42
COME, SINNERS, TO THE GOSPEL FEAST
Friendship and Hospitality in the Hymns of Charles Wesley:
Trinity, Grace, and the Invitation to Belong
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A Paper Presented to the
Wesleyan Theological Society
March 4, 2006
Kansas City, Missouri
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by
Dr. James R. Cissell
1. Introduction
The Elemental Nature of Friendship and Hospitality
For whatever reason and through whatever process “the world and those who dwell therein” (Ps 24:1, RSV) is. The world is formed and functions in such a way as to be capable of sustaining and maintaining life in a wide variety of forms. A general orderliness provides for seasons of growth, harvest, and dormancy; combinations in just the right amounts of elements to produce air and water, climatic diversity to provide for a wide variety of plant and animal life, and adequate amounts of gravity to hold everything in place.
In effect, the world is, in and of itself, a place both friendly toward and hospitable to the continuing formation of life. There is a basic co-existence, primitive though it may be, that not only allows for, but is dependent upon interaction among the various forms of creation. Very simply, the world provides for itself. Interrelated and interdependent systems, for whatever reason and through whatever process, are part of what happens in the world. The way the world has worked, the way in which the world currently works, and the way the world will continue is through a formed and mutual dependence.
An interesting side note: apparently the only form of life capable of reflecting on the nature of the world and relationships is in no way necessary, and in fact, has proved itself to be the most destructive of species. “The world and all those who dwell therein” would continue its existence had human life never (been) developed.
The world is in motion in such a way that interaction among and dependence upon the various types of creation naturally – elementally – occurs, albeit not always with obvious friendship and hospitality. There is, however, a balance generated by whatever type of power or source or unorganized evolutionary path of random choice standing at the beginning of the processes of development and redevelopment.
In general then, there is a form of friendship and hospitality – primitive though it may be, designed or not – at work within and among the interconnected systems of life. The systems depend on one another and provide for one another. In this sense, there is a harmony in place that defies adequate explanation (adequate explanation having nothing to do with faith or science: faith cannot ask for it and science, at its very best, can only theorize as it discovers smaller and even smaller active elements within the molecular structure of life and wider and even wider expanses beyond the ever-revealing universe). The world provides for life to exist in ongoing cycles, ad infinitum.
The Radical Nature of God’s Friendship and Hospitality
Faith offers and allows – and for some even demands – interpretation of experiences not just with and within the created world but with the Creator as well. When confronted by worshipers at Lystra who revered Paul and Barnabas to the point of wanting to offer sacrifices to them, Paul responds,
We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy. (Acts 14:17)
Lodahl (2003:37-38) writes, “It should be no surprise if all people demonstrate some awareness of the divine presence, goodness, and love through the joys and blessings of living in this world.” Societies and cultures have shown remarkable consistency in developing at least some patterns of relationship with those powers recognized as having influence in and/or over life. These patterns would range from the worship of figures representing the elements and forces of nature to a dependence on “scientific” data alone.
This being the case, faith can be seeded and nurtured through simple exposure to the natural world. The Apostle Paul makes this affirmation in his letter to the Romans, “[What] can be known about God is plain… because God has shown it…. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Rom 1:19-20). A footnote informs the reader, “What can be known, i.e. apart from God’s revelation to Israel and in Christ” (1362, RSV; editors italics).
Development of faith would seem to depend largely on receptivity to the Self-revelation of God. Hebrew Scripture is filled with stories of encounters with the gods of other cultures (Canaanite, Egyptian, Babylonian, etc). Traces of faith practices are found in archeological digs reaching far back into human history. Siren (http://home.comcast net/~chris.s /canaanite-faq.html) offers a quick review of Canaanite social and cultural development along with an assessment of the wide variety of Canaanite gods, dividing them into three categories: “A. Primarily beneficent and non-hostile gods”; “B. Chaos gods, death gods, and baneful gods”; and “C. Demi-gods and Heroes.”
Similar characteristics are to be found between the God of the Hebrews and those the Canaanites termed “primarily beneficent and non-hostile.” While similarities are to be expected, the differences may be attributed to the continuing development of the Hebrew faith. Early faith leaders not only recognized the presence of the God of creation in the world, they experienced interaction with this God, allowing faith to develop far beyond that of those who were not so receptive.
The final verses of Genesis 11 offer a profound insight on the idea of God’s desire for interactive relationship,
Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there.[1]
Is it possible that Abram and Sarai were not the first to be invited into a special covenant relationship with God? The closing of Genesis 11 certainly gives strong indication that Abram’s father, Terah, sensed some mission.
Abram and Sarai are receptive to God’s desire and instruction and they move beyond what is familiar and comfortable. They trust (certainly to varying extents at different times) the “voice” of God leading them into unknown places. This allows for the greater development of an understanding of God being One who is not static and who can occupy the place where other “gods” supposedly are in command.
