The country parson is a lover of old customs, if they be good, and harmless; because country people are much addicted to them, so that to favor them is to win their hearts, and to oppose them is to deject them. If there be any ill in the custom, that may be severed from the good, he pares the apple, and gives them the clean to feed on.

—The Country Parson

For in preaching to others, [the priest] forgets not himself, but is first a sermon to himself, and then to others; growing with the growth of the parish.

—The Country Parson

Who would have thought my shriveled heart
Could have recovered greenness? I was gone
Quite underground; as flowers depart
To see their mother-root, when they have blown;
Where they together
All the hard weather,
Dead to the world, keep house unknown.

And now in age I bud again,
After so many deaths I live and write;
I once more smell the dew and rain,
And relish versing: Oh my only light
It cannot be
That I am he
On whom they tempests fell all night.

These are thy wonders, Lord of love,
To make us see we are but flowers that glide;
Which when we once can find and prove,
You have a garden for us, where to bide.
Who would be more,
Swelling through store,
Forfeit their paradise by their pride.

—The Temple

Today I conclude this series of offerings from George Herbert, Anglican priest and theologian. I hope you will savor the wondrous grace expressed in this poem and use it to thank God for his wonderful blessings on us, even in the midst of our heartaches.

O God, by whose grace your servant Bernard of Clairvaux, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

But [Jesus] said “Son of man” in order to show that he himself not only appears to be but in fact unchangeably is man, and again, is true God. It is not as if he were divided into different species, one part God and one part man; rather one may address him as Son of man with no doubt that this very same one is also the Son of God.

—Theodore of Heraclea, Fragment 101

Exhortation is a form of teaching. [For example] in giving Paul looks for liberality; in showing mercy, for cheerfulness; in caregiving, for diligence. For it is not just with money that Paul wants us to help those in need but with words, deeds, in person and in every other way.

—Homilies on Romans 21

One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.” Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”  Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴ a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

—Job 1:6-22 (TNIV)

Here we see the introduction of the problem of suffering. Satan poses the challenge to God. “Job is righteous only because you, God, don’t rain on his parade.” And so God allows Satan to do just that. This begins to challenge conventional Jewish wisdom regarding the problem of suffering. Those who suffer have obviously done something to deserve it.

But notice Job’s reaction to the catastrophes that Satan causes to fall on him. He does not curse God, but rather thanks God for his generosity. Job understands that God is the owner and he is but the steward. Reading this story with 21st century eyes may cloud its impact because most of us do not have livestock as the basis for our material wealth. To help you appreciate the extent of Job’s loss, besides losing all his children, itself an unimaginable catastrophe, substitute your bank account or 401K or other monetary assets and you get the picture. Satan wiped Job out, expecting him to curse God, but Job did not do so.

Having just suffered the loss of a sweet little kitten prematurely and unexpectedly, and having suffered other loss before, I can tell you that it is tempting and easy to blame God, and to ask the “why” questions. But Job did not do so. Instead, he responded in grief and thanksgiving to God for all that God had provided him. Job loved God for God’s goodness and mercy, for being God, not for what God had given him; that was just icing on the cake.

Do you have that kind of trust and confidence in God?

Lord, who has formed me out of mud, and has redeemed me through your blood, and sanctified me to do good; purge all my sins done heretofore; for I confess my heavy score, and I will strive to sin no more. Enrich my heart, mouth, hands in me, with faith, with hope, with charity; that I may run, rise, rest with thee.

—The Temple

My God, what is a heart? Silver, or gold, or precious stone, or star, or rainbow, or a part of all these things, or all of them in one? My God, what is a heart, that you should eye it so, and woo, pouring upon it all you are, as if you had nothing else to do? Teach me your love to know; that this new light which now I see, may both the work and the workman show: then be a sunbeam I will climb to thee.

—The Temple

Today we continue our focus on George Herbert, Anglican priest extraordinaire. Notice the continuing focus on holiness in this prayer and the one above.

By using the example of the body, Paul teaches that it is impossible for any one of us to do everything on our own, for we are members of each other and need one another.

—Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

If the body, which is less than the wold and which the soul uses as a servant or a tool, is a sacrifice when it is used well and rightly for the service of God, how much more is the soul when it offers itself to God? In this way, aflame in the fire of divine love and with the dross of worldly desire melted away, it is remolded into the unchangeable form of God and becomes beautiful in his sight by reason of the bounty of beauty which he has bestowed upon us.

—Augustine, City of God 10.6

You, O Lord, who command us to ask, grant that we may receive. You have put us on seeking; let us be happy in finding. You have bidden us knock; we pray you open to us. Be graciously pleased to direct and govern all our thoughts and actions, that for the future we may serve you and entirely devote ourselves to obeying you. Accept us, we ask you, and draw us to yourself, that we may henceforth be yours by obedience and love, who are already all your own as your creatures, even yours, O Lord, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

—Augustine.