St. Patrick

In honor of the day, my favorite hymn is a translation of

 St. Patrick’s Breastplate

It is one I definitely want sung at my funeral.

 

 

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Meditation at a Funeral

As I have mentioned before, as a funeral director, I attend a lot of funerals, and probably spend  more time than most people thinking about death. For the past few weeks, I’ve had a theme in mind that seems of some use, and yesterday, I finally said it at the conclusion of a service for an elderly lady. There were many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren gathered, and many stories from their early years. This is what I had to say.

As I’ve listened to the stories from your years with your mother, your grandmother, and the great grandmother of these little ones, I’ve been thinking of how God has been preparing us for this day since we were just babies. From the first time we played “Peek-a-boo” with our mother, we learned that when we could not see her face, she was still there. You can still see it in the face of your children, the anxiety when your face is hidden, and the delight when you reappear. We learn that what we see does not define the whole of reality, that there is more to reality than what we see.

And then we have our first sleepover away from home. That can be scary, but we learn that even though we are away from home, we still have a home. Separation does not mean forever.

As we grow, we continue these lessons, through going to camp, going away to school, even leaving home and starting our adult lives. We learn them as we teach them to our own children as we enjoy playing “peek-a-boo” … 

God has been teaching us these lessons all our lives. And now as we say goodbye to (Mrs. Jones), He reminds us of what He has taught, of what we have learned: That when I can’t see someone, it doesn’t mean that they are gone; there is more to reality than what we see; and that separation does not mean forever.

Sweethearts in Heaven

As a funeral director, I hear many interesting things at funerals! A while back I heard a song that got me thinking. A folk singer sang a song something along the lines of “I don’t know if there are sweethearts in heaven, but if there are, I want you for mine.” It was sung on behalf of the decedent as a proclamation of his enduring love for his widow. It was very touching, and very sweet. Even while I liked the song, though, I was bothered a bit by the unbiblical nature of the lyric. It was American folk religion, rather than classic orthodox Christianity. Its basic framework was the idea that I may not be good enough for entrance into heaven, etc. No thought of justification by grace through faith, or in the atonement of Christ. Even the “title thought” of sweethearts in heaven goes against Jesus’ declaration-  “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage…” (Matthew 22:30, ESV).  This declaration is the foundation of the line in the traditional vow “…till death do us part.”

The more I thought about it though, the less happy I was with simply rejecting the song as contrary to scripture. There is such a strong internal feeling that such a love should be eternal. It is a gift of God, a creation of God as a reflection of His own nature.
St. Paul proclaims that “Love never ends” and that “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  I am unhappy with the idea that God’s gifts are time-limited. This gift of marital love is the way we most nearly enter in to the three-yet-one idea of Trinity. The next closest reflection is the church, interestingly called “the bride of Christ” thus referring back to marriage. Ours of course is a binary, rather than triune arrangement (setting aside for the moment the contested idea that the Sprit proceeds from the unity of the Father and the Son). But by becoming “one flesh” while remaining two distinct persons, bound together strictly by love, we get to enter into something very near to the character of God. The more I contemplate this idea, the more I understand of my own failure to live it out, thus my own divorce.

So if this gift of love is itself eternal, and yet Jesus’ proclamation true, then there must be more to the story. After all, Paul told us in that same chapter of 1 Corinthians that we now see “through a glass darkly.” How is eternal love to be understood? What is it’s role, if not simply annihilated and discarded?

Many things are set aside as Holy, so we may learn how to treat holy things. When we have learned holiness, we may be allowed to think of all things as holy, all things as given by God, and designed for His purpose. IF we start with the idea that all things are of the same worth, we will treat all things as low and common. We mark some things, say communion vessels, as holy, to be given special appreciation and care as the vessels of God. Then, when we are thoroughly comfortable with how to treat these things as special, God may whisper to us

“you know, Eric,  everthing I made bears my imprint, I made everything for it’s own purpose. Every flower, every jelly-jar is as special as that golden chalice, which you treat so lovingly”

But we can safely receive that message only after we have learned how to treat holy things. Get it too early, and we will treat the chalice like a humble jelly-jar, instead of treating the jelly-jar like a holy chalice. We go up steps one foot first, not because one foot should be higher than the other, but so that the higher, by virtue of it’s elevation, may then raise the other. Perhaps this is also true to the love we are to know and practice in marriage. Perhaps the love we know, the unity in diversity through love, is ultimately not to be exclusive, although we need it to be exclusive here if we are to learn it aright. I take it almost as an axiom that this present life is part of the process of creation, and our true purpose and work is yet to come. We are being crafted for something more, and what we shall be has not yet been revealed.  

As I reviewed the song, I fancied something of a reunion scene in heaven. It involved Jesus introducing a newcomer to the saints gathered just inside the pearly gates. Jesus was saying something like this: “ Folks, we all know Bob. We all know the love he has shown to everyone here, how easily he fit into our fellowship. We have all seen how he uses the unique  gifts that make him who he is to bring to light the best in everyone else. He truly loves with the love we all have from the Father.  Well, folks, I would like to introduce you to Barbara. She is the woman who taught him that.”