmitting information.  We were invited to do just what the retreat title said, to pray rather than to absorb a lot of information about Underhill and her life and teaching.  There was some of that but primarily we were to practice rather than being in what is more comfortable for me, a place where I can be in my head.  The approach which we were invited to participate in has three ways of praying which were taught by Underhill; Adoration, Communion, and Self-offering.  After a short introduction to each way we were given time to engage in that way.  Here is a brief summary of the three ways in Underhill’s words.

Adoration: “takes us out of ourselves, out of limited capacities and our own needs and emotions, sweeping us past all this to God as objective fact, as mysterious gift to us―sweeping us to a place where things of God enter the MIND.”

Communion: “The mystic is in love with God not in any idle or sentimental manner, but in the vital sense which presses at all costs through all dangers towards union with the beloved.”

Self-offering: “More is required of those who wake up to the reality than the passive adoration of God or intimate communion with God.  Those responses, great as they are, do not cover the purposes of our creation…The Church is in the world to save the world.  It is a tool of God for that purpose , not a comfortable religious club set in fine historical premises.”

On refection, the commandment of Jesus is where the rubber hits the road.  We have to come to that third step of self-offering which is the most difficult for me and probably for most people.  Most of us are not going to be able to jump to the third way without travelling the path through the first two.  However, the blessing that is offered by Evelyn Underhill and other holy and wise people is to give us a road map to follow on that journey.

Blessings on you journey.