He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast;
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small:
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
These lines, which come near the end of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's marvelous poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", undoubtedly state a major theme of the poem and a theme well worth pursuing in our lives.
It is imperative, however, that our sense of love rises above Peter's at that luminous morning meal on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias when the risen Jesus asks Peter if he loves (agape) him. Peter's more limited view of love answers "Yes, Lord, you know I love (philos) you". Responding to Jesus' exact repetition of the question, Peter replies the same. When Jesus questions Peter the hauntingly significant third time, he uses Peter's own word for love (philos), "Are you really my friend?", and almost certainly Coleridge's. The point is not simply a pedantic one, for if our sense of love never rises above that of brotherly love, we will not be attaining that sense of divine Love (agape) which is so essential.
One might reasonably equate the three avatars of love --eros, philos, and agape--with the three degrees of mortal mind Mrs. Eddy defines on pp. 115-116 of Science and Health. Obviously the second degree isn't bad or undesirable per se, it simply isn't good and pure enough to lift our thinking to a fuller and more complete understanding, reality, which must take place if we are to demonstrate our oneness with divine Love, our spiritual perfection as God's idea and reflection.
Only a flaneur or naive Micawber passively waiting for something good to turn up could ever think the attainment of a spiritual sense of Love is going to come without many Jacob-like wrestlings or wilderness sessions with the devil like that Christ Jesus experienced in Matthew 4.
God is All and created all. His creation is Love expressed as an eternally present fact. To understand this, even in small measure, requires that we develop a greater spiritual sense, to the degree of embodiment, of Mrs. Eddy's inspired Revelation of Truth, Life, and Love.
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9 comments:
Not only are you an exceptional writer, but a prolific one. Do you know how many people you are blessing?
With my thanks and love
Don't know who you are, and it don't matter. You love Jesus, and that makes you my friend. I'm going to be praying for what your doing.
God bless you!
Yes, you are definitely a Christian Scientist working for something higher than self-enrichment. Thank you, and thanks for those beautiful lines from Coleridge.
A lot to think about in this article you've done. Will read again to get the part about 3 types of love. Very helpful!
Boston, MA
To you, doing so much to lift up others, may I say:
"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
(Numbers 6:24, 26)
Happy Thanksgiving!
"Jacob-like wrestlings"...you can say that again! Who among us hasn't found loving others the way Christ expects of his followers very challenging. But if we're going to be obedient, we have to work at it. For some little progress in this direction, I am thankful.
And thanks to you,
Such lovely comments you are getting. Let me add mine: a warm thank-you for the great good you are doing!
Best,
Helen
I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, dear blogger, for all you are giving to us!
Really enjoying this blog, and I only wish there were many more Christian Scientists doing as you are!
Boston
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