I'm thinking I could start to call this blog "Hands Across the Water". Believe me the "an American thinks about England" slant is purely unintentional on my part--at least in its frequency. And yet, a strange mix of circumstance has yet again converged upon me and pointed my heart towards the joy of seeing the Kingdom emerge in the U.K.
It has been an incredible ride the past several weeks. My mother passed away and even though she was ready, the mix of feelings and reflection that one processes after such an event is both sweet and strange. Then, on Monday of this week, suddenly a man of 58 in our church died of a heart attack and we are all walking through that one together. As of now, my husband is meeting with the extended family (who are not in our church) and I find myself with an hour or so to pull away and try to gain a bit of helpful perspective after much time with the family myself.
As I was moving things around my desk, I came across one of my "ocassional" CD cases (no, I don't have an iPod yet, just CD cases for various moods and seasons.) In this particular case was my copy of the greatest hits of Emerson, Lake and Palmer which I bought for the sake of the song, "From the Beginning." Longing to hear the clear guitar and reassuring words of that song (which have spoken to me before in times of struggle in a way that I'm sure neither Emerson, Lake nor Palmer would even understand), I popped it in the CD player and went about the task of dressing. The song finished, I teared up and sighed a prayer, and the second track began. It was ELP's version of "Jerusalem," the poem turned hymn by William Blake. I had heard it in the seventies when the CD had first come out, but discovered it anew from--you guessed it--the end of the movie Chariots of Fire.
Just as I was applying the hot flatiron to my hair in a somewhat doomed attempt to be stylish, from the CD player, I heard these words:
'Bring me my bow of burning gold,
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spear! O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.
I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
It was the first time I had realized that this song's connection to England was more than speculation about the legend that Jesus might have somehow visited the isle. ("And did those feet in ancient times walk upon England's mountains green?", the first line) Perhaps partly because I needed a big picture to refocus upon, but I think mostly because I glimpsed a view of God's heart, I broke. I knew it was true: God wants to establish not a physical Jerusalem, but its antitype in the earth--that is, an outpost for the Kingdom of God so real it takes on physical coordinates! God wants to "build Jerusalem" on earth through our worship and expression of Him and he wants to do it such a manner that people can touch, taste, sense and smell God's presence right where they live. He wants the Kingdom to come near people today! With all due respects and prayers for the historical Jerusalem, there are more pilgrimages to be made than the one to the middle east! God wants to raise up attractive sanctuaries in many places in the earth and demonstrate the complee transcendence of His holy purpose! And the U.K. is certainly mighty among those places.
William Blake had an extreme spiritual fascination, but on this one he seems to have got it right. There is a call to stand up and contend for your land! There is a call to the church to again let arrows of desire fly from the bow, that is, from the spirits of "just men made perfect" as Hebrews says! There is a call to unashamedly declare the dreams of the God dwelling among his people and all the forms that might take--inroads into society, territory and culture. And there is a call to commitment that says, "I will not rest until the Kingdom is established..." (Knowing that God sends the most amazing of "rests" to those who have reached that place of total commitment.)
I wept aloud as I realized the call was as strong as ever to the British church. I wondered how many of my British friends (like myself) had a clamoring of life's voices of challenging banging around them: concerns about their church, their circumstances, their children, the future--many of them quite valid. As I cried, I called out to God as if by my voice I could pierce the veil that keeps us from seeing God's big purpose. I tried to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of all of us--bringing the Kingdom to earth.
But I felt one misgiving about the poem's words that were moving me: "I will not cease from mental fight..." were the words that William Blake used to express commitment. Perhaps they were also the reason for much darkness and introspecition in his own soul. For anyone with any mental ambition to build Jerusalem on earth quickly learns that this is not a fight for the mind to take on. II Corinthians 10:4-5 "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty..." The Kingdom is not established by minds rising against minds, but rather spirit overtaking minds! Though our minds must be engaged in the battle, they can never become field marshalls! We must always be led by the spirit, remembering that God, from His post in heaven, is the only one who really knows which sorties to send out (really waxing military here, but don't worry: I will quickly exhaust my military knowledge useful for metaphor... in fact, may have done so already!)
I wonder if the British church, like all churches, might profit from a re-evaluatory moment spent with this truth. Many of what we have called "spiritual failures" might actually be failures to acatually get into the spirit for the fight! Much of what has disappointed us probably has as its origin mental, rather than spiritual, stategizing and assumption. (In Bible language, we "leaned on our own understanding" rather than trusting "the Lord with all of our hearts"Proverbs 3:4-5). We do it becuase we want to avoid what we call super-spirituality, but we fail to realize that REAL spirituality does not neglect this realm, but rather envelopes it and finally makes sense of it. We really are in no danger of becoming ridiculous if we are truly spiritual. God is NOT ridiculous and Jesus defines him as "A SPIRIT" (John 4:24)
So, today, out of some very painful circumstances, I hear the call of God to recommit to the fight. I look across the land (both Britain and Azle, Texas) and see invisible things wanting to arise. I do not deny the pain around me at the moment, but I cannot deny the bigger picture that gives me a reason to go on. BUT, I lay aside more than ever the mental aspects of the fight and pick up the sword of the Spirit. God, I pray that you would unite us across the pond, not as great thinkers (and you know I love that--so I'm saying alot), BUT AS GREAT BUILDERS OF THE KINGDOM!!!!...Till we have built Jerusalem (the city of peace) in England's green and pleasant land...and in every land...