So, in Hebrew worship, believers could sing,
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
(Psalm 95:1-5)
This becomes an essential point in the consideration of Charles and John Wesley and the impact of their attempts at reformation within the Church of England. God is not static and will be neither contained nor defined, not even by the Church. When the Church fails to understand or accept the fact that God does not belong to the Church (Bride of Christ, or not), the Church becomes nothing more than any one of a countless number of other local “deities” such as those encountered in the Hebrew Scriptures or clamoring for attention (worship) in a more modern age.
Jennings (1990:174) points out a failure on the part of both Wesleys to carry through on their reformation of the Church of England. Speaking in particular of John he writes, “He was determined, as he said, to be a ‘churchman’ first and last.” Because the nature of God is not static but open, inviting, and Self-revealing, there will be times when being a “churchman” is the absolute last loyalty a believer should want to claim.
Charles expresses this nature of God. Using a quotation found in Acts 17:28, he writes,
Maker, in whom we live, in whom we are and move,
the glory, power and praise receive for thy creating love.
Let all the angel throng give thanks to God high,
while earth repeats the joyful song and echoes to the sky.
(UM Hymnal, 88)
A Wesleyan understanding of creation places human beings in direct relationship with God: Maker, and the made; Creator, and the created. The nature of God is such that nothing less than a radical (as in, fundamental) understanding of and approach to God’s design and desire for relationship will benefit those created in God’s image. Relationship with the Creator is all consuming. This Creator is the One “in whom we live, in whom we are and move.” The relationship exists through the intention and design of the Creator, and it is the Creator’s intention and desire that all those created in the image of God enjoy this blessing.
The place of imago Dei is not only with but within God: within the intimacy and intricacy of God’s own Being. The invitation God offers is that of each individual coming to know the assurance of belonging.
In the following, Charles describes the broad scope of the nature of God and delves into the intimacy with which God designs.
AUTHOR of every work divine, Who dost through both creations shine,
The God of nature and of grace,
Thy glorious steps in all we see, And wisdom attribute to Thee,
And power, and majesty, and praise.
Thou didst Thy mighty wings outspread, And brodding[sic] o’er the chaos, shed
Thy life into the impregn’d abyss,
The vital principle infuse, And out of nothing’s womb produce
The earth and heaven, and all that is.
That all-informing breath Thou art Who dost continued life impart
And bidd’st the world persist to be.
Garnish’d by Thee yon azure sky, And all those beauteous orbs on high
Depend in golden chains from Thee.
Thou dost create the earth anew, (It’s [sic] Maker and Preserver too,)
By Thine almighty arm sustain.
Nature perceives Thy secret force, And still holds on her even course,
And owns Thy providential reign.
Thou art the Universal Soul, The plastic power that fills the whole,
And governs earth, air, sea, and sky;
The creatures all Thy breath receive, And who by Thy inspiring live,
Without Thy inspiration die.
Spirit immense, eternal Mind, Thou on the souls of lost mankind
Dost Thy benignest influence move,
Please to restore the ruined race, And recreate the world of grace
In all the image of Thy love.
(http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/16-20/16-11.htm)
“Thou art the Universal Soul, The plastic power that fills the whole….” The hymn offers not only magnificent praise to the God of all creation but descriptive views of the intimacy with which God regards all of creation: “The creatures all Thy breath receive, And who by Thy inspiring live, Without Thy inspiration die.”
With an emphasis on “all” throughout their ministry the Wesleys challenged the Church to make itself as open and welcoming as God’s own love and grace, to offer the same friendship and hospitality as that found within the great depths and boundless expanse of the radical nature of God.
Charles wrote this hymn of intercession “For the Church of England,”
1. Till then preserve the faithful seed, The remnant left in Britain’s land,
The desolate Church, whose cause we plead,
In whose defense we firmly stand,
Her breaches mourn, her burdens bear In all the agony of prayer.
2. Jesus, her ruinous wall rebuild, And let them with Thy praise resound;
With peace her palaces be fill’d,
Plenty be in her temples found,
Plenty of unbought milk and wine, Fullness of living Bread Divine.
3. Her slumbering guides and watchmen rouse, And on her rising ramparts place;
Give them a voice to shake Thy house,
The rocks to break, the dead to raise,
To bring them up from nature’s grave, And the whole house of Israel save.
4. For this Thou hear’st Thy Spirit groan, O that Thou wouldst Thy power display,
Divide the heavens, and come down,
Convert our nation in a day,
And spread our faith through earth abroad And fill the universe with God.
(Tyson, 1989:422-423)
The criticism Jesus offered to the religious leadership in first-century Judah points to the necessity of prophetic voices reminding established faith structure and leadership that God is the author and sustainer of invitation. In his form as Son of God, even Jesus saw himself as servant (see particularly Mt 12:18; 20:28; John 13:1-15). In this role, he extended God’s friendship and hospitality to those who were “outside” the recognized boundaries of God’s care. It is particularly noteworthy that in John’s gospel, the first person to whom Jesus reveals himself as Messiah is a Samaritan woman.
The radical nature of God’s care about and for those outside the care and interest of the Church of England quickly became a hallmark of the ministry of the Wesleys. This is reflected throughout the hymnody of Charles.